044 Planning Pleasure and Purpose

This week we are talking about planning, the value in setting goals and creating space for rest in our busy worlds so that we can look after our mental health, as well as our loved ones!

I do new year resolutions slightly differently these days, I wait until after January 1st and then take the entire month to take stock, evaluate and plan – I find it's a much less frantic way to map out the year ahead and always proves to be far more likely to succeed when I do it this way. So here goes, in a nutshell….

• GOALS
  • Wheel of everything – PLEASURE AND PURPOSE - how satisfied are you with your relationship/work/social life/spiritual life/home/connection with kids. By breaking down each section of our lives, we can see what's working well and not so well.
  • Taking each section that we want to improve, we then put some thought into how to improve it over time, without knee jerk reactions or unreasonable intentions. Consider the things that have stopped you until now, what else needs addressing at a deeper level for example, if you're drinking loads of coffee in the morning due to the fact that you're not sleeping at night because work is causing you heaps of stress, how can you address that?
• WISH LIST
  • What are the places you would like to go to this year– holidays, festivals, city breaks, galleries, shows, concerts
  • Who are the people you would like to spend time with? Perhaps connecting with old friends, family members from further afield or just not so old friends but ones who live a little further away
  • House jobs and things to do – fix the fence, sort the garage, re-do the bathroom, buy a new mattress, mend the bicycle – things you keep putting off but you know you would love to be done
• FRAMEWORK
  • Work schedule – get a year to view calendar and mark out dates you are working and any other important dates that are set already such as GCSEs/A Levels/Open Days/sports day/school events/local fairs etc
  • Birthdays/appointments or other events
  • School holidays – show the space where you can create fun and adventure, equally where you may need to arrange childcare or make arrangements with work
• SPACE FOR PLANNING
  • Holidays – start to put these things in, it gives you something to look forward to
  • Day trips, seeing friends, parties – plan ahead so that you don't have another year go by without seeing those loved ones again
  • Rest – LEAVE SPACE for rest, for spontanaeity and for general chilling out together!
• WEEKLY PLANNING
  • Every Sunday – what does the week have ahead? What do you need to remember? Write down everything so it's out of your head – this is all about creating head space, managing mental health and taking control of our lives
  • Where is the space? Protect yourself by ensuring there is space for downtime
  • Meal planning, who needs a lift to where? Play dates, part time jobs, after school clubs, getting the food shopping done – where are you fitting in you and your partner ….DATE NIGHT?

I have a diary (Filofax), a planner (Tools4Wisdom), a meal planner on the wall in the kitchen, and a white board in the office – if its not written down it just swims around my head and causes unnecessary stress - who wants that?

And that's how I plan! I hope its helpful 😊

Talking of planning - I have a blank canvas ready to be filled with ideas for the podcast so if there is anything you would like me to cover, research or talk about or perhaps any guests you fancy hearing on Inside My Wardrobe please get in touch!

You can find me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook – all the links are on my website pipagordon.co.uk (remember I'm pipa with 1 p) or you can join in with our facebook group page called INSIDE MY WARDROBE and leave your requests and comments there.

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• 1:48 my take on New Year's Resolutions
• 3:20 Goal planning
• 7:00 January respite, let the festive season dust settle
• 9:55 The wheel of everything, breaking life down into manageable bite sized chunks
• 12:34 The quest for happiness
• 14:00 Getting control of life to the best of our ability. Finding strength, purpose and creating forward motion
• 16:57 Stop blaming the environment and start believing in yourself - you can do it!
• 17:10 Wish lists
• 18:16 Connecting with friends
• 19:41 Framework to planning the year - every structure has a frame!
• 21:35 Avoiding things swimming around your head - mental health awareness!
• 21:51 Diary (Filofax)
• 22:22 Weekly Planner (Tools4Wisdom)
• 23:35 Managing mental health when running a busy work, life, and family schedule
• 24:04 Meal planning
• 25:00 Value in taking control and how it helps our mental health and sanity levels
• 25:37 Any requests for future podcasts, please get in touch

Remember you can find me on social media, just search Pipa Gordon or jump across to my website or join our Facebook group page

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