• Home
    • Home
    • About Me
    • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Blog Archives
    • Search & Blog Categories
  • Get Inspired
    • Get Inspired
    • Inspiring Words & Quotes
    • My Muses – Favorites & Inspiration
    • Challenges
    • Product & Book Reviews
  • Get Creative
    • Get Creative
    • Start Handlettering
    • Handlettering Fun Styles
    • Tutorials & How-To
    • Creating Art – Watercolor, Painting & Drawing
  • Start Planning
    • Start Planning Here
    • Planner Spreads & Themes
    • Plan With Me Archives
    • Organization
    • Habits & Trackers
  • Find Your Happy
    • Find Your Happy
    • Random Holiday Archive
    • Journal Prompts & Ideas
    • Health Journey
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • Lost password
      • My account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • Orders
  • Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Pinterest
    • Etsy
    • Facebook

Chocolate Musings

Set your goals - make the plans - artfully create your life - live it beautifully. Grab the good chocolate and find your muse.

  • Home
    • Home
    • About Me
    • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Blog Archives
    • Search & Blog Categories
  • Get Inspired
    • Get Inspired
    • Inspiring Words & Quotes
    • My Muses – Favorites & Inspiration
    • Challenges
    • Product & Book Reviews
  • Get Creative
    • Get Creative
    • Start Handlettering
    • Handlettering Fun Styles
    • Tutorials & How-To
    • Creating Art – Watercolor, Painting & Drawing
  • Start Planning
    • Start Planning Here
    • Planner Spreads & Themes
    • Plan With Me Archives
    • Organization
    • Habits & Trackers
  • Find Your Happy
    • Find Your Happy
    • Random Holiday Archive
    • Journal Prompts & Ideas
    • Health Journey
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • Lost password
      • My account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • Orders
Home » Get Organized & Start Planning » Habits » Page 2

What to Do if Bullet Journaling Feels Overwhelming?

November 12, 2020 Leave a Comment

What to do if you love bullet journaling but it feels overwhelming? 3 Tips to Try Right Now | ChocolateMusings.com


Post Contents

  • What to do if Bullet Journaling starts feeling overwhelming?
  • Recognize the Problem
  • What Creates Overwhelm for You? Tip #1 – Determine What You Need
    • Ask yourself:
  • Tip # 2 Manage the Overwhelm, Take a Vacation from your Bullet Journal!
  • Habit-Making Recommendations
  • Tip #3 Create Only the Minimum Amount Required
    • Eliminate Overwhelm: Pare Down to Only What You Absolutely Need In Your Bullet Journal
  • Let Your Bullet Journal Adapt to Your Life
  • Inspiration to Keep Going

What to do if Bullet Journaling starts feeling overwhelming?

3 Tips to Try Right Now to OVercome Bullet Journal Overwhelm | ChocoalteMusings.com

Do you feel overwhelmed with bullet journaling? Did this process previously work for you, but now it feels like a burden? Do you avoid your bullet journal? Have you returned to your old method of trying to remember everything or sticky notes and long to go back to when your bullet journal worked for you and when it contained the details of your life, so you didn’t feel so ragged?

Yup. Me too. A couple of months ago, it all just felt like too much. And I stopped doing anything that helped me feel put together, organized, or productive. I didn’t stop these things intentionally. It just happened because, at the time, everything felt overwhelming.

Recognize the Problem

Going through this pandemic and the trials associated with it have genuinely increased the overwhelm in my life. My husband lost his job early on during the year, and it’s been challenging to cope with all the other changes. The tipping point I think for me was when our cat of 18 years died suddenly, followed almost immediately by my husband losing out on an opportunity that we both wanted very badly.

I decided to take a little break from everything I could in my life. Social media, bullet journaling, and even art took a backseat to the menial day-to-day tasks as I worked through my grief on many levels. In the past, I’d use my bullet journal to write and help organize my thoughts and art to create a safe place for my mind. I couldn’t do the norm this time around, and that was ok. I knew I’d be back.

Sometimes to find happiness, you have to experience sorrow. Sometimes to know how to rebuild the calm in your life, you have to experience the chaos. I knew that’s what I was doing. I knew that the method I was doing wasn’t working throughout the pandemic and beyond, so I needed to figure out what needed to change.

