Taking Inventory

I am reviewing my work to see where I could improve. My students did not all renew their courses, and translation companies have evidently found cheaper people to work with. :-)

Oh well, that's freelancing for ya'!

Another aspect is the holiday season, with its disruptions and opportunities. And I want to launch new digital products next year, so I need to prepare.

As I was reading blog posts on WA, I decided to challenge myself to improve. This led me to start a more comprehensive review than usual so that I can get a precise idea of what to do next. I'm also including non-work activities. Here are the questions I usually ask during a review:

1. What's going on right now?
2. Am I doing anything unnecessary? Anything I can delegate? Do I need to add anything? What have I started that I haven't finished? What do I still want to finish?
3. What has produced results? What has not worked?
4. Where do I want to be in 3 months? Or 6 months? 14 months?
5. How does my mindset need to change?

Precision is the first key to progress, so it is important to realize exactly what is happening. My first goal is to become more conscious of the systems I already use. Trying to force change abruptly doesn't usually work for me. Most of the time, my systems work for me but now I want to make them more efficient.

First, get out your calendar and a notebook. Then, write down your activities, commitments, and interests. I used 4 categories:

• Work
• Studies
• Homecare / Self-care
• Extra activities

This took me about 30 minutes, and afterwards, I introduced a 5th category called "Interactions" where I list the people that I have relationships with in these areas.

Before looking more closely at work, I think I need to review the part that I don't usually schedule because that is what slips when things get hectic. It's the foundation of daily life: homecare and self-care.

If your house and your health are in order, business and extra activities are not a problem, but if you are sleep-deprived and your back hurts, your work suffers. So the next step is setting down that part of the schedule.

When dealing with activities and systems in the area of homecare and self-care, our habits and daily routines will come under scrutiny. Good habits need to be reinforced, but bad habits need to be replaced with good habits. Harmful habits need to be stopped immediately. Use the review questions listed above to bring some clarity to the process.

That's all for now. Stay positive and keep up the good work!