Today’s post is the fourth in a series designed to help you usher in the new year. If you’ve been reading along, this is the post that’s finally going to start looking familiar. If you missed any of the previous posts, you can find them here:

To A Meaningful Year: Rest.
To A Meaningful Year: Reflect.
To A Meaningful Year: Making Space.

I’m a firm believer that before you do any kind of goal setting or brainstorming, you have to do the first three steps: rest, reflect, and make space. Rest allows you to detach from the whirlwind of your life and get a bit of perspective. Reflection helps you decide what you want to bring into the new year, and what you want to leave behind. Making space gives you room for new directions.

What to do:

Today’s challenge is a bit of brainstorming. (Okay, a lot of brainstorming.) Grab the biggest sheet of paper you can find and your finest fancy pens.

Write or draw everything you want to do, learn, or experience in the year ahead. Include personal and professional goals, things you want to learn, people you want to connect with, experiences you’d like to have, and places you want to travel.

This is a great “simmer” activity. Do a burst of brainstorming, then set it aside and let your subconscious simmer on it. Keep it handy for when an idea pops into your head.

The purpose of brainstorming is to tap into your intuitive side. Intuition lives in the holistic part of your brain. But there are lots of things that can pull you out of holistic mode, so here are a few guidelines as you do this:

There is no judging. Write down whatever pops into your head and don’t look back.
Don’t spend time making decisions. There will be plenty of time for that later.
Don’t organize your thoughts. Make it pretty if it helps, but no outlines or lists.

Save this big, beautiful brainstorming mess! If you’re taking From Dream To Done on Jan 12th, you can use this to create a plan for the year ahead.