AMIGA, feeling overwhelmed by the rapidly dwindling days of the year? Want to know how to stay focused and on top of your goals? We've got you covered! This episode is all about making the most of the last quarter. From ticking off your goals list, to smart holiday shopping strategies that keep stress at bay, we explore effective ways to navigate the year-end hustle.
But we're not stopping there! We're also sharing some invaluable tips on how to enhance productivity and foster personal growth. We dive deep into the importance of organization, adequate lighting, ergonomic equipment, and the sanity-saving power of taking breaks. To cap it off, we even discuss the fulfilling aspect of community service during the holidays, and suggest some fantastic book recommendations to help you grow personally and professionally. So, let's conquer these last 90 days together!
AMIGA, feeling overwhelmed by the rapidly dwindling days of the year? Want to know how to stay focused and on top of your goals? We've got you covered! This episode is all about making the most of the last quarter. From ticking off your goals list, to smart holiday shopping strategies that keep stress at bay, we explore effective ways to navigate the year-end hustle.
But we're not stopping there! We're also sharing some invaluable tips on how to enhance productivity and foster personal growth. We dive deep into the importance of organization, adequate lighting, ergonomic equipment, and the sanity-saving power of taking breaks. To cap it off, we even discuss the fulfilling aspect of community service during the holidays, and suggest some fantastic book recommendations to help you grow personally and professionally. So, let's conquer these last 90 days together!
Speaker 1:
Hi Amiga, we're here. We're in the last 90 days of the year. We have a unique opportunity now to reflect on our past accomplishments and to check that to-do list to see items that still are on our list for this year. We still have time. We have 90 days. Let's look at some examples of things that are accomplished in 90 days. For example, a human body in utero is fully formed and can open and close its hands and mouth by 90 days after its conception. In just 90 days of going to a boot camp, a recruit can become a Marine.
Speaker 1:
And this one is my favorite Mozart. He composed two piano trios, a violin sonata, two piano sonatas, his last three symphonies and three other piano pieces of music in just 90 days, in 1788. Wow, those are just a few examples of things that can be accomplished in 90 days. So remember, we can do it too. We can well maybe not do all those music compositions like Mozart did, but we certainly can accomplish some of our goals. The key is that we have to create a plan, we have to stay committed to the end, and I thought today we'd go over what are some things I'm doing in the last 90 days, just to give you some ideas of my focus and things that maybe you might try to accomplish too. We still have time. We still have the last 90 days, or probably a little bit less than 90 days, depending when you're listening to this podcast, and it's, too, never too late to start.
Speaker 1:
There are several things that I do during this time of the year to make the most out of the remainder of the year. So I wanted and I thought it would be a good idea, to maybe go over some of those with this community. So the first thing that I do is I do a review of my goals for the year today to see what have I accomplished and what do I still have to accomplish. And this is important because it allows you to see what you still need to get done and to be able to have a realistic idea of if it's something you need to move over to the next year or something you really want to try hard this year to accomplish. I usually, every year, when I make my list of goals for the year, I print it in usually like 50% smaller on my printer and I make several copies. I keep one in my wallet, I tape one on my computer or my desktop. I also put one in my planners yes, don't judge, I have a couple of planners Just so I can see the list throughout the year. It keeps me focused and that way I have it as a reference and I'm always looking to see am I doing things towards those goals? Because a lot of times, depending on life, you know, life happens and we get distracted, and that's okay. But we want to try to get back on track and just having the list is what's going to be able to get you back on track and refocus.
Speaker 1:
So what I do is I take out this list around this time and then I cross out the things that I've accomplished. It's very satisfying just to do that with a marker, you know, instead of deleting it, just to have it on a piece of paper and even to cross it out throughout the year when you accomplish them. It's just really feels good to do that. Then, like I said, I take a look at what's left. What do we need to do? You really need to be realistic and figure out if it's something that you're going to commit to doing and then, if you are, then you have to try to develop a plan and strategies to try to accomplish it in the next 90 days and one of the ways that I do that is, once I decide, okay, that is something I'm going to keep on the list, I'm going to add daily reminders. So what I do is I put them on my calendar, on my Outlook calendar, and then I also place it on my phone In my Outlook calendar. Even on my work Outlook calendar, if you ever took a peek of it, you would see that I have reminders starting at 5.30 in the morning and some of those are reminders Regarding those goals, and then I also remind myself at the end of the day. It kind of refocuses so that if it's an item that's not A work related, then it reminds me hey, do you have time tonight to work on this? So it's a good way. I also have reminders on my phone so that you know at any given time and mine are specifically at lunch time, because I know I'm sitting, possibly maybe eating something, and I'll pay attention and it won't be like an immediate dismiss and maybe I can take that reminder and then turn it into something actionable, that maybe I can go and add An hour of work towards that goal, towards that objective, into my calendar. So really use your tool to use your outlook calendar, use your phone reminders so that you can stay on track of your goals. So you still, like I said, you still have time. Let's see what you can still accomplish this year.
