eAction

At the end or start of a new year, I like to take some days or half-days off to sort out a lot of things in my mind. It’s too easy throughout the year to be so busy I just plod along doing the next thing, and forget why I’m doing it. What if I’ve slipped off base? Many little projects can cause us to veer off on tangents. Am I still doing what God wants me to do? Do I have projects on my agenda list that I ought to drop? Are there better ones to take up?

And the big question; how am I going to get it all done? My timetable will need some adjustments!

So I take some days where at a slower pace, I pray and review all these things, starting with the basics, and working up to the details. I go slow enough so I can hear God’s Spirit speak to my intuition and let me know when something is not right, or a certain other little responsibility needs a block of time to get done.

By the end of three or four days like this, I have a fresh gungho attitude towards my goals and aims. Knowing why I’m doing what I do, renews my motivation. Unfinished projects from last year that are still worthy get moved to this year’s agenda and schedule, and some that have petered down get ejected altogether.

Last year I found myself interested in selling on eBay, but I gave up another program that wasn’t bringing in any results to make room for it. After some initial research, I managed to “try” to sell one book, which didn’t get a single bid. Then I got busy with trying to help Dad by selling his cross necklaces he began to make in May. I thought that was a temporary interruption in my time for eBay, but when I looked at it now, months later, I realized that I’d lost my interest and enthusiasm for it. Perhaps because of that first failure, to be fair, but this year I scraped that right off my calendar.

There are so many little pros and cons to consider, but when pressing ahead in a normal work week, one just doesn’t take time to weigh them carefully. So my planning retreats at the end/beginning of the year, (and sometimes I can sneak in a day for it around my birthday at the end of July), these are priceless for getting a new grip on all my irons in the fire.

That may be a cliche from a blacksmith’s workshop, but since I have many projects and planning all running concurrently, it seems apt for my situation. By giving each regular little blocks of time, I eventually get many things done. But if I don’t take time to list what I got accomplished and celebrate them, they begin to blur together like a room with far too much clutter and too many do-dads hanging around and clashing both colours and impressions.

I recommend this goals, agendas, and calendar housecleaning highly to you. I’m eager to get on with my work this year. I’m not like those who moan about breaking their new year’s resolutions within so many days. I don’t have vague resolutions - I have plans and timetables, and I know that I’ll work hard at them. I won’t get everything done, but I’ll get far more done than if I had NOT made plans and schedules.