If you’re not familiar with the concept of this happiness project (and the book I was inspired by), be sure to check out this post!
Welcome to the third month of my happiness project! Before I jump into my plan for May, I want to do a review of April. If you’d like to skip this over, click here to jump down to May.
The month of April revolved around simplicity – cutting down, removing what I don’t need, and living light. I set out a 30-day challenge for myself to declutter, and while I didn’t follow this on all days, I still ended up removing quite a bit. I should have factored in days where I’d be busier (or not home at all), but I made up for this over the weekends, where I essentially purged my room. So much, in fact, that I no longer need a large wardrobe to contain all of my shoes, and all of the clothes that don’t fit in my closet. I will now be able to fit all of those things in my closet, and I am looking forward to my room feeling so much lighter.
Decluttering became an addiction once I started. I became addicted to the sight of not having to look at as much clutter, and wanted to see how far I could go. Since my space is small, the littlest things can make everything look disheveled, and this month has made so much of a difference.
Plus, changing my mindset to gravitate towards what matters (and discarding what doesn’t) saves so much energy. I feel very in control of holding close what matters the most – and that makes a world of a difference.
May
The past few months at work have brought on a lot of uncertainty. My company was bought, and until just recently, I didn’t know what that meant for my future and the company. I did a lot of preparing, sharpened my skills, and did some interview practice (technical and non-technical). But when I was doing my non-technical questions, I came across that one question:
What are your goals in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?
And I realized that I knew the answers in terms of my career…but life in general? I don’t know really. I don’t have solidified long-term goals. I’m great at short-term goals, but I realize that I don’t often look at the long-term goals, which can often be referred to as the why.
So this month, I want to dig deep down and understand my why. I want to know what long-term goals I’m striving for if any. I believe having long-term reasons will contribute to my happiness and my motivation in general. Typically, I tend to be open to my future because I don’t want to strive for something specific and then things change. But, at the same time, I should have something in place to be thinking about.
This has to be the vaguest preface to my action plan in these posts thus far, so I want to get very specific with my action plan for this month. Here’s what I’ll be doing:
Actually set my long-term goals.
I’ve found some great videos by Lavendaire that will help me accomplish this. Basically, I’m going to be doing some life planning, and figure out what I should be working for in the long-term. I can make short-term goals all I want to achieve short-term happiness and improve upon myself, but isn’t that a lot of work? I feel that’s similar to having to clean your room every single day and have the same problem areas show. If your room was well-organized, it wouldn’t get messy as quickly. I think that applies here too. I always have to ask myself, “What next?” but the next should come to me if I know what I’m doing for the long-term.
Create an action plan for those goals.
These goals will be vague I’m sure, so I will need to set an action plan. What should I be working on to achieve these goals? What should become a part of my routine? And what shouldn’t? Answering these questions will help me outline a path for myself to follow.
Create a vision board.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. I see a lot of value to this because it helps you visualize what you’re looking to achieve. I’ll likely do this as I’m setting my goals, as I think it’ll help me put my thoughts on paper. Before I do this, I’m going to read up on it more so I know how to make one well and make it effective.
Look to my (new) future.
In college, I was so stressed about my future that I was advised to just focus on the now. And while that advice helped me prepare for my future by calming down and focusing on what mattered in the present, I’m ready to think in terms of the future. Don’t get me wrong – in many ways, I do think to the future. I do this in terms of finances especially, but I don’t do this in terms of what I wish to get out of life. So life lately has just been taking it day by day. And I’d like to change that, as there should be some big things that I aspire to now, now that I’m graduated and I have things under control.
Although my goals for this month are not as intensive, I think fulfilling them are just as important. And although planning takes time, it makes the process easier, which I certainly feel applies here. At the end of May, I hope to have more insight on my thoughts and aspirations, and I plan to use those things to make improvements from there.
What are your goals for this month? Let me know below.
Sincerely,
Julie Anna
Ah I love Lavendaire! 🙂 My goal last month (May) was to relax…haha isn’t that so sad? But after spending a month on vacation, away from home, I was really able to put things into perspective. I realized just how much I stress out about my future and how, sometimes, I need to be okay with not having everything go according to plan. That said, I’m a huge advocate of planning and think it’s really great that you’re honing in on your long-term goals. The “why” and the big picture are so important–at times, even more than the “how”!
Thank you, this is great insight! I suppose it’s all about balance. This June I’ve actually been taking a break and trying to relax a little too! There’s been a lot going on here and when things get crazy, I try my best to slow down and reflect on things. It sounds like we both have a tendency to stress out about what’s next in life, because I used to go overboard with life planning, especially in college. Then to resolve that I went too far the other way, and then I felt like I had no plans at all – especially because what I was planning in college is completely different from where I am now! But now I’ve been finding balance and acceptance in what may change.
Just saw your reply! Yes, I think we have a lot in common. Finding a happy medium is what I’m trying to strive for as well. Having structure but also being open to changes. Not overplanning but not completely winging it either. (+Allowing myself to relax without feeling guilty about it!)
Yes! As much as I love my routines sometimes it helps to do things differently. Those things won’t necessarily be outside of my comfort zone but shaking things up I think will help prevent me from feeling stuck.