Set a Course for 2021 With Free ‘Year Compass’ Workbook

One of my favorite New Year traditions has nothing to do with drinking champagne and dancing to terrible music (although I definitely enjoy both of those). It’s completing a Year Compass booklet, which is a guided workbook that helps you to reflect on the year that has ended and plan the one to come.

Now I know what you’re thinking… who in the right mind would want to try to plan 2021? With all that’s happened in 2020, I don’t blame you. Sometimes it can feel like tempting fate to even plan a week or two ahead, let alone an entire year.

However, Year Compass is not about strict goal setting and a long list of ‘must do or I’m a failure as a person’ items. Rather, it’s a soothing reflective exercise that can help you process and get closure on 2020, (and probably reveal a few things you didn’t realize) as well as set intentions and a new mindset for the year to come. And as they put it “New Year’s resolutions don’t work, Year Compass does.”

Originally conceived by a group of friends in Hungary in 2012, the first booklet went viral online and is now an not for profit organization managed by hundreds of volunteers all over the globe. Last year’s booklet was downloaded over 1,500,000 times.

I’ve always found the booklet so carefully worded and open-ended that it is suitable no matter who you are what the year has thrown you, but this year the team have also included an optional pandemic supplement, which focuses on three specific areas: confronting the loss of control, taking stock of the profoundly changed daily life, and assessing the health of your social circle.

For those with small kids, this is best done as a family, just don’t feel obliged to strictly follow the book but rather use it as a tool to ask questions about the past and future. We judge that kids from about 9 onwards could do it solo if they wish. And even if your kiddos are too young, we highly encourage parents to find some time to do it privately, you deserve it more than ever this year!

You can download a printable booklet in your choice of 52 different languages, or fill out the PDF digital version and print it later. Download it for free by scanning the QR code below.

If you are looking for something specifically aimed at young children, beijingkids Deputy Managing Editor Cindy Marie Jenkins is a big fan of the Big Life Journal collection.

She says she would encourage her kids to write in theirs about once per week in the early days of the pandemic to encourage their growth mindset, and the printables were a lifesaver during confinement (until the hotel cut her off from the printer!). They are however not free, with printables starting at USD 12.95 per pack. If you are looking for something similar to the Year Compass, the 2021 New Year Kit PDF (ages 4-10) and the 2021 New Year Kit PDF (ages 11+) are good places to start.

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Images: via YearCompass.com, Big Life Journal.com