What Creates Overwhelm for You? Tip #1 – Determine What You Need

3 Tips to Overcome Bullet Journal Overwhelm and how to Overcome it - Tip #1 - What do you really need from your bullet journal? | ChocolateMusings.com

Stop and take a minute, here. What’s creating overwhelm in your life? Why did you decide to read this article?

Ask yourself:

What do you need from your bullet journal?

What are you trying to do with your bullet journal that isn’t working?

There are times where I need intricately drawn or painted spreads and times I need minimal layouts. If you’re overwhelmed with your bullet journal, it’s a signal to change it up.

Listen to yourself. Don’t force yourself to keep doing something just because you’ve always done it.

Tip # 2 Manage the Overwhelm, Take a Vacation from your Bullet Journal!

Tip #2 - Take a Vacation from Your Bullet Journal - But have a return ticket scheduled | ChocolateMusings.com

Do you need a break from bullet journaling but don’t want to stop forever?

Here’s a tip: don’t break the habit and think you can come back to it whenever you want, you need to prepare the way to return. I know that’s how I break most of my good habits (see the posts in my health journey adventure).

Instead, call it a vacation. That’s how I take time away from a habit but mentally knowing that I’ll return to it. If you call it a vacation it helps your mind feel like it’s returning from a break rather than ‘falling off the wagon’.

It’s ok to give yourself a vacation. I promise. If you’re not using it anyway, and your bullet journal is overwhelming you, take a break, but set up a return date and an expectation when you return.

For instance, I will give myself a week (or a month) from my bullet journal and jot down the ‘vacation dates’ on a sticky note and post it on the front of my bullet journal. Writing down the commitment is especially important. And if you end up taking more time than you intended, call it an extended vacation.

Habit-Making Recommendations

Here are some books I’ve read on organizing, decluttering, and habits. I’d love a recommendation and add it to my list. Let me know if you have more to add in the comments below.  

 

Tip #3 Create Only the Minimum Amount Required

Tip # 3 Return to the Minimum Required in your Bullet Journal - Eliminate all unnecessary lists, to dos, records, allow yourself to breathe and realize what is really important to you | ChocolateMusings.com

If you’re struggling with motivation and overwhelm in your bullet journal, return to the minimum amount you can do. For instance, I decided to create a simple welcome page, a vertical calendar page to track events and day-specific to-dos, and a habit tracker page. To focus on being thankful, I added a one-line gratitude journal as well. It was the perfect mix of keeping track of life with a little whimsy.

  • November Thankful welcome page in my bullet journal - heart wreath with watercolor | ChocolateMusings.com
    Welcome Page
  • November vertical calendar log - minimal bullet journal spreads | ChocolateMusings.com
    Monthly Log
  • November Habits & Thankful Line Per day - Minimal Bullet Journal Use | ChocolateMusings.com
    One Line Per Day & Habit Tracker

A comparison from the typical spreads I created in my bullet journal vs. when I pared it down this month:

Typical Month:

  • 2 -Page Welcome Spread in Watercolor
  • 2-Page Monthly Calendar
  • Monthly To-Dos
  • Habit Tracker
  • 2-Page Spreads for Each Week
  • Brain Dump
  • One-Line Per Day
  • Productivity Tracker
  • Journal Page

Pared Down Month:

  • Welcome Spread (simple)
  • Monthly Log
  • One Line Per Day
  • Habit Tracker

** I could have eliminated the welcome spread, one line per day & habit tracker and kept only the monthly calendar, but they made me happy and I decided could keep up with them.

Eliminate Overwhelm: Pare Down to Only What You Absolutely Need In Your Bullet Journal

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, choose what you absolutely need and use that for a month. Hint: after the first week of the month, if you’re craving a missing part of your bullet journal, absolutely add it back in! There is nothing that says that you have to continue doing (or not doing) what you start the month doing.

Going back to the basics is the best way to see how my bullet journal needs to evolve for the next season of my life. If you let your bullet journal grow with your seasons of life, you’ll find the value of your bullet journal amplifies. This is one reason why I’ve stuck with bullet journaling for so long.

