The Seasonal Leisure Plan

A seasonal leisure plan is something that you put together three times a year: at the beginning of the fall (early September), at the beginning of the winter (January), and at the beginning of summer (early May). I’m preferential toward seasonal timing as I’m an academic, and this matches the university calendar. Those with a business background might prefer quarterly planning, which works fine too. You can use whatever semiannual schedule seems most natural to you, but for simplicity I’ll stick with the seasonal suggestion throughout this discussion. A good seasonal plan contains two different types of items: objectives and habits that you intend to honor in the upcoming season. The objectives describe specific goals you hope to accomplish, with accompanying strategies for how you will accomplish them. The habits describe behavior rules you hope to stick with throughout the season. In a seasonal leisure plan, these objectives and habits will both be connected to cultivating a high-quality leisure life.

We have embraced this idea wholeheartedly as a family this year, setting out our leisure plans for the year ahead. It gives us a focus and be intentional about our leisure and spending time together. For example, we’ve taken up bouldering at a local climbing for a few months during March and April until the weather is generally warmer to do more camping and walking during the summer.