We’re into week 3 of the BWP Holiday Preparation Countdown. With Thanksgiving approaching, its time to clean out the pantry. A clean and organized food storage space not only ensures that you have all the right ingredients on hand for the big day, but it also makes it easier to find and get to everything when you need it. Here is a scalable strategy for cleaning out wherever you store your food, one shelf at a time.
If you want full access to the planning workbook that these tips are based off of, hop on over to my Ko-fi page. Sign up for my one of my monthly subscriptions and for less than the cost of a pizza you can get access to the weekly planning PDFs, detailed exercises, themed checklists, and so much more.
Not sure that you are ready to commit to the countdown subscription? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter today and I’ll give you the first few intro pages and my monthly layouts for FREE. Subscribe in the pop up or over on my Subscribe page.
Cleaning Considerations
Before you dive in there are a few things to consider.
Where do you keep your food?
If you have a large pantry, this might be easy. Also think if you have food items stored in closets, cupboards, spice racks, freezers, on counters, or even other rooms like a garage. If you keep emergency food supplies, its a good time to check on them as well.
How much time do you have?
If you have no time constraints then you can tackle this all at once as a large project. Otherwise, make things easier by breaking your decluttering into multiple smaller chunks. Do just one shelf or type of food at a time and get easy bits done when you have a few minutes and save other areas for when you have a dedicated hour. If you have 15 minutes, you have enough time to do the cereals, 30 minutes might be enough time to do the baking goods. With this method, you can avoid tackling more than you can handle and skip creating an overwhelming mess that just wastes time and creates stress.
What are your problem areas?
You probably already know which self is a problem. Its crammed with too many things. You cant easily reach the sugar when you need it. You can never find the right seasoning and end up buying duplicates. Whatever you pantry problems are during the rest of the year, they get amplified when trying to cook under pressure for guests. Take some time before you begin to both prioritize where you focus first and decide what needs to change as you go.
Now that you are prepared, you can start to go through the pantry and remove things that are expired or you won’t use and get rid of them to make room for your holiday menu items. Be sure to monitor your time available. Also balance what you most need decluttered (for the upcoming meals) with what would have the most impact (the messiest/problem areas).
Use this method on each of your food storage areas, breaking them into big or small chunks. After you finish one small chunk, move on to another if you have time and energy or come back later to do more. Repeat this method on each area,.
Strategize
Determine what area/item type you will be focusing on. Take out only what you can handle in the time available. Grab a notepad and a pen, a trash bag or bin, a duster and or rag, and pick somewhere like a table or a box to keep the items corralled as you are cleaning. Think about any “decorative” elements like shelf or drawer liners, labels, storage bins, can organizers that you might want to utilize. You don’t have to use any but they can save space and keep things tidy longer when used effectively.
Toss
Check expiration dates. Keep a note pad handy and immediately add it to your shopping list if it’s something you will need/use. Now’s also the time to be honest with your self. Ask if you will actually use it. It sat there long enough to get old so will you really use it if you replace it? Likewise, just because something isn’t expired and will keep doesn’t mean you will eat it. If you won’t, consider passing it to someone who will or donating it to a food bank if appropriate.
Wipe
While your shelf is clear, dust or white it down. Scrub off any residue, add or replace shelf liners. Look at your items. Do they need dusting or cleaning. Are there any drips that need to be wiped up?
Put Away
Now put pack the things you will be keeping. If you have something that doesn’t belong back on that shelf, but you haven’t cleaned that shelf so its not ready to put back in its new home, you might keep it in a temporary bin. Now is the time to deploy any organizers, make sure things are organized in the way you want them, and assess if you have any improvements to make either now or when you tackle a future shelf. Make a note so you remember for later.
Restock
Once you’ve finished with an area, like say the canned beans, take stock of what you still have on hand and what you’ll need for your upcoming menus. Also consider what you regularly use. Add items to your grocery list so you can restock.
Want to know how this fits into the bigger prep plan to get your whole house decluttered, decorated, and clean for the Holidays? Sign up for a Ko-fi subscription to get the full 8 week planning workbook with all the exercises, checklists, and week-by-week plan to getting stuff done and stressing less this holiday season.
How well do you know yourself? Like really know yourself?
Today I want to dive into core values, what they are, and how you can find yours. In future posts, I’ll show you how you can use this knowledge to help you plan better, especially for the holidays.
If you want full access to the planning workbook that these tips are based off of, hop on over to my Ko-fi page. Sign up for my one of my monthly subscriptions and for less than the cost of a pizza you can get access to the weekly planning PDFs, detailed exercises, themed checklists, and so much more.
Not sure that you are ready to commit to the countdown subscription? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter today and I’ll give you the first few intro pages and my monthly layouts for FREE. Subscribe in the pop up or over on my Subscribe page.
For a limited time only, subscribe to the newsletter or donate any amount to my Ko-fi page and I’ll also toss in the full first week—5 more content-filled pages—so that you can see for yourselves just how valuable this countdown will be.
WHAT ARE CORE VALUES?
Each of us has attitudes toward the world around us and general beliefs that drive our daily interactions. They guide our behaviors and are the reasons we give for many of our actions.
But did you know that many of these attitudes and beliefs may actually change over time? Life experiences and social norms have proven to have impacts not only on our behaviors but can even change one’s beliefs.
