With a new year (and new semester), comes a time for planning and organizing what lies ahead. The new start to a year offers us space to reflect and take stock. Whether you decided to take a networked sabbatical or are in a digital detox right now, I know that being away from a screen the last few weeks has given me time and space to think about 2019. Now, I didn’t completely unplug over the holidays (podcasts & connecting to family/friends, duh!), but I did make sure to live in the analog by writing in a journal, reading real books, sketching ideas, and living the beach life. It was nice to break from all things connected, as it gave me space to have a think about what’s on the horizon.
Typically the new year encourages many think about t how we want to use our time (or even take more of our time back) and improve ourselves in 2019 (here’s a list of 50 things to be your best you, if you’re still thinking about it). For me, I am saying goodby to new years resolutions and my #OneWord statements, and hello to goals and intentions! For 2019, I’m in training (metaphorically & literally) to see a few projects cross a finish line. I’m treating this year like I do for the races I run. There’s a finish line (a.k.a. completion) and I’m putting a concentrated effort to seeing my life projects, work initiatives, and personal goals reach the end before 2019 times out.
These are ALL THE THINGS I want to FINISH. This includes projects and initiatives I want to accomplish, wrap-up, remove, test out, delegate, abandon, perform, and sunset. In my professional life, I have new things I want to create, to do this I will need to finish current course re-design contracts, multiple research projects, team grants, and collaborative creative works. In my personal life, I am looking forward to racing in the #RunProject series, saying goodbye to my 30’s, learning new songs to sing/play on ukulele/guitar, personal digital audits & data deletions, writing/editing fictional stories, learning from the masters, planning travel adventures, #adulting stuff (wills, investments, and business opportunities… oh my!), and, oh yeah, Uncle Sam says I’m eligible to apply for citizenship – so there’s that.
So, as you can tell I have just a few things I want to see cross that finish line this year. To accomplish this I’ll continue with my the semester, monthly, and weekly planning in my #GetToWork book AND with daily tasks via Todoist. But this definitely calls for a long-term strategy that maps out how I’ll reach these goals. Good thing I am not alone with my big, audacious goal setting in 2019. In listening to a recent episode Quarterly Strategic Planning (from The Radial Self-Trust podcast channel hosted by Katie Linder), reading about other ideas on quarterly plans, and having a think about what I need to get done, I decided to make the time to organize what needs to get done in chunks (my version of quarterly personal planning) this year. By breaking up these projects, I can prioritize work and the time/attention it needs for completion.
Here is how I started with to map out my “project training plan” to reach the 2019 finish line goals & intentions:
- Create a vision or master plan: write down everything that has been pending, needs to be finished, and left incomplete.
- Outline domains or themes for your visionary ideas: categorize your intentions into buckets to group your project planning and figure out how you will start to craft your goals and prioritize this work.
- Identify goals (you know the SMART ones): outline actions and items that identify a project, initiative, or item is consider to be complete/finished.
- Select ways to track and measure your progress: create systems to account for progress on these goals; this can be done daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly time periods
- Design systems and strategies for success: identify time in your calendar where you’ll most likely work on a particular task, dedicate space(s) for focus/creativity, find accountability where/when needed, and add incentives/rewards built into this structure for each goal accomplished.
A few of my 2019 goals/intentions have specific timelines and some of these are already set in motion — especially the ones that require accountability from others and set deadlines. Now I’ll just need to add to my “Finish Line” Spotify playlists (e.g. Brain Food, The Social Network, and Alternative 90s) to enhance productivity. I welcome recommendations for more music. Always.
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