Ending the Year On Purpose - Part 2

Dec 16

Last week, I shared my personal process for reflecting at the end of the year. If you missed that post, you can find it here. Today, I want to offer the practical checklist I use to move forward with purpose and intention.

Psalm 90:12 says:

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Numbering our days isn’t about squeezing more into our calendars. It’s about consciously stewarding our days well and aligning our time with what matters most. Time isn’t an endless commodity, and we, as humans, are not limitless.

For some, stewarding our days well is a call from inaction to action. For others, stewarding our days well is a call to set aside some of the “more” for a bit “less.” For most of us, it’s an invitation to adjust our perspective and our calendars a bit. This list of five coaching practices will help you do both.

Please remember: there’s no need to do all of these at once, and December 31st is not a magical deadline. Emily P. Freeman calls January “the new week between Christmas and New Year,” and I love her perspective! Give yourself the time and space you need to really work through this list.

Five Practical Ways to Close out the Year on Purpose

1. Reflect + Refocus. This was the emphasis of last week’s message. Wisdom and learning often come through reflection. Give yourself the gift of time to stop and remember, and you can use the prompts here as your guide.

2. Declare Email Bankruptcy. This has become one of my favorite moments of the year because, for a brief time, my inbox is empty. So, if you are like me and your inbox feels like an unresolved burden, choose a clean slate. Here’s how: First, tend to everything in your inbox from the last 30 days (which may take a little time), and second, archive everything. Yes, I mean everything. The beauty of archiving is that you don’t lose anything (it is all still searchable) while clearing your inbox.

3. Schedule Fun + Rest for 2026. Intentional fun and rest won’t “just happen,” so have a calendar-planning meeting with yourself to block off vacations, birthday and anniversary plans, a personal retreat day, or even time with people who fill your soul. I invite my husband, David, to do this with me, and we use a huge whiteboard in my office to map out the year. Then, I put everything on our electronic calendars so these important events can become anchors in our year that we prioritize and plan around.

4. Reset your Weekly Calendar with an Ideal Week. Your calendar is a reflection of your priorities, whether you meant for it to be or not. Sketching out an “ideal week” with meeting blocks, focused work time, personal rhythms, and margin is like creating a planned budget for your time. The goal in implementation is not perfection, it’s intentionality. I shoot to align my week with my Ideal Week about 75% of the time, and it has transformed my productivity and effectiveness.

5. Purge Your Office. Clutter hinders creativity and drains energy. Give your January self the gift of a clean space. You will be amazed by how refreshing it is to walk into a space that’s ready for a new year. For me, this means filing the papers that have stacked up, clearing the sticky-note reminders cluttering my desk, clearing out my drawers, and resetting my bookshelves. (I usually post a before and after in my Instagram stories, so keep an eye out!)

I’ve walked hundreds of leaders through these steps over the years, and there’s always one that’s more challenging than the others, and one that sounds like more fun than the others.

Remember, God is with you now in the pruning, planning, and preparation. He is also already in your 2026, shaping what you cannot yet see. As you invite Him to teach you to steward the gift of your days, He will shape a heart of wisdom in you.

Honored to share this journey with you.

Your good work matters to God. I’m here to help you live and lead as it does.

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Meredith King