So…how are the headaches? Started thinking about the year ahead yet? Sworn of food and beer? Nah…didn’t think so

I’ve decided that I’m taking a completely different approach to planning my year this time round.

Last year I did an experiment where I plotted out about 25-30 concrete goals in a number of defined areas of my life and listed a series of to do items in order to complete the goals. In terms of getting things done it was pretty successful…I think I hit approximately 85% of the goals, which isn’t too bad considering quite a few of them were outside of my control. The problem that I encountered was the amount of administrative overhead involved in regularaly analysing where things were up to. This was combined with the stress that hits in the middle of the year when life starts to get busier and I can see that I’m probably not going to hit a lot of the goals. That makes for a rather large lump of artificially constructed angst and aggravation that didn’t need to be there.

So, as an experiment in large scale stress management, and contrary to my normal “plan everything down to the last detail” approach I am making a few changes for the year ahead to see how it works.

I am:

• moving from a hierarchical priorities list to a wheel model that uses a hub around which all else revolves.
• maintaining an ongoing awareness of the four-fold wholistic health areas that allow me to follow my passions in a way that builds up rather than is destructive.
• using my passions to guage whether or not an activity is worth my time.
• gaining an understanding that life works as a rhythm more easily than as a balance. When I understand the rhythm of life I will be content when I spend more time on one passion than another, knowing that as the wheel turns, each passion will get it’s time in turn.
• using a “bucket list” system to list things that I’d like to do this year — these were carefully measured against my passions list before being added.

That’s a bit of a dry list, but I’ve captured it as a diagram (perfect for my visual mind) that will give you a better idea. It has more detail too if you’re interested (and yes I know I spelled rhythm wrong in my diagram…that word is my nemesis. )

In theory, operating out of my passions should mean that I still get a lot done and continue to move forward, but without the distractions of nice-but-useless activities and without the administrative and performance angst. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Click to enlarge

Kudos must go to my lovely life coach Immik who helped me to identify the pressure points in my life and worked with me to find the right solution for me. This year is going to be a delcious and exciting experiment!

How do you approach planning your year?

I’ve sort of fallen off the blogging bandwagon a little in the last couple of months. I think all of my words got expended writing uni assignments. With the silly season upon us, it’s probably not going to get better anytime soon, but I wanted to tell you about a breakthrough I’ve had in my thinking lately.

Photo credit: Ayla87

I’ve been working with a life coach to get rid of a lot of old negative, destructive thinking and behavioural patterns, and replacing them with positive, constructive, uplifting thoughts, habits and behaviours. It has been spectacularly helpful to have an objective observer ask pointed questions about what she saw to be unproductive elements of my life, and then help me work through changing those and moving on to the next phase of life. (If you’ve interested in life coaching I can recommend a couple of brilliant ones.)

One of the things that I am working on in particular at the moment is simplifying my life. Looking at each element and deciding whether or not they contribute to the ultimate direction and passions in my life, and getting rid of the things that are dragging me down. This applies not only to life choices, but to my environment too. My house. The places I choose to spend time. Mine are far too cluttered at the moment, so I’ll be spending my holidays doing a HUGE clean out and getting rid of tons of books, knick knacks that do nothing more than collect dust, the boys artwork from when they were five (I’ll photograph those instead), wool that I’ve collected that I am probably never going to knit up (as much as I love knitting, I love drawing more). All this stuff is dead weight. It’s slowing me down. Because I have to dust and clean these things…that means I don’t have as much time to build relationships with my family. Catch my drift?

I’ve removed a ship-load of mental clutter in the last month or so, and I can feel the breeze on my face as I start to build up some momentum. Now it’s time to do the same in my physical realm. I am looking forward to a much more free and simple life in the days ahead. I’m not planning to go bare-bones minimalist, but the less crap I have blocking my way, the more I can actually live my life.

Less complications.

More simplicity.

Peace.

Space to hear God.

Creating margin.

Able to run with new opportunities and challenges!

Freedom!

It’s like riding a bike…coasting down a hill…sun on my face…fresh breeze whooshing by!

The adrenaline rush is exhilarating!

Live life!

Enjoy life!

Love life!

Have you ever had a big clear out in your life? How did it feel? What was your catalyst?

I had the amazing good fortune of meeting a young lady by the name of Penny and her brother Alex yesterday lunchtime. I think Penny was about three or four years old. Alex was five.

It was the quintessential perfect Spring day in Canberra. Clear blue skies. Temperature in the low 20s. No wind to speak of. It was the kind of day that brings out the pretty flowery dresses for the first time in the season. It was a gorgeous day.

I decided to sit outside, soak up some vitamin D and engage in some people-watching while I ate my lunch and had barely settled onto the bench before two sweet little faces popped out from behind the nearby bushes.

Penny: There’s a monster!!!

Me: Ooh where?

Penny: Right behind you!

Me: Oh no! How big is it? Is it scary?

Penny: (holds her hand up to indicate how big) this big! It has teeth and goes grrrrrr!

Me: Does it have boogly eyes?

Penny: Oh yes! Big ones!

Me: What colour is it?

Penny: Purple with white and pink stripes!

Alex: Here it comes! Look out!

Penny and Me: AAAAH!

Around the end of my seat came the cutest little monster I have ever seen…it had curly blonde pigtails and a precocious grin.

Monster: GRRRRR!

Penny: We have to poke it with a stick! (at this point Penny is brandishing a twig she had liberated from a nearby bush)

Alex: YES!

The monster turned out to be Penny and Alex’s little sister…I guess she must have been about 2ish. It was a good thing she had a squidgey little belly, because she did indeed get poked. The more she roared, the more they poked her, and the more they all giggled. It was wonderful. Like music.

This scene went on for a good 10-15 minutes before their mum came to get them, and told them to stop bothering the lady.

I think that meeting Penny the monster-slayer was possibly the high point of my week.

Playing monsters and letting my imagination run wild fed my inner artist this week, and for that I am grateful.

It has been a rough couple of weeks one way or t’other, but it has also been a great couple of weeks in other ways. Rhythm. Ups and downs. Swings and roundabouts. It all seems to even out. There is much to be grateful for.

Photo: p0psicle

This weekend I am grateful for:

1. Learning: I finished all of the assessment pieces for this semesters’ study…I just need to finish the reading and I’m done! Yay! I also went to the Global Leadership Summit last weekend and got hit between the eyes with a whole bunch of great stuff that I needed to hear. I blogged my sketchnotes over here at my art blog.
2. Family: Last week my family lost a young cousin in a car accident. My prayers are with his new wife and his mum and dad and siblings as they grieve. I am ever more grateful for being able to spend time with my beautiful boys and wonderful husband…who knows what tomorrow holds for any of us?
3. Adrenalin: I have been for a couple more mountain bike rides this week, and my confidence is growing. Each time I do something a little more daring and stretch my skills. I love the adrenalin rush of doing something that scares the living daylights out of me and living to tell the tale

So my lovelies…what are you grateful for this week?

This Saturday I am grateful for so many things…here are three:

1. Holidays — This is the middle weekend of the school holidays, and I am enjoying the break from work. Spending time with my two young men has been a dream and I’m taking advantage of it while they still want to do things with their mum!
2. Flexible employer — I’m so grateful for an employer that understands the needs of motherhood and is family friendly!
3. Education — I’ve been powering through my uni assignments this week too, and while it’s tough going, I’m grateful for the opportunity to be educated at all, let alone choosing to study something that interests me. There are still so many women in the world who are denied the privilege of even learning to read or write.

What are you grateful for this week?