Here’s a post on how you can create a one-line per day spread. (And how to use it!)

Let Your Bullet Journal Adapt to Your Life

Stop the overwhelm and adapt your bullet journal to work with you instead of work against your current season of life. I feel the most overwhelmed is when I’m not using the tools in my life, and I insist that I have to use them the way I’ve always done.

Allow yourself to make a shift in the way you plan and carry out your tasks when you get them done. We’ve all gone through a significant change in the last few months. Adaptation is critical, and it certainly is necessary to eliminate overwhelm.

So if something in your bullet journal feels overwhelming, that’s a clue to change what you’re doing. Make a change. It’s ok, I promise. The system is not rigid. It was never designed to be rigid.

Inspiration to Keep Going

I hope you found some inspiration to adapt your bullet journal to your current season in life. I think you’ll find more peace and eliminate more overwhelm in your bullet journal if you give yourself a temporary vacation, reset to the minimum, and let your bullet journal adapt to your life. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Make this tool work for you.

No Matter Which Notebook I use – You’ll Always Find These Supplies Close at Hand

3 Tips to Overcome Bullet Journal Overwhelm | ChocoalteMusings.com

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Blog, Bullet Journal, Find Your Happy, Get Inspired, Get Organized & Start Planning, Habits, Journal Prompts & Ideas, My Muses (My Favorites & Inspiration), Start Planning Here Tagged: Bullet Journal, bullet journaling, habit tracking, habits, journal prompts, starting your bullet journal

Are Your Goals a Priority?

November 17, 2019 Leave a Comment

Are your habits a priority? Simple questions to ask yourself to find out | ChocolateMusings.com #habits #bulletjournal #goals

Are your goals a priority? How can you tell? Are you consistently meeting your goals? If not, read on.

In this post, I’ll show you how to determine if the habits and goals you set for yourself are really priorities by following the self-assessment I take and show you the planner layout page I use.

Are Your Goals a Priority?

If you make empty promises without the intent to follow up and do the hard things to accomplish your goal, then I hate to tell you the bad news. Your goal or habit is not really a priority.

Reflecting on your actions will show you whether or not your goal or intended habit is actually a priority in your life or if you’re set up for failure.

A Sure Sign Your Goals are NOT a Priority: Making Empty Promises

Life is full of empty promises that we never intend to keep. We make them to acquaintances and friends. Sure, we’ll get together. I’ll give you a call. We should have dinner sometime. We neglect to set a date, time, or follow-up because we don’t intend to keep the agreement.

Do you also make empty promises to yourself? Have you ever promised that you would start a diet next Monday only to find that it’s #nationaldoughnutday? And decide that you should begin your well-intended diet the next Monday instead?

Are your habits a priority? Simple questions to ask yourself to find out | ChocolateMusings.com #habits #bulletjournal #goals

What Changed the Commitment Rollercoaster?

I was always on this rollercoaster of hollow commitments to myself and never got anywhere. After reading several goal-setting and habit-forming books, there was one thought that kept recurring. All of these goals and habits had to become a priority to become an accomplishment or a formed habit.

Here is the Harsh Truth

The harsh truth is this: your actions show what is really a priority in your life. If it’s a priority to lose weight, you will either skip the doughnuts or plan carefully so you can have the right amount of doughnut and still keep your promise to yourself. Most days, I skip the sweets – and guess what? I’m ok. 

What are Your Empty Promises?

What things in your life do you empty promise – either to yourself or to those around you? Take a hard look at how you spend your time and the actions you take when faced with a hard choice. You’ll soon find out if your goal is really a priority or if it’s just a wish.

What If You’re Not Perfect?

Keep in mind that not every day will be perfect. And most days you’ll have some sort of set back. This is a matter of assessing your overall intentions and actions. This is not an opportunity to rip yourself apart and tear you down. It’s an opportunity to think long and hard about the positive actions you’re taking. Then build on those rather than bash yourself about what you do to hinder your progress.

