There will be A LOT of articles popping up about recommendations for goals and resolutions for the new year and this is not meant to steer you in a direction goalsetting.  These simple tips are ways to create a framework for accomplishing your goals in the new year, whatever they may be.

Quick Summary to Get You Going

1. Planning

How are the goals, tasks or objectives you have going to happen?  It may seem obvious, but there is no way of crushing your goals without a plan. Our new year’s resolutions are not the only thing we have going on, so we have to weave them into our lives, the resolutions will not just happen because we want them. Plan your day, week, and month to make sure there is time built in to work on those resolutions.

2. Gratitude

In Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman’s book, Flourish, he expands on his research in the area of positive psychology.  One of the big takeaways is making time for gratitude.  He suggests taking time each day to write down for what you are grateful.  Write down three things that you are grateful for each day.  Documenting these positive, reinforcements helps us to frame our mindset each day to the good, which keeps us going.  Additionally, looking back on these  ‘gratitude points’ can be motivation, a way to keep working towards those resolutions and new goals, even when the finish line may seem far away.

3. Bookending

My professional coach, Claire, gave me this one.  Set aside time between activities during your day to recharge.  Use that time, a few minutes is enough, to focus on things that give you energy. Whether it is internal (looking at pictures of family and friends) or external (chatting about something topical with a colleague), this time is critical, to mentally recover and segue into the next activity.

Resolutions 1. 2. 3. image from Greater Good Magazine.

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How to Plan

Although the movie Office Space is firmly tongue in cheek, the irony of the conference room scene with the consultants is true.

Planning to plan is necessary.  When will you plan to plan?  Consider the end of the workday, this is when you still have the to-do list running through your head and you can jot down what needs to be done tomorrow.  At the same time, look ahead to tomorrows schedule to figure out what-to-do activities will fit in and when.  How do we plan to plan?  With a Planner!  There are numerous options:

• Last summer I started using Panda Planner. The Pro is conveniently broken up into monthly, weekly and daily sections, so you can lay out your schedule and objectives at the various timesteps.  I picked up on using the daily activity planning right away, then the monthly planning.  The weekly planning has taken more time for me, but everyone’s use scenarios are unique.  I recommend starting with the daily activity planning, which will be explained further below. You do not have to go the Pro route, there are other versions available.
• Recently, I came across this smart notebook, Rocketbook Wave, which seemed interesting. Although not explicitly a planner, for those that want to tackle planning from a blank slate and value connectivity to your devices, then this could be the ideal solution. The notebook. is app driven and enables syncing with cloud services. I have not tried this product, but thought it was an interesting concept for the right person.
• Good old day planners:  you do not have to get overly sophisticated with your planner like the examples above, you can keep it simple, to whatever fits well into your life and routine.  A common day planner, available at many retail stores or online, will suffice. It is possible to make a calendar work for this function, too.  If you have a constant location where you work, a series of post-it notes, scrum-esque, can work.

Being Grateful

Leveraging the planner, leave some space each day for writing down three things for which you are grateful.  At the end of the work day, I write down 3 things for which I am grateful, then go into planning my next day.  This helps to disconnect from the moment and reframe your mind to consider the positive of what was today and what will be tomorrow.  If you are not a morning person or dreading something you have to do today? Re-reading what you were grateful for, as well as your Bookending activity can help give you the inspirational jumpstart you need at times.

In the big picture, after tracking your gratitude for a while, reflect on the things that you have written down.  Are there themes?  It is okay to have more than 3 in a day if you had a great day filled with a lot of positive points to record, write them all day.  Don’t bank gratitude for another day.  Some days, the things for which you are grateful may be small and sometimes they will be bigger, life-affirming events.

Managing your Energy

Again, Claire pointed me in the direction of this one.  Managing Your Energy, Not Your Time, has been a big help.  Feel free to follow the link over to the Harvard Business Review article and read it.

Not sure how to fit bookending into your day?  Adjust your blocks of time to 25 minutes instead of 30 minutes.  Microsoft Outlook has stuck many of us in the 30-minute block routine.  We had passing periods in school, why don’t we have that between meetings? Setting aside these 5 extra minutes per half hour will give you time for bookending and refresh before your next activity. It is a fallacy that we can just push through the day, moving directly from one activity or meeting to the next, and not give our mind some time to recover.

Additionally, reframe the feeling of being busy and think about it in these terms:

I am not busy, I am active and engaged in many things.

 

Note:  I am not getting a referral or spiff for any products listed, they are strictly reference based on my experience using them, where noted, or related research to the topic.

Office Space image from Imgur.