I’m not big on new years resolutions these days. Resolutions tend to be all or nothing, focusing on something to do or not to do. A few years ago, I started to focus more on goal setting instead of resolutions. Goal setting focuses more on accomplishing something instead of changing something. They can be month long, year long and reevaluated as you go. Setting goals forces you to focus on the end result and making a plan to get there. This year, I’ll continue with goal setting and will also continue with my one word for the year.
The past few years, I’ve also chosen a word to represent the year.
My word for 2014 was intentional.
My word for 2015 was inspire.
This year I thought long and hard about my word for the year. I thought about what my hopes and dreams are. I thought about the wife, mom, daughter and friend I want to be. I thought about how I want to spend my days and my time. Then I spent time thinking about what I wanted to change from this past year.
I wrote words down, I thought long and hard.
The word I decided on what FOCUS.
2016 will be a year of focus.
Working from home can be challenging.
Working from home with littles home 90% of the time is chaotic.
I’m constantly staring at a never ending to do list, trying to keep Luke from climbing on something, asking AG to color in her books and not on my planner, all while a shirt is stitching out on the machine or writing a blog post, sometimes doing both. I spent a lot of 2015 trying to do way too much. Mind you, for the first 10.5 months of the year, I wasn’t getting more than 3-4 hours of sleep straight. On top of that I was doing my best to wife, mom, blog and run a business. Too much of the time I was doing a half assed job. At the end of last year I had an eye opening experience. I realized the person I was turning into wasn’t someone I wanted to be and changes needed to be made.
The quote above couldn’t be more true. One thing I’ve been working on over the past few months is picking the most important things to get done each day. Starting out my day with a shorter to do list of the most important things. From there, as things get accomplished, more can be added to the list.
I’ve stopped working at night, taken weekends completely off or only worked during naps and have spent more quality time with my family. I’m cooking more, my house is less cluttered and somewhat clean and I’ve been MORE productive with work. I realized that when I focused my attention to specific tasks throughout the day, I was able to accomplish more than I was before when I was multitasking my way through the day.
My family deserves 100% of my focus. In order to make that happen, I need to make sure my days are planned well enough to still be able to get what I need to done with my business and other daily responsibilities.
So my main focus this year is to remain focused.
Here’s my plan of attack:
Daily Task Planning- Set specific time aside for specific tasks. 20 minutes for emails, 15 for blog comments, 10 for FB, an hour to write a blog post, etc.
Weekly Task Planning– Sunday morning or night, I have a list of things to get done to set me up for the week. Work, home, kids, etc. It’s all on the list.
Monthly Task Planning– Fill in my cleaning calendar, make sure important dates are set, bills paid, birthday presents purchased, blog calendar made, etc.
Meal Plan– grocery shopping each week with a specific list. No more Target trips wondering how I spent so much on so little, only to take another trip a few days later to do the same thing. One thing I definitely need to do is stay away from Target, probably the easiest place to lose focus while grocery shopping!
One-two tabs open at a time on the computer. This is a BIG one for me. I am so easily sidetracked when I’m on the computer. I usually have so many windows open at a time, working on multiple things along the way. Facebook is the main culprit. It’s such a time drainer. I definitely need to set a timer for 10 minutes and that’s it!
NO PHONE ZONES– There will be no phones particular times of the day/ nights/ etc.
The main thing for me this year is focusing on one thing at a time.
Most nights I sit down to get something done and an hour later, I’ve accomplished NOTHING and have three to four things partly finished. I get so easily sidetracked and frustrated with myself all the time about this. This year, things will change!
I use Evernote to keep track of my lists for planning. I have a monthly to do list, weekly to do list and daily to do list. Evernote syncs to my phone, iPad and computers so I have them at my fingertips whenever needed. I also have out weekly grocery needs in a note in Evernote as well.
Did you choose a word to represent your year?
Did you set any goals or resolutions?
I love that you pick a word each year. I am going to have to give mine some thought. I love your focus, and I need to do all the things that you are doing! It is so easy to get to the end of the day and know that you didn’t just hang out all day, but what the heck did you accomplish??!! I am right there with you! Cheers to a new year and new goals!
I love that you choose just one word to focus on. My biggest goal for the year is to be more intentional with my time. Touched on some of the same things as you…moments with no phones….getting off of Facebook, etc. Good luck!
I also pick a word. Mine is joy for the year but I love your word as well. I often feel like getting more organized is in the back of my mind no matter what. I love to plan and I love how you plan to stay more focused this year. I should definitely implement some no phone zones… I think it could help bring more joy into my life too!
This is a great word to choose for 2016! Cheers to your New Year’s goals and plans!
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I love this! Great word for 2016 and I love how you are planning to work on that. I love the weekly to-do list. I have a weekly to-do list that I can pull tasks from each day and it’s so helpful that I want to do it at home too. I also love that your no phone zone plans. Last night I decided to start putting my phone down at a certain time each night and I had such a peaceful night before going to bed that I think I will definitely continue.
Yes! My word for the year is “simplify”. I love how you broke down your day. I too, suffer from “multitasker syndrome” I’m working hard to break that habit. And I don’t think I could function properly without Evernote. Another great app is Pocket. And I also LOVE shoeboxed. They take all my receipts, scan them in and categorize them for me!
Focus is a great word for the year! I love how you have set up your goals. I need to sit down and finally pick my word and plan my goals for the year. I have so much runnin through my head I need to take time to get it all down and plan. 🙂
I love this word because it can be applied to EVERY area in life!
chelsea jacobs recently posted…Spending Your January: A To-Do List for Adventuring Through the Month.
I just started my own business and this is a good reminder to not over invest time that’s not necessarily well spent. Focusing on family is always first and foremost! Now staying off that dang Facebook is a whole other story!
This is such a good word and an area we could all probably work on. I definitely tried to do all the things in 2015 and plan on focusing a bit better this year in all aspects of my life. I especially love the cell phone free zones, I’ve been thinking about implementing that in our family…
We share the same word this year! I love this “word-of-the-year” thing. I have recently discovered this and I think it is a great way to stay on track with my goals every year. Great post, very inspiring!
LOVE this idea! I need to focus more too….like big time. I also like the idea of no phone! I need to work on that one for sure!
We pick a word every year for our family too!! I just love it! Love that you picked “focus”… I could definitely use a little more of that in my life too!!!
I love this!! I love that you have a clear plan and outline on what you need to do to achieve your goal. I love the idea of only having 2 tabs open! That’s life-changing! I say that as I have 6 open on this page and another 8 open in a different browser. Ugh. My life could use some focus too!
Great word to use. I had a year that I used focus. I like the structuring of your focused tasks.
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Thank you, hopefully they’ll help!
GREAT word my friend – and i feel you with being so busy and losing focus!! Only 1-2 tabs open?? Wow! I never do that either!! Good luck – you have already achieved so much and have done so well x
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Thank you so much!
I love your word and how you already have a plan of action to make this happen! I am a work at home mom, too. Mason is in Kindergarten this year so 6 hours of the day I am alone, but he and one of his little friends is here for the latter part. I definitely have to keep my focus both on work and watching two five year old rambunctious boys!
OH my goodness, I can’t imagine having two wild boys at home!