This is especially true for beliefs that implicitly inform your biases, the ways you quickly perceive and judge the world around you. Things like ones beliefs or attitudes toward gender roles, party politics, race and skin tone, sexuality, and body weight are just a few examples. Think back on the things you believed in when you were in high school. Has anything you used to believe in changed over time?
That said, there are also your underlying foundational beliefs, the things we call Core Values. These are deeper than attitudes and beliefs and are unlikely to change. Core values are the things that are central to who you are and who you want to be. And they can be described as both the desirable ways you want to behave (like being loving or honest) and desirable end states (like being financially secure or well-read).
Drilling down to your true core values can be a challenging task, as it requires honest introspection and at times, some uncomfortable naval-gazing. However, if you are willing to put in the effort to know yourself better, I trust you will find it ultimately rewarding.
DEFINING YOUR CORE VALUES
When you are clear about your core values, it is easier to make decisions. You will have a compass by which to decide if something is aligned with who you are and who you want to be, or not. With this clarity, you will be able to direct your attention to things that have meaning and purpose for you.
To start drilling down on your core values, you will first want to cast a wide net. Look at lists of core values, like the ones below, or generate your own. Either way you will want to make a list of any values that resonate with you.
To help, you can ask yourself some questions to help identify additional values:
Who are your role models?
What qualities do you admire about them?
Do they have certain behaviors that you’d like to emulate?
Which values feel most like you?
What do you do, or would you do, absent any external pressures or influences?
Or conversely, what doesn’t feel like you, or makes you feel wrong or ashamed?
When faced a dilemma, what would inspire you to act?
What would cause you to risk something big, like your car or home, to protect?
Can you think of a situation where you took a stand, even if it wasn’t popular?
While it may be easy for you to articulate some values right away, I also encourage you to take some time to sit with them. Mull them over, think about them in other scenarios. Do they still hold up if you change the circumstances? Consider asking friends and family for input. They may have noticed something about your that you haven’t admitted to yourself or can confirm what you already suspect.
Once you have your list, you are ready for the next step.
GROUPING SIMILAR VALUES
If you’ve written down everything that rings true to you, you probably have some words that overlap or are similar. You may start to see some themes or categories to you values. At this point, I want you to start grouping them together in any way that is logical for you.
For example, when I did this exercise, I had several values that I was able to group. I combined lifelong learning, knowledge seeking, curiousness, well-read and open-mindedness together because for me, they were all part of the same belief.
Try to group related values into buckets. This will help you clarify what your value and give you less total values to work with. Once you have a shorter list, I want you to prioritize them to your top 3-5 individual or groups of values. Keep only your strongest held values on the list.
One way to help you refine that is to try pitting them against one another. You could consider if you would give up one for another. Or, if you could live in a world where only one existed, which would it be. For example, if honest and financial security are vying for a place on your list, would you rather be honest but lack financial security or be financially secure at the cost of your honesty.
If you can answer questions like this and be true to how you really feel, you will know where you stand. See why this can be a challenge? At the end, you should have 3-5 values or value groups in order of importance to you.
MAKING YOUR VALUES ACTIONABLE
Now is the creative part. You need to take these from the conceptual to the actionable. For each value left on you list you will want to turn it into an action statement.
Choose a statement that best exemplifies how you want to demonstrate this value.
If you choose Freedom, how would that manifest for you? Do you mean you speak your mind without self-censorship, you seek opportunities to be your own boss, or you spend your time on things that bring you joy?
Or take Stability. Does that take the form of being consistent with your choices, pursuing a career with better benefits and stable hours, or choosing a well paying job and pursuing your creativity as hobbies.
Sometimes through this process, you may find that values you grouped together actually represent two related but fundamentally different value principals for you. And that’s ok. Revisit your groupings or, heck, go back to the full list if you need to. Drop values off and add them in. Do more than 5 or have only two, its up to you.
At the end of it you will have your own set of personal value statements, literally words to live by.
Let me give you a solid pat on the back for getting this far. The hard part is behind you. Join me on Instagram as @betterwithaplan to get help with core values, share ones you’ve come up with, or give me feedback on how this exercise worked for you. And please check back on the blog next week to dive deeper into how to apply these to your holiday planning, goal setting and decision making.
Welcome back to Week 2 of the BWP Holiday Preparation Countdown. This week we focus on getting ready for family gatherings.
In an ideal world, your house would always be freshly cleaned and clutter-free. Your guests would always give plenty of notice before visiting. And even when they pop by unexpectedly, you’d be ready to host.
But here in the real world, you need a plan for that last minute cleaning and you need it fast. In my countdown planning workbook I share this method for getting your home as guest-ready as possible in a short time.
If you want full access to the planning workbook that these tips are based off of, hop on over to my Ko-fi page. Sign up for my one of my monthly subscriptions and for less than the cost of a pizza you can get access to the weekly planning PDFs, detailed exercises, themed checklists, and so much more.
Not sure that you are ready to commit to the countdown subscription? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter today and I’ll give you the first few intro pages and my monthly layouts for FREE. Subscribe in the pop up or over on my Subscribe page.
For a limited time only, subscribe to the newsletter or donate any amount to my Ko-fi page and I’ll also toss in the full first week—5 more content-filled pages—so that you can see for yourselves just how valuable this countdown will be.
Company’s Coming
First, don’t panic.
It’s ok if you’ve skipped regular cleaning, have extra clutter, and don’t know where to start. If your guests are on the way and you only have a little time, you can still do some speed cleaning to make things a little better.
