david j. garcia

This could easily have been the year I did absolutely nothing.

I’m a natural homebody and—I’ll be honest—it’s easy for me to get to Friday night and want to say, “I think I’ll just kick my feet up all weekend.” Unfortunately, that makes it all-too-easy to get to the end of a year and realize I didn’t end up doing much of anything.

That didn’t happen this year, though.

Forgive me if I brag for a moment: we had an awesome year in 2011.

In the past year we’ve attended plays and musicals (including Wicked! and the Utah Shakespeare Festival), visited family in Texas (multiple times), chartered a (tiny) boat, visited waterfalls and toured my mission area in Washington/Oregon, walked the Golden Gate bridge, went to Comic Con San Diego, spent more than a month without television, moved into a larger apartment, rocked the GMAT, explored local hot spots, and acquired a few key possessions that we’ll love for years. Oh—and our first child will be born any day now (probably before the end of the year).

Almost none of this would have happened if we hadn’t taken specific steps to make it a priority.

I’ll be honest: I’m a bit lazy. Thankfully, I realized that could be a problem if it kept my wife and I from reaching our potential. So we developed a powerful system we used to make our dreams come to life.

I wouldn’t have had such an awesome year without my wonderful wife and what we came up with.

What’s our secret? Our list of “Really Awesome Things to Do in 2011.”

This morning my wonderful wife Emily and I took similar steps to make sure we have the best 2012 imaginable. How do I know it will work? Because it sure worked for 2011.

Would you like to make 2012 your best year yet?

If so, I recommend you make your own list of “Really Awesome Things to Do in 2012.”

Here’s a step-by-step guide to the process we used:

Step #1: Imagine/Brainstorm.

We’ve spent the last couple of weeks dreaming up possibilities for the coming year. Every once in a while, we’d spend a little time discussing our ideas over dinner. Emily kept a list on her phone, and I made occasional notes. This was a largely unstructured process. You still have time to do this before the new year.

Step #2: Organize/Record.

This is where you add structure to your previously vague hopes. This morning we got out dry-erase markers and made a large heading on the mirror in our bedroom: “Really Awesome Things to Do in 2012“. We then spent an hour or two discussing our goals, hopes and wishes. As we formed our ideas into specific goals or events, we added them to the list on our mirror. We also added secondary lists of “Cool Things To Buy in 2012″ and “Wonderful Things to Consider Doing in 2012/2013.”

Step #3: Prioritize/Memorize.

We’ll leave our list of “Really Awesome Things to Do in 2012″ up in front of us for a while. By the time we cleaned 2011′s list off, it had been right in front of us daily for months, we’d accomplished several items, and we’d both more-or-less memorized the rest of it. This is important because:

• It reminds you to make plans to accomplish your dreams.
• It helps you recognize key opportunities when they arrive.

When Southwest had a huge, one-day sale on flights, we knew it was time to act on a couple of our travel goals. When Groupon had a deal for a local restaurant on our list, there was no need for hesitation.

Step #4: Say “Yes”/Say “No”.

Throughout the year, take steps to make your list happen. Every few weeks, do something from your list while simultaneously laying the groundwork for something else. Doing more of the things that are important to you means giving up some of the things you don’t care about as much. We sacrificed in 2011, but it was all worth it.

Here are a few more insights from the past year:

• The key to success and a large part of why this has been so beneficial is because we’re both on the same page. The process allowed us to discuss our dreams and vision for the year. Because of our discussions, I was able to prioritize things that Emily cared about (and vice versa).
• Knowing what the other was thinking about, we were each able to work on the things we’d outlined, already knowing we both wanted to make them happen.
• As an additional benefit, I believe this strengthened our marriage through shared experiences, support for each other’s dreams, and mutual goals.
• Our Awesome Things are uniquely ours, fitted to our budget and desires. Your Awesome Things will be uniquely yours.
• These things take time and money, but we did them without debt or overwhelm because we gave up things like cable and carefully budgeted.

If you’d like to try this, grab a marker, talk out your dreams for the coming year, and write your own list of “Really Awesome Things to Do in 2012.” Let’s make this our best year yet!

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