Okay, Listen Here

Okay, Listen Here

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Calendar of Dreams

2011 is nearly upon us! As I prepare my household for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, I’m already thinking about next year. What will I achieve? Will I find successes like the ones I’ve enjoyed this year, will I fail to achieve the goals of my dreams, or will 2011 hold more fabulous surprises that will knock my shoes off! (I’m hoping for the latter. ;)

Yesterday, as I browsed through an office store, I meandered over to the calendar section. I love a good calendar! At year’s end, every year, I flock to the calendar counter and peruse the various kinds available. Some are all business. Some are thick with pages of nonsense I don’t need. Others are too small or too big, or to busy and distracting. But there is always THE ONE that stands out. This year is no different.

Have you ever heard of the Action Day Calendar?

Well, then. Let me introduce you. This calendar is designed for ACTION. It's a results planner with a Diary Section, Tasks to Execute, Goals and Projects and Projects Delegated pages, to include 35 pages for notes. It contains a weekly calendar, allowing the owner to plot the coming week’s events, deadlines, results for goals, and next action steps. There are 14 pages at the beginning of the calendar devoted to Power of Attitude, Goals & Actions, with introspective on Attitude, The Three Attitude Circles (Me, Work & Communications), The Attitude I Choose to Live By, See Yourself As The Person You Want To Be!, Goals, My Yearly Goals, Weekly Goals, Actions, Action Day, and Action Day’s Discipline of Rituals.

Check out these interesting and thought provoking quotes:

Most of us go to our graves with our music still inside us, unplayed. — Oliver Wendell Holmes

Your attitude about who you are and what you have is a very little thing that makes a very big difference. — Theodore Roosevelt

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with wrong mental attitude. — Thomas Jefferson

It is never too late to be what you might have been. — George Elliot

You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short range failures. — Charles C. Noble

Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals. — Aristotle

Talk does not cook rice. — Chinese Proverb

We are what we repeatedly do. — Aristotle

Now doesn't this make you want to win the Noble Peace Prize? With this kind of encouragement we'll all have a Golden Heart, a book contract, or a Rita in our hands before long. ;)

Within the pages, you'll find a two page spread with a column on the left-hand side devoted to Tasks to Execute. You'll find the weekly calendar sprawled across both pages. A Project column at the bottom of the page is joined by a Delegated To and Deadline column. On the right page, there are columns devoted to Goals, Results and Next Action Steps beneath the calendar week.

I purchased this calendar to help jump start my writing for the year. By keeping tabs on my time and my goals in weekly form, I’m hoping that the weekly goals I’ve set for myself will hold me more accountable IF I have this calendar to refer and report to, and if I bother to use it. (The deadliest culprit of all, laziness.)

And so, like Julie Andrews singing my list of favorite things this brings me back to...
the dilemma facing many people this time of year. Are you tired of wondering where the year has gone? Why you couldn’t fit more hours into your day? Why some people are more productive than you are? Why you find yourself more apt to write or do whatever your passion is during certain hours of the day? I humbly suggest you check this calendar out. It comes in small 6 x 8 padfolio size and large 8 x 10 padfolio size. You can find more about this calendar by visiting here: http://www.actionday.com/

Come aboard ye scallywags!

Man the braces! Now is not the time to wallow in the hold, sick as dogs, afraid to show our faces to the world. We are cut from finer cloth. Put the fair wind at yer backs. Mayhap, just mayhap it'll carry us all toward deepening our pockets and charting that adventurous path that'll see us to that coveted horizon, a successful 2011.

What method works for you, a calendar, a journal, a bulletin board, a sword at your back, a plank, or the honor system? Share with us how you manage your time and finish the year feeling as though you’ve accomplished your goals. Believe me, I need all the help I can get!

11 comments:

  1. I live by my desk calendar and love a good plan and a list. But oh my heavens. I think that calendar would be overload even for me. My desk calendar is the weekly kind so I can see 7 days at once. I usually use pencil since life is often subject to change. If it's REALLY important, I'll highlight something. Sometimes there are notes paperclipped to a page (like the receipt for something I ordered 12 days ago and had to email regarding the order status). Or I might put a sticky note on a date with a task that is flexible (meaning that sticky note might just get moved and moved and moved LOL!).

    Marilyn

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  2. Hey PM! This calendar shows 7 days at once too. The odds and ends I listed are to the left and bottom of the weekly spread. It's very user friendly. I'm really exciteda about using it. Hey, it's worth a try, right? ;)

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  3. Sounds like a lot of work and I am basically lazy. LOL I guess I should do something to manage my life and keep it in order (I used to have a secretary who did that - I think she's at Searcy now). Any way, I applaud your dedication and I hope it is successful. I would send you a note congratulating you but my cards are lost somewhere on my desk...

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  4. Goodness Kathy, this blog has my name written all over it! I'm loving the calendar and will be looking for it for sure. I need one I can put in my purse and look at on a daily (sometimes hourly!) basis. I tend to forget things if there not written down. If it's not written down, it ain't happening!

    Talk does not cook rice. Words were never more true! Love it!

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  5. I love a calendar. I always enjoy getting a new calendar at the beginning of the year and seeing all of the possibilities open for the new year. I once had a day-runner that was weekly but have found that I needed a monthly view in the last few years so that I could see more of the bigger picture.

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  6. Get excited, Cheryl! All you have to do is open the calendar to a particular week, write down your goals, write down the hours you've spent writing or doing whatever on your to-do-list. I think when we see what we can do and where/what time we could do more, we'll be more productive. ;)

    Sherry! I knew someone would like this calendar! Thanks for being as jazzed about it as I am. LOL! We'll have to chat about how good this calendar works for us next year.

    Stephanie, I should have known you need to see the BIG picture. ;) I agree. Having a monthly profile to look upon is a must for me. Actually, I bought a calendar like that to go in my padfolio. I'm using this one only for my writing/life in order to better utilize my time.

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  7. I love a calendar. When I worked, I ran my life off a DayRunner and a big desk calendar. I have never really had the perfect system since then. This might be the one for me.

    I do have a new quirky perpetual wall calendar. It's black metal with scrolly stuff on it and glass magnets--like a tooth for dental appointments.

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  8. On second thought, maybe I won't get a calendar this year. Maybe I'll just hope for the best and await for y'all to tell me what to do. That will work out so well, since I am not controlling.

    Cheryl--I once had an assistant who left a list of what I needed to do on my desk every morning. It was wonderful She has her own assistants now and I have none, save the cats.

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  9. I love this idea, I need a plan of action..something for me to press on. I've done goals, groups, etc...and I always falter. But I haven't tried a calender...I am half way done with my Revision and I have stalled..Why? Because I need action.

    This is so cool Kathy!

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  10. If you're waiting for me to tell you what to do, Jean... Get this calendar! ;)

    Don't get me started about cats. After my mother's two cats moved in to our house, making our count four, I've had nothing but trouble. But cats can be quite helpful in keeping a cold lap your warm after they've made sure you are never without things to do, like vacuuming, among other things. :D

    Woot! Mary! Another taker for this kind of calendar. I know you very well, girl, and this calendar is for you. If anything, the beginning pages speak very clearly about dedication and commitment and how attitude helps bring goals to fruition. Don't we all need that kind of validation?

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