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5 Ways I'm Challenging Myself This Year

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Happy new week!

For as long as I can remember the new year for me brought with it a new struggle more than a fresh start. With each list of resolutions that I wrote, it would be more of a challenge to myself to accomplish more than I had in the previous year, to try something different and avoid going down the same paths over and over again and expect different results. It's pure insanity after all, Einstein said.

For 2018, I have taken a different route and I have found new ways to challenge myself. I want to have a different year this year. I want to make it as memorable as possible. Below are 5 ways I'm challenging myself this year.

1. Speak less, act more.
I like vocalising my thoughts.  I tell my family and closest friends of everything that I want to do. I mostly do this so that I can remain accountable. However, I had noticed that I would say one thing and perhaps as I tried to accomplish it, circumstances would change and consequently I would need to change my plans.
This year, my main aim is to speak less about my plans, to only answer when I am asked and instead to focus on acting, setting my plans for this year in motion until I reach a point where I am comfortable sharing them with others. Then and only then will I speak about them.

2. Set up to do lists.
I live by lists. I have three different notebooks which I use for three different types of lists. One is for my daily calendar (a regular diary), another for my blog where I list my ideas, posts for the month and make outlines of different blog posts. The third is more like a notepad with loose leaf pages entitled 'Things To Do Today'. I like this one for when I'm running errands out of the house and I need to note down everything I hope to accomplish. Have I mentioned how satisfying it is to cross out accomplished tasks?

3. Keep a journal. 
I used to really be into journaling but over the years I have sort of ignored my journal. I shared things that you can write about in your journal some time back (you can read the post here) and I will confess that it has become harder and harder to keep my journal up to date. But this year, I am trying to jot down just a few thoughts each day. I came across some journaling prompts that I have found very useful particularly in the evenings when my brain begins shutting down at about 7:30 p.m. I will share them in a separate blog post.

4. Wake up earlier
Now that baby girl is in school, I have started waking up a bit earlier than I used to. This new habit is helping me accomplish more from my days since I now have more daylight hours in which to work.

5. Read more
When I discovered YouTube, I got hooked. I noticed that I spent a lot of time exploring this new world. Now I am trying to make time spent online useful by reading a variety of articles from matters religion to fashion and politics. I have also taken to watching more documentaries and motivational channels on YouTube just so that I can expand my knowledge base.

I'm glad to say that since I chose to share this post in March, these are five things that I have been working on over the last two months. I'm keen to turn them into habits and not just things that I started to do this year and didn't complete. I hope they are inspirational to you and give you some ideas on how you can make this year different.

Thank you for stopping by.



Related Posts:
~My 2018 new year resolutions
~How to make lasting new year resolutions
~The art of journaling


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