2019 was a pretty intense year. Towards the end of it I felt exhausted all the time, no matter how much I rested. My theme for the year had been, action. To focus on finishing things instead of getting stuck at the planning stage.
Though I didn’t finish some things as fast as I wanted, they did get done. And many many ideas , although not finished, got to the testing and prototyping phase instead of staying on cryptic post it notes written at 3Am. New habits helped get smaller projects done. Like rethinking the way I write to-do lists. These days I list one or two things for the day and most other things go on a brain dump type of list. Then I started working on my thesis last fall and I felt like all the systems and methods I had put in place to help me manage my time, energy and projects went out the window. All of a sudden I was in panic mode every other week and felt like I had no idea what I was doing.
2020 didn’t start that well either, I remember having a horrible migraine during the new year festivities. Probably due another thesis “crisis”. So I was very tempted to put rest as my theme for 2020. However, I feel like intention is a better suited theme. Now that I’ve gotten into the habit of starting and even finishing projects, this year I need to pay more attention to the why and be more clear about the purpose of what I’m doing. I think it will help me stay focused on the project at hand and not fall into the multitasking – constant productivity trap. I also think it might help to be more selective about what I spend my time on, which in turn I hope will make it easier to prioritize rest. All of this is gonna become even more important going forward in these uncertain and chaotic times we’re living in. I mean I’m writing a “themes for the new year” post in March and January already feels like a year ago!
Now I wanna know, do you have any themes for 2020? or do you prefer new year’s resolutions?
