Organization + Resolutions + A Giveaway for 2016!

ALL IMAGES  Kimberly J Photography

Hello 2016. I can’t believe you are HERE!

For the last 8 days, I’ve basically immersed myself in both physical and mental organization in hope of having a productive and fruitful year. I’ve always loved new beginnings, so I take the first of the year pretty seriously! I’m a firm believer that the first of the year is a season of refreshing and reprioritizing, as it becomes the blueprint for the year. While 2015 was good, it was most definitely challenging in many ways! Again, at some point in time I’m gonna share more about that season, once I feel led to do so : )

Since I’m a lover, believer and advocate for the new year, I have found that there are two things I need to do for myself to kick the year off properly. 1. To have a fresh planner ready to go and 2. Make a list of personal, educational and business goals. I know, I know. Simple stereotypical things, but they really do work for me! Let’s start with the daily planner. As you may have guessed, I have the obsessive personality type that believes in writing every single thing down! I’m pretty sure I got this habit from my grandmother. While growing up, I remember her having a list for EVERYTHING! What I love most about having a daily planner is that it removes the stress of having to remember every single detail for your life. If you train yourself to have daily or bi-daily brain dumps, I believe that you will truly see the value in taking the time to scribble out the details. Additionally, having a daily planner helps me effectively tackle each day. Each night before bed, I create a manageable and strategic to-do list for the day, rather than wandering around aimlessly for the first 3 hours of my day. I’ve come to learn that I can easily manage 2 large tasks (e.g. homework assignment, blog post, work for a client, etc) in one day. I then pair those 2 large tasks with 3 smaller ones (e.g. pinning via Pinterest for the blog, prescheduling social media content, calling a client, etc).

By now, I’m sure you’re dying to know what type of daily planner I use to stay on track with this type of crazy scheduling! LOL.  Well, first things first, I take planner shopping incredibly serious. I mean, I purchase my planner in September, in preparation for the upcoming year! Told ya it was serious. This past year, I decided to try The Day Designer by Whitney English and overall I enjoyed it. However, I purchased the Simplified Daily Planner by Emily Ley for 2016, as they made a number of improvements to their design, which made it 1,000 times more desireable than The Day Designer. I had previously used the Simplifed Daily Planner in 2014 and really loved it, but I was curious to try The Day Designer, due to the reviews I had read. About halfway into 2015, I had come to the conclusion that the Simplifed Planner was more suitable to my lifestyle, especially since they had plans to decrease the size! With all of the travel, I loved the idea of being able to just through my planner into my handbag, rather than my roll-on suitcase. So, my decision came to size and functionality! In the battle of the The Day Designer vs. The Simplifed Planner, I most defintely vote The Simplifed Planner! Ultimately, they are both great products, and I encourage you to do a bit more research to determine which would be best for your lifestyle. I’ve linked both planners down below!

Secondly, RESOLUTIONS. As you may have gathered from my planner obsession, I do believe in the power of writing things down. I believe that physically writing down your goals, dreams and desires, along with verbalizing them, is a way to breath life into those thoughts. They are no longer just random thoughts floating around in your head, but actual words and sentences! So, periodically throughout the year, I take the time to jot or type out my goals and dreams to put action behind them! Writing them down is step one towards making the goal a tangible reality! With that in mind, here are a couple of personal resolutions I’m working on for 2016:

1. To have daily quiet time with God.
2. To be present (aka leave my phone at home more often…this is why I’ve been M.I.A. on Instagram for the last few days).
3. To lower my expectations for others (caring less about things that people don’t care about for themselves.)
4. To work ahead.
5. To be more intentional in my relationships (invest time in fruitful and meaningful relationships).

In March or June (I haven’t decided yet), I will do a follow-up post on my progress with these resolutions! I really feel that they are all manageable. I just have to stay focused and on task! Ok, enough of me spilling my guts!!!

Lastly, GIVEAWAY DETAILS!!! In hopes of kicking this year off properly, a group of bloggers and I have teamed up to bring you a fabulous giveaway you can’t resist! We’re giving one precious follower a grand prize of a brand spanking new 21.5″ iMac and the second prize winner will receive a lovely Kate Spade handbag. By following as many bloggers as you want on the Gleam widget below, you will have better chances of winning! There are 125 ways to enter. Good luck lovelies!

  IMAGE: GLITTER GUIDE

TO ENTER GIVEWAY >> 21.5″ iMac + Kate Spade Handbag

Get The Look:

• Simplifed 2016 Daily Planner
• The Day Designer 2016 Planner
• Aerie Just Add Leggings Tee (SOLD OUT, Similar HERE)
• Jewelry Blues Gold Bar Necklace
• LIPS: Birchbox LOC Matte Lipstick (color: Glam Life)