There’s four weeks to Christmas, and five until we greet 2024. It’s time to start thinking about a reset and take control of your life.

Horrific!

But at least my Christmas shopping is under control.

It’s also traditionally the time of year when I start getting all antsy about how little of my plans I got to.

Having been a Project Manager, you’d think I’d be good at plans and projects. Except, when you’re managing someone elses projects, you can always throw more resources at whatever the problem is. Though chances are, the project will be abandoned at the end of the year without a proper review.

So, I tend to casually abandon my personal projects as well, rather than taking a proper look at what went well and what didn’t. And most importantly, whether my expectations were realistic.

You see, professional or not, we all tend to make plans based on best case scenrarios.

That:

• we will never get sick.
• we will always be 100% committed.
• we will never make mistakes.
• nothing will ever go wrong.
• we will always have all the resources we need directly to hand.
• we won’t need large contingencies.

Least ways, I planned best case scenario until I took Sarra Cannon’s HB90 course, (affilliate link).

It was originally developed for writers trying to fit their creative work around their jobs, but it will work for other hobby businesses as well as personal projects. Because once you get through the visioning, brainstorming, and prioritising, the next step is to work out how much time you have available and choose which projects will fit your time.

This step was a game changer for me – no more overcommitting, and beating myself up about not reaching my goals. Taking a reset and reprioritise each quarter.

Making sure I planned in all my medical appointments as well as recovery time. Allowing time for the courses I wanted to do. Putting in time for my recurring tasks, like the weekly and monthly reviews and planning sessions (reset and take control sessions), submissions and even a few days to do the taxes!

Planning week to week, on the basis of available time is a Project Manager’s nightmare. But when you are the only resource that can be thrown at a project, it makes for a pretty intense time.

Now, I’m undercommitting, but achieving more with less recriminations.

And I have a kanban board that actually reflects what’s possible and isn’t just a gigantic and overwhelming to-do list.

The next class starts on December 10, and I will definitely be there again.

So if you struggled in 2023, reset and take control in 2024. Take Sarra’s class.

You can get a tate of it at Sarra’s YouTube channel.

---

Photo by Cinthia Becher on Unsplash

Choice Contribution