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May Goal Setting

I honestly feel like April got away from me. It started off with a holiday, a Sunday away from work, and I think that shaking my routine up on the 1st of the month just threw me way off. I’ve definitely been looking forward to a new month, and I really plan to find balance this month. If you saw my May Plan with Me post then you know I mean business this month!

Before the whole move-the-restaurant-to-a-new-location craziness I had a wonderful amount of balance in my life. After working for years to create a workflow and an efficient system at our old location I was able to change my schedule from working 6 days a week at Ninong’s to 4 days a week. Because of this I was able to focus 2 days on my other businesses and have 1 day off. It was working really well – 40 hour work weeks, my house was clean, I had time for myself, it was great! Then the move was a reality. And life hasn’t been quite the same since.

This month “simple” is my key word. Keeping things simple  is such an important part of keeping productive. Letting go of unnecessary things in my life is going to be key here. If I let go of negativity and the unnecessary then I can make room for the important stuff like self care, time with family, and intentional/meaningful work. Honestly, I have to think it through a little more to make sure I take this plan into action this month but I know for sure a few things need to happen.

  1. Create and document a new work flow for Ninong’s.
  2. Train managers and employees on new systems.
  3. Block out my time each day and focus on 1 business during that block of time.
  4. Block out time at the end of every day to plan for the next.
  5. Do something that will bring me happiness once a day.

Another goal I want to continue is my 30 Day Blogging Challenge. I can’t believe it’s almost over. It’s challenging me to create a story from the every day and I’ve really enjoyed making it a part of my daily routine.

May will hopefully shape up to be an amazing month! How do you plan to crush it this month?

Xoxo,

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March Plan with Me

I tried so hard to be ready for 2018. I wanted to be organized, I was setting goals, I was getting everything in order.

Wellllll, it didn’t happen the way I planned.

All of my time, literally, all of my time revolved around Ninong’s since November. I was working an average of 14 hours a day, sometimes 18 hours a day. I barely had time to eat, let alone drink water! So bad, not something I’m proud of. I’m sharing to show how bad my work-a-holic “ism” was. I know for a fact that if I made time to prioritize and organize my days things would have gone a lot better. But I didn’t. I couldn’t get myself to look at work when I got home. I was already thinking about it so why apply myself to write things down? Stupid me.

So November passed, December did too, there went January, finally here comes February and I was able to get myself together. I’m able to walk away from this month with my feet planted on the ground. I’m finally starting to feel like my old self again!

This upcoming month is exciting for me! With all the ch-ch-ch-changes I’ve been going through personally and professionally I’ve learned so much about myself, what I can endure, and what I can become if I apply myself. So March’s theme is “Restart.” If I want my 2018 Word of the Year is “build” then I have to get back to the point where I feel like I have something to build upon.

That being said, March is when I’m going to start fresh! I may be late to start my goals by 2 months but at least I’m starting. Like Lara Casey (author, successful business woman, mom, and beautiful soul) says, “There’s nothing special about January.” 

Original Artwork by Lara Casey

And for me, this couldn’t be more true. I’m not going to beat myself up about what I haven’t done. I’m going to celebrate what I have done and try to grow from here.

First thing is get organized. I need to get myself to where I was at the end of 2017 with my productivity. The best way to do that is to just jump back into my productivity tools – Todoist, Evernote, and my planner. I want to start the small little habits that made a big difference with my organization.

  1. Open Todoist, Evernote, and my planner 1st thing in the morning.
  2. Have a notepad or my cell phone nearby so I can jot down random thoughts.
  3. Update Todoist, Evernote during in the middle of the day and at the end of the day.

You won’t believe the difference these 3 steps have made in my productivity.

Next on the list is to prioritize. When you have a long list of things to do it’s easy to get cross eyed or stressed about it. When this happens to me personally I don’t get motivated to work because I’m overwhelmed before I even began! What I do to help with prioritizing different aspects of my life is to set things for certain days. For example, when it comes to cleaning I prefer to do it on my day off since it takes a good amount of time. That means priority for Mondays is cleaning. Another example is weekends are very busy for Ninong’s so my priority, naturally, is the restaurant on Saturdays and Sundays. This means, I’m going to schedule most of my cleaning tasks on Mondays as well as the bulk of my Ninong’s tasks only when I’m there.

Last thing for this month is to find balance. If you know me you know I’m everywhere. I guess it’s because I have so much going on that I become really scatterbrained. If you also know me then you know not only am I scatterbrained but I also am a major work-a-holic. I live and breathe business, I love everything about it so I have a habit of taking my work home. But this has to stop! When I say I’m done for the day then I really want to be done. That way I have time to give to my husband, family, friends, and to myself without feeling guilty.

Cheers to a productive, blessed, and successful month!

xoxo,

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Word for 2018

Happy new year, Friends!

If you‘be been following me around in the last couple years you’ll now that ever year I choose a word the sets the tone for the upcoming 12 months. Last year, my word of the year was “Forward” and the year definitely lived up to its name.

In 2017 I laid a foundation for the current year. A lot of work had been done in 2017 to hopefully make 2018 the best year yet!

I’ve been thinking about what my word for 2018 would be for months now. I know this might seem silly but it’s a big deal to me. I just feel like it’s really important for me to have a running theme. Before I reveal my word for 2018 I’d like to lay a little bit of back story on how I chose it.

In October and November I reflected extensively on the past year. I set my goals based on what I have accomplished, what I didn’t get to cross off my list, and the foundation I set for the upcoming years. Because of that, I realized that this year’s word for 2018 is BUILD.

* I want to build a happy family with my husband

* I want to build successful businesses

* I want to build my relationship with God and involve Him in everything I do

* I want to build relationships with people

* I want to build confidence in myself

What is your word for the year?

Xoxo,

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