I’m not drowning with New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m certainly dong a pretty serious job of treading water with them.
I have so many new ideas from the 100 Podcasts I started listening to (sorry NPR). Even trickier, I have all these new journals for starting today, resetting my mind, practicing gratitude, being my best self, and acquiring high performance habits.
Since January, I have been trying to do all of them at once with a predictable result – and I am overwhelmed and paralyzed. All I can manage to accomplish is writing random goals and thoughts on an old loose leaf notebook with no cover that is probably a high school reject from one of my (now) adult kids.
I seem to be afraid of ruining the journals with the wrong goals, starting and then stopping, wasting pages, and just plain “doing it wrong.” Plus, who really wants to have a journal listing the things you really need to change and improve? And actually be honest about it? What if someone sees it? Does this mean I have to finally start working on these goals??
I recently heard an interview with Shauna Nyquist on one of the aforementioned podcasts (they really are a rabbit hole). Her ingenious idea is to write her prayers, fears, and embarrassing goals on those small notepads that you acquire at trade shows and hotel rooms. Once you writes them down they are real, and then you can throw them out.
Usually by April 1, all of the resolutions are out the window. I’m committing to one journal at a time for the next three months, with some paper scraps thrown in for the hard stuff.
How about you? Have you mastered journaling? Have you ever bought a new journal and don’t use it because you might do it wrong? Try the hotel notepad hack and let me know if it works!
Relentless Practice is for sharing ideas and connecting people who want to make their busy lives easier, happier and maybe even fulfilling. I will share what I have learned from a lifetime in local government, and I hope to learn from your life experiences too.
Let’s practice.
Very Kate 