Doesn’t it seem like New Years was a million years ago? It wasn’t; it was just a month ago. Heck, some people still have their Christmas lights up, though by now, they are probably trying to pass them off as Valentine’s Day lights and with a few green bulbs thrown in, they’re set through St.Patrick’s Day in March.
Today is February 1st and the start of a new month is a great time to take stock. If you made New Year’s resolutions, how are they are going? If you pledged to lose weight, how much weight have you lost? If you promised to exercise more, did you track what you did? Did you eat better? How do you know? Did you read more, spend more time with family or nail your financial goals? You won’t know for sure unless you are planning, measuring and adjusting. In fact, without some system in place, there’s a pretty good chance that by March 1st, you won’t even remember your resolutions.
I’ll admit that I’m a little compulsive about things, but I use 2017 Ink + Volt Planner
to track yearly goals, monthly goals, last week’s progress and to issue my own 31-day challenges. It enables me to prioritize tasks that lead to my ultimate outcomes.
Here’s a quick glimpse into my January: Took a largely technology-free vacation with my family to Turks and Caicos. Ate better post-vacation, dropped 6 pounds and dropped a point off my body fat percentage. Started training with Coach Danielle Sullivan at Iron Fit Endurance and logged 65 running miles, 59 bike miles, 3 swim miles and 4 hours worth of strength training during the month. Reduced my caffeine intake and boosted my water consumption. Worked with a dedicated team of folks to secure a home and a director for Long Island’s first Recovery Center. Said “no” to more meetings, conference calls and lunches than I can count, but said “yes” to the ones that mattered. Did several speaking gigs for FCA and participated in a bunch of news stories. Finished Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
and have jumped into
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action because reading a book per month makes you sound smarter at parties.
Also met with a design team from Atlanta that’s revamping
AmericanFlags.com and as you can tell, have started blogging more regularly.
So what didn’t happen in January? I haven’t been able to maintain in-box zero and still struggle with a daily deluge of emails. I still don’t have as much downtime as I’d like and I worry that routine tasks blur the big picture. I’ve got some quality family time on deck for the next couple weeks, but the work/life balance thing is a constant struggle. There are a couple of articles I never got around to writing and a few conversations about politics that I could have skipped. Still, it was a good month and the word “gratitude” sums it all up.
February will be even better. I hope it will be for you, too.
