I get all giddy this time of year because planning is TOTALLY my thing. Ever since I can remember I’ve been creating lists, schedules, and filling out day planners. There’s just something about a well planned week and the feeling of direction and accomplishment I get when I follow through with my plan. Since I consider myself a planning expert I would love to take a moment to share my 3 tips on how to set goals and plan for success in 2018! If you prefer video over reading then see my LIVE video I did sharing these same tips.
Free Your Mind by PLANNING!
About a year ago I quit my “to do” list after reading a really awesome book called The Power of Pause by Terry Hershey. It’s a book about living life in the present moment and letting go of your rigid schedules and routines. Although I really loved this book and it came at the perfect time for me, I’m back to my “to do” lists and day planner. I needed a nice long PAUSE and time away from my overloaded work schedule, but it wasn’t something I could stick with long term and here’s why:
After a while of going about my day with no plan and being more in the moment, I realized I was becoming way less productive, my brain felt scattered all the time and anxiety levels were much more intense. Once again, it all comes down to balance. When you take time to plan, but not OVER plan, it actually frees your mind from stress and worry. It allows you to be more in the present moment because you’re not preoccupied with thoughts of all the things you need to do. I feel at peace knowing I’ve already planned for the things that need to get done, it’s all in my calendar.
Why set GOALS?
Why do you think we are even motivated to set goals? Why not just do the bare minimum and take it easy?
That’s actually what our brain wants to do by default. But our spirit was designed for GROWTH and CONTRIBUTION.
“There’s nothing wrong with living a safe life, accept that NOT pursuing your dreams is more painful than working through the fear and overwhelm that comes with going for it.”
~Jody Moore (Bold New Mom)
Step #1 : Brain Storm and Brain Dump
Get out a piece of paper and just get everything out of your brain and on to paper. Don’t overthink it, just write. Write EVERYTHING, your goals, your fears, your weaknesses, ideas, frustrations, reasons why you think you can’t. Remember, the brain wants to keep you safe and doing whats familiar. It doesn’t like to use up energy and it doesn’t like change. So just recognize this as a normal part of the process. Your brain will continually offer you reasons why you shouldn’t do things and your spirit will remind you of your devine purpose on this earth. We only get one life and we want to use it to become the best version of ourselves and to create the best experience possible. The only way to do that is to plow through the hard times and pick ourselves up when we get discouraged or feel like quitting.
Step #2 : Organize It into An Outline
- Goals: Get clear on what your goals are and WHY you want to achieve them. What is your purpose.
- Obstacles: What are the obstacles that you came up with? Why do you think you CAN’T achieve this goal?
- Create Strategies for each Obstacle: Be proactive about the obstacles you may face and come up with a strategy NOW so that you’re ready to deal with them when they come up.
- Calendar in each task: How will you tackle this goal? Come up with a stategic list of tasks and calendar them in.
Step #3 : Calendar the PERFECT Week
What does the perfect week look like to you?
Of course I always have BALANCE as a goal and when I think of the perfect week, I see a perfectly balanced week including mind body and soul. Here’s a list of some of the things I would include in my “perfect week”.
- Do something challenging and creative: For me this means writing out blog posts, doing a live video, or creating a YouTube video. It’s challenging because it requires me to use my brain and I have to really TRY.
- Do something fun: What is fun for you? Now put it in your calendar.
- Educational: I love reading all things SELF HELP, so I set aside time to read my books. My goal is at least 10 minutes a day.
- Spiritual: Regular morning scripture study is for sure a priority and I want to get better at it. I’m trying to get back to my Morning Routine.
- Clean and organize: This would actually be in the FUN category for me, haha. I don’t like deep cleaning my house, but I really enjoy organizing. So in order for me to make it FUN, I would actually get a babysitter so I can put in my headphones and listen to podcasts while I organize a room without any distractions or kids UNorganizing my work.
- Activity or lesson with kids: It’s important for me to set aside time to teach my children and spend quality time with them.
- Relaxing: What relaxes you? A hot bath, a long walk, a hike in nature?
- Physical: Of course I believe physical activity is very important and I try to exercise at least 5 times a week.
- Time w/ hubby: Weekly date night is a MUST!
It’s interesting how trying to not plan a day turned into you feeling less productive and anxious. I feel the same way. I haven’t read that book you suggested but I do think it’s a balance between not overplanning, as you said, and not planning at all. The brain dump is so helpful too. Us moms have so much on our minds all the time!
You’re so right Anna. So much going on in our minds all the time. So freeing to get it all out.
Thank you so much for your comment!
Yes! You’re so right Anna.