Before I tell you how, there is one thing I want you to remember: your guests are your friends and family. People who love you and want to spend time with you, not judge your cleaning prowess. Give yourself some grace and accept that it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Now grab a laundry basket, a damp rag, a dry rag or towel, a trash bag and some room freshener spray and/or scented candles and lets get started.
Speed Clean Room-by-Room
With this method you are going to go room-by-room to very quickly give your house a once-over before your guests arrive.
This is not a deep clean but a rescue operation. Focus first on the rooms where your guests will be walking through, and spend the most time in the places where they will be most.
Are they coming for coffee? Start by the front door and do the most in the living room. Coming for drinks and dinner? Put your focus on the dining room and kitchen.
When you enter a room do these 5 steps:
Trash: Gather any obvious trash/recyclables and bag them. Empty any trash bins.
Smells: Spray room freshener or light scented candles. Turn on bathroom and ceiling fans to get air circulating, if the weather is nice, open some windows.
Surfaces: Take your rage and quickly wipe down any countertops, put things that belong in other rooms into the laundry basket. Don’t wast time putting them away in another room. Straighten and tidy the surfaces as you go.
Clear the floor: Start at the center and pick up anything that is on the floor. If you can put it away easily, do so. Otherwise, fold, pile, or arrange neatly and move on.
Put stuff away: if you’ve got items in your basket that belong in this room, drop them off before you move on. Gather your cleaning supplies and head to the next room.
Finishing Touches
After you’ve gone through each room quickly, finish putting away any leftover items in your basket. Blow out any candles. Turn off the fans and close the windows. Then go back to your bathrooms.
Do a quick clean: wipe down toilet, faucet, mirror and door handle.
Tidy up: put out fresh towels, close shower curtains, and put down toilet seats.
If you have time left here are a few other things you can do:
Vacuum the center of the floors
Wash, or put in dishwasher, any dishes that are not he counter
Walk the entry round to look for thing that are out of place
Keep using the 5 steps on other rooms
Pick up some flowers and make some quick arrangements
Don’t forget to put your basket and cleaning supplies away but if you are short on time, just toss the whole basket into the laundry area and deal with it later. ☺️
Now stop stressing about what your house looks like and enjoy visiting with your guests.
Did you like this method? Want to know how this fits into the plan to get your whole house decluttered, decorated, and clean for the Holidays? Sign up for a Ko-fi subscription to get the full 8 week planning workbook with all the exercises, checklists, and week-by-week plan to getting stuff done and stressing less this holiday season.
How do you get ready for guests in a hurry? Leave a comment below.
Think back on holidays past. How easy was it to make the celebrations you envisioned come to life, to meet everyones expectations, host gatherings, and prepare for all the events? Did you feel pressure to get it right, to go above and beyond? I don’t know about you, but I generally feel rushed, stretched too thin and a little more frazzled during the holiday season.
Its no wonder that the American Psychological Association reports 38% of people surveyed experienced increased stress during the holidays. This year, instead of stressing about the holidays, wouldn’t you rather take steps now to be prepared?
Imagine being able to create the atmosphere and environment you want for precious holiday memories. Spending quality time with friends and family. Knowing what you need to do and when you need to do it. Having a mechanism to deal with feeling, both positive and negative. Steadily making progress to tackle problem areas. And feeling ready to welcome guests and visitors without stressing about how things look.
Seems too good to be true? Its not as far fetched as it sounds.
And maybe surprisingly, it all starts with creating the space to plan. Do this one thing now and you’ll be on the right track to make Holiday preparations a breeze.
It might sound a little mystical but I have found again and again that something good happens when you intentionally designate a place with a purpose. It can be somewhere permanent like a home office desk. Or it can be somewhere more temporary like the kitchen table or a particular spot on the couch.
Set your intention to make that be your planning spot, and equip it with the tools you need for various tasks, Once you have a place for planning, you’ll be far more likely go there and actually spend time making plans.
Make a place where you keep your pens, paper, planners and calendars. With everything you need within reach, its easier to sit down and get to planning.
It’s a key component of habit building. Come back to the same spot on a regular basis you start to build routines. Sit there to make your grocery lists, write in your journal, and review your calendar. The more you reinforce the practice, the easier it will be to maintain. Consistency is key so set reminders if you need them.
Choose somewhere you feel comfortable sitting for a bit. You’ll also want a steady surface to write on and work from as well. Find a place where you can easily sit, read, write, ponder, and plan.
You’ll also need a space to store your planner, access your calendar, interact with the internet, and manage paper. Choose your desk and you may already have this set up. If you are creating a new space be sure to factor in where you will keep things when you are not using them. If you can’t have a dedicated planning spot, make sure you keep your stuff near by. File boxes, drawers, or totes keep things handy but make it easy to put away.
Other Considerations for Your Space
In addition to a place to sit, and your obvious planning stuff, there are a few other things you will wan’t to think about.
Lighting – You don’t want to be straining your eyesight so consider if your spot has more mood lighting than functional lighting. Battery operated portable task lighting can be a reasonably priced solution and can be moved to where you need it most.
Privacy – It might not be possible to totally escape but if you have the choice, pick somewhere that lets you avoid being interrupted constantly. If thats not possible in your house, choose somewhere where you can safely leave your plans and come back to them. A space with a door or a higher counter is better than the coffee table for protecting things from little hands or curious critters.
Electronics – Will you use a computer, laptop or phone for planning? Make sure its somewhere with a convenient surge protector and extra charging cables.
