The week between Christmas and New Years is my favorite time of year to clear out inboxes, messages, todos, and get ready for a reset.
My brain likes to focus on starting new habits at the first of the year, so I’m prepping myself for some new habits in 2017.
Here’s what I’m thinking:
Inbox Zero
I’ve been super bad at responding to personal emails over the last 12 months. Over the last six weeks, I’ve spent time unsubscribing to email newsletters to get rid of the clutter coming into my life.
My goal in 2017, is to check my email at most a few times a day and empty it out daily and unsubscribe from messages that clutter up my inbox.
Close All Apps
This was a habit that I started in 2015 and I kept it up regularly, then fell off the bandwagon because I didn’t leave a buffer window at the end of my work day.
My goal in 2017, is to close all applications and browser tabs at the end of the day. This will allow me to focus on my most important task when I get to my computer and not be distracted by all the windows that I left open from the day before.
A More Organized OmniFocus Dashboard
I use OmniFocus for my todo list and have a custom perspective called my Dashboard (I’ll have to write more on this later). The Dashboard has my daily GTD (getting things done) tasks, some daily rituals, and the important things I need to accomplish each day.
The Dashboard should only display the items that I need to accomplish that day. Right now, that perspective is showing 36 items; way more than I’m going to finish today.
My goal in 2017, is to set realistic expectations of things I will accomplish and be able to tackle all of the items in my Dashboard each day.
There will be a lot of chaos in our lives next year, as our family is expanding to four and we’ll be juggling sleepless nights with a newborn. If I can keep these three things in check, it will definitely help me feel like I have my life somewhat in order 🙂
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