Planned Positivity

 Have you seen the artistic miracles that people are passing off as Bullet Journals these days?                stolen from bulletjournal.com                                   wonderful work by boho berry  ...and then there's mine: There's no art here. It's barely legible. But it's mine and it does what I need it to do. It keeps me on track with the things I need and/or want to do, and it gets things out of my brain so I can focus on useful stuff like writing this here blog post. Anyone who tries to tell you a planning or journaling system needs to be pretty, fancy and complicated is misguided at best. My BuJo looks nothing like any of the masterpieces on the internet. It's a dollar store notebook that's more than a little bit dog eared and highlighter has bled through the pages in places and I probably don't use it nearly enough but it works. That's the important part. It works for me.  I love putting that little X beside tasks when they're done. Ser

 And here we all are. The third week of January, and most of us have fallen off the resolutions bandwagon. I certainly did. What happened? Well, a lot of people made resolutions they didn't want to make. They made resolutions based on what everyone else seemed to be doing- public declarations of the intention to lose weight, get out of debt, be more mindful. Those make wonderful, inspiring Instagram posts.  But what if you happen to like chips in front of the TV more than you like the gym? Guess what's going to come out on top? What if you like your daily six dollar latter more than having a credit card balance of zero? Again, you'll find yourself with a latte in hand making a minimum payment on your card. It's basic human nature.  Quit fighting yourself. If exercise is one of the levels of Hell for you and the thought of going to a gym makes you want to curl up in a ball and hide, DON'T GO.         Really. Don't. Forcing yourself to do things you really hate is

 Sounds easy, right? Have a dream, set a goal, smash it.  Hardly ever works out that way, does it? You get as far as setting a goal, and then you trip. Your goal of getting in shape falls to quarantine couch potato-itis. Your goal of going on holiday fell to bad shopping habits. Your goal of learning to play guitar went down in flames against the temptation of a series of Netflix binge sessions.  How do you avoid the trap?  Break it down. The goal is too big to take on all at once. If you decide your goal is to run a marathon once we're all safe and vaccinated, you need to get off the couch first. If you just pop up and go for a 10K jog, that'll be the end of your journey because tomorrow you will hurt so much you'll convince yourself it's not worthwhile.  Aim for getting where you want to go without blowing your motivation (or your knees!). The best approach? Small steps.  Instead of that exhausting 10k run, try a ten minute walk.  Pick a time for that walk, and schedu

[Warning: this blog will contain foul language. I use the right word for the job.]   Hey there!  I'm so happy you've found my little corner of the web. Now that you're here, grab a cup of tea and pull up a spot on the couch. We've got plans to make, and this is important brainstorming my friend.  We're going to improve our lives. Yeah, I know. Everybody's promising that these days. 15 Yoga Poses That Will Make You Flexible And Super Rich! Eat These 3 Foods to Achieve Nirvana and Levitate! (I'm exaggerating a little, but you get my point.)  But I have a system that works. I've been testing it for many years and it's taken me from being a miserable disorganized negative creep to a (mostly!) happy, confident and positive human. I find myself fielding messages from friends looking for advice on the subjects of organization and attitude adjustment, which frankly shocks the hell out of me. I'm going to call myself an expert for no better reason than th