Productive habits I’m enforcing this year to healthily achieve my goals

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This year maybe my busiest yet!

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I have a fair bit this year to juggle…
2020 really was a transformative year,
I took on more personal projects and worked on a variety of things.

Whilst I had just had a newborn as well 6 weeks ago. I would like to still keep on track with my other aspirations.
I’m more than expecting life to crank up a gear on “hard mode” to get it all done. - This will be very challenging but I’m hoping if 2020 is anything of an example to have gone by, what was already challenging that it is still all achievable.

I plan to do this all by introducing some productive (but healthy) habits in my methods of working which I will share with you all :)

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1. Organising my duties by priority and staying focused on the task at hand.

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Okay, seems basic but for me can really be easier said than done!
I have a habit of multitasking and juggling tasks, even smaller micro tasks.
However this isn’t great for focus. So I now look at the priority at hand and learnt to deal with most urgent things first and then return to less urgent things.

However it depends, sometimes if I have all my tools out and want to get more things done in one go I will take the opportunity to do so but only once I finished what I initially intended to do.

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2. Keeping clear and tidy work spaces.

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I make a point of keeping my workspace clear, so I can focus on what I’m doing and also get things to a point I can pick them up and put them down again a little more effortlessly.

This makes me more conscious on the time frames to get things done whilst I have my tools available.

I’m often organising my equipment and work space making sure things are packed away after use or set up in a way they can be accessed easily. For me this is basic ‘Housekeeping’ of my ‘Kitchen’.
Once I finish a bigger task no matter the priority I try to take that break to declutter so I have a clean start on my next task.

In the long term this has saved me so much time as I then will be able to access anything I need quickly and more efficiently. I find it causes far less stress and anxiety to be able to find what I need without feeling like everything is literally stacked around each. I believe it’s a good mindset, additionally also gives me a chance to work less robotic, giving my mind a break from work.

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3. Blocking out time breaks and ensuring I take them.

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If your anything like me you may get carried away on working on your projects, I enjoy ‘working’ because in a sense I don’t always see it as ‘work’, Although to an extent it is, I feel very rewarded and fulfilled when a project is going in the direction I want and I try to strive to get more out of it. Which is okay to do and positive to do but there has been many times I’ve put my own space aside and this can get my burnt out if I take on to much.

However if I block out time or even give me self a cut off for the day, I will work towards that and reward myself with either rest or something exciting to do that I enjoy.

I find the balance between work and play very important for maintaining what you work on for a long term lifestyle and feel way less labouring.

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4. Meal Preping and Bulk cooking

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Meal preping is a fantastic way to save time and take the pressure trying to decide what to eat at least minute. I want to keep space in my head for things I’m engaged on and find it distracting.

This works for me because I don’t mind wasting the same thing back to back, also I tend to find dishes that can have small modifications to keep the variety.

This kind of way of eating also has helped me achieve fitness goals. Planning ahead makes me more aware what I’m choosing to eat rather than falling into particular cravings, I find this balances my life style better.

I also cook double portions of dinner, if I’m not prepping. Especially on meals I love the most and want to get some time back to myself. I have found either meal preping or bulk cooking to be cheaper at times as another positive .

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5. Calendars and Planning

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These kind of admin task I try to revise at least weekly but I keep it flexible and try not to over plan. I feel personally this requires a balance and a freedom to push things back and forward.

When I start a lot of projects I usually have an overview of what I want to achieve. I set myself key deadlines way into the future, then view it backwards how long I would have left to compete each part. If it starts looking unrealistic I then will have to reconsider that deadline over and adjust it.

Also flagging up key parts makes me acknowledge each milestone, if I achieve the first few quickly and review it regularly I’m able to juggle if I can fit in more or take on less to get things done in a priority. Long term this becomes easier to self evaluate in a more honest and realistic way through experience.

Additionally I use my Calendars to highlight my deadlines so I can have an ‘eye level’ view of all the things I may have going on at once. Once I’ve put them in my calendar I won’t think about what I’m to do until it is time.

I have a written digital calendar I mostly work of but also a planner with everything written. They mostly mirror each other.

Another thing I have alongside the planners is my social media and content calendars of dates that are coming up to plan around relevant events too.

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6. Minimising My Phone Use

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Although I’m active on social media, I do have quite a few of my post pre-planned. I’ve captioned and pre-edit and post when choose the times. Unless I have something going on which I want to jump on and share - Like more recently cute things with Kyra. Typically I have content for this site I like to post together at the same time so this is all prescheduled. This allows myself more have the space to get stuck into my creative works!.

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7. …. the “Why?”

What are my intentions when setting the goal in the first place?

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This has to do with perspective, when I set a goal, especially after new year, I question what it is I hope to achieve and if my intentions line up with my aspirations. Essentially I’m making sure everything is lined up in a way I won’t abandon the goal. A goal without the right intentions could be set up to fail if the right motivation isn’t there.

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Mixing my above points together and sharing an experience

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An example of this would be “ weight loss”

If you are looking to start a fitness journey and the only outcome is numbers related. I found it’s missing the essence to why you want to achieve the goal in the first place.

In my experience the goal is usually paired with an unrealistic time frame too

Example

” I want to go from a dress size 14 to 8 by March

or even I want to lose 20 kg by Easter! “

The problem with this it does not take into place consideration life style and the physical or mental state of changes. It could be achieve, but the change would be quite sudden to drop this weight in an unhealthy if not managed properly, it’s more likely people would throw in the towel, also has no plan to maintain the goal for the long term.

To achieve a goal successfully your must build a habit, I hear this could take up to 12 weeks to establish a pattern and make it a life style.

Using weight loss as my example a better outlook would be to tailor the goal to yourself and do this by taking a moment to evaluate what you really want out of the goal to get more to the essence what you want to achieve and how your going to achieve it.

This should be primarily motivated by doing the things you enjoy for the long term

Using my own experience for example.
I would like work on my physically and mentally health to start feeling like I have more energy to do my day to day activities, loosing the extra lbs would help but my real goals is,

“To have a body that feels strong and have more energy”

I can then start to consider other factors than just a crash diet, I can plan the life style changes to achieve this.

I decided instead of calorie counting I was going to look into nutrients, so I introduced more vegetables to improve my food choices, swapping out junk for cleaner eating on foods I love.

I had found the exercise routines that I love and want to build on improving, I loved Zumba class and dancing so I started working on an area of my body and increased this over time. I still do least favourite activities (like the dreaded treadmill) but I do this less and it isn’t core to how I achieve what I’m working on.

I factored in also to have more rest and sleep when I work hard, and drink more water to stay hydrated during and after work outs.

All these externals factors in turn will result in achieving the goal of with a better focus of what I truly want.

Only when I start seeing results I can build on this goal to see where I can healthily push for more, but his goal gives me freedom to be more flexible and accept the journey. I feel I have freedom to check in on myself once a week or month and I see the results and then decide where to appropriately push for more.

My goal is ongoing, I’ve realised when looking back at the time I can see the progress.
Sure I’m not a sample size 8, but I realised that isn’t what I truly wanted. Instead I’m holding a view that is better than I expected and productively achieved more than I had expected of myself whilst successfully be maintaining it too.

I feel I’ve been on a journey of personal growth that had all the possibilities to keep improving! My mindset itself is also productively encouraging to keep things going! 😊

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