  • 24-Hour time block stickers for bullet journals and planners | ChocolateMusings.com #timeblock #productivity
    24-Hour Time Block Number Stickers for Planners & Bullet Journals
    $3.75
    Add to cart
  • 1-31 Number Line for Planners & Bullet Journals | ChocolateMusings.com #planner #plannerstickers
    Every Day (1-31) Stickers for Planners & Bullet Journals
    $3.75
    Add to cart
  • handmade game board tracker for classrooms, teachers & bullet journals | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #bujo #tracker #gameboard
    Printable Tracker Game Board – Turn anything into a game!
    $6.00
    Select options

Goal Example

For instance, I want to learn how to do chalkboard lettering so I can go to other businesses and pitch my talents (it’s a thing). Well, the harsh truth is a big fat NO – I am not making this a priority. 

But here’s what I have done:

I found a really great chalkboard to practice and have all the materials to practice, and I look at it every day. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but I can build on it. If I focus on the positive actions I already have, then all I have to do is change the negative items.

So this is what I would write as my plan to make this goal a priority:

Block out a time every day (or week) to practice chalkboard lettering. Decide which materials I like best to start, but don’t eliminate any upfront. Find some Skillshare classes that teach chalkboard lettering. Use quotes from my monthly quote page so I can have something to practice. Reassess progress in a month.

Continuous Changes to Make Your Habit a Priority

When you do an assessment, it’s not once and done, you make corrections, come back and reassess. What new positive actions have you added to achieve this goal? What obstacles do you face? And the Harsh Truth is always there to give a reality check.

Then set your plan, refocus your attention and energy, and go out and work toward those goals again.

Here’s the Planner Page I created to help me assess whether or not I was serious about the goals I set. You can recreate this in your planner (tag me @chocolatemusingscreates – I’d love to see it!).

Are your habits a priority? Bullet Journal spread with questions to find out| ChocolateMusings.com #habits #bulletjournal #goals

Goal Priority Assessment:

GoalPositive Actions I TakeActions that Hinder my GoalHarsh Truth – am I making this a priority,
Yes or No?
Weight Loss – Weighing in every day
– Recording everything I eat
-Using an app to track everything
-Sticking within my recommended daily allotment
-Snacking too much
-Getting stuck in a rut and not finding healthy alternatives when I want a snack or meal
-Going to the store hungry
-Not planning meals
Yes, but I could do better. The goal is to change my eating habits permanently and affect the rest of my life. Refocus and keep going!

The Plan:

  • Order groceries online so I don’t add snack items as I wander the aisles.
  • Do not shop hungry!
  • Add daily walks back into my schedule.
  • Use my bullet journal to plan meals & shopping lists.
  • Make a list of healthy alternatives and post it on the pantry/fridge door (maybe it will help the kids, too!).
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is find-more-arrow-down-e1569382617571-300x71.png

Want to know more about my weight loss & health journey? I share snippets from my planner and daily activities in my quest. Click on the image above

Other Examples of My Goals in Need of a Priority Assessment:

  • Running a creative business.
  • Creating a how-to doodle book.
  • Getting out of debt.
  • Replace the income from my job.
  • Create a lettering course.
  • Go-to Chalkboard letterer for local businesses.
  • Clutter-Busting (read post #1 & #2)

Here’s your question: What do you want to do?

How to Get Started

What’s the big goal in your life you keep chasing but never seem to get any closer to the end? Follow my example and write down your goal, the things you do consistently to achieve your goal. Then admit to yourself what you struggle doing. Finally, what does the harsh truth say?

Remember: this is not a time to beat yourself up. Capitalize on your positive actions (even if it’s a recurring thought) and build on those.

Here are some books I’ve read on organizing, decluttering, and habits. I’d love a recommendation and add it to my list. Let me know if you have more to add in the comments below.  

 

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Blog, Find Your Happy, Get Inspired, Get Organized & Start Planning, Habits, Journal Prompts & Ideas, Organization, Start Planning Here Tagged: #BuJo, Bullet Journal, habit, habit creation, journal prompt, prioritize

Why I Weigh-in Every Day – Creating Healthy Habits

October 6, 2019 3 Comments

How Weighing-in Every Day Helps Me Create Healthy Habits that Last | ChocolateMusings.com #tracking #habits #weightloss

If you’re working on losing a few {or a lot} pounds, you probably understand the battle with the scale. Should you weigh-in every day or should you designate a day to record your wins and losses?

