• The Complexities of Life

    Determined in 2020

    My 2020 goals require that I keep the fire lit under my behind. Otherwise, all it takes is one good time to slack for everything to fall apart (and stay that way). When I started brainstorming my 2020 mantra, it was a no-brainer:

    Determined

    For me to be determined with my goals, I need to work on them daily without getting overwhelmed. How do I prevent overwhelm? By creating habits.

    [tweetshareinline tweet=”Habits are the adjustment to my mindset that I need in order to be successful.” username=”irzY3n0P88iH(Ehn#F@pCiV3bViiRWon:1:1″]

    And the habits aren’t anything out of the ordinary. One of my habits is reading something (e.g., physical book, e-book, article, etc) each day. I made sure to not add a specific duration of time to my habit because that would overwhelm me.

    Work on it day by day.

    Little by little.

    We got this.

    Until next time,

    Joy

     

     

  • The Complexities of Life

    Prioritizing in 2019

    My 2019 mantra is inspired by the madness that was 2018. I made 10 goals for 2018. I was excited for 2018 to begin. Each week, I blocked out time in my planner to work on my goals. I was making things happen from January to the end of March.  

    April arrived. My productivity shifted. I found myself blocking off less time in my planner. Working on my 10 goals turned into me only working on four goals, which I accomplished. The six remaining goals never made it out of the planning phase. 

    Why?

    I didn’t prioritize.

    Once I worked past the realization, I started planning on how I wanted to prioritize in 2019. There are two ways I want to make this happen: 

    Streamline My Goals

    Making 10 goals last year was overwhelming To avoid that in 2019, I’m making 2-3 core goals that I can work on throughout the year. I also want to make smaller goals that I’ll accomplish in a shorter timeframe. Speaking of time…

    Be Mindful of My Time

    It’s wasteful to block off hours at a time to get something done. I’m more productive at night, but that’s not always possible. If I know I have a certain amount of hours to be productive, that’s what I have to work with. Once that time is up, I can keep working if I feel like it. But I don’t force it.

    Oftentimes, it’s a simple solution to a difficult problem that eludes us. Don’t overthink it. If you need to step away in order to figure things out, do it.

    Cheers to 2019!

     

  • 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

    Letting Go in 2015

    Fed Up

    In the midst of planning for 2015, I came across a suggestion that people should have a theme for the year. A short word/phrase that keeps you motivated and on task for the entire year. I made a note to think about a theme for 2015 and continued with my day.

    As always, inspiration hits me in the oddest of places. While washing my hands, my subconscious whispered in my ear…

    …LET THAT SHIT GO!

    There was my theme for 2015. Brilliant!

    For me to accomplish all the things in my mind map, I have to let go of whatever doesn’t do the following:

    • Make me happy.
    • Contribute to my goals/wants.
    • Support my values.

    Have you considered creating a theme for 2015? If so, what is it? Let’s discuss in the comments!

     

     

  • The Complexities of Life

    Trusting Instinct

    Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of writing…then backspace, backspace, backspace.

    Second guessing myself has been an underlying theme of the #30In30 challenge. Ninety percent of me wants to share so much (good and bad) through this blog. The other 20% is screaming hells no ma’am” and I withdraw. Yes, I should shut up that 20% that’s holding me back, but I let it win every single time.

    Not anymore.

    This challenge is forcing me to bite the bullet, suck it up, shut up the naysayers. I have to trust my instinct. If I write it, stick with it. See it to the end. If I want to make it personal, so be it. It’s my blog, my life, right? Maybe I’ll feel better getting all of this “stuff” out of my head. Make room for some good stuff.

    It’s going to be an interesting week *bites pen*.