Speaker 1:
Another thing that I start doing in this last 90 days is I plan out the holiday shopping. That way I can avoid any last minute stress. I don't leave it to the last minute. What you should probably do, and what I try to do now, is I try to do as much as I can online. I take advantage of those discount days, like the prime discount, big deal days, the black Friday, the cyber Monday and any other sale that might be upcoming. I Google it, find out when it's going to be and then I add it to my calendar so that, so that I can then add on those days, pick up the things that I need.
Speaker 1:
For older kids and seniors, I recommend that you get gift cards Because this way, for example, the kids, they can get what they want. We, you know kids are into a lot of things these days and we might not be up to date on what is the latest and greatest, so the gift cards are really good thing. With seniors, the gift cards are important. You know, sometimes seniors are having some financial difficulties, so they can use these gift cards for groceries, they could use it for medications, they could use it to buy a trip to maybe visit A relative. So I think the gift cards are good for that. Also, don't forget, one of the things that I love to do is to plan my Holiday time so that I can participate on operation Santa.
Speaker 1:
So operation Santa is a project with the United States Postal Service and I love doing it. So what happens is you can go to operation Santa. It's actually USPS operation Santa calm. I have done it for several years. It is as I pick letters from kids that have written to Santa and what they do is they ask for things. So they'll say maybe I want this specific toy or I want a camera or I want Legos, and then what happens is you can pick one letter, several I usually do several letters and then you mail everything to an address that the post office gives you and then they distribute the gifts out to the children, so you don't get their home addresses. I think you might be able to see the state that that they're in, but that's About it. You get to choose a letter that you want and then you can go out and go and buy the gifts for this child. You can pack it.
Speaker 1:
I always like to Make a beautiful box and put. Sometimes I put some extras. And now, if you know someone that wants to participate in this operation, santa, then they need to send in their letters by November 20th and the post office has an address. It's Santa 123 Elf Road, north Pole, 88. 888. It's so cute. So definitely, all the information is on the USPSoperationsantcom and then you have to mail your gifts into the post office address they give you by December 18th. But, like I said, all the details are on the website. So definitely add this to your last 90 days. It is such a fun activity, you know. It's one of those things that it's a feel good and if everybody did it it would just put a smile on a child's face. So, and it's something we could do locally. So definitely go out and look online and participate on USPS operations. Santa Amiga, we have 90 days, so we still have time to read some books. You want to try to read some books? That will hopefully help you enhance your personal growth. You could read some books just for fun, whatever makes you happy.
Speaker 1:
I always have a list of books that I'm trying to read Most of the time. I am doing currently books on Audible, on the Audible app, because the best time for me to be able to fit this in is while I'm driving, going to a client's office or going to a presentation, so that works the best for me. I love to listen while I drive and usually for the last 90 days I'm only doing one or two books, and that's usually because the holidays are in the way. I'm also trying to figure out, hey, what books maybe I want to add for next year. So so currently this month I am reading a book that was released last month and it is titled Thicker Than Water. This is a memoir by the actress Carrie Washington. In this book, she gives us the intimate view of both her public and private worlds, and it's really a good read. It's so good that maybe you want to add it to your you know gift list. If you have someone that likes reading, this is a good one for you to add for this year. So it's good for gifting this holiday season.
Speaker 1:
The next book that I have on my list to read before the end of the year. In case you're wondering, I haven't started yet so I don't know anything about it, but I know well, I do know it's a good book. But I can give you my perfect you know personal review. So I'm thinking this one I'm probably gonna start it around the Thanksgiving holiday and, you know, finish it right before Christmas or during Christmas. And this one the title of this one is the Garden Within by Dr Anita Phillips, and this one was also released this year.