Why I decided to weigh-in every day doesn’t have to do with continually checking my ups and downs. Instead, it has to do with creating habits.

I’m no expert when it comes to fitness, nutrition or weight loss, and I only have one test subject {which is me}, but I’m sharing my habits & my journey to lose weight and increase my fitness in hopes that I might inspire someone out there. Because I know some people have inspired me. Check out this post – 3 Things to Learn From Your Friend’s Weight Loss Journey.

  • handmade game board tracker for classrooms, teachers & bullet journals | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #bujo #tracker #gameboard
    Printable Tracker Game Board – Turn anything into a game!
    $6.00
    Select options

I also use this gameboard tracker to record progress in my journey.

Should You Weigh-in Every Day?

There are countless articles and studies on habits & weight loss. Some say that you should weigh-in every day, some disagree. I didn’t follow any given research, I decided how I would track my progress, and it’s worked for me, so far.

It’s essential that you get to know yourself and figure out what motivates you on a personal level to create habits and achieve your goals.

Why I Weigh-in Everyday

I weigh in every morning first thing because it creates a habit. Honestly, it’s not for the number on the scale, it’s because it creates a pattern, a momentum for the rest of the day. Since I chose to create a healthier lifestyle as a focus in my life, it’s my way of aligning my thinking every morning with the way I want to live my life.

Never in my life would I think that I would be an advocate for creating habits. But habits have been the thing to help me make the most improvements in my life. And when it comes to weight loss or a health journey, it’s no different.

What Does Habit Have to Do With It?

Over the past two years, I’ve read a lot of books on habits. If you were to ask to distill them all down into a one-paragraph summary, I would say: “Habits create a framework for your life. Automate processes for the actions you don’t want to consciously think about so you can focus your attention and daily energy on the activities that produce joy and significance in your life.”

In other words, I want to train myself so those healthy decisions (should I eat this, or do I need that?) to become second nature. And I have learned that if you want something to become second nature, you have to focus on it and create a habit so when the practice ‘takes’ you don’t have to think about it anymore.

Habit Books

Here are some books I’ve read on organizing, decluttering, and habits. I’d love a recommendation and add it to my list. Let me know if you have more to add in the comments below.  

 

Many people don’t like to step on the scale every day and instead designate a ‘weigh-in day.’ When I forget on that appointed day, I would feel like a failure, even though it wasn’t a big deal.

If I make a habit of weighing in every morning after I wake up, and it spurs me into making the right choices throughout the day. I’m sure you know this, but if you mess up one day, it doesn’t mean you’ve messed up all of the days.

I know a lot of people and studies state that it is not about weight, it’s about how you feel, it’s about how your clothes fit, etc. Well, I’ve been there, done that and I cheat on it. So I need something tangible to track and action to do each day to focus on my end goal.

  • We are what we repeatedly do. - Aristotle | ChocolateMusings.com #quote #habit #handlettered
  • We are what we repeatedly do. - Aristotle | ChocolateMusings.com #quote #habit #handlettered
  • We are what we repeatedly do. - Aristotle | ChocolateMusings.com #quote #habit #handlettered

How Weighing-in Every Day Sets the Tone for the Day

Stepping on the scale every day helps me look forward to making healthy choices day-to-day, so I can see the impact it has overall.

I’m not saying that you have to create this habit for you, especially if it hinders your progress instead of helps you. I know it helps me and from what I’ve read and experienced, one person’s practice can impact you more than knowing the statistics from hundreds or thousands of people.

Habits & Weight Loss Tips

First of all, to quote Gretchen Rubin in her book Better Than Before I want to decide not to decide – I want it to become a habit to live well and eat right. Secondly, habit tracking has taught me that we manage what we monitor. I know that it works for me. I’ve been able to make and break habits in my day-to-day life.

We Manage What We Monitor - handlettered quote #change #habits #handletter #quote #handlettered

So tracking every food every single day and weighing and recording every morning helps me monitor and keeps my goal top of mind. But all of these things work ONLY if I make it a priority.

A habit will only successfully form if it is given priority while you are developing it. I found a quote a while ago “wherever you are, be ALL there” and I think that this certainly applies.