Music – Do you like mood music? Will you be able to play your tunes?I love a good playlist to get me in the grove and use both my phone and some portable bluetooth speakers.
Whichever space you choose, make sure its a place you want to spend some time. Outfit it with everything you need. Then start using it to make it a habit.
Did you like this tip? In the comments, tell me where you do your planning, what you consider, and how you make it yours.
Want to know how this fits into the plan to get your whole house decluttered, decorated, and clean for the Holidays? Sign up for a Ko-fi subscription to get the full 8 week planning workbook with all the exercises, checklists, and week-by-week plan to getting stuff done and stressing less this holiday season.
This is the first week in my Plan More, Stress Less Holiday Preparation Countdown Series. In it I will give you 7 simple steps for dealing with the clutter as we countdown our way to the holidays.
Stay tuned over the next 8 weeks. We will dive into ways that planning can help you have less stress during this holiday season. You’ll learn a bunch of neat tips and tricks you can actually use to get ready for the upcoming holidays
If you want full access to the planning workbook that these tips are based off of, hop on over to my Ko-fi page. Sign up for my one of my monthly subscriptions to get access to the weekly planning PDFs, detailed exercises, themed checklists, and so much more.
Not sure that you are ready to commit to the countdown subscription? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter and I’ll give you the first few intro pages and my monthly layouts for FREE. Subscribe in the pop up or over on my Subscribe page.
For a limited time only, subscribe to the newsletter or donate any amount to my Ko-fi page and I’ll also toss in the full first week—5 more content-filled pages—so that you can see for yourselves just how valuable this countdown will be.
Each week of this Countdown I’ll be highlight strategies, tips, or techniques here on the blog. They will help you prepare for the holidays, get your home clean and in order, and start thinking about what the season means to you.
Since this is our first week, I want to start with my top strategy for taking things from cluttered to clean in just 60 minutes.
Goal: Prep for Holidays. Objective: Less Clutter.
If you’ve been following my blog, I’ve been sharing a method for breaking down big goals into smaller manageable pieces. Or if you missed it,check it out here or this one too. Using those methods, I’ve defined our overall goal to be prepared for the upcoming holiday season.The specific objective we’re working on is to have less clutter.
Preparing for the holidays, any holiday, is a BIG goal. Lots of moving pieces, lots of decisions, lots of stress. And you have to fit all this on top of your everyday life too.
Why Focus on Clutter?
Clutter is insidious. It pops up on every surface. No sooner do you clean than someone walks by and sets something down. The clutter starts building up again.
We’ll start with clutter because with less clutter it is easier to clean, simpler to decorate, and better for your wellbeing. And who doesn’t want that?
Why Only 60 Minutes?
Not because you can get it all done in an hour, that’s for sure. Unless you’ve mastered the minimalist approach to living, you probablyhave more clutter than time.
What you need is a time-saving strategy. One that is short enough you can fit it into your evening but structured enough to actually make an impact.
That’s why 60 minutes. You’ll only tackle part of the overall problem at a time. It’ll be enough to see a difference but not enough to overwhelm you. Repeat a few times a week in trouble spots to see the best results.
What is the Strategy for Less Clutter?
You’ve probably heard of this approach, or something like it, under various names. I just call it Tidying Up. The way I’ve structured it there are 7 steps that break down the 60 minutes in a specific way and purpose. It also works on the concept that everything in your home having have a place.
If you haven’t made places for each type of thing you are decluttering, plan a little extra time to put things away. Or keep a ”homeless items” bin to keep things corralled until you make time to make them a home. Then schedule a specific time to do that so it doesn’t just make the clutter worse.
To use this strategy, I recommend you pick a room or a certain part of a room, like the office desk. If things are really messy you can even just start with part of it to start with. Now pick your spot and follow the steps below.
Gather Your Supplies
Before you begin, you’ll want to gather your supplies. You will need trash bags to gather trash and recyclables. Also, some sort of bin, basket or box — I generally snag a laundry basket — to corral things that don’t belong. Additionally, you will need a duster, some cleaning wipes, and/or a damp rag suitable for the type of surfaces you are decluttering. And finally, you will want to decide how you want to manage your time. Use your phone, your trusty kitchen timer, or a curated music playlist with 5 minute long songs like this Classic Rock playlist on Spotify.
Toss Trash & Recyclables
Set the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. This is where you go through the space quickly focusing only on gathering up any trash or recyclables. When you are done set them to the side but still accessible, in case you come across any more trash as you go.
Think About Purpose & Function
Reset the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. Look at the space and think about its purpose. Is everything in the right place, does it serve a function there, or would it be better somewhere else?
If you cleaning your desk, are the pens and pencils you always use within arms reach? What is in arms reach and does it need to be there?
You could spend a lot of time planning this out so don’t get too bogged down with it.
Sort into Piles
Reset timer for 15 minutes/3 songs. Start sorting the clutter, separating out things that don’t belong or that are not properly in their home. Rather than try to put everything away right now, just start putting things into piles.
If an item doesn’t belong in this space, set it in your box/bin/laundry basket and move on. You will deal with this later.
Put the Piles Away
Reset the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. Now put the piles away, accounting for the function and purpose of the space that you thought about earlier.
Try to organize as you go. But if it this looks like it will take too long, prioritize putting things back over having them be perfectly organized. You can come back to that later if needed.
