It was Sunday morning and my friend on the West Coast called me bright and early to chat.  I stared at my phone for a second to see if it would hang up, because surely this was a mistake.  There’s a 3 hour time difference here on the East Coast, so it was 6:30 his time and I never answer the phone before 10am!  But I picked up. And we ended up talking for a few hours, where by the end he gave me my first pep talk of 2019.  Well, if you can call it a pep talk, it was more like checking me but that delivery was necessary.

We talked about a plethora of topics from cooking, to dating, to work life and goal setting.  We also touched on our different personality types including how he is more of a Type A personality type while I am more type B.  This led to a conversation of time management and planning.  Now, I have been trying for almost a year to get into calendar/planners, but I find it so difficult to follow a strict schedule as I am a mood based creative.  While my friend lives by his calendar and believes that if it’s not scheduled, it’s not getting done.  But it’s my belief that if I could just embody a PIECE of this attribute, I’d be unstoppable. Actually, I know I’d be. Yet for some reason I refuse to commit.

“Just because I write something in my calendar doesn’t mean I’ll want to do it when the time comes.”  That’s what I said right before Jason dragged me.  He asked if I want to be average or if I want to be excellent? Of course I want to be excellent, that is my goal in life, to excel at anything I put my mind to and to be the best version of myself in this lifetime.  But it’s true, I dream big and want a lot, and (sometimes) am not willing to put the work behind it.  I fall short and get lazy with certain things and it’s by no one’s fault but mine, since I know exactly what I need to do.  If I didn’t know how to attain the goal it would be different, but since I do it is an absolute choice not to do what’s required to reach the next level.

Why do we make excuses though? Is it a fear of success? Is it the fear that if we do reach the higher level, we now have an obligation to maintain it? It’s important to sit and figure out what is keeping us from crossing to the level of genius and excellence.  And no, this is not to sit and blame ourselves for everything in our lives, but to help us take accountability for what get’s done and what doesn’t.  If you’re similar to me and crave more order and diligence in your life then it won’t hurt to try new methods.

Decide what you want out of life, what you want to achieve and what you want your week, month, and year to look like.  Make the commitment to stick to your plans and start breaking the goal down into whatever steps you need to get there.  If your goal is to lose 20 lbs, create a meal plan and schedule your meals and gym time.  If you want to run a fashion blog, start to plan your outfits and time to shoot, and a day to write your blog posts.  Create a system and implement it; consistency is key.  I am at the library writing this post right now, even though I’d prefer to be on the couch, because I made a commitment.

Please comment below with what works for you and what doesn’t.  Each personality type can learn from the other; creatives can benefit from more structure, while analytical people can benefit from going with the flow more.  Remember we aren’t perfect and what works for some doesn’t work for all, but we can always strive to be better.