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If you’ve been following the Quarterly Diary Excerpts, you’ll know that before New Year rolls in, there is a very important Every: Review how you went on your plans over the past year. Do this backward glance rather quickly, unless you achieved a great deal – then it’s okay to sit and gaze for a while :-) Mark the occasion for any significant achievements. ‘Significant’ here relates to the fact of achievement, not the thing itself. Whether large or small, if you definitely got somewhere with any step, or gained something unexpected along the way, that’s significant! Celebrate it in some way. It’s up to you how. Just don’t undo it in the celebration of it ;-) Pick something affirming, like ‘dancing’ to enjoy an improved fitness level – something along those lines. Work out how to maintain these achievements into the New Year, then decide which of the other goals and plans you still want to carry forward. Transfer them to your new 2016 Annual Plan, or a January – March Quarterly Plan if you’re working through the financial year instead. Add any new plans, too. Remember to diarise the main steps right away! If you still need a 2016 Diary,
I’ve uploaded the next Quarterly Excerpt to my Store for you. Happy New Year!
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Short and sweet: Thank you very much for reading my blog this year, & I hope it’s helping you! Season’s Best,
Heidi In Reminder 34, I talked about the everyday challenges of Christmas. These can be painful enough, yet in some lives, Christmas has definitely lost its sparkle. [Sans means ‘without’.] Instead of being the silly season, it's become the dreaded season. If this is the case for you, or for someone you know and care about, I have the perfect solution: The Magic of Projects! The affected person can invoke this magic any time the rest of the world seems out of tune. Cast the spell in 3 easy steps:
After you’ve had a few false starts and realised you need to buy this or that, then write a quick, dot-point plan that will keep the activity going without delay. When the hoo-hah of the social period has blown over, you’ll have finished something real. If you have nowhere to go on Christmas Day or at New Year’s, or you just don’t feel up to the strain of festivities, set yourself an inspiring target to meet by midnight, and work extra hard on your project. (Here’s a secret: a lot of people who appear to be having a great time are doing so because they’re also using The Magic of Projects to get through, so don’t feel too alone in it.) Project types are endless: Gardening, painting, pure decluttering...
Some might even bring new relationships that make next year easier! In preparation for your EOCY (End of Calendar Year) review, look over your Quarterly & Monthly Plans to see which steps you can realistically complete before New Year. Also (or alternatively,) consider any you can make meaningful progress on before the Christmas rush sweeps in. That way, you will at least be able to resume progress next year without feeling too far behind. A key part of this pre-review is browsing through your diary for undone sub-steps. These often come as a nasty surprise when you realise you’ve entirely overlooked important foundations for bigger projects. Therefore, it’s a good idea to eat and rest well before doing this EOCY preparation. I’m quite serious. It may send you into panic mode, so you need to be fortified. It’s not called EOCY!! for nothing. Let panic & rationalisations wash over you for a moment. Then, calmly re-diarise the undone sub-steps into slots where you can truly get something done on them between those other slots where life frogmarches you forward. Now get up and do the first thing you can do right now on your own plans. Rest assured, it happens to the rest of us.
Why do you think I'm writing this post? This annual Every can no longer be ignored. Complain as we might about how early in the year Christmas conversations begin, when it gets to December 1st it’s time to quit grumbling. Regardless of your faith – or lack of, Christmas affects a large portion of the world if simply due to the fact that trading, schedules and revellers operate differently during this season. Over-extended and subject to the unexpected, we find ourselves repeatedly saying No to temptation, and thinking Yes to temptations that nobody’s offering. In short, life changes for a while whether you are putting up a tree or not. Additionally, the potential for clutter rises dramatically. To avoid clutter gifts:
For the unexpected,
set boundaries now about what you might say Yes or No to. If that fails, remember your Pamper Kit... |
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