I am a HUGE goal gal! I believe the only way to truly stay the course of success is to set goals, long term, short term, attainable and a bit unattainable (whats the old saying if you shoot for the moon and fail at least you land among the stars 😉 But for this New Year I decided resolutions would not be the plan for me this time around. Sometimes getting so focused on the future robs us a bit of the present, right now, carpe diem, so with that in mind I decided to set new habits for the New Year rather resolutions, goals, ect… As my habits are mostly business related I decided to share them with you.
Habit #1 – Stop Multi-Tasking!
Having worked online now for the past 6 years I have to say a terrible habit I adopted along the way was one in which I spend a chunk of my day jumping from tab to tab, from conversation to conversation, from system to system. Well I have decided this is not the most productive way to spend my time. As well, I am truly convinced this is absolutely the WORST way to create exceptional quality work. Sure I can get things done.. I do get a lot of things done, but is it the best I can do? Am I truly giving my absolute best to the task in front of me when it is sharing the brain space and screen space with potentially 3, 4, 10 other things? I think not! So I have a plan 😉
I will be honest, I do not know if I will succeed in this habit or if it is even a realistic expectation but if I can get even a small level in increased quality from my efforts I feel it will be a win!
Habit #2 – Sit Up Straight In My Chair
The truth is I spend about 8 hours a day at my computer. I have a wonderful Herman Miller chair with ideal positioning etc.. yet if I do not purpose myself to sit up straight and not slump my back KILLS me! This might be a bit too much TMI but hey, I am in a sharing mood 😉
So by sitting up and having better posture I hope to ‘feel’ a bit better and ward off some of the symptoms of poor posture – backache, headache, shoulder ache… you get the picture. Seriously I am not a whiner, but lately I have had to whine about being in pain and that just doesn’t work for me, so I will sit up straight on purpose and enjoy the benefits of proper posture!
Habit #3 – Minimize Social Media
Geeze.. I don’t know when it happened but all of a sudden I found myself being ‘Betty Busybody”, keeping up with everyone, everything! Well enough is a enough.. I really don’t need to know what my friends kids are doing at the dinner table, what political rant folks are on or how many cute animals can fall asleep standing up. So new habit is check family friend social media for 15 min in the morning and 15 min in the evening – done! Work social media I will connect with during the day at a scheduled time as to ensure I am not multi-tasking the check in.. lol see Habit #1.
Habit #4 – Eat Whole Foods – Drink More Water
Do I need to lose 30lbs.. I wont lie it wouldn’t hurt my bathing suit shopping if I did 😉 But the reality, I don’t really care that much about my weight, however, I do care about eating whole foods. I want food that has actual nutritional value and will fuel my brain and my body to feel good and enjoy my existence. So not eating whole foods to lose weight, not interested in setting some never gonna reach, already over it ‘health’ goal. I just simply want to eat whole foods. Preferably if and when I can they will be organic.
Secondly to this habit is drinking more water. I love water, unfortunately I get sucked into what I am doing most days and totally forget to go refill my water bottle (am I the only one?) So I am setting a timer that will remind me to go fill my water bottle and enjoy more water this year. Whoo hoo… hydration, you would be surprised at how much better you will feel when fully hydrated!
Habit #5 – Finish the Task at Hand
Most of the stress I carry is because I have unfinished pieces of projects or tasks all around me. This little bad habit is a combination of multi-tasking and being on and off calls all day. So I tend to start things and generally get them functioning enough to pass along to a team mate but not totally, 100% closed out finished. This is highly annoying to me and I do not enjoy this in my life at all at this point. So I am instilling a habit of completing all tasks throughout a day. What this means for me is if I start a task and to hop on the phone for a call that I do not leave my office that evening until I have completed it. I am hoping this will train me to only start the tasks that I know I can complete and now that I am no longer multi-tasking I will complete it will a much higher level of quality and attention.. yay me!
I must admit my new habits for the New Year are a bit random, but they are what will hopefully meet my very simple goal of 2015: Feel my best, do my best 😉
Curious… are you tackling any new habits this year? Share below…