About February
I expect too much out of myself sometimes.
God has really had to teach me how to slow down and not overwhelm myself.
Most recent example is my preparation for 2021.
Since early December of 2020 I’ve been trying to plan out my 2021… you know, make a list of all the things I want to put out there and break it down into micro steps.
I thought I had a thing going with my own virtual calendar, but every time I hit the summer time, I would get stumped and suddenly just didn’t like what the planning looked like.
Last week, I decided to use the google calendar instead of creating one of my own, while at the same time writing everything down on my 2021 Goals and Plans notebook. It started out great, I like how organized everything looked, but again, I hit the summertime and suddenly began to change my mind on how things looked.
Each time the same thought came to mind: what will I be doing in the summer? I won’t even have the same schedule as I have now.
As a result, I stopped working and just really meditated on what was wrong and how I could correct it.
I knew I wanted to plan things out. I wanted to create a schedule, but planning too far ahead in a way discouraged me because I had no way to guarantee that it’ll get done at the time I was scheduling for - and yes, I know I can always change it, but I don’t want to complicate things for future me because I don’t know what my life will look like 3-6 months from now… heck, I don’t know what my life will look like when you’re reading this.
It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t plan, but I should look at it differently.
As I dived into this thought, I felt the Holy Spirit impress upon me to try just one month at a time.
So that’s what I’m doing.
Today, I planned out just the month of February.
I sat down, wrote in my notebook the four areas I’m focusing on and everything that falls under that umbrella and I gave myself deadlines.
Now it’s just a matter of actually sticking to the schedule, which is not overwhelming - as a matter of fact, looking at it I can see I have space and time to add more things and as such get things done quicker. HOWEVER, I won’t do that because if everything does go according to plan, I’ll be adding another area to my schedule and then I will really be booked…
Since I don’t know what can happen that can impact my schedule, it makes the most sense to just plan one month at a time and leave room for flexibility.
And that is my encouragement to you.
Don’t try to plan too far ahead unless absolutely necessary - like you’re planning a wedding, or a huge birthday party or event. Otherwise, take it a month, a week, even a day at a time… get as much as you can done and give yourself grace. Grace, because there will be days when you don’t feel like doing anything and that’s okay… Days when you won’t tackle everything you wanted to, and that’s okay.
I truly can’t wait to see how this all plans out.
Every year I plan, but I don’t keep up with it. I honestly want this year to be different. To grow more consistent in every area of my life.
I want to steward what I have right now properly because everything I am working on right now has the potential to become bigger and I don’t want to be overwhelmed. I don’t want to take on more than I can handle because then I’ll get really lazy and that’s when the procrastination begins.
That’s what I want to tackle in this new year.
While everyone around me is trying to lose weight and gain muscle, I want to get rid of procrastination… For me, I will lose weight when I stop procrastinating and in order to be free of procrastination I have to become consistent and personally I want to begin in the areas I can handle right now… I would probably start working out once the craze of the ‘new year, new me’ is over and I have a better handle of what I can do and can’t do.
February is a trial period… I will find out if I over-scheduled myself, or under-scheduled myself.
I’ll check back in when the month is over.
Until then, take care.
Are you a planner?
Or do you just go with the flow?
Let me know in the comments below!
