Set SMART PATH Goals to Live Your Best Life!

Let’s talk about SMART PATH Goals!

If you took the time to review your life last week, you’ll likely have at least one area of your life that you’d like to make some changes. So let’s set some goals. Common New Year’s resolutions include:

  • Exercise more
  • Save money
  • Eat healthy
  • Get organized (Call us if you’re having trouble with this one!)
  • Get more sleep
  • Quit social media
  • Reduce waste
  • Spend more time with family and friends
  • Reduce stress
  • Keep a journal

What are your resolutions this year? Write them down and refer to them often; you’ll be more likely to achieve them.

Tackling too much

Now you have a list of goals. How do you make them all happen? I used to make BIG New Year’s resolutions. When I wanted to start running every day, on January 1st I laced up my shoes and hit the pavement. January 2nd I did it again, because that’s what I resolved to do!

By February, my resolution (and my running shoes) were gathering dust. What went wrong? If you want to start running every day, you should just run every day…right?

If you’re shaking your head and saying, “You’ll burn out!” you’re correct.

I didn’t make progress until I paid attention to the process rather than the end goal. Instead of making major changes immediately, I broke the process of creating goals down into the SMART PATH system. You’ve likely heard of SMART goals and adding the PATH to achieving them has made them so much easier to complete.

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2 Simple Tips to Start Living Your Best Life

Are you ready to start living your best life? Look at where you are first!

The holidays are upon us! And with that comes the new year, and with the new year comes — you guessed it — resolutions! While goal-setting is an important part of life all year round, the approach of the new year reminds us to reflect on our life, and where we want to be.

What goals do you have for yourself? What’s the best way to accomplish those goals? It’s simple (if not easy):

  • assess your life as it is,
  • focus on the path toward the goal instead of the goal itself, and…
  • don’t try to do everything at once!

December is the perfect time to assess your life and your priorities. Use the Wheel to Life to review what you are thankful for. Honestly look at what you would like to be different in the future.

Tip 1: Use The Wheel of Life

The Wheel of Life is a great tool for keeping your life in perspective. It encompasses the eight main areas of life: career, relationships, family, friends, recreation, health, finance, and spirituality.

Of course, these areas of life all interconnect and affect each other, but taking a look at each area in turn can help you identify where things are going really well, and areas of concern that you may need to address in the future.

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Let Go of Negativity with Gratitude

Thanksgiving was just a few days ago, and I encourage you to maintain that spirit of gratitude! The end of the year is approaching, and it’s a great time to review your 2022 to see what made it great, and what you can do without.

Grab a pen and some paper (or start an email to yourself!) and let’s make a Grateful List for 2022.

Who are you grateful for?

Are there certain friends or family members you’re particularly grateful for this year? Spend a few minutes writing down why you’re grateful for them. Were they extra supportive during a hard time? Did they help you with something? Are they just really fun to hang out with? Putting it into words can solidify their impact in your memory, and make you appreciate them that much more. Let them know how you feel, too! Expressing gratitude for people we care about makes everyone feel warm and fuzzy.

What are you grateful for?

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I know I should have a morning routine, but how?

How do you leave the house in the morning? Are you calm? Are you able to quickly pick up the things you need as you go out the door? Or do you run around, frantically trying to remember where you put your keys last night and forgetting your lunch on the kitchen counter?

If you have children, or need to coordinate with other people leaving the house, the difficulties are multiplied, sometimes exponentially!

So what can help you get out the door with the minimum of fuss and maximum of efficiency? I heard of one woman who was able to get her and her children out the door in 25 minutes in the morning – that’s efficiency. I confess, I like to have more time in the morning to do a few things around the house before I leave.

So what do you need to do to make your morning routine easier on yourself? Ask yourself what it would be like to leave calmly. What sorts of things would you do? How much time do you need to leave for various tasks? What things could you do ahead of time?

Here are some ideas if you are stuck.

The Night Before

  • Set out clothes, including ironing them if necessary 
  • Prepare lunches, or at least gather together any uncut items – whole fruit, carrot sticks, cheese sticks, crackers, etc. – and put them in their containers or baggies. 
  • Gather any items you will need for the next day- homework, permission slips, items for running errands, meeting materials, etc. – and put them in your bag/briefcase near the door.
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How to Stay Organized when Everything is a Mess

This month we’re focusing on answering questions about organizing! Last week I wrote about what virtual organizing is, as it’s not a well-known topic. This week, I’ll be addressing another less-talked-about issue. 

Here’s one of the questions I received. 

“I have a chronic illness that fluctuates a lot. I wake up never knowing what kind of day I’m going to have. Is it going to be painful? Am I going to be fatigued? Am I gonna be totally fine?

I want to have an organized life, but it doesn’t seem possible for me given my illness. How am I supposed to get organized and stay organized when I can’t plan more than a few hours ahead?”

What a question! And what a great opportunity to talk about what organizing is all about.

I get the feeling that when I say “an organized life,” what some hear is “a perfect life.” That’s not quite right. Everyone goes through rough patches. Everyone encounters interruptions! No matter how organized you are, there will always be something that doesn’t go to plan. And that’s okay. 

Being an organized person isn’t about being a perfect person who has it all under control. It’s about being adaptable, and learning strategies for managing the tough times when they come. So what do you do when it all falls apart? 

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Home Organizing Systems: An Organized Life

If you’ve put in the effort to organize your life and home, it’s worth knowing how to keep it that way. Knowing how to stay organized keeps the clutter from coming back. Instead of doing a total overhaul of your house once it gets unmanageable, you can use the power of habits to do small bits of work on a routine basis. That’s much less stressful!

Use these techniques to build and maintain habits, and create an organized life!

Non-negotiable Habits

First, you must decide which habits you’d like to incorporate into your life. What daily or weekly tasks are necessary to keep your home organized? These are your non-negotiable habits.

In addition to keeping your home organized, it’s important to take care of you, too! If you’re run down and not feeling your best, it makes it that much harder to take care of anything or anyone else. I’ve come up with 8 non-negotiable habits to build a healthy life.

  1. Get up at the same time each morning to start the day off right.
  2. Practice self care, like meditation and exercise.
  3. Make your bed. It matters!
  4. Eat well, incorporating healthy foods into your diet.
  5. Express love to the people in your life. That helps everyone!
  6. Clear the decks before the end of the day so you’re ready for tomorrow.
  7. Relax into a bedtime ritual, like reading a book or listening to guided meditation.
  8. Sleep at least 7-8 hours a night! Lack of sleep affects all areas of life.
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