Just like that, the first month of the new year is almost over. How time has flown by in some respects. How slow it has been in others. As we found out the final days, I thought it best to check in with myself to see how I tracked against the focus points I gave myself at the start of the year.
To recap, here was what I wanted to focus on:
- More in depth blog posts – whilst shorter daily posts have helped to form new habits, they are not ultimately where I want to end up. As such I need to modify my habit so I continue to write daily – and use this time to build out a longer form post for the website
- Launch the podcast – I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while, so it’s time to just bite the bullet and make it happen (but first, a shave and haircut)
- Do weekly podcast episodes – not set length of time is required, but it needs to happen weekly
- Stretch out in the evenings too – keep the body in focus
- Wedding venue booked, guest lists drafted, things happening
- Keep the momentum going on everything else
This is the point where I make a confession. After I wrote my original blog post, I remembered what I wanted to focus on for a few days, and then, the thoughts just left my mind. It wasn’t front of centre. The big takeaway for me is to build a foundation so when I set goals, I have them pop up, and I scheduled and remind myself about them. Luckily, these were goals which did naturally happen, although I wasn’t reminding or thinking that there were the focus goals. If they weren’t items I was already working on, I daresay it would have been a different outcome.
What you might have guessed reading all of that, is that I did meet my focus goals. YAY! One chocolate mint cookie for Trav. Although maybe not, there is a wedding coming up in a few months 😛
I blogged more regularly and increased the depth, started a podcast, stretched in the evenings (although this was a bare minimum dealt with myself – five minutes), booked a venue, got invitations printed and ordered, and kept things going in my daily and professional life.
All in all, a bit of a win. Now, we need to focus on the learnings.
I need to come up with a system or way to build these focus items into daily life.
Without putting too much thought at this stage, it seems natural to use the systems that are already working for me – to build into the morning or evening routine, and/or to use the reminders app to schedule regular recurring time to do something. This naturally worked well for the blog posts, as I did create a new recurring reminder each day, blog. However, for the podcast, my reminder was a one off that I kept pushing back, and was vague. Record an introduction podcast. Not helpful. The vagueness was fine for the blog because WordPress allows for drafts, so I could tap away each day and build out an article. For record a podcast though, I need a folder/document/something to build out my ideas and plan. The first episode was okay in the end, although there is a lot of room for improvement. Part of the this is just being new at something. Part is not being fully prepared. I was also not happy with how willing I was to keep pushing the podcast back. It was almost a default response. Reminder pops up. Open remind app. Move reminder a few days forward. Repeat. Sadface.
Now the focus also moves towards February. What else do we introduce, it anything? How do I keep the momentum of the new things of January going? This is on my mind this week.
One way to tackle this has been for me to review the productivity systems I use in my personal life – a combination of calendar, reminders, and notes. Saturday I have scheduled a morning to
- review February
- make time to block out times throughout the month
- review my reminders – the content and the times they appear
- evaluate my morning and evening routines
- check in if my work hours work with this – e.g. do I want a later start so I have more morning time?
That’s the plan in a nutshell. We’ll see how it goes