The Planned Creative

Did you end 2019 sputtering over the finish line out of gas? If you accomplished your 2019 goals did you have the energy to even celebrate your victories? Take a hard look at what your goals are for 2020. Learning, striving, giving, loving, and pushing limits are key parts of a fulfilled and successful life, but don't forget in order to grow you also need nourishment. You can't give what you don't have. You can't care for others as best you can if you haven't cared for yourself. Did you factor in caring for yourself as one of your 2020 goals? Do your goals span a variety of life facets such as family, relationships, health (physical, mental, and spiritual), as well as finances and career? We often get so focused on making more money and advancing careers that we forget the rest. But the rest is what we will truly care about in the end. Advancing careers and making more money are just meant to facilitate parts of the rest - travel, making memories, specia...

Grace & Hustle You are amazing. You have been busting your butt like nobody's business, and even though your brain is busy with all the things left to do, or things you didn't quite hit the goal when you wanted to - you are amazing . Resilient. Driven. Head down, hustling. Look at how far you've come. Amazing. Messy bun and getting things done - the essence of  grace and hustle . You've got this, you're rocking this!

Be Silly Be Honest Be Kind ❗ STOP Now that I have your attention 😂 I want to ask you a question. How are you doing - really? Time for a quick check in with yourself. We all rush headlong through life, sometimes willy-nilly, and sometimes in a carefully planned prioritized way, but it's still rushing along.  Every once in a while we need a reminder just to stop, breathe, and ask ourselves how we are. Are you so wrapped up in getting things done you've forgotten to take a couple minutes here and there for fun? Or stopped noticing the little fun things we can see all around us there for the taking if we just notice them? Are we missing little moments in time that take next to nothing from us to do or say something kind that could change someone's outlook on their day?  Even an opportunity to be kind to ourselves. Be honest with yourself.  Be silly. Be honest. Be Kind.                           ...

Focused and Fabulous Fall Time for the final push to wrap up the year. I don't know about you but I'm beat! It would be so easy just to roll into a blanket burrito by a lovely fireplace and zone out on some Netflix... Ah, actually that sounds pretty fantastic! Remember - you can't function at 100% for 100% of the time - that's just begging for burnout. Of course you still have things to do, but I'd like to invite you to consider this: will driving yourself relentlessly produce something you will feel proud of?   On the flip side, say you schedule yourself an R&R day every week (hello blanket burrito!), is it possible that maybe, just maybe, the time you spend working to finish your year will go smoother, with less mistakes to fix (or embarrass you later), and complete in less hours?  I would like to suggest showing yourself a little compassion and fueling your body and mind will let you not only finish, but have something shiny to show off, and leave you...

Pocket Full of Sunshine With all the positive vibes hype that's been going on forever it's easy to get lost in the affirmations and law of attraction following.... You know, if we believe firmly enough everything will be awesome! (cue that LEGO movie song my spouse busts out randomly to annoy our daughter) 😁 For someone as deep-rooted pessimistic as myself I spent a long time completely dismissing the whole thing as delusional - and missed the whole point. My motto was always "Plan for the Worst". Over the past few years I've come to accept constant catastrophic is inherently unhealthy and promotes extreme dissatisfaction and unhappiness in your life.  Now, I'm not saying that just blindly believing everything will be great and nothing bad will ever, ever happen to you - that's the other end of the pendulum swing into delusional positive thinking. Bad things do happen to good people sometimes, and refusing to acknowledge or make contingency plans ...