This Husband Went Viral After Sharing How He Planned The Entire Year With His Wife In Just One Day, And Honestly, Every Couple Should Do This
When January rolls around, it's pretty standard for people to create new resolutions for the year. They may strive to read 30 books, make new friends, or aim to meditate a few times a week. The thing is, goals like these are personalized for one individual's needs and growth (which is great!), but if you're in a relationship, you may want to check out how this couple worked together to plan out their goals for the whole year just in case you want to adapt this into your own routine for 2025.
Colin Rocker explains in his viral video that he and his wife Kaylee have been holding an annual meeting on New Year's Day for the past three years. "Ever since we had a baby, making sure we have clear goals for ourselves as individuals and as a family has become more important than ever," he began.
"So we left the baby with the grandma, found some space to think, and got to work," he continued.
The first thing they do? Reflect on the past year.
"We always begin with a look back, where my wife and I reflect on our goals from last year and just have an open conversation on how the last year went across several categories, like our marriage and our careers," Colin explained.
Next up: a full financial review of the last year.
"[We look at] all of our spending across tons of categories. Fun fact: we spent over $20,000 on dining out last year," he said.
Then, they do something called "dream setting."
"This is a guided thought exercise where Kaylee and I set a 10-year vision for our life. This helps us get our creative juices flowing, and it's a ton of fun to dream big about what our future holds," he said.
Once they finish eating lunch, Colin and his wife write out all of their personal and couple goals across six different categories: Relationships, careers, finances, health, lifestyle, and personal growth.
"We talk about each goal as we write it down, making sure we understand why it's a goal and what it means to the other person to achieve it," he said.
After the meeting, Colin will type up all the goals into a tracker that he and his wife will refer to during one of their monthly goal reviews they will have throughout the year. Then, they will put their vision boards together.
When I saw this video, I wanted to connect with Colin directly to learn more about this annual meeting that he has with his wife.
Colin explains that while this meeting took them four hours to complete, this annual routine has fundamentally changed their marriage for the better. "It’s our favorite part of the year! We got married in 2022, and in my wedding vows, I said, 'I see marriage as a verb, and I hope that ours never stops moving forward' — and doing this exercise helps us identify ways we can both continue to grow," he said.
For instance, when Colin and Kaylee partake in the "dream setting" sequence — which is based on the design-thinking principle of divergent and convergent ideating (essentially a process of brainstorming and collaboration to come up with and refine ideas) — they both will answer a series of open-ended questions to help envision how they want to grow and move through life as a family in the coming years.
"Basically, before you rush to converge on explicit goals for the next year, I like to do an open, divergent brainstorming exercise," Colin begins. "It’s essentially a series of open-ended questions like, 'In ten years, where are you living and why?' 'What car do you drive?' 'What do you see when you look out of your bedroom window?' 'Who’s in your life, and what sort of impact do you have on your community?'"
According to Colin, "A goal is also a representation of your values at the time, so it’s also been fun to look back (we’ve been doing this for three years now) and see the types of things we were interested in accomplishing then vs now."
As for the monthly goal review, Colin and Kaylee will make a day out of it by first getting coffee and taking a walk around Central Park before even going over their goals together.
"My wife and I will [then] sit down and pull up all of our goals — and for each one, we’ll discuss whether we’re making progress on the goal or achieved it, if we’ve hit a plateau and not made any progress, or if we need to pivot away from the goal entirely," he explained.
The most important thing to remember and acknowledge during the monthly meetings is when it might be time to "pivot" on a goal. "It’s important that we discuss pivots because, as we all know, anything could happen," he said. "Last year, I set a goal for a year-end bonus at my job, and I ended up getting let go in May. So, I had to pivot!"
So, if you're thinking of trying out your own version of this annual meeting with your partner, Colin wants you to bring two things with you: trust and vulnerability. "We don’t just set goals around making more money and traveling the world. Sometimes, we set a goal to hold more emotional space for one another or help to reduce the other’s debt. You have to be sure you’re doing this with someone you feel you can be open with and go into the experience with an open mind," he said.
The truth is many couples never discuss their future — and if that works for you and your family, that's great, but, according to Colin, having an open dialogue with his wife at least once a month (and year!) allows them to squash problems in their relationship before they ever become problems. "We’re constantly in conversation about where we’re headed," he said. And honestly, that sounds like a great way to start a new year.
If you want to learn more from Colin, give him a follow on Instagram. And if you want to purchase his Goal Planning process, you can do so directly from his website.
So, what do you think about this topic? Do you have monthly or yearly meetings with your partner? Tell us your thoughts (or relationship strategies!) in the comments below.
