quarterly review

Hello July

Bardees, , Leave a comment

Happy New Month!

Working in a monthly-sales-target environment makes me even more aware of the beginnings and ends of months. Since last year, I got used to resetting myself every month by doing the monthly review exercise in which I reflect on the wins, lessons learned and goals progress during the past month, and also plan for the month ahead by adding important dates on calendar, scheduling some events and online content like my podcast episodes.

Today marks the beginning of a new quarter of the year, which gets me to another whole level of reviews. I love doing the quarterly reviews, and as I concluded before in April, I will take 2 weeks to do it properly and reset my goals for the coming 90 days. This is the way I believe each quarter should start.

Since it’s the mid-year mark too, I may need to re-visit some of the things that inspired me at the beginning of the year like my mantra of the year which is Practice Focused Attention.

Also, July is my birthday month, which means fun ahead, especially that many family members and friends are visiting for the first time in 2 years with the pandemic finally withdrawing.

I used to buy online courses in July that I didn’t finish, and thus developed a limiting belief for a while that “I don’t finish what I start”, only to realize later that it was not about me but the timing of those courses with respect to my life. It was simply not the right season. Therefore, I vowed not to create audacious goals for July anymore and just enjoy the flow of summer and the heightened social life that will be temporary up until most people travel back before schools start.

In order to honor this special month, I made 2 lists, let go list and keep list.

In July I want to let go of…

  • Waking up at 5AM because I will be staying up late most days.
  • Regular posting on Instagram (apart from stories), I will take a break.
  • Digital Rules: I will not apply strict mode when using social media this month. Most of my digital rules became habits anyway, like no Instagram before I leave the house in the morning.

In July I will keep…

  • 15-minute morning meditation.
  • Daily one-sentence journal for my kids (I don’t like to see empty pages).
  • Five-minute gratitude journal.
  • Food journaling (I did not commit well in June).
  • Weekly 5-minute podcast episodes and of course newsletter.
  • Keep writing here at least 5 days a week. (Break in case of traveling only) read the update below

Doing less is a challenge for me. There are many items popping up in my head to add to the Keep List, however those are the only ones I want to track daily/weekly and the compass to a successful July.

Speaking of Doing Less, I might read that awesome book with the same title by Kate Northrup one more time to savor the season.

An Update:

It’s July 7th, and after reading the below email from Leo Babuta I felt this is exactly what I need. Therefore, I changed the point above about writing daily here. I am taking this month off. Anything I post would be a bonus.

I am still in the quarterly/birthday/mid-year reflective mode, plus summer fun family focused mode. Just to keep you in the picture, I am not taking off from everything, I still go to work every day.

See you soon.

Returning to Practices
I mentioned recently that I took the month of June off, and have just come back to work … what that means is restarting my regular routines & practices.

This has me reflecting on the act of re-starting something like a meditation practice, exercise routine, or work routine.

It can be tough for a lot of us when we get derailed and have to re-start. We can feel discouraged, because we have some idea that we should have not stopped or gotten interrupted, that something is wrong with us for not sticking to it (once again).

I say toss out that idea. It’s not so helpful.

Starting again is a part of the process. And the process is never over — you don’t form a habit or do a practice and then forget about it. You have to give it your focus, fully, and then give it your focus again when you get sidetracked. Just like returning to your breath in meditation after you’ve gotten distracted. Again and again, we come back.

Instead of thinking of it as a frustrating task to start again, we might think of it as returning home.

I wish you a continual returning home, for life.
gratefully,

Leo Babauta
Zen Habits

Hello July

Motion Vs. Action

Bardees, , , , Leave a comment

“Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done. But really, you’re just preparing to get something done. When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing.”

-James Clear

I love this idea so much by James Clear in Atomic habits. Reading it for the first time was a lightbulb moment for me. I do love my motion so much. I spend so much time planning and tracking. Being aware of the difference, however, helped me realize I may be acquiring clarity but not actually making progress towards my goals.

This week, after a super first quarter of the year, I gave myself permission to enjoy motion only. I spent my mornings doing the first quarterly review of the year on 2 different planners, mind you, plus re-thinking and re-writing of my goals for the second quarter, and simply reading. I did not record a new podcast episode. I did not create a mid-week post for Instagram. I just enjoyed the motions.

This on-purpose break is the exact thing I needed. I’ll make it happen more often, maybe this is how each quarter should actually start. As a result, I am definitely feeling more ready to jump into action again.

Motion Vs. Action

100 Days

Bardees, , , 1 Comment

April 10th was the 100th day of the year. Doing my overdue first quarterly review, I’d like to keep here my achievements. Here it goes.

In the first 100 days of the year I:

  • Launched 10 podcast episodes.
  • Grew my all-time podcast downloads to +14K and subscribers to +1500 according to player FM.
  • Wrote 69 posts for this blog.
  • Committed to 1-hour LIVE sessions on Instagram for 8 consecutive weeks.
  • Committed to writing and sending my weekly newsletter “The Sunday Spark” (nearly 500 subscribers).
  • Was hosted as a speaker for a 1-hour virtual event at a global company where 300 employees attended live.
  • Appeared on 1 TV interview and 2 radio interviews.
  • Practiced digital decluttering for 45 days.
  • Grew my Instagram followers by +2500 with generous support.
  • Added 20 new members to the Sunrise Winners whatsapp group that I manage.
  • Traveled once.
  • Finished Life of Focus course.
  • Committed to good habits like meditation, reading a course in miracles, 2-min workout, bedtime story and walking.
  • Read and thoroughly enjoyed 4 books (Time Smart, Think Small, Rapt, Girl Stop Apologizing)

P.S. Yesterday I broke the chain of writing daily that I started on Feb 1st. Writing my weekly newsletter gave me the illusion I accomplished this task, and being it a national holiday, my routine was completely disrupted that I only remembered I didn’t post while in bed way after 12am.

100 Days