Welcome 2011!! (With a little Life on Purpose and Organization Thrown in!)

Did you make it to Mid-night last night to welcome in the new year?  We did!!  I usually enjoy watching the New Year's Eve shows but . . .some of the music is really getting out there for me.  I wish that the Contemporary Christian Artists did a special - wouldn't it be fun to listen to Christian Artists sing instead???  Shoot, I'd settle for some decent Country Music compared to what I saw last night!! 

What better way to start off 2011 than with a final Life on Purpose list and some links to some other blogs doing Organization challenges. 

For the other Life on Purpose posts click here and here.  Also for another post on evaluating your life for 2011 click here. 

This last Life on Purpose post focuses on setting up your weekly plan.  There are three main documents - a General Weekly Plan, A Specific Weekly Plan, and than the Ta Da List!  You'll be able to click on the documents at the end of this post.

The General Weekly Plan is just that, something general.  It is divided up into "early morning", "mid-morning",
"early afternoon", "late afternoon", "early evening", and "late evening".  Think about what things you want plugged into each square during the week.  This inculdes items such as "cleaning", "office work", "Family time", etc.  General titles - not specific line items.  Leave open blocks if possible so that if something comes up on Monday during the normal cleaning time, you can just move it to an open block during your week and never feel like you are behind. 

The Specific Weekly Plan looks just like the weekly plan when it is blank but now, each week, you will plug in the item(s) you want to get done.  For example, if you have "office" listed for early morning - on Monday, you would list "cut coupons and file" if that is the item you want to get done.  Or on Wednesday, during mid-afternoon cleaning time, you might write "clean bathroom".  This list you can post in your office, on your fridge, above your mirror - where ever you need it - to see your plan for the week.  Again, keep some open slots so you are prepared for things not going the way you planned :-) 

The Ta Da List is your daily To do List.  When you look at the sample provided below, you'll notice two sides to the list.  One side is a list of one item you want to get done in each "topic" that day (I just realized I didn't give you the document that you get this info from!  I'll include that below)  Not all topics will have something on a given day but it gives you something to work toward.  Than the other side is for all of those misc items that come up - a phone call, printing something off, looking something up, etc. 

A very important part to this whole plan is the "Dividing Your Time" worksheet.  I think I had meant to do this in its own post but . . . I'll include it here.  I would label this sheet your 2011 goals.  In studies that have been done by various groups, it has been observed that people cannot do more than 3 things.  So for all of us over-achievers that set 12 large goals a year; maybe this is why we can't reach them???  If you set goals and never reach them, try to pick the top three on your list and focus on those.  In the sample I've included as well as my own list - there are 6.  I couldn't narrow it down any further than that :-(   When you look over the sample - I think it is pretty self-explanatory.  The 6 areas of efforts would be the 6 "goals".  Notice that it includes family, work, and personal interest.  Than, under each item, make a list of the things you want to accomplish.  By doing this first, you can than plug those topics into your general weekly plan and the sub-topics into your specific weekly plan.  Than, on your daily Ta Da list, you include each of those "topics" on the left side of the list (as well as other items, as needed) and list that one item that you want to get done on a given day to help you accomplish the goal. Do you see how it works together??? 

How do you organize all of this?  I would get a three ring binder.  Personally, I would put the Dividing My Time list, first.  This keeps my goals up front where I can see them.  Behind that, I would keep a copy of my Weekly General Plan.  Than, behind that my Life Purpose List, 50 Great Dates, and other worksheets.  You can than keep your weekly specific plan in the binder or put them there at the end of the week so you can look back and see what works and what did not work.  I would personally put my Daily List right on the front of the binder so I can see it on my desk every time I walk by.  

So here are a bunch of documents for you:

Here is the Sample Weekly General Plan (please note, when you get to Google Docs, because it is in excel, you'll have to click to "download it")
Sample
And a Blank One (or you can create it in excel yourself)
blank

And a sample Specific Plan - the "blank" one would be the same as listed above
Sample

And a sample to do list (I do not have a blank one right now)
Sample

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use the To Da list and Weekly Plan - I worked all year in 2010 on my weekly to do list until I finally found something that included everything for my week (all of my routines) and misc items on one sheet that I print every Sunday Night.  I like very specific lists so this works for me but I have made up a weekly plan for this coming week just test it out.  Here is a sample of my current weekly plan - this is from back in October and I have changed it up some but it give you an idea.

Sample

And finally, just for fun - here is a bunch of quotes for you :-) 

quotes


And Organization! (Whew! almost done!)

Sassy Sites is holding an Organization Giveaway during the whole month of January.  Just click Here to learn more and link up.  I'll be taking pictures of my bathroom that I'm planning on finishing up in January.

The Speckled Dog is doing a "Kick the Clutter in 2011" challenge.  Click here to see all posts related to the theme.  She is posting before and after pictures and wants you to also :-)  Last year my theme word was "declutter" so I have done a lot of this but this year my word is "Simplify" so I will continue to declutter, finish projects, and just make our home more . . simple, enjoyable, and just comfortable :-)

Welcome to 2011 - the year to be organized :-)