Deal with the Other Stuff
Reset the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. Now it time to deal with the laundry basket stuff. If you know where it belongs, go put it there. Doesn’t have a home yet? See if you can make one and if not, add this to your to do list for later. Keep it in the ”homeless items” area temporarily.
Clean and Enjoy Less Clutter
In the last 5 minutes/final song, dust/wipe down your freshly decluttered space. Then put away your cleaning supplies and take out the trash and recyclables. Finally, take a break and reward yourself with a glass of water, a cup of tea or something else that makes you feel good. You deserve it!
What’s next
That’s all there is to it. If there was too much clutter or you have other areas that you need to do, you’ll just repeat the steps. Make this into a regular habit and you’ll find that it will not only get easier but also will take lest time to complete.
Did you like this strategy? Want to know how this fits into the plan to get your whole house decluttered, decorated, and clean for the Holidays? Sign up for a Ko-fi subscription to get the full 8 week planning workbook with all the exercises, checklists, and week-by-week plan to getting stuff done and stressing less this holiday season.
Not gonna lie, the holidays can be tough and full of stress. And no amount of planning is going to magically make that go away. I’m not trying to tell you that a checklist will solve family drama, vanish money worries, or overcome grief or other mental anguish. As always, you should seek professionals for those issues.
But Good News! Beating the holiday stress is possible. There is still plenty of things you CAN do starting NOW to make things easier on yourself later. And I’m going to share with you 3 of my top strategies for navigating the season while lowering your stress. I also have an invitation for you at the end of the post.
These strategies are not magic. They will, however give you solid foundation on which to tackle you biggest stressors, gather support, and plan a better way to enjoy you holidays. With these tips in you hip pocket you can approach Halloween, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years and any other holiday with confidence and not stress.
Why are the holidays so much more stressful?
There’s no doubt about it, this time of year comes with more than its fair share of stressors.
First there is the commercial pressure to spend money you don’t have. Then there are the conflicting family expectations and the pressure to appear merry when maybe your not.
For some the holidays hold past pain or the fresh remembrance of those no longer with us. For others there’s the pressure to keep a perfectly decorated, clean, and organized home while being the perfect chef, host, and entertainer as well..
And when you’ve dealt with all that you still have to find the perfect gifts, spend quality time, and make meaningful memories with your loved ones.
That a lot of potential stressors to rain on your holiday joy. If you can let that roll off your shoulders like rain on a duck then you probably don’t need this article. For the rest of us, don’t let this keep you down and keep reading for more on how to beat the stress.
Go from holiday stressed to holiday prepared
You want to approach the holidays with a plan, not a planning mess.
The key is balance and planning. No one wants to have a dirty kitchen to deal with when its time to be cooking turkey dinner. And I certainly don’t want you to waste all your time cleaning only to miss out on the traditions and events that make the season so special.
But with so many things to get done, you might wonder where even to start and how to fit it all in. My not-so-secret sauce strategies for going from stressed to prepared starts with dedicating just a little bit of time. Block off a few hours around 3, 2 or even just 1 month ahead of your target holiday and design a plan that incorporates the following 3 strategies.
With these, you’ll be well on your way to leaving the stress behind.
Write It down
Any journal, planner, notebook, memo pad, or sticky note will do.
My number one strategy for reducing stress this holiday season is to write everything down. Write all the lists, the plans, the to dos, the holiday dinner menus. You name it, get the pen out and record it. Yes, it can be a little burdensome on occasion but you’ll thank me later.
Don’t try to rely on your memory and wing it. A stressed brain is a forgetful brain. There is lots of science behind this but trust a mom. One who has been there at 3 am before the big day, trying to remember where she stashed the stocking stuffers and which color coded wrapping went to who. Write. It. Down.
And despite what the $200 billion dollar global stationary industry will have you believe, it doesn’t really matter what you write on. It can be on sticky notes, or a fancy planner system. You can use a blank journal or one of those hotel room notepads that follow you home hotels (does everyone do this or is it just me). Doesn’t matter, as long as its something you will use and kept somewhere you can find it.
I do like to encourage the use of a planner of some sort so you have a calendar, some daily or weekly planning space, and plenty of blank note pages. Try to pick something that suits your style. You are much more likely to use it if you like looking at it. Find something beautiful to look at to dress up its surroundings, something quirky to make you smile, something with a good quote to inspire you, you get the idea.
Once you’ve picked out your choice of paper and some pens, you are ready to tackle the next strategy.
Break big into small
Like a jigsaw puzzle, you can’t just dump out the whole box of pieces and expect to have the big picture put itself together.
I’ve posted before about breaking down big goals. Check it out if you want more tips on how to go from a big goal to manageable tasks.
When it comes to the holidays, pick one or the whole season in general, and there are so many different moving parts that its too big to tackle without stress. That is, until you break it down. If your goal is a holiday with less stress, you need breaking it down into smaller, more manageable parts.
Pick just one objective, like having you home ready for visiting family. Add milestones, like when are they visiting, to make it time-bound. Add specifics, like removing the clutter from the guest room and deep cleaning and decorating the family spaces they’ll use for their visit.
From that you can pull several things to focus on. To welcome my visitors without stressing, by December 15th I need to:
Get the guest room ready
Spruce up the entry hallway
Deep clean the living room
Sure, there may be other regular cleaning to be done on top of that. However, these are the three things I know need to focus on that are unusual or take more effort than normal.
