I spent all of last week working on goals for the new year, creating content, and planning out how I'm going to accomplish everything I want to in the next 12 months. During this process, I realized something important: I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
After looking at all my goals and the work that it would take to accomplish them, I realized that I simply didn't have enough time in the day to do all of it. I couldn't run two companies, finish a book, launch online courses, network my ass off, get in the best shape of my life, spend time with my family, AND sleep at night. I'd need about five more hours in each day to do ALL of it.
But instead of scrapping the whole plan or throwing out the goals I'd set, I got creative. I looked at my pile of goals and asked myself where I could combine work, delegate things, set some parts aside, move deadlines and also, lower my expectations a little. Looking at it that way, I came to a couple of clear conclusions:
I could do a better job of re-purposing content. There's no need for me to write 45 pieces of content a month when I could write 20 and use them everywhere. Win!
I had to move the deadline for finishing my book. I couldn't physically finish my rough draft in the timeline I'd set for myself, unless all I did in my non-work hours was write. And that would leave my family out in the cold, which is not ideal. I mentally shifted that deadline and told myself it was worth taking a little longer so the end product would be better.
I need to get better at getting up on time. My alarm goes off at 5:35 a.m., but it's a rare morning that I drag myself out of bed before 6:10. I'm not gaining any sleep, I'm just laying in bed, feeling my aches and pains and pouting about getting up. So I bought myself a new alarm clock with a sunrise function, opened the heating vent in my room so it isn't -35 degrees in there when I wake up, and reminded myself why is important to get up on time. (So I don't feel like I'm behind schedule all day.)
I had to make budget cuts at home and in my consulting business. The pressure to produce revenue there is stressing me the hell out, and part of it is that I was spending too much money on some unnecessary overheads. Or, overheads that will be necessary in the future, but not now. Putting in austerity measures now will calm me down and allow me to focus on what's important, instead of sweating the P&L every month. It is never easy to tell yourself "no," but it is necessary.
With those adjustments, I feel better about where I am and where I'm going. I still need about 2 more hours in the day than I have now, but I'm hoping I can just be super-focused and efficient and maybe invent a time machine and it'll all be better.