Welcome to Lifetime Organizing! Lifetime Organizing will help you organize your time, your home, your family, and yourself to help make your life more meaningful. I call it LIFETIME ORGANIZING because when we work on organizing our time, it’s not just to make today better, but to make our ENTIRE lifetime better. In other words, everything you do TODAY affects your future, and your entire lifetime. It sounds cliche but, REALLY, as I get older, I realize that life is really short and EVERY day matters! We shouldn’t waste time on things that aren’t important to us. So, how do we decide what IS important and meaningful and worth our time? I think you have to begin by looking at the BIG PICTURE. In other words, looking at where you are now, and where you’d like to be in the future. That can be too overwhelming, so you’ve got to break it down to manageable parts.
So, first, it’s time to set goals. I, personally, like to think about my goals every year, the day after my birthday, and then again after New Year’s Day when life settles down for awhile. Start by thinking about what decade of your life you’re currently in. What do you want to do with your life for this decade and also the next?
Next, we need to break it down to five years from now. You still have lots of time till then, but you’ll definitely need to start working on things to get there. You can’t wait four years and 11 months and then rush to accomplish what you want. You have to think about what you need to do THIS year to have the kind of life you want in 5-10 years. So, for now, we’re working on our goals just for THIS year. I like to do this by thinking about six areas of life:
1) Spiritual – This includes going to church, things to get involved in at church, and daily devotions.
2) Family – My family means everything to me, so I want to make sure that I spend a lot of time with them. It seems obvious, but if we’re not intentional about this, time passes and we lose touch with each other. You might even want to plan a family reunion this year. You should also plan to spend time regularly with your friends.
3)Homelife – This includes taking care of the house, inside and outside, including seasonal things that need to be done. Sometimes if we don’t plan for it, it doesn’t get done. I know someone who likes to redecorate one room each year. I LOVE that idea! Each year you might want to adjust your family’s schedule and routines, depending on your stage of life and ages of your kids. Back-to-school time would be the perfect time for that.
4)Personal – This would include taking care of your health. If you don’t exercise and watch what you eat, you’ll definitely see negative consequences of THAT in 5-10 years. Also, think about what you’d like to do for yourself this year, whether it’s taking a trip, learning something new, or whatever is important to YOU. Also, make time this year for your hobby. Plan for it and make it happen!
5)Finances – You need to think about where you’d like to be financially in 5-10 years. Think about the steps you need to take this year to get your finances where you want them to be. Of course, everybody needs a budget. Every budget needs room to save for long-term goals such as vacations, furniture, college, and retirement. I think it’s a good idea to read a good personal finance book and, yearly, re-evaluate where you are financially.
6)Career – Every year think about where you are in your career and where you want to be in 5-10 years. What will it take to get there? Make a list of steps to take and work on it.
WHEW! That’s a lot to think about! Don’t get overwhelmed. First, just write everything out on paper. I’ve included a helpful Lifetime Goals Worksheet to help you organize and keep a record of your goals. I’ve included six categories and additional spaces for you to add others. You might want to include on your list which month you want to do certain things. That’s how it becomes manageable. Come back tomorrow as I explain how we can break this down to MONTHLY GOALS.