Under each focus you will add specific tasks that will be needed to completed. Like dealing with the guest bedroom clutter and putting out fresh linens and towels. And steam cleaning the hallway rug, hanging wreaths from the banisters and adding fresh greenery to the entry table. Also vacuum behind the furniture, steaming the drapes and cleaning under the couch cushions.
Use this technique to break down what needs to be done for each major objective. Repeat as needed. You’re left with a list of what needs to be done and by when. With this you can start dividing and scheduling your tasks, confident that you know what it will take to reach your end objective.
Obviously, if you have more time, you can get more done. But even with only a few weeks, or even days, left before the holiday, you will benefit immensely from taking the time to break it down and knowing what needs doing. And as GI Joe taught me growing up, “knowing is half the battle.”
With this knowledge you are now prepared to face the holiday. You can easily assess what will be the most beneficial tasks to do in whatever time you have. Focus on your priorities and what you are able to do yourself. Then you are ready to ask for help.
Gather your squad
You’ve got a substantial challenge in front of you. You could go it alone, muscle through, and rely on you , yourself, and your only. But we’re trying to make things less stressful, right?
So once you know what you need to do, its time to bring in the team, the squad, the cavalry…pick your metaphor. And while I hope you are surrounded by an abundance of friends and family, don’t worry if you don’t have many folks you can lean on. As you’ll see below, your squad can be in person, remote, virtual, crowd sourced, or even fictional. Stick with me while I explain.
It takes a village and there are lots of types of help you could look to. For this strategy there are 3 general types of support you’ll want to gather:
The Helpers
The Guides
The Cheerleaders
The Helpers
Like the name suggests, these are going to be the people who help you achieve progress toward your goal. The people you ask to carry some of your load. The ones who contribute directly to checking stuff off your to do list.
These can be family members you recruit to help you the chores and decorating. It might be a friend who comes over for a baking party. It can even be the gift wrapper at the mall or the maid service you hire in to deep clean the carpets.
How many helpers you need depends on how big your to do list is. It also varies by how much you can and want to delegate or pay for. If you can afford it, many tasks can be outsourced, but don’t overlook trading favors with your network. Many hands make light work so the more help you can get the better.
And see if you can find ways to combine the things you have to do with something you want to do. Invite someone over to bake and you have time to visit and both walk away with cookies. Integrating fun can make it more than just an obligation for all involved.
The Guides
These are going to be your north stars. The people who inspire you and who you aspire to emulate. The ones who you turn to to remind you of why you are putting in the work now to reduce your stress later. Those who’s words offer comfort and encouragement even when things get hard.
Do you have friends or family who guide you when you struggle? What about Internet personalities or famous role models? Can you work with a mentor or a coach? There’s always characters from a favorite movie or book to look too as well. Anyone you can look to for inspiration or advice is fair game.
It can be one person or several, or different ones for different objectives. Whoever you choose, be careful not to compare yourself against them in a negative way but look to their good qualities when you need boost.
The Cheerleaders
These are the folks who applaud your efforts, big or small. Cheer your progress. Offer you encouragement. Celebrate successes and commiserate over setbacks. They can offer both support and accountability to help you stay the course.
These can be recruited from anywhere. Good friends, spouses, or co-workers are common choices. Acquaintances or even strangers on social media, message boards, and support groups are suitable choices as well.
If you thrive on social feedback, you can try just posting your intentions to your feed or dropping a tweet. If you like more privacy, share things in a one on one setting.
The very act of sharing makes you feel more accountable and the people you tell will likely want to hear how its going. And knowing that someone has an expectation of hearing progress will make you more likely to prioritize things that help you show movement toward our goal.
Now that you have your plan, write down the things you need to do, and have your squad to help you I hope you’ll find that you are better prepared to manage the stress.
If you need more help, support, and accountability or just want prepare along with others I wanted to invite you to join the BWP Holiday Preparation Countdown.
Join our Holiday Preparation Countdown
From October 31 to December 25, 2022 Better With a Plan is hosting the 8 week Plan More, Stress Less Holiday Preparation Countdown. Our countdown will feature free content her on the blog and on Instagram focused on planning for the holidays. For the next 8 weeks I’ll be here to support you as you work through your plans, offering more tips and advice to get ready and beat the stress.
If you want to get even more support, you can become a Ko-fi subscriber and get your hands on our new workbook—a printable structured planning resource to guide you through the holiday hustle and bustle.
With weekly downloads for my Ko-fi subscribers and new blog content for all, I hope you will consider taking part. Together we can plan more and stress less to make this a better holiday season.
The 9 Box Grid is a powerful visual tool that has application in business and in social media. This post will show you 3 ways it is commonly used and how you can adapt this concept to help you achieve your goals.
What is a 9 Box Grid?
As the name implies, it refers to 9 boxes, arranged in a 3×3 grid. With this one simple tool you can better plan anything from your week to your year, and everything in between.
Let’s dive deeper into three ways that you may already be familiar with this concept and how to adapt them for your planning.
The Grid is a Classic Talent Management Tool
In business management and Human Resources, the grid is a simple and easy to use talent management tool.
Managers will label the horizontal axis (the bottom) with a scale of current performance and the verticals axis (the left) with a scale of future potential. This creates a matrix of 9 boxes where the two factors overlap.
They will then rate their employees from low to high in each area. Where they fall on the grid will indicate the different roles they plan on your team and suggests different support, development, encouragement, and intervention actions may be needed.
