I indulge whole-heartedly in the optimism that comes with the fresh start of a new year. This year is no exception, and if anything, I feel more ready to attack my new list of resolutions than ever before. I feel that we are all at risk of diving into new year's resolutions so deeply that they don't withstand the test of time, and before we know it everyone is scrambling around at Lent to give up the indulgences that they only just swore off as the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2012. But, by creating a plan that not only includes what you are going to do but also answers the how and the when, in addition to identifying the barriers that prevented the attainment of this goal in the past, I think we have a much better shot at having success.
If anything, I am looking at my resolutions this year as a refinement of my goals, the goals that I have always had, but in all honesty have never seriously acted upon. One day, I will be sitting on the couch and will realize that 30 years have gone by without me ever doing these things. That is my fear. We only live once, and if not now, then when?
I like to plan, and for years have always had some type of a planner at my side. Often they were Franklin Covey planners, either stand-alone wirebound books or refill pages to go inside my fancy Franklin binder from years past. Last year I really liked my system (a wirebound one-page-per-day book that had the perfect layout for my needs), but when I went on to Franklin Covey's site a few weeks ago, I was shocked to learn that they had discontinued it! How did I learn this? Well, I was dorky enough to utilize Franklin's online message system with one of their employees. Yup. When I replied, "Oh no! That is horrible!", some dude in Franklin's customer service center was probably like, this lady needs a life.
This is where I am interested in your input, because I am taking a big plunge. Because I couldn't find a suitable alternative Franklin planner system, I am going ALL-ELECTRONIC with my planning this year! Yes- no paper. No hand-written lists, no flipping through a dog-earred calendar. Instead, I am sticking with iCal through Apple, and I downloaded a "to do" app the other day called Toodledo. So far, I like it, and I think it will serve its purpose for me. It is a website in addition to an app, so all my organizational needs will cross all platforms where I need them- on my work computer, my ipad, and my iphone. You can integrate iCal into Toodledo, and it is on someone's "Honey Do" list to get me set up with that. :-)
Anyways, I have this new planning system, and I know I want to work on these goals. So to start off the new year, I have developed a plan for how to integrate these changes into my daily life. For example, Jim and I have a subscription to Top Chef University that expires at the beginning of summer that we've been sitting on for several months. To avoid having life carry it by, it is now on our schedule for every Friday night (Yes, Fridays. Guys, we are boring now, remember?). And that is basically how I am going about attacking my other tasks. They're getting scheduled. No more of this, "whenever I have time" stuff, because that will never happen. Let's be honest!
If you made any New Year's resolutions, good luck! I'd love to hear how you plan to implement them. I figure that any and all peer support with these things can't be bad!
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