Decide on your goal, then focus all your efforts to help you achieve that goal. Track the things that you need to track, make the choices that you need to make, every day. Do the hard things every day. Eventually, these choices will sink in, and they will become a habit. That’s the goal for me. Focus until I create habits.

What’s working for me:

What works for me may not work for you, but feel free to take notes and experiment or try it out. I’m sharing because I hope you might find something to help you on your journey, whether it’s losing weight or not.

  • Make your health journey a priority.
  • Make it a project – choose to enjoy it.
  • Don’t try and get away with something.
  • Figure out a suitable compromise (have the eggs, sausage & bacon, but forego the tortilla).
  • Eat the things that give you the most return for your investment.
  • Eat your favorite breakfast, or drink your favorite breakfast shake to start off the day right.
  • Decide if it’s worth it before consuming it.
  • If you overspend for a meal, adjust the rest of your day. Remind yourself: just because one moment is lost doesn’t mean the whole day is shot.
  • Weigh-in every day.
  • Record every meal.
  • Record every snack.
  • Have an incentive to stick with it! Mine is if I cancel before a particular time, I will be charged a fee.
  • Plan meals ahead of time.
  • Get active!
  • Make it your goal, then work like it’s your goal.

Hiding in Plain Sight?

Many of these insights are hiding in plain sight and are quite obvious, but I tend to ignore the simple and look for something more complicated.

Keep in mind that what works for me does not necessarily work for you. You need to find your own motives and regimens that work for you. But finding inspiration from someone else is a fantastic way to start exploring your motivations.

The Most Significant Thing to Make a Difference (Hint – It’s Not the Scale):

I asked myself if I was really ready to make a drastic change – and my inner self agreed that I finally was willing to make fundamental changes without reservation. I’ve tried to follow the same path in the past, but I was never ‘ready,’ never fully committed, always finding a way to ‘cheat’ or get around the rules.

This time, I wanted it to be permanent. I wanted to create a habit in my life and change the way I carried out my life, so that means I needed to change my day-to-day functions, at the core, I needed to create new habits and break old ones. Part of that is tracking every single day and weighing in every morning.

What permanent change do you want to make (and what habit have you been avoiding)?

3 Comments
Filed Under: Blog, Find Your Happy, Habits, Health Journey Tagged: creating habits, habit books, habit tracking, habits, tracking, weight loss, weight loss journey

Two Things to do Every Night to Have More Productive Days

August 29, 2019 Leave a Comment

Two things to do every night to have more productive days | ChocolateMusings.com #productivity #organization

Here are two things to do every night to have more productive days. Since I started doing these two small tasks every night, my days are much more focused and productive.

Number One Thing I Do Every Night to Have More Productive Days:

Clean up before you go to bed.

I’m not talking about breaking out the mop and scrubbing the floors. I simply mean that I straighten my desk. Put away markers, straighten papers, stow electronics. When I’m creating, my office gets very messy.

I try to keep my desk clear when I’m creating videos for my YouTube channel or taking photos for the blog or Instagram, but around the perimeter of the video, the markers spill out of their box, drawers flung open, supplies riffled through and disheveled. You’ll find paintbrushes strewn about the surface, resting on paper towels, sticky notes and open notebooks laying about. It’s really quite embarrassing.

Is Your Work Area Like a College Dorm Party From the Night Before?

Don’t you hate waking up and have to clean up after last night’s mess? Your work area looks like a college dorm party where you wonder what happened the night before. How could you have caused this much mayhem? You probably don’t remember any of this.

A Little Goes a Long Way to Have More Productive Days

If I straighten my desk and put back the pieces in their respective places, I wake up ready to work and surprisingly more alert. The same goes for my kitchen and living room. If I put away the dishes and generally straighten the counters, my morning is much smoother. Before the kids go to bed, I have them tidy the living room.

Little Tasks – Huge Impact

These small actions have a significant impact on the next morning’s productivity and enthusiasm for being productive. 

If you haven’t conquered the magic of tidying before going to bed – give it a try: spend 5-10 minutes and straighten your main work areas or areas of your home that tend to be a distraction. You’ll see the difference in your mindset.  It’s so refreshing to be ready for the new day instead of cleaning up last night’s mess.

