Happy New Year my friends! 

For a long time in Scotland, New Year (or Hogmanay as we call it) was a much bigger celebration than Christmas. As the Scotland website summarises it: 

“Following the reformation in Scotland, however, celebration of Christmas was discouraged, and so the gift-giving and celebration that accompanied Christmas elsewhere took place at New Year, giving rise to the uniquely Scottish celebration of Hogmanay.”

We still take New Year’s seriously. It’s a celebration I adore, and even if I didn’t live in the (very debateable) “Home of Hogmanay” (Edinburgh) I’d still be making the time special. It’s one of those traditions I carry with me, wherever I am.

One of the New Year traditions I like to keep is thinking about the year that’s gone and what I would like out of the year that’s to come. I think a lot of us come over all reflective at this time of year. Over the years I’ve tried a few different things. I started out with New Years Resolutions, tried super in-depth year planners and even a paid-for workshop where we planned for the future in great depth (TL:DR none of it worked out the way I’d planned). But for the last few years I’ve settled on YearCompass.

YearCompass is a free booklet that hits the sweet spot for me in terms of length, and depth of reflection and planning. It’s split into two parts that you complete on different days. The first section involves looking back at the year that’s just past, the second focuses on the year that’s to come. I’ve found I appreciate splitting these activities over different days, it gives me time to reflect on what’s been and gives space to let it go before thinking of the future. This lets my head be a bit freer when completing the forward-looking section. 

It goes from the detailed – what were all the main events in your life last year – to the big picture dreamy – what do you most want to achieve. It’s broad enough to cover people at different life stages and careers (it’s not aimed at creatives). It has sections that cover all the main areas in a life: from personal life & family, to career & studies, to physical health & fitness, and everything in between.

You can fill it out digitally, or print it out and do it by hand (that’s what I do, I think better on physical paper). It’s also available in a BUNCH of different languages ( 60+ at time of publication).

So if you’re looking for a way to think about what matters to you, and how to wrap that into what you want from a year, give it a try. I’m curious to see what you make of this as a tool for New Year’s reflection and planning.