There are some concerns that this model is too simplistic and gets easily misused. Despite that, the basic premise of arranging ideas along a 2-axis chart is solid. Take the below example. Same grid, different labels and now you have hacked this tool to help you reach your goals.
Let’s say your goal is to add healthy movement to your day. Easier said than done when you lead a busy life. However, I’m betting you have a least a few minutes to spare.
Here I have hacked the same grid you saw above to create a workoutplanning tool. To do this I made one axis the time you have available and the other your level of motivation.
You can customize it with your own favorite activities of varying durations (15-30-45 minutes) for days when you have more or less energy and motivation. Now, no matter how you feel or how much time you have, you can quickly eliminate excuses and make healthy choices.
It is a Visual Strategic Planning Tool
You probably noticed the grid is also a common format in photo-based social media applications. Feeds, such as my Instagram, use grids to display posts in rows of three-across.
The grid can help you strategicallyplan your overall layout. With this birds-eye view of your content, you can quickly assess style, color, theme and consistency.
Brand influencers often use this tool to strategically plan the types or categories of content they are working to build. And you can use it to quickly decide if the overall effect is the one you want. Think about what your audience to see when they first browse to your profile. Decide if it will convey the look you want.
Moreover, you can use this beyond your social media feed. Other applications that lean on visual style can make use of the grid to ensure key elements flow together. This includes photography, wardrobe planning (especially capsules wardrobes), quilting, interior design, art, etc.
To use this technique yourself, lay out samples, descriptions, labels, or photos of your project. Check that the colors, materials, textures, and other design elements are cohesive and give the desired impression.
I have been known to apply 9 Box Grids to mood boards and presentations. I’ve even made one out of paint swatches to be sure I like the overall impression before I commit to it.
The Grid is a Retrospective Reflection Tool
You’ve also likely seen 9 Box Grids make an appearance across social media at the end of the year. These “Top 9” or “Best 9” posts are where people share their 9 most popular and liked posts formatted as a Grid.
I used to think posting a Top or Best 9 grid at the end of the year was bit gimmicky. I also didn’t like the bragging and unhealthy comparisons. But once I started thinking about it I found they had benefits too. Most importantly, this technique is both a creative way to celebrate your successes for the year andreflect on your value to you audience.
To get the best values out of this trend, take time to think about why those posts ranked in your top 9. Ask yourself what you see reflected in those posts. Are they a reflection of your core brand? So they align with your own perceptions on what should have ranked in the top 9? If not, what else is it that your audience sees and likes in your feed.
This introspection can help you derive insights to guide future posts even as you reminisce about where the past year. Or why wait until the end of the year and make this retrospective a quarterly exercise.
As you can see, the 9 Box Grid is a powerful tool for visually planning that can be adapted in many ways. Why not try one out and let me know what you think by tagging @BetterWithaPlan on social media or in the comments below.
If you liked these techniques, you’ll want to check out my next post to discover even more ways to make a 9 Box Grid work for you.
And if you want to see even more planning techniques and tips in action follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook as @BetterWithaPlan
Do you have big goals? Does it ever seem difficult to figure out how you are going to get from here to there? Last post I shared 3 ways the 9 Box Grid is commonly used in business and social media. I also gave you some hacks to use it in other ways. If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to check out that blog postfirst.
So why am I posting on it again? As I was reasearching that article I looked back at my own planners to see how I had used this tool for myself. And you know what I found? I use it all the time!
This tool is so versatile and one of the most common ways I use it is to help me break down big goals. Keep scrolling and I’ll show you how to use the 9 Box Grid to approach big goals and climb some metaphorical hills.
I’ll give you more examples of where I have found this tool most useful. And if you sign up for my monthly email updates, I’ll give you my free goal breakdown PDF. With this, you’ll be able jump right into using this tool. Let’s go!
Breaking Down Big Goals
You can use a 9 Box Grid to break down big goals and make them more manageable. Its a great way to take something very broad or too far in the future and boil it down into manageable tasks. Simply put, you:
Refine your goals
Break big goals into objectives
Focus your objectives
Assign tasks
Complete your tasks and you’ll meet your objective. Reach your objectives and you’re on your way to meeting your big goal. Tracking them all in a 9 box grid helps you visualize what needs to be done, even when you don’t have your grid in front of you.
Sounds too easy, right? Well, it might take more than one cup of tea to do this. But it also doesn’t have to be overly complex or take forever. Let me walk you through it and give you some examples.
Refine Your Goals
You start with one big aspirational goal, like: Travel the world. That’s great, but really vague. You might know generally what you want but its not clear enough. Your goal is waaaay up there on a metaphorical pedestal at the top of a hill in the distance.
If you leave your goal like that you’ll have a hard time visualizing what you want, much less know what directionto head first, how many flights of steps there will be to reach the top or how to go about climbing them. It’s hard to see the path in your mind and even harder to tell if you are making good progress.
There are other ways to refine it but the one I recommend to help you expand your goal to a bit more is SMART—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based. Type “SMART goals” into a search engine and you’ll find a million great resources to go deep into the topic.
The short version is that you apply each one of the parameters in the mnemonic acronym to help you add relevant words to your goal to achieve better results. So instead of “Travel the world”, its: To travel to at least one country on each continent within 15 years.
That’s something like a trip every two years. That’s a better goal. You’ve given a name and coordinates to the top of your metaphorical hill.
However it’s still not clear which direction you wan to head first, how you go about getting there,or what you need to do in the days, weeks, months ahead. So lets set some objectives to give us direction.
