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Last year, I did all the things I was supposed to do to map out a successful year. I had my annual goals, my quarterly goals, the tasks I needed to do to make them happen…

And yet I stalled out. For months I kept spinning my wheels, wondering why I was moving so slow when I knew what I needed to be working on. This was driving me crazy! 

Then one of my podcasting students told me about a book that changed my life.

Understand what motivates you

The Road Back to You is all about the Enneagram, an ancient philosophy that divides everyone into 9 personality types. (You can get a free audio copy if you’ve never tried Audible using my affiliate link).  

In the past, I’ve been self aware enough to understand my patterns and WHAT I did, but I couldn’t figure out why I did what I did or how to change, until the Enneagram. 

This philosophy reveals what motivates you, what holds you back, what your fears are, who you are at your best. 

I will do a deep dive into this sometime in the future, but for now, I recommend reading or listening to The Road Back to You, and taking an Enneagram assessment to help you create the change that you want in your life. 

I’m an Enneagram 9. We are the peace-making tribe. We like the world to be calm and balanced. We do not like conflict and are pretty easy going. We don’t sweat the small stuff and generally go with the flow. We’re often daydreaming when people think we are intently listening. We’re procrastinators and often get stuck in the weeds of tasks that aren’t that important while putting off the work that will achieve our big goals.

When I started learning more about 9s, I thought, “Oh my god, that’s me! That is my tribe.” 

And then I used that information to get myself on track. 

Plan for the year, and check your progress

I mentioned that last year I did a good job last year mapping out the goals I wanted to achieve, answering questions like:

• How do you want to make money? 

• What are your 3-5 business goals? 

I wrote my annual goals / projects. I broke them down by quarter and even wrote tasks. But here’s where I messed up: I never looked at that document again. I kept everything I needed to do floating around in my head or on a to-do list with 1,000 items. And then I would just jump around from task to task without completing any of them.

I should have been checking in on my progress every week, if not more often.

Time block your calendar

Now, I plan for the upcoming week on Fridays. 

• I have an ongoing list of action items to pull from in an Airtable spreadsheet, and they all link back to the goals I want to achieve that quarter, and those goals link back to my annual goals. Business goals, but also health and happiness. I break them down into mind/body/spirit goals. 

• On Friday, I set my daily intentions for the week. I review my goals for the year and I look at my action items list and assign three items for each day, prioritizing what needs to get done first, and any date-specific activities. 

• Whatever isn’t accomplished moves to a new day. Once you do this for awhile, you’ll understand what you can really accomplish in a day, and if the one to three tasks you choose are manageable for the time allowed, or if they need to be broken up further.

• If I have a bunch of little tasks, including checking email, I bunch them into a 30-minute time block dedicated for admin. If an idea comes into my head, I write it down and add it to my to-do list, or in that admin half hour.

• The night before working, I review what I’m doing the next day and see if anything needs to get moved around. I make sure I haven’t forgotten about any meetings. Reviewing this at night makes me feel more peaceful about the next day, and it also stops me from wasting hours the next morning deciding on what to focus on. 

Some people like to divide up their work days by themes, like Monday is for deep work, Tuesday is marketing, Wednesday is for clients, Friday is admin. 

I have time blocked out for exercise, work (this changes by day depending on the intentions I set), recurring tasks, and special events and activities.

However you do it, make sure you’re including time for fun on your calendar. In fact planning your vacations should be the first things you do. And during your weekly planning, make sure you’re including times to meet with friends and try new things. This is the spirit part of my mind, body, spirit scheduling.

Set a timer

Another thing I started doing is the Pomodoro technique. That’s when you work for a certain amount of time and then take a break when the timer goes off. Traditionally, you work for 25 minutes (I do 45), then take a five minute break. You do this four times and then take a 30-minute break. These interruptions might seem counterproductive but they keep you actively focussed on your work rather than daydreaming or checking email. At a certain point, your brain will check out, so schedule these breaks to recharge your focus.

Change your scene

When I worked in corporate, I loved the rare opportunity I could work from home. I got so much done. But now that I’m working from home a lot, I like a change of scene and often go to a coffee shop or coworking space. I’m still productive at home, but am often tempted to work in bed, which is not the best for your body, or your mind. I end up working well into the night when my office is my bedroom. A change of scene is good for mental health.

Begin the morning with a clear mind

When we wake up, let’s think about what we’re most looking forward to that day, instead of our chores. And don’t look at your phone.

I keep my phone by my head because I like to listen to podcasts when I’m going to sleep. But, I’ve deleted the social media apps because I’d gotten into a bad habit of waking up and mindlessly scrolling for 20 minutes. My brain felt like garbage before the day even started. 

A Deloitte 2018 study found that the average person checks their phone 52 times a day. How would you spend this extra hour? 

Prioritize yourself

Alright, so this all sounds good. We all want to achieve more, and even go through the steps of setting up our calendars for success, so why does proper planning and action often fall off the radar?

If you’re an Enneagram 9 like myself, you’re putting other people’s priorities first. You will bend over backward to help others, but won’t do the same for yourself. 

When we stop looking at our calendars, we are breaking our promises to ourselves. 

And then when we fall off the bandwagon, we tend to think, “Failed at that. Guess I’ll move on,” rather than dusting ourselves off and trying again. 

Let’s be a little more forgiving to ourselves and pick up where we left off rather than considering ourselves failures. 

Create habits

We might also be setting standards that are too high to maintain long term. Laura Vanderkam, author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, says, “Lowering expectations to the point of no resistance is what makes big things possible.”

Start with one thing you want to change at a time. And commit to doing it for a certain amount of time. If we have a potential end date, starting something new feels easier, because if we hate it at first, we know it won’t be forever. And once we make it a habit (which some say takes 66 days), then we will keep it going. 

The current theory on making a habit stick is to stack it on top of something you already like doing. James Clear talks about this in his book Atomic Habits. 

He says to follow this formula: “I will BEHAVIOR at TIME in LOCATION.”

Natalie Sisson, who you’ve heard on the Postcard Academy, follows it this way: “I will meditate immediately upon waking in bed.” That’s a habit that she loves doing. 

Then she stacks other habits that she wants to stick to on top of that other habit, so it becomes routine. She’s written down the second habit, “Immediately after meditating, I take my journal and write in my three graditudes.”

Right after that, she grabs her yoga mat and starts doing yoga. The third habit she has written down is: “After journaling and my three graditudes, I will do a session of yoga in my bedroom.”

She makes things easy for herself, her journal is right near her bed. Her yoga mat is right there. There’s no searching for anything. She’s following a predetermined path that she doesn’t need to pour mental energy into. 

Find an accountability partner

Find someone to hold you accountable. This could be a coach, a friend, a colleague. Who is someone in your life who’s also working to make things happen and needs an accountability buddy? 

I’m about to meet a friend for a check in. We’re going to plan our week and also check to see if we did the things we said we were going to do. Work stuff, but also life admin, like reviewing credit card statements and paying bills, which we find awful and boring but is more fun when a friend is there.

Celebrate your wins

Whether you’re planning your week alone in your office or with a friend at the pub, make time to celebrate your accomplishments when you’re reviewing what you’ve done that week. Yes, evaluate what could have gone better and your learnings, but also celebrate the wins, and make sure you’re planning in enough time to nourish your mind, body, and spirit.

If you found this article useful, please share it, and subscribe to the Postcard Academy podcast. Each week, expats and adventurers share their insider travel tips on the best food, nightlife, and cultural experiences in the most interesting places around the globe. I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel, an American who's spent the last 10 years living in, and traveling around, Europe.