about Motivation
Dear #sustainabilitycommunity today i would like to present my ideas how to get your motivation for 2019, some of them i already apply in my daily life but on some i also need to work. Let's see this list as a little resolution reminder for the year 2019 and check at the end of the year if i worked on every single point or not....
1. ORGANIZATION & ROUTINES
I really struggle with the lack of the former in my life. There is no routine in my job and no weeks are the same but I am working towards getting more routine for 2019 to enable me to be more organized.
I recognized that i have different routines on working days and on weekends. So for the future i first will try to routinize my weekends for example seat 20minutes on the sofa with my morning drink of choice to put my thoughts in place for the day a head. I am already working with the Productivity Planner but i don't have an exact time to fill it out. Same for my readings on weekends i read a magazine per day strictly after breakfast and some pages from a book. In future i will try to get more routines in this habits.
Both my fiancee and I have just as hectic schedules as each other and a lot of the time we don't know where each other are so whilst we are attempting to streamline our lives a little more in 2019 we've got a cute little weekly black board planner. We each have a coloured chalk pen and fill in every Sunday, what we are doing that week and where we are going to be. It makes planning date nights or duvet days much easier as well as planning meal times together.
2. TIPS FOR EARLY MORNINGS
I am someone who needs 8 full hours of sleep. I know that if I go to bed after midnight, it's slim to no chance that I will be able to get up early so in 2019 i try to get to bed before them.
Early morning sport sessions really helped me get up because I had a purpose. In the past I got my workout gear ready the night before so I can just slip it on ready to go! Then i had to stop sports for different reasons and now i am trying to figure out what kind of sports will work for me and my job.
Have a wake up routine - i will try to use the 6 minute journal to have a morning and a bed time routine. It also helps to reflect your life and to analyze your habits. Check out for more information: The Five Minute Journal
3. PRODUCTIVITY
Because i schedule my days with the Productivity Planner I started time blocking. Just planning the next day out in time slots so I can look back on the achievements of the day and actually feel a sense of achievement because in this line of work, I find I spend more time feeling like you haven't done enough. But its also just a great way to set realistic expectations for the day, and also remembering what needs to be done that day and finally, it also helps with those routines that we spoke about earlier!
Audio books:
- Anything by Sarah Knight: You do you, The Life Changing magic of not giving a F**K, Get Your Shit Together, Calm The F**K Down
- You are a badass, Jen Sincero
- Anything by John Strelecky
Podcasts:
I am currently finding out which podcasts work for me and what to listen to, so if you have some recommendations please leave a comment :)
So far i am listening to:
- TED talks
Books:
I have so many productivity books on my wishlist, so i decided to read two books per months (last year i read once per month). So i will have 24 books on my read-list at the end of the year. To reach my goal i started trekking my reading habits with Goodreads.
Currently reading:
- The Science of Getting rich by Wallace D. Wattles
- What would Audrey do? by Pamela Clarke Keogh
The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
William James
4. PERSONAL GROWTH & INSPIRATION
In the last year i figured out some facts about myself. It all started when i started my job in June. But only some months ago i started analyzing what exactly is happening to me and why. I am still figuring out the reasons. But at this time i already know, that it has something todo with my life balance, i don't want to call it "work-life-balance" because this one is ok i think. What i mean is the balance of my personal life, how many time i spend with which activities. I know for example that i waste a lot of time with unimportant things. But i need to do it, because this "unimportant things help me to get a structure in life. I am a very structured person. Another thing is, that i invest to less time in myself and people. I am not a kind of woman who visits the beauty saloon every week but i think i should go more often. Once i had a facial treatment some month ago and i enjoyed it very much because i knew i took the time for myself and relaxed. So i need to find a structure how to deal with myself and how to organize my life more to have more space for my friends and family.
Another topic which can help or destroy you is social media. When you spend too much time on social media it means that you may have a personal depression. And i think it is true. I remember being so happy, that i just had no time and even did not feel like checking instagram or making pictures. This was a short time i very enjoyed but now i am in a mood of checking Instagram every hour. Which means i am not as happy as i could be.
My way to help myself is to set limits:
There is a function on your phone where you can set limits and time frames for using your phone and social apps. Now I can't use social media between certain times of the night or before I'm up and ready in the morning and I'm only allowed a set amount of time per day on specific apps to prevent unnecessary scrolling that only wastes time and decreased productivity. I'm also streamlining who I follow and my own content to ensure social media is a happy positive space. I like to see the reality of peoples lives but I also use social media as a place to lift me up, I love seeing people do well and be happy so keeping negativity off my feeds is a really important part of my 2019 social media strategy! I need Instagram to inspire me and will use it in a more inspirational way instead of feeling jealous or sth like this.
And a quick tipp for 2019: whenever you are upset don't listen to sad songs, create a happy mood playlist and listen to it whenever you can!
Cheers, Ann
Photo credits:
https://www.intelligentchange.com/products/the-productivity-planner
