This is something I have followed the last several years - Life on Purpose. If you don't plan your days, weeks, months it often seems that before you know it, another year has gone by without doing anything you wanted to do.
One of my favorite planning tools is called, well, "Live on Purpose" and can be found at Solutions. (A simple blog with some printables on it used by a group of friends for planning). It is really a jumping point for planning your year. It includes things such as:
12 Household projects I want to tackle
Four things I'd like to do for me
Six dates I'd enjoy with my sweetie
Two things I'd like to read (I always laugh at this and say, just two?)
Three Dates to have with each kid individually
There is more on the list than that but this gives you an idea of the type of planning going on in the document.
From there, you take each of those items and plug them into your calendar so you can be intentional throughout the year to accomplish tasks.
For example, my boys are getting old enough where it will be fun to take them out individually. We haven't done that as of yet because, quite honestly, they always want to be together. I'd like to try and get them out separately this year because their personalities really shine through when they aren't "bouncing" off what their sibling is saying/doing. I saw that very clearly when I took each of them shopping at Christmas by themselves. If I don't make a notation on my calendar now, the months will go by and this will not happen.
In my quest this year to become more of a minimalist - something I am working on defining for myself and our family (we aren't raising chickens or getting rid of our TV HA!) planning is a key part of my daily life. More God time, more discipline in daily life, more family time, and, well, more "me" time for not only me but for my husband too (he works so many hours and so often just wants time for him . . ).
So --
--- That is my mantra this year once again. (Life on Purpose!)
