Resolutions for a More Productive 2013

Does your new year include any work-related resolutions? Mine always do. In past years, I’ve done the “three words” approach.

This year, I’m taking the “year of weeks” approach, where I am going to try a little something new each week, and commit to doing that thing for a solid seven days. At the end of the week, I’ll decide whether I really do want to try to make it a permanent habit (which takes longer than a week), or just an occasional to-do, or to drop the thing completely because it just isn’t for me. This will include both work and personal choices.

This “year of weeks” concept comes from a couple of different books I purchased last year: 52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You and One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler.

This week I am establishing new morning and evening routines, which comes from One Bite at a Time. I especially want to switch up what I do in the hour or so between when I get the kids out the door and when I really wake up enough to start work. I am not a morning person, and since I work from home, I don’t have a commute where I can finish waking up. When the weather is warmer, I will sometimes exercise in the morning, but not when it’s cold out. So what ends up happening now is basically a lot of sitting around, often watching pathetic morning TV or reading the newspaper on my tablet, most of which isn’t particularly helpful or enlightening either.

So I’ve come up with a new morning routine with a handful of items, including one right brain and one left brain activity. Right brain activities are journaling or drawing. My left brain activities are either doing sudoku or reading a non-fiction book (right now, I’m reading The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns and Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives).

I also want to do a better job at expressing my gratitude to people personally, so I asked and received some new notecards for Christmas.

I know from reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business that cues are very important to establishing new habits. So to help with the new morning routine, I created a space in my office with what I need. I can’t miss the huge green chair in my office, and right next to it, I’ve placed my writing journal, a blank page notebook, some remedial drawing books, colored pens, notecards and stamps, and sudoku books and a pencil. I’ll plop my morning brain down here with a cup of tea, and get to it.