Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
Getting the peace you want is about two things: knowing what you want to do and then getting it done.
I like to accomplish things, lots of things, too many things, and end up completely overwhelmed – sound familiar?
Before you start working you need to know what it is you want to achieve – you have to be deliberate. But it’s not enough to just know what you want to do, you actually have to act with determination to make it happen.
You need both determination to get things done and you need to be deliberate about what it is you are working so hard to achieve.
Deliberate determination is knowing what you want (deliberate) and having the courage to do it (determination). It is the key to banishing overwhelm.
I’m a big fan of planning and read a lot of books related to figuring out what to do to be at peace. I wrote a bunch of posts about how to make it all happen without losing your mind.
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Ignore the Top Three Tasks Box
What using the top three tasks framework really does to your life and what to do instead to make your life run the way you want it to.
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Why planning is important
If you’re not a planner you probably wonder why anyone would spend time on developing a plan when they don’t always work out the way you want them to. But even if your plans are almost always interrupted, it’s still important to plan. The process of planning protects you from the unpredictable storms of life, just like good clothing protects you from the elements.
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Set Goals Not Punishments
Are you frustrated that you still haven’t achieved your goal? Make sure your goal is moving you forward instead of punishing you backwards. Because being mad at yourself doesn’t make it any more likely that you will accomplish anything. Here’s how to check your goals…
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How to Buy the Best Planner for 2022
Are you determined to buy a new planner and start 2021 ‘right’? Is 2020’s planner gathering dust somewhere? The best planner is the one that you actually use! This is how you find it…
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How Use a Planner – 4 Keys to Success
I’m sure you’ve heard how much a planner can help you. But every time you try it goes well for a few weeks and then life intervenes. Before you know it, another year has passed and another planner is sitting on a shelf gathering dust.
There are so many planner systems out there promising you life changing results, that it’s easy to be overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed and I’m an avid and experienced planner. But there are really only four pretty simple keys to using a planner successfully… -
Top 5 Reasons Why Planners Fail and How to Fix Them
Have you heard that using a planner will make a huge difference in your life, but every time you buy one it just just doesn’t work for your life? Thinking of trying again, but hesitant to actually shell out the money for another failure? Check out these common reasons that planners fail and learn how to fix them.
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The Power of Routines
Think routine means boring? Wrong routine! A routine will make it possible to get all the exciting stuff done instead of careening through your day. Here are six ways routines can make your life easier.
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What To Do When There’s Just SO MUCH To Be Brave About
Have you ever noticed that posts like this are usually written with the perspective of hindsight? You are being encouraged by someone who has reached the depths of despair, but they’ve made it through and now it’s SO AWESOME that they persevered? Well, guys, not this one. I am sitting here wondering why on earth everything has to be so hard. Why am I bothering to keep pushing myself to keep trying these new things? I am so done with being brave.
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Don’t Start By Buying a Planner
Are you ready to make some major changes in your life? Did you start by getting one of those fancy planners that promise to guide you to your new and better life where you fulfill all your goals and live a perfect life? Tried it before and it didn’t work? Are you just not cut out to be a planner? No. You just have to change the way you start.
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How to Maintain Focus
Have you made a really nicely prioritized list and scheduled out your day but you just can’t seem to get it done? Does your mind wander or do distractions take over? Here are my top four ways to prepare yourself and your environment that will make a big difference in how well you can focus and get that list done.
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Overwhelmed By Your To Do List?
Everyone has at one time in their lives been faced with so many things to do that they just want to give up. The key to not giving up is knowing how to prioritize all those things so you can get the most important stuff done AND eliminate the non important. Here are five steps to prioritize that list so you can start getting things done.
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How to Chunk Your Schedule to Have More Peace
Way back in elementary school life was simple. You knew what to expect when – Math in the morning, Gym on Tuesdays and Art on Thursdays. Do you know what you are going to do next in your day? Or are you haphazardly moving from one task to the next?
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Four Steps to Use Your Energy Wisely
Unlimited energy to blast through everything on your list may not be possible, but you can do a better job of managing what you have – here’s how:
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Should Maximum Productivity be the Goal?
If you do any surfing of the internet related to task management you will end up with article after article in your media feed telling you how to get the most things done in your day. Eat the frog first, knock items off your list with a Pomodoro timer, listen to podcasts while exercising. But should that be your goal?
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Creating Margin
Just like our physical space needs decluttering to be the most efficient and pleasant, our time needs that space as well. When our day is crammed chock full of activities and responsibilities from waking to sleeping, we lose track of ourselves, what we are doing and whether it makes any sense.
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How to Say No
There’s so much out there in life to do. Some things others ask us to do. Some things we decide we need to do. Some things we actually want to do. If we are going to have time to do what we want to do, we need know how to say no – both to others and to ourselves.
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Five Steps to Apply the 80/20 Rule to Life
If 20% of your tasks make 80% of your life better wouldn’t you want to focus on them? Learn what the 80/20 Rule is and how it can help YOU!
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What is the Eisenhower Matrix?
Have you ever spent a whole day running from one crisis to the next? At the end of the day did you feel like you had actually accomplished anything or were you just exhausted with nothing to show for it? Did you take care of urgent things all day and never get to the important things? This is what the Eisenhower Matrix is all about solving. Learn how to make the matrix work for you by just adding a couple little things to your to do list each day.
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Respect Mundane Tasks
I understand. You have ‘things’ you want to do. The cleaning or the cooking or something else that isn’t ‘worth your time’ is interfering with those ‘things’. But if we stop doing everyday necessities and only work on our goals, eventually we will have to hit pause on our goals to catch up on life.
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Simple Steps to Goal Setting
Does the phrase ‘goal setting’ make you want to down a whole pint of ice cream? Have you tried to set goals in the past but the whole process just morphed into a confusing jumble of ‘shoulds’ and made you feel like you failed before you even started? It doesn’t have to be that way. …
