Countdown to 2010

I've already mentioned my need for getting the house clean before the New Year; that need extends to house cleaning of the mind as well.  I'm a list maker, but especially this time of year, I have to get it all figured out, organize my house, my thoughts, my plans.  I don't really like to make "resolutions", but I do like to look back over the last year and towards the new one, contemplating what I've accomplished and what I want to accomplish in the upcoming year.

I have so many thoughts running through my head at any given time; it makes me feel disorganized and scattered.  I find it helpful to file those thoughts, sort them out, compartmentalize.  A tool I like to use is the life pie chart.  I got this idea from some book that I've read at some point in the last fifteen years.   I'm sure that information is in there somewhere, but I lost that particular file:)

Anyway, one of the main things I want to do in the upcoming year is to bring my life into balance, and this tool helps.  I've used it in the past, but failed to last year; I decided it's time to re-institute the pie chart.  Think about the different areas of your life that are most important to you, the parts that you need to feel whole.  Make a list of these categories.  Mine are: Relationships, Spirituality, Home, Creativity,  Health, Career.   Draw a circle and divide it into sections according to your list.  Then make some notes in each section about what that area means to you, what you would like to focus on.  To be whole in life, all of these areas need to be in balance.  They also will overlap with and depend on each other.  It's helpful to check in with yourself once a week or so and see if there is any area you are neglecting or one that is overshadowing the others.  In any given day the separate parts will not necessarily balance, but when you look at your life overall, they should.  If you have work deadlines looming, then that will take precedence.  Likewise, if you have a houseful of friends or family visiting, then relationships are going to dominate.

Because I can get obsessive about these things, my next step will be to take this small chart I have and make it really big, giving me lots of space to really pick apart the different areas and make a strategic plan for the upcoming year.  It may seem a little obsessive, but writing it out, and then seeing my thoughts in writing really helps me to figure out where I want to go.