Mind Management Angela May

I’m Back with a New Work Flow!

Hello, Internets! Just as promised, I'm baaaaaaaaack!

I honestly missed writing quite a bit! Taking the break was the right decision but I'm very glad to be back. Thank you all for being so supportive of my mini-hiatus.

First things first, I have a confession to make. When I started this blog, I promised that I would share with you how I organized things, and that I would let you know when I discovered that something isn't working. This is one of those times.

At the beginning of the year, I set a new process flow:

• Priorities were identified and SMART Goals were RANKED
• Success Metrics would be TRACKED weekly
• I assigned different goals for every month of the year. In January I would focus on this. In April I would focus on that.

Well, here we are, in July. More than six months of the year have drained by. Don't get me wrong, I have managed to accomplish a few things.

First and foremost: I have a frickin' BOOK (Wasted Talent Book One, currently at the printer). So much of my energy has gone into this, it's not even funny. It was worth it... except that it took way WAY longer than I was hoping it would. Thinking back I don't think I could have worked harder, but it's just depressing when I think of the sum-total of time I spent on this book.

I got frickin' MARRIED. Again, another thing that I am kind of bashing my head against the wall at how long it took. Wayyy too much time, money and energy. But I only had to do it once and it is over now.  The day was great and I am so happy to have Trevor and just be married to him. (Should the unthinkable happen to our marriage -  I'm just going to elope next time )

I suffered through a FLOOD and a MAJOR RENO. Our kitchen was completely torn apart, walls were ripped out and rotated, floors were redone. I couldn't wash a dish for two months.  When you live in less than 800sqft, any little disruption makes a HUGE impact, especially on my poor little control-freak brain. The kitchen reno was happening either way, the flood just expanded the work-zone farther than we were hoping. But it's done! Done done done! The apartment is vastly improved.

These three major things took up way more time and energy than I was predicting, and as a result all of my "timelines" are thrown out the window. I also completely failed on the weekly tracking thing. I have a few things that were tracked automatically, like traffic, and other things that I've been tracking week-to-week, like chores and whether I worked out, but I haven't saved those records. I initially built a Google Doc to track it, but I just don't spend that much time on Google Docs.

When I evaluate my current standing compared to the goals I set at the beginning of the year, it's depresing. But I decided, rather than being depressed about how "behind" I am on everything, I'll develop a new way of doing things.

NEW PROCESS

• Still using ranked priorities and SMART goals
• Not going to obsess over tracking metrics. I am still looking for a way to track metrics that will fit suitably in my life, but for now I'd rather spend my precious energy DOING rather than TRACKING.

Here is the biggest shift:

• All of my goals are now divided into "habits" and "projects"

HABITS are something that need to be done repeatedly: every day, week or month (like working out, or writing a blog post, or getting dressed nicely.) Success is determined by how OFTEN and CONSISTENTLY you do it.
PROJECTS have a defined beginning, middle and end. Success is determined by whether it's done or not (1/0).

It's a pretty clear division, but when I set my goals at the beginning of the year, habits and projects were all mashed together with varying priorities.

HERE IS THE NEW RULE

• You can only build (or break) one new habit at a time.
• You can only tackle one project at a time, and you need to focus on it until it is DONE.

I'm not going to dwell so much on the "when". (such as, in April I will learn to ride my bike to work (I didn't) or I will finish my book by March (yeah, whoops.)) The "When" will always be "as soon as possible". When you finish one habit or project, you move onto the next most important one. Immediately. The order and priority is what concerns me.

So that's that.

I'm very excited by the new set of goals I have to tackle now that these huuuuge major ones are out of the way, and I'm glad to start posting again.

I'll let you know how this goes.