No clear direction
Break Big Goals into Objectives
To break this down, you’ll need a blank grid with lots of space to write. Sign up to get a copy of my printable PDF version or just draw your own.
Start by writing your big SMART goal at the top. Now think about the types of things you need to do to reach your goal. These will become your objectives at the top of each column. Make note of any deadlines or other planning factors that are relevant as well.
In some cases, its helpful to think in terms of timelines. If I’m planning a big project, I might want to set an objective for the 1st month, 2nd month, and 3rd month or a near-term, mid-term, and long-term outlook. This helps me focus on the right thing at the right time and is good when sequencing and deadlines are important to your goal
Often I’ll look at things topically. When I was planning to run a half marathon, I set objectives around training plan, nutrition, and gear. When re-vamping my nutrition after a medical diagnosis, I focused on Healthy Lunches, Quick Dinners, and Make Ahead Meals.
Other times, I might want to set objectives around different functions. For increasing Journal sales in the fourth quarter, I might set objectives around Writing, Graphic Design, Advertisement. For learning foreign languages, I focus different objectives around Reading, Writing, and Speaking.
Certain goals lend themselves to having more concept-based objectives. I used Gather, Get Ready, Be Comfortable to define and plan my approach to setting up my spaces after a big move. When developing a campaign to raise awareness around diversity challenges I set objectives to Educate, Inspire, Engage.
Making Better Objectives
Generally you’ll want a near-term scope for your objectives. Ask yourself if your objectives convey what you really need to focus on over the next 12 months. Will they help your reach you big goal? Are they reasonable to accomplish, given the time, money, and other responsibilities you have.
For example, if you want to become the President but are still in high school, focus your objectives on your senior year activities, getting into college or the job market, and volunteer work. Save objectives about your political platform, raising campaign funds, or community outreach for future planning.
Continuing my world travel example, I’d focus my objectives on just the first country because thats the only trip I can reasonably afford to take next 12 months. They would be to Fund my Travel, Plan the Trip, and Get Ready to Go. Notice I’m not trying to tackle the whole big goal with this, just what I’m going to prioritize in the near term.
Travel Goal, Objectives & Planning Notes
These objectives become the sign posts along our metaphorical hill, to keep you climbing in the right direction. If you haven’t already, in your grid, write one objective above the top of each column of boxes. Next we’ll further break down these objectives, adding details on how we want to get there.
Focus Your Objectives & Assign Tasks
Now you are going to take each objective and break it into 3 focus areas. Write each one at the top of a box under the appropriate objective.
Like objectives, focus areas can be structured as time-based, topical, functional, conceptual, or other format, as appropriate to the objective. Focus areas should categorize how you plan to reach your objective.
Then, under each focus area. is where you will write out 3-6 tasks that you need to do in that area. Feel free to write full sentences or use a short hand, whatever you like best (or have room for). Your focus areas and tasks can be set up sequentially, concurrently, or a mix of both.
Depending on how big your goal is, you could easily have more than three focus areas, and almost certainly more than 3-6 tasks. With this method, you’ll only choose the top three to areas to track in the grid, at any given time.
As you brainstorm, make note any and all focus areas you come up with—make good use of your margins. While the overall grid is focus out at 12 months, your specific tasks should be focused on defining what is achievable in the next 30 days. As you complete tasks, you’ll want to update with new tasks or swap in different focus areas and tasks. I recommend re-evaluating monthly.
Back to our travel example, under “Fund my Trip”, I would focus on Save More, Spend Less, Look for Deals as my 3 box headers. Tasks under Spend Less would include reviewing my auto-subscriptions, set-up or review my budget, cook at home/don’t eat out, and plan for a no-spend November. All things I can do this month to spend less.
Skip forward a month and assume I completed all my initial task. I then update the Spend Less focus area with new tasks: sticking to no-spend November, tracking monthly expenditures, use up freezer meals/don’t eat out, and research handmade gifts instead of buying them. Or maybe my Save More focus area has me well on the way to saving what I need for the trip. I can then replace Spend Less with Earn More and add looking into extra shifts, seasonal jobs, exploring freelance, or selling handmade goods instead.
Fill in your focus areas and take some time to plan out your tasks for the next month. Now you have a completed grid.
My Travel Goal Breakdown for the Month
You’ve added handrails leading up the metaphorical hill. They give you something concrete to work toward and can help you stay focused on what needsto be done at any given time. You’ve also planned out the details like what shoes to wear, gear to take, and added snacks and water to you bag. You have built yourself the trail map that tells you how you are going to get there.
What To Do Next
As you plan your months, weeks, and days, refer back to your grid. The column and box headers keep your actions focus on moving toward you goal in meaningful ways. Having your tasks written out means you can be sure they get added into your planner and not skipped or forgotten.
I sometimes draw a little sketch with just the objectives and focus areas in my planner. When I have some free time, its a handy visual to encourage to put effort in activities that move me closer to my goals.
It’s also very helpful when new things land on my plate. I can take the new thing and compare it to my objective and make better decisions about how I’ll spend my time. If the new thing isn’t part of my focus but could move me toward my objective, I’ll add it. If it doesn’t I am reminded to think hard about the trade offs before I add it.
I hope you find this method useful and consider incorporating it into your planning.
If you do, drop me a note in the contact page or find me as @betterwithaplan on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to let me know how it worked for you. And don’t forget to grab your copy of my FREE PDF before you go.
