30 August 2021 by Leave a Comment

My birthday month review

August is my birthday month and so I thought I’d share just some of my thoughts.

A reminder that I happen to use this review format around my birthday. You can do the same or if it doesn’t matter to you, then pic a random date and do an annual review, like now.

The end of the year is not a good time for me because kids are doing exams, then schools are closing, Christmas, holidays, etc. I do my annual review in November but I like the time around my birthday to do a more personal review.

Here’s the free printable birthday review PDF I made for us to use.

I didn’t want to use the same questions here, and I saw Jessica Honegger (founder of Noonday) talk about this method, so let’s try a start, stop, keep. list.

Start

  • Monthly one-on-one dates with the kids. These were going so well for 11 years and then… Covid. I need to bring these back again before it becomes even more difficult.
  • Dates with Dion. We left the kids alone for an hour and 10 minutes the other day and… nothing happened. It’s a start to the old life 🙂

Stop

Working so hard and work smarter. I’ve already started putting a few new things into practice like being very good with daily focussed time

Keep

Reading – I’m reading at least 10 books a month on a consistent basis and have found a really good rhythm of audio, physical and ebooks that works well for me

Friends – I connect with one friend a week, on average, and I have one book club a month for fiction, and another book club every 6 – 8 weeks for non-fiction

Exercise – Zumba and Barre classes are going well. And due to Covid restrictions, if I miss out on a live class, I now know I have the option of an online workout. E.g. the other weekend the wind was howling outside (atypical Jhb weather) and we all slept through so I missed my Zumba class, but then I did an online workout.

Holidays – we tried one new place in this crazy year and it was a delight for my senses, especially during autumn, the most beautiful season 🙂

Play – remembering my word of the year and saying yes to different things to keep it front of mind.

Some other birthday review posts:

My annual review in 2016

My annual birthday review in 2018

I made a birthday list in 2020

Do you do a birthday review?

What do you want to start, stop and keep in this next journey around the sun?

Filed Under: Goals, Intentional living Tagged With: , ,
20 July 2017 by 6 Comments

Letting go

We went to the beach for a week and, as I usually do, I took a USB modem with me to still have internet access.

Well, my ISP must have withdrawn from the area we were in (they were there the last 6 years) because suddenly the modem didn’t work.

Some real talk today. I planned to write blogs for the week and get lots of other internet-y things done. But suddenly, my ISP’s not working in this part of the country. . . For those of you thinking, that’s not a holiday, I actually relax best in a ratio of 1:1:1 which is reading: out and about things: getting stuff done. So on holidays that looks like lots of reading: photowalks: editing/ cooking/ writing/ budgeting 😜 . . So I’m taking it as a sign to relax properly in terms of timelines. I’ll still write; I just won’t post it to the internet ☺️ . . But I will say the budget is done, kids’ 8-year photos are edited and I’m making good headway with this lovely book. . . . . #livelifeintentionally #liveintentionally #marcialovestea #marciareads #ESTJ

A post shared by Marcia Francois (@organisingqueen) on

So I was “forced” to relax properly. I started and finished 3 books at the beach, and I finished the last 20% of the 4th book when we got home after I unpacked.

We watched Wimbledon, we went for 11 walks and we just connected and relaxed together as a family.

It was a really great holiday despite the weather not being the best beach weather.

It was exactly the physical refresh I needed.

I think that a significant part of my enjoyment was just letting go of my expectations and accepting reality in the moment.

How do you like my two motivational posters?! 🙂

I got to thinking about this and wondered where else I can let go of my expectations and had the opportunity to put it into practice on my first day back at work.

My sometimes unrealistic expectation whenever I return from leave is that I will completely clear my inbox in 1 day (HA!). Most times that is doable but we are particularly busy due to the time of year and some industry changes.

So this time I told myself that there is no point in coming back from a holiday to be stressed one day in.

I worked as hard as I could, worked as smart as I could, and cleared “only” 70% of the emails.

It was enough and it was good.

(this is me thinking loving and kind thoughts)

Where do you need to let go of unrealistic expectations?

How do you need to be kinder to yourself?

Filed Under: Goals, Intentional living, My year of happy 2017, Personal, Time management Tagged With: ,
6 July 2017 by 1 Comment

My half-year word of the year review – “give”

My word for 2017 is give and I wrote all about why I chose it and what it means for me this year here.

I took stock at the end of March and that post is here.

Spoiler – it was going very well. But I set a few challenges/ focus areas and not all of those went this well the next 3 months.

And so, how have the last 3 months gone?

To be honest, as a big picture theme, “give” is working well for me, but on the day-to-day, I think I need more of a daily, in my face, reminder. In years past, I’d order a piece of jewellery and by wearing it, I’d see my word all the time so it reminded me daily.

I haven’t done that this year but about 3 weeks ago, I saw this notebook and a keyring, and I bought them. I’m going to be using the notebook for my computer book and, of course, I see the keyring every time I drive my car somewhere, around 5 days a week.

(I keep a notebook on my desk at home so that I can keep all notes in one place. I think I’ll use this one for podcast notes too ;))

That’s a change that I think will be a good reminder to ask myself daily, “how can I give to God, family, friends, myself, my body today?”

On the big picture things, some highlights:

  1. I’m giving myself grace when I’m tired and just need to sleep.
  2. I’m giving myself the gift of relaxation even when some things are not done on my to-do list.
  3. I’m giving my body a good workout every Saturday morning, no matter how much I don’t want to go.
  4. I gave myself the gift of bravery by doing the podcast. I need to still listen further than 3 minutes in but I will do it 🙂
  5. My Spanish dancing partner and I gave ourselves the gift of fun and no pressure by deciding not to do exams in June. It was the best decision because we are loving class again.

If you haven’t yet thought about your word as it relates to the first 6 months of the year, now would be a really good time to do so.

How’s your word been working for you?

PS Book a half hour session with me to get a refresh on your word and your purpose/ goals/ intentions for the remainder of 2017.



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