I’m not a big end-of-year/start-of-year post guy. But 2023 did become rather chaotic, and I want to start 2024 with some energy and discipline. So… how?
This will be a very high-level, figuring out what I need to focus on. Yes, yes, there’s lots of theory and practice around habits and resolutions that I know but have left out of this. Steven Bartlett would say to focus on one habit, be task oriented and positive. James Clear would tell me to frame them in terms of what sort of person I want to become.
But work with me… I’m doing this initial set up in real time. Let’s see where it leads.
Here’s a list of things on my mind that I want to do or be better at in the coming year:
- Read books
- Write short blog posts/produce content
- Floss
- Exercise and/or stretch
- Eat well/lose weight
- Work on side projects
- Clean/tidy/fix up our house properly
- Declutter/simplify/embrace minimalism
- Stop going to bed so late!
- Structure my day
- Use personal todo lists effectively
- See it:do it
- Take responsibility (there’s a whole post about this)
This is a LOT. Can we categorise/group somehow?
- Household
- Clean/tidy/fix up the house
- Declutter
- Health
- Floss
- Exercise/stretch
- Eat well/lose weight
- Stop going to bed late
- Hobbies
- Read books
- Write short blog posts/produce content
- Exercise (also here!)
- Work on side projects
- Meta
- Structure my day/use personal todo lists effectively (these are the same)
- See it:do it
- Take responsibility
OK, does grouping by “topic” help? What about size?
- Tiny (< 2 min)
- Floss
- See it:do it
- Eat well/lose weight (this is about doing an existing thing differently, or stopping doing a thing)
- Small (< 15 mins)
- Read books (potentially)
- Write short blog posts/produce content
- Exercise and/or stretch (potentially)
- Declutter (potentially)
- Structure my day/todos
- Medium (< 1 hour)
- Exercise
- Stop going to bed late (see below)
- Large (> 1 hour)
- Work on side projects
- Clean/tidy/fix up our house properly
“Take responsibility” is an overarching goal/principle that drives all the other things.
“Stop going to bed late” doesn’t take any time, as such. But will mean less time for some of the other things! So I added it as medium.
What about by importance?
- High
- Eat well/lose weight
- Exercise and/or stretch
- Clean/tidy/fix up our house properly
- Stop going to bed late
- Medium
- Floss
- Declutter
- Low
- Read books
- Write short blog posts/produce content
- Work on side projects
- Meta
- See it:do it
- Structure my day/todos
- Take responsibility
That was useful. Seems I value health highly!! And while I WANT the fun stuff to be higher, it’s really not.
So we have some dimensions here. Size and importance.
I’m sure I’ve read about this somewhere. It’s probably a James Clear thing. But I swear I’m totally making this up as I go. We need a diagram!
Note: I am not a designer.
So those things in the green zone are the sweet spot. The quick, important things I can do.
In theory, side projects are the worst thing to focus on. So that’s kinda sad. They WILL get attention. But it looks like the things I need to focus on first are:
- Eat well
- Exercise
- Floss
- Declutter
- See it:do it
Perhaps, once I’ve got those better, the others will come along more easily.