June’s Addition of Affirmations, centered around the summer season in the northern hemisphere. This affirmation track evokes the feelings of the end of the school year, firefly sightings, the warm breeze. Evenings around a fire. And other summery scenes which allow us to enjoy the season!
Welcome everyone! As we are about to end the month of September 2021, it comes with the realization that this year has flow by. I’m wondering what has been your experience? Has this been a celebration type year? I know a few people who were {read more}
Simply put, this year has had a handful of twists and unexpected turns. Whilst I do enjoy roller coasters (they tickle me and I laugh and laugh), I’d rather not experience anything similar in real life. However, as we all know, rarely do things go just as we planned. When looking back, I typically can see the silver lining. But, in the moment of the surprising news or going through what only time can solve, life can feel rather icky.
During these unsettling times, I personally tend to veer away from my routines; forgetting my good habits. Most often, I want to take some sort of action. Typically these actions are healthy distractions. For example, cleaning the house, updating rooms and moving furniture around.
This is all well and good until a month has passed without progress on my actual goals. Funny enough, a few years back, to my huge surprise, a quiz I took at work told me I was lacking in focus. At this exact moment, as I write this, I realize perhaps why my results appeared as they did.
Anyway! This past weekend, the awareness that I was avoiding true quiet time with myself came over me. This resulted in the ah-ha moment of where some (not all) of my recent anxiety was stemming from. (Quiet time defined as no school work, no books, no movies, no texting. In other words, I hadn’t recently sat down and really looked over the last few months and the months to come.)
I sincerely hope you find this as funny as I do. Upon my realization, I thought to myself, “Rose, you literally write a blog about this… take your own advice.” And that is exactly what I did. Taking out a pen and paper, I went back through all my blog posts. The two I found most helpful were:
Upon reviewing all of my previous posts and fixing some grammatical errors, I sat down again with my original four goals. A check-in was long overdue. Below is a brief summary by focus area on where I intend to go starting today.
First thing I’m doing is establishing a new morning routine and sticking to it! The second thing is focusing on self-care and the healing of my face (if you missed that update you can find it here). Thirdly, there is a bunch going on daily with my career and I also want to continue to grow my blog.
My last item is about my hobbies. In a future blog I’d like to break this one down further. The reason being, is that I recently rediscovered a previous hobby. A hobby that takes me into my flow state. For so long I think I was unconsciously denying myself of this pleasure. Otherwise, I also want to try something new soon!
So, now it’s time to do your own check-in. How is your year going compared to the original plan? Have the months progressed in a way you thought they might? Are there any actions you can take today to get things back on track? (Even if it is as simple as re-establishing your goals?)
Potentially it is time to sit and look at your vision board and take it all in again! This small exercise helped me to remember where my mind was at as 2020 was coming to a close. There were SO MANY unknowns with the state of our nation, COVID, and so much more on a personal level.
Or maybe, like I did write your top ten important habits down and start tracking them again! The simple act of making a list helps me – even if I don’t track this each day. Having something to give me a tiny reminder of what few things I want to be sure to do everyday helps! Tracking is also a helpful reminder for when I do succeed and can check everything off. By the way ‘laugh’ is on my habits list! And if by the end of the day I haven’t laughed, I will search this world wide web for something funny.
If you do decide to complete this exercise, let me know how it goes! I know as the year goes on, it can seem like our original goals might not even be close to being met. But, I promise you, its not too late to start again or get back on track!
Consistency and repetition equal results. Being consistent is just about the only thing that will actually produce sustainable results. Meaning, very rarely will a one-time action allow for a long term goals. Improving incrementally and applying the trial and error idea go hand in hand {read more}
2020: EATING AND SLEEPING We can probably almost all agree that, the past year has been difficult for SO many different reasons. One of the most commons reasons I heard expressed was the feeling of uncertainty. No one knew what was around the corner or {read more}
In this post, we discuss prioritization and focus. Separately or together, these two tools can reduce stress, increase the feeling of accomplishment and improve personal success rates.
It may be helpful to have a piece of paper or journal to write down your thoughts.
You’ve probably seen the “advice” available on the internet saying:
Swap out the words ‘too busy’ with ‘it isn’t a priority’.
