New Organisation in 2018!
Do you need to organize your everyday life? If you haven't done so, click here to receive advice from other organized parents. And don't forget to download the free app Coorganiz, to easily share your calendar, useful documents and the important things to do.
Nostalgic for 2017? Not really… It’s already time to move on to 2018 in our heads and start organising a fantastic year!
What’s that? Forward planning?
Yes indeed, looking ahead is the key, is it not?
And knowing what you want, too! It must be one of the only privileges of growing older (don’t you agree mirror on the wall?).
So here are a few little things you can get started on today for a smooth transition towards 2018.
Close 2017:
If you are lucky enough to work in accounting, it’s time to close the annual accounts (and spend genuinely exhausting holidays at the office… no comparison with the stress of the overcooked turkey that the rest of us mere mortals endure).
Closing the year is important at every level: recognise what you have to appreciate, express your gratitude, identify what you really don’t want in your life anymore for the coming year. So get your hands on a piece of paper or your secret journal and make a list of whatever springs to mind.
For example: I loved 2017 for the Coorganiz adventure, for all the incredible people who have supported us on this project – parenting associations and caregivers, Adélie’s pumpkin cake, travelling with the family…
On the other hand, I definitely don’t want any more: stupid emails when on holidays, dinners made with whatever I can find in the fridge because I didn’t get around to doing the shopping, arriving late in the morning because I can’t get to bed on time, forgetting to go to the gym… You get the picture?
Don’t waste all your health points:
more than 60% of us feel that we start the New Year at the end of our tether.
While it’s true that December brings colds and flu and the emotional burden of family reunions that just thinking about them makes you feel tired, let’s try and get past December 25th without too much trouble, using the wonderful mantra, “Thanks, but no thanks” to everything that will reduce your overall vital energy.
In no particular order: that last drink when all you want to do is go to bed, overexcited kids when all you want to do is go to bed, group activities when you would love to sit down with a good book… keep the list going!
The other mantra is “Yes please, thank you” for all the times you refused a helping hand too quickly. “I can feed them if you want” :), “Do you want me to get the wine?”, “Would you like a hand?”.
Everything is not as radical as in Emma’s comic strip, but there are lots of opportunities to delegate that we get into the habit of refusing (“Leave it, I’ll do it”) or because we want to “do it right”.
And don’t forget to sleep, as this is the primary source of post-holiday stress, along with feeling guilty about eating duck liver pâté: we don’t have to give everything up, do we?
Start 2018 with some tangible organisational changes:
In other words real ones, ones that you can see, not just in your head! To that end, today at Coorganiz we are preparing the facebook posts for the end of the year, and among the resolutions are two magic phrases: delegate and take time for yourself.
Delegate: what are you not going to do any more starting in January? I know what mine is!
I am going to delegate dinner, because I am sick and tired of being given out to by starving teenagers, so there will be two days on which they will plan and prepare the dinner. There! I have a feeling that pasta carbonara will be on the menu every Tuesday from now on, but it’s one thing less on my mind.
What about you? What are you going to delegate? A school run, a dinner, an evening?
Take time for yourself:
Or for you and your other half if you like ;). We recommend the latest in babysitting services: Kidsitter, findababysitter, Yoopies… or fair exchanges with your neighbour: maths coaching in exchange for babysitting!
Be creative, that’s what the new economy is for.
And also, one last tip from coach Emma: time to do nothing.
There’s no need for a babysitter: rather than spending the evening looking at a screen or playing Monopoly, switch your brain off completely… A bath, a cuddle, close your eyes and listen to the rain, basically let time slip by.
It’s good for your stress levels and so what if the ironing has to wait. Try it – you’ll see.
Have you got your 2017/2018 notebook in your hand? Or just the Coorganiz application – it’s a good weekend to fill everything in… what luck!
Fancy some more tips about the new organisation?
