Last week, we talked about evaluating past activities before planning new ones. Today, let’s consider new plans. Because 2022 begins tomorrow, we’ll call these plans New Year’s resolutions, and since many of us are chronically ill, we’ll look at the process from that standpoint.
I wrote last week about needing to make plans to improve your experience when checking out information on Navigating the Storms. I included plans to evaluate what needs to change by looking at what exists now and dreaming about what can be. Well, I actually made a good start and should soon be able to design actionable plans. And that’s what this week’s post is about.
So, have you begun evaluating? Or do you need to assess your life and decide if there is an area you want to improve? Maybe you have finished evaluating and need to plan? That’s where this week’s post can help.
Therefore, as we consider New Year’s resolutions and us chronically ill people, let’s have some fun and start planning!
How do you begin?
Evaluate what is now
- See last week’s post (or the PDF below) for ideas.
Then what?
Choose one area to change
- Since many of us have a time crunch, choosing only one gives us more chance to succeed.
Decide on specific actions
- Specific ideas also offer more chance of success.
- For myself, I use a list of tasks, subtasks, and sub-subtasks.
- Using that method, I can focus on one small undertaking at a time.
- That allows me to cross off more tasks, visualizing success to come.
How to finish?
Design method to measure success
- This is a critical step.
- It can be a paper and pen table to be filled in, or an Excel chart, or whatever.
- This allows us to visualize our progress, bringing a sense of accomplishment.
And, lastly, imagine a celebration for success!
Summing up
My area for change this year involves this website. However, your area of change might be exercise, diet, improving concentration, developing confidence, or reducing stress. These areas are limited only by your imagination and your circumstances.
Below is a PDF of my process. Below it, you can find a link to download a copy. (It is not a fillable PDF because I have not yet figured out how to do that. Guess that’s one thing I could add to my list to learn to make it easier for you. :-))
Care to share your ideas for 2022? We’d love to hear them!
Investigate Further
If you want to make a change but aren’t sure where to start, check out these fifty ideas.
This article includes even more help on how to follow through on your new plans.
You can also look at my posts from the past.
Please Help Me
The huge project I’m working on is this website, and I really need some feedback from my readers. You can leave a comment, or you can use the contact page.
First question: should I continue this website?
If so, what next? Please contribute any ideas, positive or negative, about changes you might like to see. These could be in looks or in content.
I am planning to move some pages around, delete others, and simplify the menu.
Please, I really need some feedback on this. Thank you and advance.
As for this page and should you keep it, ?
I have learned and continue to learn from this page. I would suggest some more complicated ways of dealing with tasks and meds and demands of specialists. Vs how do we maintain any sense of what our life use to be or how do we let go of our past life to embrace and be successful as disabled. That is where I am still stuck. I just can’t make the transition and get my head around taking all this just a bit more seriously w self care. I know what to do , I just don’t want to do it . I need to do certain things but I am not doing them. How does one learn to care more when it’s so overwhelming.?
However Carole, if you are too tired then maybe you want to take a break. Doing a website is a lot of work.
If it has served your purposes for what you had it for, go ahead and be done. Please do not feel guilty if you can’t keep going. Take care of you first. That is my two cents
Jennie
Thank you for the encouragement and the suggestions. I have decided to keep going and to simplify things. Also try to help it be more relevant, which is where your comments are quite helpful.
I have to move to an hourly schedule to keep straight everything I am suppose to do. I’m trying to build in some new habits as well so an hourly schedule is the best way but keeping expectations down so I don’t give up and fail.
Sometimes all we can do is keep on keeping on. Back in the early days, I unwisely climbed Mt. Lassen with my family. Going up wasn’t too awful; coming down was horrendous. All I could do was put one foot in front of the other, as I didn’t want to be hauled down in a stretcher (it was a close call). So keep on keeping on. You’ll make it, Jennie!
I love your process and the graphic. I’m taking a similar approach and spent the better part of New Year’s Day plannning what I want to achieve this year and making a weekly schedule of what I need to do to increase my chances of reaching my goals. Thanks for sharing your process and tips!
Wow! You’re much more detailed than I!