The second thing I do every night to have more productive days:

Plan the next day. 

I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times. But it works. Write down your top three focuses for the day, make sure you have school notes signed for your kids and put back in backpacks. Set out any other supplies you need next to your planner to get started with your fresh, new morning. I like to leave my planner open on my desk, turned to the correct page, so it’s the first thing I see.

Add a To-Do List

Leave a sticky note or a loose page with ideas, instructions, to-do lists, and other details for the day. In the morning, it’s easier to jump right into your tasks instead of trying to remember what you intended to do.

Both of these items are kind of ‘duh’ moments. I know I’ve heard these two little productivity hacks hundreds of times – but usually not paired together. Cleaning up my work areas and other important (and distracting) areas of my house plus planning the next day the night before are both game-changers.

The best productivity comes not just after straightening or merely planning for the next day but when paired together. If you want to have more productive days, give these two suggestions a try.

What do you do to create a productive day? 

Two Things to do Every Night to Have More Productive Days | ChocolateMusings.com #productivity #planning #organization

Want More Ways to Organize Your Life? Check out These Posts:

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Blog, Get Organized & Start Planning, Habits, Organization, Start Planning Here Tagged: create organizing habits, get organized, organization

3 Things to Learn From Your Friend’s Weight Loss Journey

August 22, 2019 6 Comments

3 Things to Learn From Your Friend’s Weight Loss Journey {& How You Can Apply It to Your Own Goals}

3 Things to Learn From Friend's Weight Loss Journey | ChocolateMusings.com #weightloss #motivation #learnfromothers #habits

Here are 3 ways you can learn from your friend’s weight loss journey. Well, these are ways that I’ve learned from my friend’s experience. I hope by sharing what I’ve learned, you will find some motivation to tackle a big, looming goal in your life, whether it’s weight loss or not. I believe we can all learn from our friends. Here’s what I’ve learned (so far) from my friend’s weight loss journey.

Use a Fresh Start to Make a Fresh Start 

Do you find it harder to focus on your health goals in the summer? I do. Usually, I take summertime as an excuse to do what I want without regards to previous set goals. With the dawn of a new schedule due to school back in, I want to refocus my efforts.

To succeed, I need to make fitness & weight loss a habit and learn a few things from my friend’s journeys in the meantime.

Learn From Friend's Weight Loss - share | ChocolateMusings.com #goals #weightloss #sharing

Motivation From Others

Creating a healthy habit takes time and sometimes, a great example. My friend, Ani, over at allthatlifestuff.com didn’t let down her guard over the summer, and her motivation and focus are really inspiring! I signed up for the program she’s on (even though I’ve done it in the past) and used some of her techniques to change my daily eating regimen.

She’s using a point system and tries to find meals or food that cost 0 points. If you get used to eating the foods that are lower points and you’ll have better success.

What I’ve Learned From My Friend’s Weight Loss: Share With Others

Sharing is HARD!

One of the hardest things for me to do (and I learned to gain confidence because of my friend) is to share. Sharing this very personal part of my life is oh-so difficult. I hope that by me sharing, I am passing on the goodness I’ve learned from my friend’s weight loss journey and give you whatever motivation you need to take on a big goal in your life.

Train your mind and create a weight loss habit, and you’ll succeed over time. I’ve always tried to find a way to cheat in the past. My mindset would revert to “what can I get away with?” Don’t make an exception. Decide if you want it or not. If you do, then do it.

Things to Learn From Friend’s Weight Loss: Don’t Try to Make an Exception Out of Everything.

  • handmade game board tracker for classrooms, teachers & bullet journals | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #bujo #tracker #gameboard
    Printable Tracker Game Board – Turn anything into a game!
    $6.00
    Select options
Learn From Friend's Weight Loss Journal Prompt | ChocolateMusings.com #journalprompt #journaling

Do you have a goal in your life where your mindset works against your progress? (Not Necessarily Weight Loss)

Learn From Friend's Weight Loss - Focus  | ChocolateMusings.com #goals #weightloss #focus

Change of Ideals & Focus

After reading Ani’s blog posts, I didn’t want to get away with anything anymore. 17 days in, and I’ve successfully been below my point allotment every single day. Even the day that my boss made me Key Lime Pie for my birthday and I had a huge slice. I’m down 10+ lbs and excited for more.

