The most important component is YOU and your ability to hold yourself accountable. Accountability can be an easy word to throw around but a little more difficult in practice. It\u2019s not easy for us to hold others accountable and even harder to hold ourselves accountable. But if you can start a step at a time, I know you can do it and start your new year feeling ready and motivated to ring it in.<\/p>\n
The first thing you need to know is why it\u2019s important for you. In my case, being organized, especially with my time management, allows me to makes space for intentional moments. Moments to do things that give me joy, creativity, laughter, relaxation; like walking my dog, playing cards with my elderly mom, curling up with good book or illustrating a new page in my bullet journal (wink). The why isn\u2019t necessarily about the results you get from doing something, it\u2019s really about the benefit to you and others. In coaching we call those values, those feelings and emotions that satisfy an inner part of us, and when they are not present, it feels like you\u2019re missing something, you don\u2019t feel complete. What is your why? What brings you joy? Satisfaction? Sense of belonging?<\/p>\n
Once you\u2019re aware of your why, the next priorities are the what and how. Using my example of organization, I know that planners have been helpful in the past, listing my daily to-do\u2019s, keeping track of my appointments, project deadlines, etc. My experience has been good, and they are helpful, so why do I still feel overwhelmed? Because the planner doesn\u2019t fill itself out alone, it requires focus and time. Unless I dedicate some time to plan out the to-do\u2019s, schedule margins between my meetings, include all of the important project dates and timelines, it just takes up space on my desktop. One of the steps I can take is intentionally scheduling time to enter the important things in my planner, really thinking through the priorities and tasks. Making an appointment with myself to focus on my daily tasks and priorities. The planner is now assisting me with staying organized, it works for me, not me for it.<\/p>\n
We all know that life happens. We are putting out \u201cfires\u201d all day and probably being interrupted more than we should, usually when we\u2019re trying really hard to be productive. This is where accountability comes in. Hold yourself accountable, by being proactive and having a plan for when these things get in your way. When the \u201cfires\u201d occur, I know I may have to interrupt my focus time, but I\u2019ll pick it up again until I\u2019ve given it the complete time, I had designated for it. I may reschedule it, but I won\u2019t miss the appointment. I\u2019ll block it out on my calendar, so no one can slide into the calendar with an unexpected meeting. I\u2019ll close my office door, even though I am working remotely, this lets others know that I need a little privacy, everyone except my office pup, she\u2019s always welcome and even inspires me. At the end of the day, I take stock, did I do what I planned to do? What worked well? What can I do differently? And then I celebrate and adjust accordingly for the next day.<\/p>\n
As a recovering organization nerd, I know first-hand, how much frustration, space, and money I am saved from, just by setting my intention, holding myself accountably and focusing on my why. You are your best accountability partner, set your goal, know your why, make an intentional plan and be proactive about the obstacles that can get in the way. And if you\u2019re curious about my planning system, I consider myself a hybrid person, I use a Franklin Planner for planning, outlook for my calendar and Ohuhu markers for my doodling. But I don\u2019t have drawers full of unused planners and journals anymore.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Planners, bullet journals, erasable calendars, diaries; I could go on and on. I am a recovering organization nerd. Every year, right after Halloween, I start browsing the sites for a new planner for the upcoming year. While I\u2019m surfing for the best choice, I can\u2019t avoid the new craze over bullet journals, desktops with white […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":987,"featured_media":3992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n