Thoughtful Thursday: New Year's Resolution Check-in
Hello, Lovelies!How was the first week of New Year's resolutions? Everyone charging along, or is anyone else feeling a little overwhelmed by it, like me?I planned for over a month and was sure I had gotten it right this year. Lol. I started early on my Resolutions, and so technically I am more than a week in, but this week I tried something a little different than I have been doing the last few "practice weeks" to try and really get stuff done.I scheduled all my tasks in Google Calendar. A nice reminder to switch tasks, right?This week was Bananas! I am totally channeling Angela from the office today.I think this is the point where a lot of people give up on their resolutions. (Not week one, but the point where they start feeling overwhelmed.)Giving up isn't the answer to this problem though. The answer is to look at what I can do to tweak my goals.See, I have so much on my plate right now that in order for me to work on everything each day, I was scheduling 1 hour blocks of "work time." Which, when you have 12 projects you need to be working on, is not very practical.
This is just a sample of what my calendar looks like! And it goes from 7 AM to 8 pm Every. Single.Day.That is an insane plan. I have no down time. I have no room for contingencies. So when things came up (As they invariably do) and I had to move some of my scheduled stuff, I ended up working until 11 or later every night.No wonder I can't get better. (Stupid, cold! *Glares angrily at NyQuil and Dayquil for failing her. Sniffles*)My husband and I spent a good 30 minutes during dinner discussing what I can do differently because I can't do another week like this, let alone another month.The struggle is that everything on that list is important. Everything needs to be done. And worse, it all has top priority in order for me to achieve my goals. I am over-scheduled.I know this. I know that part of the 90 day work year is that I should only have 3-5 things going at one time... and when I planned my goals, I do only have 3-5... Unfortunately, those three to five goals have a dozen tasks underneath them that all kind of need to simultaneously be happening.So I can't cut anything out. But I can schedule my time better. Instead of trying to work on every single thing every single day, I am going to schedule three things each day and rotate days. Kind of like going back to college! This way I am not changing gears every hour (Which totally didn't happen, not even on the first day. Silly, Heidi, what were you thinking!)That way every task is getting worked on, and getting priority time, but I am not feeling so overwhelmed.I am also doing a hard cut off at 8 pm. Get ready for bed, read a chapter and lights out. This whole burning the candle at both ends just cannot keep happening. It's fine for short bursts, but it cannot be the norm. My brain is already starting to suffer and I am not as effective.I also need to be better about respecting my time. I dropped things several times this week to help other people. And although that is a good thing, and I do not regret doing it at all, and several of those things did help me as well; I still need to be better about capping that. This is a crazy time for everyone. But I need to be better about saying, "I'm sorry you're hurting, but I can only give you 30 minutes to talk." "I understand you're swamped. I am too. I can only do this thing to help you."Now to stick to those goals!How are your resolutions going? Feeling overwhelmed? Feeling not quite challenged enough? Let us know in the comments below!Until next time,Keep Reading!
This is just a sample of what my calendar looks like! And it goes from 7 AM to 8 pm Every. Single.Day.That is an insane plan. I have no down time. I have no room for contingencies. So when things came up (As they invariably do) and I had to move some of my scheduled stuff, I ended up working until 11 or later every night.No wonder I can't get better. (Stupid, cold! *Glares angrily at NyQuil and Dayquil for failing her. Sniffles*)My husband and I spent a good 30 minutes during dinner discussing what I can do differently because I can't do another week like this, let alone another month.The struggle is that everything on that list is important. Everything needs to be done. And worse, it all has top priority in order for me to achieve my goals. I am over-scheduled.I know this. I know that part of the 90 day work year is that I should only have 3-5 things going at one time... and when I planned my goals, I do only have 3-5... Unfortunately, those three to five goals have a dozen tasks underneath them that all kind of need to simultaneously be happening.So I can't cut anything out. But I can schedule my time better. Instead of trying to work on every single thing every single day, I am going to schedule three things each day and rotate days. Kind of like going back to college! This way I am not changing gears every hour (Which totally didn't happen, not even on the first day. Silly, Heidi, what were you thinking!)That way every task is getting worked on, and getting priority time, but I am not feeling so overwhelmed.I am also doing a hard cut off at 8 pm. Get ready for bed, read a chapter and lights out. This whole burning the candle at both ends just cannot keep happening. It's fine for short bursts, but it cannot be the norm. My brain is already starting to suffer and I am not as effective.I also need to be better about respecting my time. I dropped things several times this week to help other people. And although that is a good thing, and I do not regret doing it at all, and several of those things did help me as well; I still need to be better about capping that. This is a crazy time for everyone. But I need to be better about saying, "I'm sorry you're hurting, but I can only give you 30 minutes to talk." "I understand you're swamped. I am too. I can only do this thing to help you."Now to stick to those goals!How are your resolutions going? Feeling overwhelmed? Feeling not quite challenged enough? Let us know in the comments below!Until next time,Keep Reading!
date
newest »
newest »
Sorry to hear your NYR aren't going the way you expected. Don't give up, just re-strategize! I believe in you! And I totally feel the holding up the halt sign! It is tough, but necessary sometimes.
Thanks for the comment!
I used to be a helper. And people took advantage of that. I learned to say No... and it's been okay. You can do it! You've such a giving person, it's hard to hold the Halt hand up and turn people away.