So – last week sucked.

I’m not sure what mix of poor planning and bad hormones (sorry guys) caused me to flummox, but I left the week really off.

I declared to the world – I want to be FREE!

Then, Friday night I had a crazy (AWESOME) dream, and over the course of the weekend, my brain slowly worked through some things, and I came to one pretty big shift and one new experiment to try this week.

The one big shift has to do with this LivingBluPrints endeavor – you might see a few tweaks in my website and ‘positioning’ in the near future. (Overall the LivingBluPrints shift feels amazingly great!)

The one experiment… (the Recalibration Checklist)

Well, I must start with a SIDE NOTE: I wrote this book, The Whole Package Professional, and it occurs to me that some folks might assume that I am purporting to have my shi* together in all ways. This is not at all the truth. The truth is that my mind is more of the ‘creative’ variety and I have difficulty focusing (and often feel scattered) … so if my ‘stuff’ isn’t all sorted and planned in advance, I suffer due to logistical BS and the resulting drain keeps me from using my gifts as fully as I might like.

I wrote the book to outline what has helped me feel more ‘whole.’ I share in order to help others who might yearn for – (in the short term) – a little more ease; and – (in the longer term) – higher performance and increased well-being.

And even though I wrote that book, I regularly need to recalibrate and tweak. We are all Works in Progress, right?

So here are some re-calibration tweaks for this ’round…. they are all things I know help support better logistics (and keep my mind in a better space such that I can actually follow through with my best intentions)…

Four Recalibration Actions:

warm lemon water (first thing upon arising) – adding cayenne this time
yoga – 10-ish minutes (again, mine is a home practice… schedule doesn’t allow me to get to a studio)
green drink (fairly simple and new to me – basic concoction of coconut water, spinach, kale, and fruit)
meditation (currently using one of the Deepak/Oprah editions, but this might change soon)

So far so good – looking solid for the rest of the week.

The most fun is reflecting on how I feel as the week progresses!

If you want to try something similar, create your own checklist by reflecting on days or weeks that went really well. Were there components that you could incorporate more regularly? And you certainly don’t need four items… you could just have one and then add another once you’ve got that down…

Do you ever set up check-lists for things you know will serve you, but might be tough to execute ‘in the moment’? In the comments, I’d love to know – what you’ve found to be MOST effective when adapting new habits.

Please share this post if you know others who might benefit!

6 Comments

Alan Thornton on January 27, 2016 at 9:13 pm

As you know, I often create lists for everything, especially those things that I don’t do on a routine basis. This allows me the confidence to know that I will not forget the details that may be overlooked in the absence of a list.
- Linda Stacy on January 27, 2016 at 9:46 pm
  
  Lists are really amazing – aren’t they, Al?! I love that you mention confidence – it’s so important to do what is in our control with the full knowledge (of course) that so much is not in our control. These actions add up to **confidence** and confidence is key for how we approach life/the world! Thanks so much for posting, Al!
Jenn Murphy on January 28, 2016 at 3:06 pm

I just bought a book at Target called “Fit Happens” and while it’s meant to be a fitness log, it includes inspirational quotes, a “mood” scale, and a box to note nutrition. What I like best is that it starts each page with “3 things I am grateful for today” and “what I like best about my fit bod” so it reminds me to recognize the good things I have achieved and not focus on what I didn’t get around to…
- Linda Stacy on January 28, 2016 at 4:06 pm
  
  Sounds amazing – maybe I will have to incorporate something similar when I create more of a ‘workbook’ out of my materials!! Weight Watchers does something similar with smiley faces before you weigh in. I too like focusing and the million things that DID happen and not beating up about what didn’t. Also – it’s been good to just notice that some days are just going to feel better and go better than others… but we still get up, we still exercise and work, and we make it as awesome as we possibly can!
Christin Watt on January 29, 2016 at 7:49 am

I often keep lists. While in college they helped my with memorization for exams. I could visually remember my study list in a pinch. Most often my lists are for work related tasks or chores around the household. I get great satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment from crossing things off my lists and refreshing the lists regularly. My biggest take away from your post is in order to help incorporate things I want to do or that are good for me to do perhaps I should try adding those to my list as well. It is a small revelation for me today but I’m positive it will make a difference to help me rebalance the focus in my day to day living!

Thanks Linda! Good luck with the move!
- Linda Stacy on January 31, 2016 at 8:43 am
  
  Thanks, Christen! Psychologically, we are VERY ready for the move… let’s just hope all the pieces fall in place! Thanks for your comments! I too get a lot of satisfaction from crossing things off the list – it helps us acknowledge all we DO… sometimes I focus too much on what remains to be done, even when I’ve already tackled so much!