As I type this post another new year is fast approaching. My thoughts go towards a sense of preparation and planning, as most people do at this time of year when we start setting ourselves New Year Resolutions and goals for the new year ahead.
However, if you have an overactive and creative mind like mine, your thoughts can run away with themselves and you end up feeling confused, overwhelmed and like you can’t even remember everything that you just spent ages thinking about as there is just too much of it! *AND BREATHE!*
So the best way I find to get the lists and ideas out of my brain is to write them down and log them in some way. To do this, as I am in my season of preparation for the future, I have got 3 items to help get me organised and focused:
- A Calendar
- A Daily Planner
- A Journal
This year my calendar is so cute, at the bottom of each month’s calendar page is an encouraging sentence, which I think is a lovely touch. However, It doesn’t have individual spaces by each date to be able to write information regarding that date. So instead of trying to squeeze everything into a small space by each date like in previous years, I have decided to split up my 2018 organisation needs 3 ways, using 3 different items:
Item 1: How using a calendar can keep you on track
A Calendar with dates only, as a way for me to keep track of where I am each week, month and where about in the overall year I am. I have chosen to place this on my notice board in my kitchen, this is because it can also be used when I’m trying to keep track of food in my fridge regarding best before dates and which days I need to use certain things up before others etc. This then ties into my New Years Resolution of ‘reducing my food waste compared to last year‘.
Item 2: How a weekly planner makes each week’s tasks feel manageable
A Weekly Planner where I do have the Diary option with individual spaces for each day of the week to write in events, appointments, birthdays etc. It also has Monthly Planning Spreads, which gives me a months overview to be able to do a schedule for my writing and also a pre-planned blog schedule ahead of time. This item will not only let me know when I am in terms of daily life activities but it will help me organise me in terms of my blog. I need this, as I have such a long list of ideas for future blog posts in my head but the ideas can get lost if I don’t write them down and the struggle of not knowing which to write next, as there seems a never-ending list that isn’t prioritised in my head. Yet, writing it down and looking at the month/s ahead and pencilling in a blog schedule will make me feel super organised but also super focused!
Item 3: How using a journal can help keep you accountable as the weeks travel by
Using a Journal is a way to focus on your goals, aspirations, achievements and stay accountable to yourself throughout the year. The journal I have for 2018 was a present off my lovely sister, it is a THRIVE JOURNAL. It is called this as you go through a series of exercises in the book to make you examine your life, set your intentions, write down goals, keep track of daily activities/ feelings and encourage’s you to really thrive in all aspects of your life.
So, my advice for starting a new period in your life in an organised and focussed manner is to get yourself the specific items that will help you write down all those ideas, feelings, goals, things to do, etc.
Your personal calendar may need to have boxes to write in for events etc. Then your diary may only be for you to keep track of your feelings or pain each day rather than events on the calendar.
Then, for your journal, there are so many different types and designs out there, maybe you want a specific size, colour or message on the front. Those things are personal to each person, but the function is universal. The journal is a place to stay accountable to yourself in terms of achievements, goals, progress, wishes or prayers.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT:
At the end of the year it will be interesting to then look back through these items to see the different things you wrote at different points in the year and see what lessons you can draw from them to then take into the coming year ahead. It’s all a cycle, but we have a choice whether we go through the cycle organised and focused, or being all over the place and confused or stressed.
I hope you join me in using these TOP 3 ITEMS to step into the New Year ahead with a plan, a list of goals, a focused mind, a prioritised to-do list and with an organised life, mind and calendar 😉
ENJOY READING HELEN’S JOURNEY POSTS AND POEMS?
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I am all about the in depth planning this year and sticking to it.
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GO YOU!! It defo makes a difference & helps get more done I think, in a less stressed or rushed way as well. Good for you 😀
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Thanks.
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im a bit unorganized and leave many things until “tomorrow” which never happens, great advice and I will try these tools to finally get myself organized and not have so many “tomorrows” on my list.
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Thats great you could take advice from the blog to implement into your daily life. Good for you, I hope they work in making all of your “tomorrows” more organised & productive ones 😉👏👏✔
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Oh my goodness. They look amazing! Everyone knows that I love stationery. That thrive journey looks so lovely! I use a bullet journal, but to be honest… I can never have enough journals notebooks etc. Those things definitely help to be organised. Thank you for sharing lovely. Enjoy your Sunday! 😘xxx
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Hey stationary queen! lol.
Yes thrive journal is amazeballs, i love it!! Search online for it & treat yourself for next year – it’s FAB!
Thanks lovely, have a cool stationary Sunday 😉 😉
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Stationery queen, love it!!! Xx
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