January 1st – there’s really nothing like it for feeling fresh and ready to take on a New Year. If every other year is to judge by, there’ll be the lows as well as the highs, and it’s about how we manage them as they happen. But starting with a focused mindset and some very clear goals for a month is a great way of ensuring the overall plan (if you have one) is as true to its course as you can make it. Remember, you are going to have to really put up a fight to make sure your goals happen because life is busy, complicated and often very distracting! These things are tricky to manage.

My aims for this month are:

1. To spend 4 days in the Peak District with a focus on a long distance challenge route called ‘The Nine Edges Trail’.
2. One day in The Yorkshire Dales adding some more Nuttall’s high points to my logbook
3. To read ‘Scrambles Amongst the Alps’ by Edward Whymper as a way of starting my mountain reading odyssey off
4. Make some YouTube videos of my progress
5. Write some blogs about the topics in the Lowland Leader scheme

These are all small steps towards much bigger goals. Breaking things down into monthly, and even daily tasks, is a tried and tested way of making progress.

I will blog after completion of each one of these and then publish an end of the month report to see what I did and did not do, and what I’ve learned. I’m excited, as always, to see the result of my focus and planning.