"This is my experience on using the New York Times best seller, "One Year To An Organized Life" by Regina Leeds to enhance my quality of life and establish lifestyle routines. I admire her take on getting organized one week and one area at a time because I thrive on achieving little accomplishments in moments. I hope this inspires you to get the book, follow along, and establish your own lifestyle routines as well!" - Cheli Njoku/The Cheli Experience LLC
First Step
• Invest in a Calendar/Planner
I’m currently using My Next 90 Days Planner and it actually works great with the weekly exercises on One Year To An Organized Life. You can also use your smart phone calendar, or if you are creative, buy a binder and create your pages and layout in a manner that suits your aesthetics.
The Goal
* Create a routine to keep your life on track
* Detox your brain (write it ALL down)
* Facilitate the art of saying NO with your Planner for support and accountability
WHEN YOU GET INTO THE HABIT OF PLANNING AHEAD,THREE THINGS FLOURISH -
• YOUR ENERGY
• YOUR GOALS
• YOUR MONEY
YOUR ENERGY
If I know this week’s schedule per my calendar is going to include work travel- which includes earlier rise, drive to airport, long customer meetings..etc - then my weekend will be scheduled lite. I will block it off for my personal detox and quiet time. I will be able to give a firm NO to all requests of my time that weekend with reason.
YOUR GOALS
Scheduling your goals as opposed to fantasizing about them gives them more urgency and priority. I use my Planner to set reasonable daily goals and challenging quarterly goals with a deadline. I either type or write in pencil because they will most likely be modified over time. Each goal has a time allocated to it based on the priority and value.
YOUR MONEY
Once upon a time I would only go grocery shopping the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month. No additional trips in between. This saved me on wasting gas as well as my energy and time. I would also only do laundry every Saturday. Once again saving coins on electric/water bill by not washing a load every day and allocating my time and energy mindfully.
Like I mentioned in WEEK 1 - changes in lifestyle can throw you off your game when it comes to being timely and organized. Once my girls became more active in sports, music, and after school activities, my routine became less and less structured and eventually, non existent.
What I’ve learned so far:
ROUTINES ARE A TIME AND MONEY SAVER
HAVING A CALENDAR TO REFERENCE BEFORE COMMITTING REINFORCES YOUR NO AND SAVES YOUR ENERGY
PLANNING AHEAD ELIMINATES THAT STRESSFUL OVERWHELMING FEELING AND WASTED TIME.
I would say the biggest challenge for me is staying on task. I intentionally create distractions or multitask which blur my focus and intentions. Pulling me further away from being productive.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE WITH SCHEDULES AND ROUTINES?
WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO STOP SQUANDERING TIME THAT COULD BE BETTER USED ELSEWHERE?
ANY TIME HACK YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE?
Thanks again for engaging!
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