Personal Focusing for the New Year and Sites to See for December 27

My Hubby jokes that my annual Frenzy Week has commenced. He sees it as the time I randomly fire ideas and lofty ambitions. In reality I am just getting my focus for next year. I spend the week doing several activities. I promise there is a method to what he sees as my madness.

Putting The Old Year Behind Me

Holiday Review. The first thing I do is a review of the holiday just like I shared at Thanksgiving. (I have updated the article with additional specific notes I make for Christmas. )

Reflection. Then I look back at the last year as a whole. I count the blessings we have received. I pat myself on the back for progress I have made on my goals. And look at the areas of my life where I would like to make changes or improvements.

Focusing on the Future

After reflecting on the past year there are several simple activities I do instead of just making resolutions to set my focus on the future. (Hear a new article series starting?) As I am working on them myself, I will write about them and include a few download links to sheets or forms to add to your planner.

If you do not intend to start a planner, I hope you will take the time to grab a pen and do the activities anyway. There is something about taking that moment to physically write down your thought out intentions that put them more solidly in your mind and make them more likely to happen.

Get Organized In January

Did you know that January is National GO Month? GO for Get Organized. I am not the only one that gets the fresh start feeling after Christmas!

Many of the stores have had their containers and office supplies out in full view rapidly filling the spaces the Christmas decor has begun to leave. Before you get excited and start shelling out your hard earned cash for all of those pretty boxes and bins, please take a minute to read Container Confusion. Slow down and make a plan. Know exactly what supplies you need to get organized. Do not put yourself in a place where your organizing boxes are unused and become additional clutter for you to deal with.

I will be glad to try to answer any specific organizing questions you have so ask in any of the comments or feel free to send me an e-mail if you are comment shy. Organizing is something I am very passionate about. I spend a lot of time keeping my eyes open for all kinds of ideas. There will be times when I will not have the answer for you, but I probably can point you to several good sources to save you search time.

It takes time to get organized. You will not accomplish it in a day. Probably not in the month of January. Keep your chin and your spirits up. Any progress you make regardless of the day or month is progress. Claim the accomplishments instead of beating yourself up with the things yet to get done.

Sites To See

Here are a few links I thought you might enjoy.

Articles

Deciding, Choosing, and Getting Somewhere from Write from Home
6 Ways to Build Your Own Personal Developmental Network by Liz Strauss of Successful Blog
Keeping it Simple~ Decorating Essentials from Mt. Hope Chronicles. Looking for simple, classic, essential decor ideas? Keep these in mind.
5 minute anywhere work out from Get in Shape, Stay in Shape.
A Little Idea For Improving Your Life 100% from Organize IT
Saving Holiday Memories from Small Notebook

Food

Football Party Food~ Guacamole Football Field AND
10 New Years Eve Party Cocktail Recipes from She Knows Parties
The Best Cheesecake Ever from My First Kitchen (simply because cheesecake is one of my favorite food indulgences!)

Keep in Mind:

I came across each of these websites and stories either from Stumble Upon, RSS subscriptions, SITS, search engine pathways or from others on Plurk or Twitter. I am passing them on to you as I found them – in good faith. I can not guarantee the validity or accuracy in any manner. I enjoyed reading them and I hope you will, too.

Your Links:

Let me know if you did enjoy them in the comments. If there is an article or website you would like for me to see and maybe share next week, send me an e-mail using laurelplum [at] laurelplumonline [dot] com (the spelling out is to avoid spam). Have a great weekend!