This past Monday I was walking the grounds of a place I love- The Shelburne Museum, only a short drive of my home. It’s a beautiful place where I visit priceless, acclaimed works of art- truly special. A room containing several Monets, for instance.
As I walked around feeling so glad to be there, I had a revelation- and cause to be thankful for myself and my habits.
This was on Monday afternoon. The day before, Sunday, I did something I do every week- planning for the week ahead. Every month I write down my goals and objectives for all of the areas of my life and every Sunday I review my monthly goals to make sure I am accounting for everything. I got to this past Sunday, with only a few days left in the month and looking at my plans, I could see that there were still things on the list that I had wanted to do and accomplish in July.
This is the beauty of writing things down and reviewing often. When I do those things, important ideas, goals, intentions do not fall by the wayside, forgotten. One of the things on the list was to visit the museum- and I had written twice. I had not been at all and with only a few days left in the month I elevated the urgency to get there! I like to reach my goals, and even though I knew I wouldn’t get there twice, going once would be better than missing it all together.
I looked at my schedule for the week and found a slot the next day, Monday, for a few hours in the afternoon. As I wrote it into my schedule it didn’t seem like a big deal. Not until I was actually there and experiencing the reason I wanted to go in the first place, did I realize the power of writing down the things I intend to do. I realized in that moment that without the prompt from my written goals it would have been forgotten altogether.
I believe that we all could use a regular boost of beauty in our lives, but this idea extends to everything we want to do. What do you want to do? Are those things written down and reviewed on a regular basis? Are you make room in your schedule and writing them into a time slot? It could be health, social things, family, experiences, road trips, museum visits, walks, financial learning and planning, community work, learning, reading, even rest and relaxation. One of the things I took away from the Reinvention Summit was the idea of having Think Weeks, Think Days, reading days, and creating days- which I am now placing each month into my schedule at the start of the month. These days are essential to me being at my best, as well as serving my clients and all those around me at a higher level.
Yes, this is another plug for planning from me! If you are planning on a regular basis, how can you up level what you are doing? If you haven’t been, start simply, writing down a few things, getting them, or pieces of them into your schedule each week. Take action. Repeat. It is a way of intentionally making sure that your life is full of what you want.
Enjoy the start of August- a perfect time to experiment with this idea. What will be different for you this month? What do you want to experience? How do you want to feel about yourself and your life? How does this benefit become even bigger than yourself?
I have a big think week ahead and I will be sharing more revelations with you soon!
PS- I LOVE the word optimize! Look it up and ask yourself, how might this work apply to me in my life?
**Photo taken in the garden at The Shelburne Museum