5 Tips to kick start your new year

Ever feel like you are stuck in a rut; whether it be a relationship, work, blogging, etc? Do you ever feel like a hamster continuously spinning on a wheel which never actually moves you forward? Do you ever feel burnt out? I am here to say I totally feel you! In fact, I definitely have my moments where I feel like I am not going anywhere. Is all this hard work a waste of time? Let’s team up and hit that reset button together and get a productive start to the new year like a boss, shall we? I have compiled my list of to-do’s to start this year off right!

1. Plan Ahead

I don’t know how many times I have to hear this from my husband. I am the queen of last minute! I am spontaneous, and then make plans without really thinking about all the moving parts that have to go with said plans. Is this a Gemini trait? Can I blame it on that? I have vowed to myself and my husband to plan ahead when there are activities or things I want to do. The more you plan ahead, the easier it will be on everyone including yourself. Going on a trip? Plan out your itinerary ahead of time if you want to jam pack it with activities. (I never plan it out and go with the flow) I don’t see anything wrong with that way of thinking either, however, I do feel it’s necessary when you bite off more than you can chew and take on too many things to do without thinking about timing. I am hoping this new way of thinking will alleviate some stress and make things run more smoothly here.

2. Get Organized

As I write this, I wonder if it should be my husband’s post to write. He literally says this to my daily. Neil likes things organized, while, I, uuuhhhh, I like them organized to a certain extent. I will take the time to organize and put papers in their proper files, organize my closet, my desk, etc. However, two weeks later, it looks like a mess again. Maybe it’s the Mom in me that has learned to cope and thrive in constant chaos and messes. You can’t get your undies in a bunch over every toy thrown around the house. I do admit, I need to find a happy medium with this and struggle to really stay organized. I have done a few things to help me improve on this.

Get a magnetic white board calendar for the refrigerator. I write down all of the kids practices, games, Neil’s call schedule etc. on this board. It also has an area to write down lists of grocery items we need to get. This has helped me tremendously in this aspect of our lives. I also use my new planner that I received in my Winter Box of Style from Rachel Zoe. Thanks Rachel! I am super forgetful and this is helping me keep it together for certain dates and things going on with work. It’s also super cute to look at.

Check out the Wunderlist app. You can store daily to-do lists and set reminders for important things. I also love the awesome prioritization list you can have for longer term plans. There’s that plan word again.

3. Create Deadlines For Yourself And Stick To Them

This is something I am REALLY trying to improve on. Sometimes, I feel like I have too many projects or things going on in my life and I feel like I am drowning or at least doggy paddling a lot. Something always gets shoved to the back of the list and then somehow forgotten. For me, I am trying to set weekly deadlines for blog posts. To continue to grow this blog and my brand, I need to write more posts. At times, I feel like this is just not possible. I don’t want to slap some words and pictures into a post and say here ya go. That’s the perfectionist in me(we will get to that in a sec). This is where planning and creating deadlines go hand in hand. I, now ahead of time, think of the topics I want to write about, jot them down on a list and have dedicated to writing two posts per week. After I begin to do this consistently, I will bump it up to three and so on. The goal is to bring you posts every day, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, right? Baby steps.

4. You Don’t Have To Be Perfect

As mothers, we are constantly trying to fill the roll of Super Woman. It’s a hard job. Don’t judge how you are as a mother by comparing yourself to others. For example, over Christmas, the Elf on a Shelf returned. Woohoo, insert sarcasm. I barely remembered to move that thing every night, sometimes leaving it up to my 13 year old daughter. I don’t have time to hang him from the chandelier, wrap him in toilet paper, and write some cute note in chocolate syrup. In my house, the alarm goes off at 6:45 am and I immediately pop up, remember the gosh-darn elf and run downstairs before the kids see me. This year I stuck him on top of the curtains above the couch. The kids got a real kick out of that because it was so high. Later that day, the boys were wrestling and jumping off the couch when “Jack” fell and landed halfway on the couch hanging on for dear life with one felt leg. His hat, that had broken off a previous year fell off and you could see the clear packaging tape stuck to his head (yeah, I never glued it back because I am lazy). All the kids cared about was why he had tape on his head. I couldn’t stop laughing and of course no one is allowed to touch the thing. So he just laid there with this tape until they all went upstairs and I could fix it.

The moral of the story is that it is okay to not be perfect. No one is perfect and while some moms are awesome and do all those fun elf jokes, I am sure there is something I do perfectly that they don’t. That’s totally fine. I wish I was better at those sort of things but I am not going to beat myself up over it. So let your kids pick out their own clothes, let them get dirty, let them jump on the couch. Don’t freak out by toys on the floor because someday, there won’t be any legos on the floor to step on and you will miss it. This also doesn’t just apply to the moms out there. While being a perfectionist can be very useful especially in business, don’t get so wrapped uo in it that it takes the fun out of everything.

5.  Take Time For Yourself

Over the last year, I started reading inspirational quotes and stories. Every Friday, with coffee in hand, I sit down and read quote after quote while my son, Nicky, watches Sesame Street. Not only does this help empower and motivate me to start my day off right, it has helped encourage me on this blogging journey as well as in other areas of my life. Feeling frustrated about work, there’s a quote out there for it. Sad about a lost relationship? Again, those special quotes exist. Try it out and see how you feel.

Maybe quotes aren’t your cup of tea. Take a walk, do some yoga, or get active. Find that special something that helps calm you and relieve some stress. It will do wonders.

After my surgeries, and once I was feeling better, Neil and I vowed to take some more time for ourselves together too. For years, we would go so long between a date night or spending time together without the kids. Now that the kids are getting older, it’s easier for us not to feel guilty for leaving them here or there for a quick dinner or movie date. I can tell you it has helped our relationship enormously to have that special time away to reconnect and it’s good for the kids to have a happy Mommy and Daddy too.

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

Outfit Details:

Poncho   |   Ulla Johnson(older)  (similar here) or (here)

Jeans   |   J Brand

Boots   |   Tory Burch  (similar)

Hat   |   Brixton