Inspired Forward

Cut Through the Confusion and Chaos to Live a Well-Organized Life

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Why You Should Do a Year-End Review Instead

This special guest post is written by Ron Parnaso of Refactor Daily. Thank you, Ron! Please make sure to check out his bio at the bottom. 

Each New Year’s we look forward with hope and focus on making the following year better than the last. Although this decision can be done at any time, starting on the first day of the year lends your resolution community support and gravitas. That said, only 9.2% of New Year’s resolutions are successful! The solution to making 2019 your best year yet might not lie with A New Year’s Resolution, but instead with a Year-End Review.

Ron Parnaso of Refactor Daily shares three clever steps to take you through a year-end review—which could be more impactful than setting resolutions.

New Year’s Resolutions Lack Congruency.

New Year’s resolutions often sound similar to these sorts of goals:

  • Eat healthier
  • Get more exercise
  • Save money

While there is nothing wrong with any of these resolutions, they lack congruence with existing thoughts and actions. Achieving a new goal without creating new habits simply isn’t possible—you can’t expect new results if you’re repeating the same old behaviors. Luckily, a Year-End Review does not require building new habits or systems. Instead, it builds upon what you are already doing—and allows you to see which actions you should do less often!

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The Journey to Magnificence: Week Forty-Seven

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week forty-seven: December 30, 2018 – January 5, 2019.

It’s here! The start of 2019, the last year of this decade. I like years that end in -9 because they offer us a last chance to fit the accomplishment of some goals into the current decade. Come 2020, it’ll be a whole new ballgame 😉

Week forty-seven brought a new year, hitting the ground running with new goals, and the birth of a new online course idea for type 1 diabetics!

What I Said I’d Do

  • 2019 arrives, and my 2019 goals kick off!
  • Evaluate the week as it goes, and take my time with things.
  • Start filling out the Living Well Planner (if it arrives before the end of the week).—Just kidding; doesn’t arrive until Tuesday the 8th
  • Skiing again with my dad 🙂 —thwarted by sickness

What I Actually Worked On

  • I took each day as it came, not freaking out about moving to-do list items from day to day.
  • A new guest post reciprocation opportunity showed up right before the new year!
  • Participated in Kathryn Calhoun’s 5-Day Get January Clients Challenge…which resulted in the next bullet point:
  • I’m serious about creating an online course for type 1 diabetics (and insulin-dependent type 2s) to get off the blood sugar roller coaster! Find out more at the landing page here. <– and if you know someone who would benefit, please share!
  • I began reading my new-to-me study Bible.
  • Started logging food again

[Read more…]

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January’s Challenge: NaNoEdMo

As Dumbledore says, “Another year, gone!” And so is December, during which I strove to declutter our house.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that process is still ongoing. I’m proud, though, of the progress we made last month. We got rid of a lot of things and cultivated a new mindset. Minimalism is now one of my happy places, and we don’t need so much stuff.

Okay, it’s mostly me having that mindset change. Husband is already frugal and of minimal belongings.

The first 2 months of the year are "What's Next?" after writing a book during NaNoWriMo. This month I'm going to finish writing and start self-editing.

In any case, decluttering is not for the faint of heart.

If you’re attached to your things, or start feeling heart palpitations whenever you think about getting rid of the ugly painting your mother-in-law gave you, but you’ve never let see the light of day, you might want to invest in some decluttering books and resources to help you do it.

The most practical of the decluttering books that I read is Unstuff Your Life, written by a man who literally does this for a living. He goes into his clients’ homes to help them get rid of all the stuff they previously have been unable to release.

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The Journey to Magnificence: Week Forty-Six

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week forty-six: December 23-29, 2018.

The last full week of 2018.

Christmas with both sides of my family, the first ski trip of the season with my dad, Saturday spent with my best friend, and Sunday spent taking our pseudo-daughter from diabetes camp out to lunch.

That all being said, I did not finish everything I said I was going to do, and that’s okay.

Week forty-six -- the last full week of 2018, filled with both relaxation and scrambling, seeing friends and planning goals. 2019 is basically here!

What I Said I’d Do

  • Outline what I want my author website to look like and research hosting options
  • Finish Project Management for Virtual Assistants
  • Finish the Slay Your Goals Course
  • Spend 30 minutes to an hour every day working on the Transcription course
  • Write out a detailed plan and schedule for 2019 so I can hit the ground running on January 1st
  • Finish my decluttering project by donating what we’ve filtered out

What I Actually Worked On

  • Researched hosting options, but didn’t outline the site
  • Spent a couple hours in PM for VA, but didn’t finish
  • Only worked in the Transcription course for about an hour total (not 30 mins/day)
  • A lot of work done on goals and planning for January!
  • Decluttering is 85% done

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Creating a Wealthy Life: 2019 Goals

New Year’s Resolutions have always felt shallow to me. We profess what we wish for the new year to bring us, high on the fresh start we all get come January first. But 90% of those “resolutions” die before February even gets here. The motivation runs out pretty quickly once we realize that changing our lives and our habits is hard work. 

I’m not calling these 2019 Goals “New Year’s Resolutions,” because I became Resolved about them long before January first shows up on the calendar. 

They’re exactly what I’ve called them: goals I desire to achieve in the year 2019, with a deadline of December 31st or before. My goals are split into different areas of my life, and I’m sharing them on the internet because nothing drives progress faster than accountability. I’ve already shared the top four with my friends and family on Facebook, with good results. 

I choose to create a wealthy life.

Some of my goals might be similar or exactly what you want to do this coming year.

If that’s true, how would you feel about becoming accountability buddies? Email me at colleen@inspiredforward.com if that’s something you want to do.

Above all else, my top-level goal is to review all these goals daily, to keep them fresh in my mind and focused on what I want to achieve.

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