accountability

Win Your Day: Start Strong with This Question

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I have been applying the highlight-of-the-day idea, which I learned from the book (Make Time), with my goals group members for around six months, and it has been wildly successful in helping them focus during the day.

How do we do it?

At the start of the day, I encourage them to share their goal: What is one thing that, if they finish, would call the day successful? And then, at the end of the day, the group members share the status of their goals.

This daily goal habit helps them define “a successful day” on their own terms and not leave this evaluation to chance. In addition, they get to avoid the feeling of a wasted day many of us have if we don’t start it with intention. I also usually encourage them to share a maximum of three goals as they are sometimes inclined to share their entire to-do list.

My friend and group member told me that this daily goal habit helps her fine-tune her estimate of the time it takes to finish a task and improve it gradually to avoid the planning fallacy we humans are so prone to.

I also share my daily goals with the group because I love the accountability we create; I need to do it because I said I would, and if tasks do not get done, I provide reasons.

Sharing daily goals is also an excellent way to offer mini-coaching sessions if I notice a pattern. For example, a group member set a goal to “finish studying the material.” Some questions I asked:

  • What do you mean? Does it mean you want to stay up all night to finish it, no matter what? (the answer was no)
  • How much time do you really have to finish it?
  • Why not change the goal from “finish studying the material” to “Allocate 120 focused minutes to study” This goal? You can achieve!

When it comes to goals, time is usually the most critical factor in achieving them. How much time can you allocate to do what you say you want to do? Setting the goal this way helps you win, and we all need to feel these wins adding up, or else we will give up on planning before it becomes a habit.

At the beginning of every day, ask: What’s your one goal today? or, what are your top three goals? Remember, any other tasks you come up with need to go to a “Might Do” list; do them if you have time and energy, as author Ali Abdaal advises.

Win Your Day: Start Strong with This Question

How to Make Decluttering Fun?

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Welcome to your new beginning; this is your clean slate. Every week you get a chance to start again.

How was your first 2023 week?

I spent hours decluttering my office at work last week, and it felt so good. Whenever I thought I was done, I found myself pushing forward, looking again with fresh eyes, and tackling another area I had dismissed. I got rid of old blank agendas I saved because I would never use old agendas. I got rid of the cardboard boxes of my keyboard, stapler, and calculator, which I had kept for years. I got rid of a small dead cactus in my office and gave my mum the pot to plant something new for me. I piled used-up three-wick glass candle jars to wash and repurpose at home; half a dozen of them. I wiped my whiteboard clean to write something new this week. I took the seat pillow I have for lower back support, washed it at home, and brought it back today. I set reminders to read some paper documents I stored, like hard copies of training material. I put away my little Christmas decorations in one bag.

The same thing happened at home; I tackled my hanged clothes and the shoe area underneath, which blew up recently. I got rid of 11 pairs I have worn out or don’t love anymore. I could have gotten rid of more, like some formal shoes that I remember were cruel to my toes, but I love how they look and put them on only once or twice. I did not want to make the process harder for myself, so I decided to keep them until I could test my suspicions the next nigh-out.

I am making decluttering fun with two things:

  1. Listening to audiobooks and podcasts (Temptation bundling strategy).
  2. Taking before and after pictures and sending them to my small decluttering WhatsApp group (Community strategy).

Sending the after pictures is the way to celebrate the new identity we are building, of people mindful of their living spaces. Celebrating is key to turning a behavior into a habit, according to the book Tiny Habits. I made a lot of progress in decluttering consistency last year, and I’ll continue to do so this year until I stop treating it as a project. By the way, we send images that can be seen once to avoid polluting each other’s phone galleries (a feature in WhatsApp you might not know exists, you’re welcome).

I easily chose my outfit this morning after getting rid of those ugly metal hangers and summer clothes in the way, and I came to the office excited about not seeing stacks of paper on my desk. I’m ready to give up the old to allow the new and do my best work this year.

I wish you the same.

P.S. This post appeared first in my weekly newsletter The Sunday Spark.

How to Make Decluttering Fun?

Fire-in-heart-setting Conversations

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Have you had a fire-in-heart-setting conversation lately?

This was my experience yesterday when I met 9 members of the Sunrise Winners group I’ve been leading for a while to wake up early and build morning routines that will serve them to win their day. We spent more than 2 hours talking about our morning habits and what’s working for us versus what’s not. We gave each other action points to work on to fine tune our routines or move a goal we were trying to achieve, and we will use the group for accountability. 

The best part about this meetup was having a genuine shared interest; to wake up early to take care of ourselves before taking care of our world, be it a family, school, a career or a side business.  I left the meeting feeling a charge like no other. I told my own accountability partner about it, and she promised me she will often remind me this is one of my favorite activities to elevate my state and that connection with like-minded people pushes me forward.   

This feeling reminded me of this post I wrote before.

I wish you such flames of high energy, dear reader.

Fire-in-heart-setting Conversations

Pro Feelings

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I’m starting to feel like a real writer taking some time away from my family while on mini-vacation to use my mini-laptop to write today’s post.

I already spent some time in the morning before leaving to our vacation destination getting my weekly newsletter ready, to have it ship tomorrow right on schedule.

Writing in a hotel room and scheduling newsletters are stuff I never did before. I feel so professional committing to my practice. I am becoming who I want to be. It feels different because I made these promises myself. There is no “have to” taste in this at all.

One last note-to-self: write more posts and have them on queue for longer vacations in the near future, hopefully.

Pro Feelings

Saving Accountability

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Yesterday, I sent this text to my accountability partner:

“I bought a new Kindle book for the amount of 8.99$. I am letting you know as I plan not to buy to more books in the coming 90 days. If I do buy, however, I must tell you what I bought and how much I spent, even if it cost 0.99$ only. Please ask me about this in our weekly calls. Also note, I am not depriving myself since I still have my monthly audible credit to look forward to use.”

I once heard good advice from the author Ramit Sethi, that whenever you want a book just get it, because books are valuable and one idea in the book will be worth it. I love that advice, however, the accumulation of unread books in my Kindle library and also physical space is not making me feel that good. More is not better. This new accountability will make me think more before buying a new Kindle book and help me overcome my digital/knowledge hoarding habit.

I also need to save more money. I think the why of saving money is not super crystal to me yet, so I need to write my why to help me commit.

Continue reading “Saving Accountability” →
Saving Accountability