In my opinion, this can help highlight two sides of the same coin. The first being where I am wasting time and energy. And the second being where I need to set a clearer personal boundary with my time.
Last month I spent more time than anticipated cooking and making changes to my home. As a result, my mindfulness goals took a hit. The activities I spent time on were important and worthwhile, however not originally my priority.
Pre-pandemic my calendar was packed with travel, work, family and social events. Often I found myself ‘too busy’ when in reality I needed to truly sit down with my calendar and prioritize.
Prioritization and optimization of time are directionally helpful. Before prioritizing it is important to know that we are human and there are only so many hours in the day. The fact is there are seasons in life when we just have too much we are trying to accomplish. In those seasons, prioritization and efficiency might not be ‘enough’. Instead, activities need to be paused, responsibility needs to be further shared or additional help is required.
In addition, recognizing the place flexibility and adaptability have in life is also important. Certainly, sometimes, in-the-moment prioritization is necessary, however it should be the exception. If you find yourself having to consistently put aside what you had planned to accommodate in-the-moment ‘needs’, most likely something is awry.
Typically too much if this type of reprioritization leads to finding ourselves in a life we don’t even enjoy. Maybe evening finding ourselves, not just months, but sometimes years away from a goal or dream. This scary moment is when we need to get back in front of the mirror and do two things:
Have you thought through your goals and wishes? If not, make it your number one priority. Maybe even stop reading right now and write down the top 3 things you’d like to accomplish this year. My goal setting post from the first of the year may provide inspiration.
Once you have your goals front of mind, first, recognize the steps it may take to accomplish each one. Next, note down the progress you have previously made and how you are feeling about the goal today. (For your reference, two of my progress reports for 2021 from this year are: January Mid-Month and February Start).
Before prioritizing, it can be helpful to put the associated length of time next to each activity.
Now that you have a handful of smaller pieces related to each of your goals, it is time to prioritize and schedule. Priority may be obvious. For example, if you have an exam coming up – studying for the exam will become the priority.
In some seasons, priority is an independent decision. This vast freedom can quickly cause lack of direction and feeling lost. If this is your current season, I recommend completing the purpose setting exercise.
In either scenario force rank the goal itself and then the tasks within. Now is time to sit down with a calendar. Start scheduling blocks of time for the tasks related to your goals.
Tip: For higher priority goals, block DOUBLE the time. For lower priority goals, block an additional 15 minutes.
Yup – that means if you think something will take 1 hour, block yourself 2 full hours. Make the commitment to use the time scheduled. The extra time allows for a calmer pace, more margin and gives yourself the space to feel at ease.
In summary, proactive prioritization results in healthy personal boundaries!
Now that prioritization and scheduling are complete, it is time to focus. Focusing during the blocked times WILL result in increased peace, better outputs (this blog is a great example: jk jk) and a higher chance of getting into the flow state.
Just think of how relaxed you would feel knowing all of your activities are scheduled and the time you have blocked is dedicated to concentration of one task. No more worrying about what has to be done – the time will already be set aside!
If procrastination is a trait, this exercise will at the very least illuminate the consequence of your chosen delay. (Do you really want to trade in sleep, exercise or time with loved ones?).
Step 1: What are your top priorities right now?
Step 2: Next, think about the last 3 days. How did you spend the majority of your time?
Step 3: Realign the next 3 days to focus and spend the most time and energy on the top priorities. If these 3 days are blissful, rise and repeat.
Last Tip: A priority CAN include relaxing - so don't feel bad scheduling Netflix time. :)
This practice can take effort and the ability to say ‘no’ to the things that simply don’t fit. My hope is that your next 3 days are blissful, however the long term results reveal the true measure. Therefore, if at first you do not succeed, try again! The immediate results may feel good but strange. Most importantly, the long term application will result in accomplishing big goals!
The feature picture of this post is from a trip to the West Coast I was able to take in 2017. I made it a priority to stay in touch with friends from Philly and to travel outside of my work travel. At the time, I was living in Connecticut and they had moved to San Diego, California. This picture also represents bliss to me. Being near water, memories of good food, laughter and gorgeous sunsets.
Funny also how now, during the pandemic, I wish I could more easily be home to see my family and friends from New Jersey.