If you’re anything like me, you love planning your weekly schedule out minute by minute. If I had to choose between keeping my car or my precious Google calendar, I would probably have to start walking a lot more. As a self-proclaimed schedule-lover, here are some tried and true organizational and goal-setting tips I love that you can implement going into the new year.
Google Calendar
Like I said before, my heart belongs to this beloved google tool. If something isn’t on my calendar, it isn’t happening in real life. My favorite part about it is getting to color code the different activities placed on it (orange is my classes, yellow is work, blue is rehearsal, etc.). My biggest tip for a new google calendar user is to dedicate one color as an indicator for possible, or “maybe” events. That way you can see if you are potentially busy at one time and not overbook yourself while still not locking yourself into an activity. Another feature I love is being able to make different calendars — I keep all of my personal scheduling in one calendar, but I often put my friends’ work and class schedules on their own calendars to see when they’re free. This makes it so much easier to hang out with people because we avoid the back and forth of trying to schedule something without knowing when the other is free. Of course you can use these tips for another digital calendar program or in a physical planner, but we all know where my allegiance lies.
Incentivizing Goal Setting
Something I think is missing in a lot of goal setting, especially around the new year, is an aspect of fun. I often see people get discouraged from their goals early on in the year because there is nothing motivating them to work through potentially hard tasks to reach their desired targets. One way I’ve made goal setting fun for me is incentivizing my smaller goals. A personal resolution I made this year was to read more books — each time I finish a book, I’m letting myself get a little treat like going out to lunch with a friend or buying something I’ve had my eye on. Another fun way I’ve seen people incentivize bigger goals is writing down aspirations on different mini champagne bottles, and opening the bottles once a specific goal is achieved. Sometimes very personal achievements can seem like they go unnoticed by everyone around you, so carving out time to celebrate by yourself can help to keep you motivated.
Spreading Your Eggs Between Baskets
Another mistake I’ve made in the past is trying to make too many goals in one category of my life. One semester, I tried to focus on improving my academic performance so much that my execution fell through the second week. I scheduled hours and hours of unrealistic study time on my calendar and rather than focusing on a smaller academic goal (like focusing on one of the classes I was struggling in), I set out to do something beyond my reach at the time. Because I tried to push every other aspect of my life to the side, none of my academic goals were achieved. I find that if I equally spread out my goal-making and allot equal time to different features of my life, I felt much more balanced. For me, this looks like making one academic goal, one fitness goal, one professional goal, one hobby goal and one wild card, but it can look like anything for you.
Hope that whatever organizational or goal-setting tactics you use to plan your year yield helpful results!
