GHDR stands for "Groundhog Day Resolutions", a yearly planning ritual that I have been doing since 2007. It was based on two observations:
Traditional New Year Resolutions were inconveniently-timed; who is ready to make big year decisions on January 1st? Not me! I need at least a month to close-out the year and recover from the holiday season. I use January 1 to start thinking about the year to come.
Using the "double day" MONTH/DAY pattern made it easier to remember when to reflect on my goals, as regular reflection is necessary to keep on-track with any long-term goal.
Here are all the official dates of a GHDR calendar year:
02/02 Feb 2
Groundhog Day! Lay down the strategic plan!
03/03 Mar 3
Monthly Review #1
04/04 Apr 4
Monthly Review #2
05/05 May 5
Monthly Review #3
06/06 Jun 6
Monthly Review #4
07/07 Jul 7
Monthly Review #5 - Review strategic direction, adjust goals as necessary.
08/08 Aug 8
Monthly Review #6 - Optionally take off a month to enjoy the summer.
09/09 Sep 9
Monthly Review #7
10/10 Oct 10
Monthly Review #8
11/11 Nov 11
Monthly Review #9
12/12 Dec 12
Final Review #10 - Summarize achievements for the year, break for holidays.
REFERENCES
- Most of the reports are tagged ghdr on my old website. You can read the original kickoff post here!
- There is a GHDR overgoal that came to me in 2022. All of my GHDR goals from 2007 onward were variations of the overgoal.