Speaker 1:
So, like I said, I usually read two instead of the many books that I try to fit in throughout the year, and that's because I'm going to try to also work on my list for next year. So I usually list 20 books that I want to read. So it's usually like two books a month that I'm going to be reading for the year. And even though I do the 20 list, I've found that for the last couple of years I'm really mostly averaging more than 20 around 25. So you want to start the list, kind of look around, what are those books that you've always wanted to read, put them on the list. But one of the things that I think you should do, a tip, is like leave a couple of slots open. You could do it leave slots open throughout the quarters so that if books are released in those quarters, you can kind of you know slide it in. For me, I usually leave it at the end of the year. So these two books they both came out in September, thicker than water in the garden within, and so I was able to put them in, and also I love that they were books that were written by women. So I'm really excited to finish the year with these, and it's so worth it.
Speaker 1:
You definitely want to create this list, start working on it for next year, and definitely, you know this is going to allow you to have quiet time, to be able to sit with a good book. Sometimes you just have a cup of tea or coffee. You can do it in the mornings, you could do it at lunchtime or evenings, whenever your heart desires, but it's something that definitely every woman should do. Amiga, we have 90 days, so we're trying to be productive, we're trying to do all these things that we're trying to squeeze them in before the end of the year, but one of the most important things that we need to do is to be well organized. So as I was organizing my workspace. Today I figured, oh, I should add a list and give you guys a couple of tips on achieving the maximum productivity while you're doing a job and how do you organize your workspace so that you can boost your productivity. So let's go over some of them quickly.
Speaker 1:
You can declutter your space, remove anything that's unnecessary from your desk and drawers. You want a clean workspace that's going to help you reduce stress and improve your focus. You want to create a filing system. I love using a label maker, so sometimes I just I even put labels on my desk so that I don't know what the piles of paper are. I do still have paper a lot, trying to transition, as the you know, every day more and more into paperless, but paper is still available, at least in my, in my world. So sort your paper by date or project or priority whatever is best for you and just having it in a systematic way.
Speaker 1:
Keep your desk clear. You know you want it to be clear. Clutter you want to have space on your desk so that you can have a notebook, your computer, a keyboard and your phone. Use a planner or an online calendar. That's really important, even if you don't want to use a planner. I have both planners and online calendars probably too much. I like to see things on paper sometimes, but this is going to allow you to track your appointments, your deadlines, your tasks. It will keep you on top of your work. It's going to ensure that you don't miss anything. That's important.
Speaker 1:
And one thing that I've improved a lot in my workspace is lighting, and I realized that I need. I didn't have adequate lighting in my office, so I called in this company and I added overhead lighting, because I was using at my home office lamps and in order to avoid straining my eyes and fatigue, the natural light wasn't enough. I needed some extra light. So invest in a good lamp. Make sure you have a good desk lamp. Definitely have ergonomic equipment your chair, your desk. I have one of those desks now that can rise. It's a standing desk. I can stand, I can sit. It helps with my back. It allows me to decrease back pain and neck pain and strains and to avoid strains or injuries. And then, finally, I would say, take breaks. You want to take breaks throughout the day? Walk around, stretch your legs, rest your eyes. That's going to help you to keep refreshed and focused.
Speaker 1:
Amiga, we can be productive. We still have 90 days. Review your yearly to do less your goals less. Participate in Operation Santa, read some fantastic books, make sure you have an organized workspace. Those were just a few of my suggestions of things you can do for these last 90 days. Also really important don't forget to engage in regular exercise, eat a healthy and balanced diet, meditate, practice mindfulness and, when necessary, always seek support from friends and family.
Speaker 1:
These last 90 days of the year present us a unique opportunity. Take the time to reflect, to plan, to take action. We can always work towards achieving our personal and professional goals. We have the power to improve our overall quality of life and set ourselves up for success this year and in the years to come. I really believe in you. The beginning is always today. I love that quote. It was written by Mary Shelley. She was the author who wrote the book Frankenstein, and that is so true. We don't have to wait till the end of the year. Remember, take things one step at a time and celebrate your progress along the way. Thank you for making Amiga's List Talk part of your day. We hope you enjoyed listening to today's episode and be sure to hit the subscribe button to get notified when we release the next one and if you know someone who would enjoy the show, please share it with them. I would really appreciate it. Thanks for listening and remember to smile. Listen and be patient today. Until next time, bye you.