Are You Ready for Quarter Four??

Can you believe it??

The last quarter of this strange year started yesterday, and I've been sitting down with my various journals to plan out some goals and tasks that I want to accomplish. I did not do a good job on those goals in quarter three, but my energy is getting higher (the way it does once summer and the heat and humidity change into different patterns), so I thought it was time to reestablish my thoughts towards evolving into new patterns and practices.

I am a planner and a bullet journaler. As I have been delving into the world of "how to be a bullet journaler," I have discovered that what I do is more a combination of bullet journaling as originally designed by Ryder Carroll and decorative planning which tends to be colorful and artistic. I am firmly between those two systems. I do not draw much in my calendars and my books, but I do like using colors and stickers to decorate my to-do lists a bit more than the original guy did. I use a set pattern for my "spreads" (what we bullet journalers call the two pages that we use for various things - ooh, I GOT the lingo!) for my weekly calendars. There is a box for each day and some space for weekly chores and then a bit of room for "brain dumps." It is what works for me, and I am using up some of my sticker stash which is good for my decluttering goal.

One of the things that I really liked about my former journal (which was The Passion Planner) was the prompts that the journal had in specific places in the book itself. I took that idea and put it into my planner in ways that made more sense to me than where the Passion Planner included it.

(Hey, by the way, I do not get any sort of compensation for talking about specific products or ideas on my blog - I do it because I use these materials and think others might as well...)

So, my planner looks like this...

Monthly calendar with one goal for the month and some small tracking prompts.

Weekly spreads for each week in the month that include daily task boxes, weekly task lists, and space for brain dumping.

Monthly review to highlight the good things that happened each month and to help me identify things to think about next time.

Every quarter, I include several pages for former quarter review and for future planning.

I have other books for brainstorming and for my collections of ideas, so my planner is just for tasks, chores, and appointments...but it occurs to me that all of this is not really addressing my post title...

I sat down to start to think about goals and objectives for this last quarter of 2020. I thought about why I didn't really accomplish the goals that I had last quarter. I was working well until the hot weather showed up when I just shut down. This is my usual pattern for the summer - my S.A.D. shows up during hot, sunny, humid days. I gave myself grace for that, and I will remember to decrease or change my goals next summer for quarter three. That quarter is over, so it is time to decide on the goals that I want to work on for the next three months.

Here is what I have decided and discovered.

I don't like trying to make money from my music therapy things, but I need to make money from my music therapy things. I hate the self-promotion and the constant need for posting things and advertising things and marketing things that has to happen to get people to know what I have to offer to other music therapists. It is not part of my make-up to be able to do this type of thing, and every single time I start, something happens to thwart my plans. It is a series of emotional rollercoasters that never stop, and it exhausts me. At the same time, though, I want to share all of this and give it to other people! So, do I make this a part of my goals, knowing that I hate the process and am never happy when my plans fall through, or do I stop making this a priority in my life??

I am trying to take some time to think about what I want to do with all this. That is my focus for quarter four - thinking.

My second focus is to have fun. I have not been having fun lately, and I miss doing things just because they bring joy to me. I am not allowed to go to the movies. I cannot make books right now because of my fingers. Shopping has to be justified due to my essential status at work - if we choose to engage in COVID-19 risk activities, then our quarantine is not covered by our facility. I have to use my sick time for my worker's compensation appointments, so I cannot afford to be exposed to COVID-19 outside of my job. I miss fun.

My third focus is to manage my time better than I am doing right now. I have been feeling like all I do is get up, go to work, work, sit at work, and then go home to sleep. I need to do more with the time that I have.

My home priorities for this quarter are to use my evening hours for something other than sleeping and to declutter my life (still!).

My work priorities for this quarter are to use my time more effectively, including time to learn, to engage in self-care, and to challenge my creativity.

My other work priorities for quarter four are to figure out what I want to do for music therapists and to tell others what I have for them.

That seems like more than enough for now.