Setting Yourself Up for Success in 2023

I believe that it is important to stay organized to achieve your goals. Now, I will admit my organization prowess lies in the physical, i.e., organizing closets, bookshelves, drawers - basically anything in the home. Yes, yes, I’m the Monica in my relationship.

So when it came to setting business goals for 2023, I had to sit down and think about how I work best, what systems I had in place when I was successful in the past, and understand that this sort of thing takes a lot of trial and error.

Something I knew right away was that I am a list person. And that list needs to be something I can physically put in front of me throughout the day. I’ve learned that when it’s tucked away on my notes app, I tend to forget about it.

That list also needs to be small. If I let it get to a certain point before checking things off, I’ll likely get overwhelmed and abandon all tasks completely. I have to remind myself that chipping away at a bigger task still moves the needle.

But hey, that’s just me. My husband is the kind of person that gets things done as soon as they are in front of him. He responds right away when a bill or wedding invitation comes in the mail. When we come home from a trip, he unpacks immediately. He even assembles furniture as soon as the box arrives. Other than work tasks, I don’t think he has a single “To-Dos” list on his phone or otherwise. And that works perfectly for him.

One thing to always keep in the back of your mind is what’s most important will always get done. Having this mindset takes the pressure off of doing everything at once. It also allows me to reframe my goals and what matters most. If doing a 30-day drawing challenge was actually important to me, I would make the time for that over, say, making sure I exercise during the day or sitting down for thirty minutes to read.

Taking the time to figure out how to best set yourself up for success will not only help you check off your daily to-dos, but it will also help you chip away at your larger goals (or achieve them in an afternoon if that’s the kind of person you are!) Again, this type of thing takes some time to perfect, and remember, what works for you in this season of your life might not work in future circumstances. Give yourself some grace and keep reiterating your system until you find what allows you to sleep soundly at night without opening up your notes app at 3am to write down a task. That is probably the one system I would not recommend using.

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Take 10 minutes to think about how you work best. Do you prefer setting a timer and focusing on one task at a time until it’s complete? Or do you like to spread out tasks throughout the week, breaking down goals into smaller to-dos? These are just two examples of how you might work best.

  2. Before your week starts, look at your upcoming 5-7 days and see if any appointments or events are already planned. Outside of those events, block off time or make a list (whichever works best for you) of tasks that need to get done throughout the week.

  3. Fill out your week (or day or month!) ahead with your prioritized tasks. Make a list of smaller tasks or break it down into time chunks - just make sure you know what you’re going to do at least 1 day ahead.

  4. Keep reiterating this process until you find what works for you!

I would love to hear any tips you have for scheduling your week. If you want to see more of my weekly planning process, check out this TikTok I made all about it!

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My Biggest Takeaway from the Past Year