On the day that I had the pie, I didn’t want to eat it (it was my 4th day in), but I didn’t want to be rude. So I figured out the points and knew what I had left to spend for the day, and I adjusted. I find that when I’m required to be too rigid, I usually snap.

Things to Learn From Friend’s Weight Loss: Focus

Learn From Friend's Weight Loss- No Excuses  | ChocolateMusings.com #goals #weightloss #noexcuses

Past Programs – Past Experience

I couldn’t bring myself to do Whole30 again after I successfully completed 30 days because I felt like I was depriving myself and tried to rationalize the choices I was making.

Any time I start rationalizing, I know it’s not going to last very long. At the end of two weeks for many diets or programs is when most people face their demons – do they want to continue or not? I don’t feel any demons, at least, not yet.

Things to Learn From Friend’s Weight Loss: Don’t Make Excuses!

Learn & Build

But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t learn from that experience. Many of the techniques, recipes, and foods I found work really well for my current project. Do you believe that any single diet or regimen is the answer? I think I’ve finally discovered that isn’t the case. I like to take ‘truths’ from different sources and put them together to make the result that will form a habit. To make something that ‘sticks’ in the end.

What I’ve Learned from My Friend’s Weight Loss Journey (So Far):

  • Share it with others to push yourself forward & they will motivate you in return
  • Focus on your goal
  • Don’t see what you can ‘get away with,’ instead see how you can make the program (or schedule) work for you.

Do something every single day that reminds you of your big goal. Track your progress, create a habit in your life.

Choose someone in your life you can trust, and share your goal. Do not make exceptions for yourself.

You are the one who set this goal, so don’t act like someone else is forcing you to do it. Don’t try and ‘get away with decisions’. As I learned from my experience with Whole30, healthy living is a choice. Make your choice be to succeed with your goal.

This is what I learned from my friend’s weight loss journey. Leave me a comment of something you learned from your friends.

Learn From Friend's Weight Loss - Journal Prompt | ChocolateMusings.com #journalprompt #journaling

What goal are you working towards? Which family/friends will support you? Choose one (or several) to tell about your big goal. What small step can you take every single day to realize your dreams?

Find someone who motivates you and benefit on that motivation. Write down the things that they do to push forward in their own goals. How can you apply those principles to your life?

6 Comments
Filed Under: Blog, Find Your Happy, Habits, Health Journey Tagged: goal, goal setting, goals, motivation, weight loss, weight loss journey

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 8
  • Next Page »

About Me


Hi! I'm Tricia, the creative behind ChocolateMusings.com, I know how it feels to lose your inner muse. After years of darkness (which I call the dark ages of my life), I found my inner muse hiding in the forgotten corners of my soul, I vowed never to lose sight of her again.

Bullet journaling helped reignite the passion for art and living life again while organizing my days. I also discovered modern calligraphy and watercolor. Since then, my use of the bullet journal system has evlolved and I call it 'creative planning'. Here on the blog, I show you how to use your planner to ignite your inner muse and explore creativity and art while staying beautifully organized and living a joyful life.

I invite you to grab some good chocolate and dive into my musings. Let’s ignite your inner muse.

Read more on the about me page. You can also find my policies and disclosures here.

  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Etsy
  • Facebook

Cart

Browse Products

  • Small Marker Calligraphy Guide With & Without Slants Small Marker Calligraphy Guide With & Without Slants $2.50 Original price was: $2.50.$2.00Current price is: $2.00.
  • Vintage red watercolor truck with pumpkins - fall/autumn greeting card | ChocolateMusings.com Red Truck and Pumpkins Greeting/Note Card {Multi Card Order} $17.00 – $59.00
  • The Expert in Anything Was Once a Novice Printable Motivational Quote Download | ChocolateMusings.com The Expert was Once a Novice $7.00
  • No Legacy is So Rich as Honesty No Legacy is So Rich as Honesty $10.00

Search ChocolateMusings.com

Categories

What Do You Want to Do Today?


 

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2025

Copyright © 2025 · Exquisite Damask Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...