• Blogging,  The Complexities of Life

    How I’m Prepping for 2018

    The Recovering Pessimist: How I'm Prepping for 2018 -- When I sat down to prepare for 2018, I knew that I couldn't repeat everything I had done before. I can't do the same things and expect different results. This year, I switched some things up and I feel that I got it right this time. | www.therecoveringpessimist.me #amwriting #recoveringpessimist #optimisticpessimist It’s the home stretch of 2017. One of my favorite times of the year is to sit down and start prepping for the following year (see here and here). For whatever reason, the last 60 days of the year tend to go by in a blur for me. Sitting down and preparing for the following year allows me to slow down for a bit.

    In addition to doing the things I’ve done in previous years (see here and here), the lessons I learned this year also changed the way I prep for the upcoming year.

    Creating Theme for 2018

    The theme for 2018 is the result of a moment of fed-up-ness (not an actual word, but rock with me anyway). It’s the perfect follow-up to this year’s theme of Stay Ready. It’s one of those things that I’ve struggled with for a while now. The theme alone has me super excited for the upcoming year.

    Batching Tasks

    Multitasking has been a nightmare this year. When I’m not at work, I work on a blog post while doing another blog-related task at the same time. What ends up happening is that I don’t finish either of those tasks that day and carry them over to the next day. This is a horrible use of time.

    Batching my tasks would be a good use of time management plus it would help me focus on one thing at a time which would make sure that I finish my tasks in a timely fashion. I can choose specific days for blog post writing, blog maintenance, etc. Hopefully, this will eliminate the bouts of burnout I experienced this year.

    Planning Differently

    For the past few years, I write all of my goals for the year and that’s it. I’ve ended the year not accomplishing a quarter of the goals I made. This year, I’m being more flexible with my planning by breaking my goals down into quarters. This makes things a lot less overwhelming and I’ll be more likely to actually accomplish my goals. Plus I can focus on each goal versus all of my goals as a whole.

    Taking the time the prepare for 2018 by doing these things will alleviate a lot of anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm. I look forward to whatever 2018 brings my way.

    I got this.

     

     

     

     

  • The Complexities of Life

    My 2016 Wrap Up

    The Recovering Pessimist: My 2016 Wrap Up -- This year has been a huge learning experience. I've made progress with this blog as well as my personal life and wanted to chronicle these moments. Enjoy! | www.therecoveringpessimist.me #amwriting #optimisticpessimist #recoveringpessimistI love writing end of year wrap-up posts (see here for last year’s). It’s a way for me to chronicle all of my ups (and downs) from the year. It also reminds me of accomplishments I have forgotten. Last year’s wrap up post wasn’t as organized as I would like, so this year, I wanted to split the post into two sections: blog and personal life.

    Enjoy!

     

    BLOG

    Top 10 Blogs of 2016 (As of 12/10/2016)
     Highlights
    Lessons Learned
    • Getting wrapped up in everyone else’s success blocks my own potential success. Don’t get sucked into that matrix.
    • Everyone has their own journey, including me.
    • Make use of small nuggets of time. I can get more work done in 30 minutes than I can in 8 hours.

     

    PERSONAL

     Highlights
    • I won tickets to 2015 Richmond Jazz Festival. The bestie and I went on Sunday night, so we could experience the greatness that is Morris Day & the Time, Tamia, and The Roots. Yes, all of that in one day/night.
    • Saw Alabama Shakes and Corinne Bailey Rae in concert with the bestie at the Portsmouth Pavilion. Perfect weather for a soul-stirring outdoor concert.
    • Reconnected with old friends via Facebook.
    • Took more selfies of myself.
      • For the record, I didn’t post 90% of the selfies I took in 2016. These selfies were mostly for personal memories and documentation of my wellness journey.
    Lessons Learned
    • Be open to the unexpectedness of life. Oftentimes these curveballs aren’t as bad as I think they are.
    • Just because I can’t see it happening, doesn’t mean things aren’t working behind the scenes.
    • It’s okay to miss the past. However, remember why the past is the past.

     

    That’s 2016 for me in a nutshell. What were your highs (and lows) of 2016? Do you document them (blog post, journal, video, etc.)? I’d love to hear about it.

    Until next time,

    MsWalton