As we close out this four part series, aka this virtual mini workshop lol I can’t help but wonder if anyone who followed through with this project saw the benefit or, if they saw areas in their life where they needed improvement and want to make life long changes. I also hope that you’ve extended yourself some grace if for some reason you’re currently behind. Behind as in, you’re still working on any of the previous weeks. I do understand that this project is not something that everyone can work through in the matter of four weeks. In most cases it’s not feasible to work out issues within a month, for some people it may take many months or years. I think I mentioned in one of the previous blog post that the worksheet is essential a tool that you can use to help navigate you through the changes you want to make. Consider it a map for when you feel your thoughts are all over the place.
If this is your first time here, for the month of May I decided to work on a worksheet I created in December, each week I focused on a different area of the worksheet and the goal is to try and get us to aggressively edit our lives by taking inventory of where we currently are, so we can get to where we want to be. If you’re interested, you can check out Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3. For the final week of this series, we’re going to start Making Strides. At this stage you’re asking yourself; What takes priority? from the list you created last week. I called this section Making Strides because this is where you’ll start to see the fruits of your labor and start to set achievable goals. Take as long as you need to work on this list because it’s your top 5. Keep in mind, that the list should include goals that you can accomplish based on any potential barriers you’re capable of eliminating at the moment (not the barriers you can’t get to until several months or years from now). For those who need a visual, let’s use our list from last week to determine our top 5.
- Enrolling in school—-> Does not fit into my current schedule—->Enroll part-time
- Working on your finances—–> Too many bills—–> Pick up a part-time job
- Maybe you want to work on being more confident—–>Not sure where to start—->Seek therapy
- I want to talk to my boss about a promotion because I’ve contributed a lot this year and earned the company more money and cut some cost—–> Not sure how to have this convo—->Seek advice from friends
- I want to quit my job and travel for a year—>I have too many bills
- I want to be a singer—>I can’t afford the voice lessons right now
GOALS:
- Enroll in school
- Work on my finances
- Work on confidence
- Talk to my boss about promotion
In the above example there’s only a top 4 and that’s okay, you may have a top 2 or 3. You don’t want to do too much all at once and if you feel a top 5 will be too over zealous or too much to take on, you can scale back and work on the others after you’ve accomplished the first 2 or 3. I want to encourage the follow through. For example, in the above example enrolling in school is on the list. If this was a list created by a real person the next feasible step would be to research local colleges and their programs to make sure it’s a good fit for you, or enroll in the upcoming semester. One of the barriers that was eliminated in this pseudo example was enrolling in school part time. This can mean taking one class per semester or taking classes on the weekends only.
Similarly, if you want to work on self-confidence by going to therapy, a first step would be to go through your insurance company to see who takes your insurance, or researching therapists online. It’s all about doing what works best for you to make sure you accomplish the goals to start seeing the changes you want to make in your life. In case you need it, here’s the WORKSHEET one last time. Also, if it will help you, create a timeline for when you want to accomplish these goals having that accountability may make it easier fo you to accomplish your goals.
As always, thank you for going on my journeys with me. I’m always really anxious to hear from you all so drop me a line and let me know what this experience was like for you if you chose to participate. I’m also open to criticism, let me know what you didn’t like and/or what you would change. Finally, what topics are you interested in, I’m still deciding what my focus will be for the month of June and it would really helpful if you can send some ideas my way.
Let’s Chat!
Follow Me:
- Instagram: @selfcareatforty
- Twitter: @playingblogger and @naturaldo
- Pinterest: @tam33ks
Self-Care At Forty 
One thought on “Aggressively Edit Your Life: Making Strides”