Thoughts on Using Powersheets for One Month

ThoughtsonUsingPowersheets1month

February was my first full month of using Lara Casey’s Powersheets. Powersheets are designed to help you walk through setting and achieving intentional goals. Before you set your goals, you complete several pages of “pre-work.” I fully intended to have all my pre-work completed prior to January so that I could start using my Powersheets to work on my goals. Did I do that? Nope. I barely touched them and almost let them go to waste like I did last year. Watching the 2016 Powersheets Webinar, was just the kick in the pants that I needed. The webinar was so encouraging and inspiring that I approached my Powersheets and goal setting with more excitement than before. I was able to get through all of my pre-work, set my goals and plan for what I wanted to accomplish during the month of February. So what have I learned from using my Powersheets for 1 month?

Goal tracking + action = progress

There are a lot of things that I love about using Powersheets. The main thing is that I am breaking down my goals into small actionable steps and tracking my progress towards completing that goal. Each month, you fill out a “tending sheet” which is where you list your monthly, weekly and daily goals along with some encouraging words or phrases. Your tending sheet doesn’t have to include activities related to your goals but I’ve found that it’s very effective to do so. When I created my tending sheet for February, I reviewed my goals to see what I would like to work on for that month. Daily goals help to build habits so I only use that section to track things that I’m trying to get into the habit of doing. Some of the habits I would like to develop are nightly journaling, praying out loud, and getting out of bed when my alarm goes off (this is really hard!). I’ve also noticed that since I’ve written down the things I want to accomplish this month, I’m more intentional about my weeks. I didn’t complete all of my goals for February but I did make progress towards most of them. I think most of that was due to seeing my Powersheets everyday on my desk and using that as a reminder of what I set to accomplish that month. I also get a huge sense of accomplishment when I’ve checked off a monthly goal or completed one week of daily goals.

Documenting the good/great things that happen makes you appreciative

One of my favorite parts of my Powersheets is the monthly gratitude sheet. At the beginning of each month you start with a blank sheet. The idea is to write great things that happen to you or people you are grateful for throughout the month. Filling out the sheet as the month goes along is a much more effective way of completing the sheet. I didn’t do that in January and it was slightly difficult to remember all of the things I would consider great that happened. I referred back to my Day Designer and Five Minute journal to see what I documented as being grateful for. During the month of February, I made more of an effort to write as the month went along. When February 29th rolled around, I was so happy to have documented throughout the month. This sheet also has a section for my favorite memory of the month. Coming up with a favorite memory for January was very easy: snorkeling for the first time with my husband on our honeymoon. For February, I selected a conversation I had with my Grandpa about the importance of having ginger ale and chicken noodle soup on hand. When I think back to those two moments, I can’t help but smile.

Me after snorkeling for the first time.

Me after snorkeling for the first time.

Planning self-care activities is rewarding

I hate to admit this but I don’t take the best care of myself. Stress often gets the best of me. Who wants to be stressed out all the time? Not me and I’m pretty sure my body doesn’t want to go through that either. To make sure I am taking better care of myself, I set a self-care goal. Part of my weekly self-care routine will involve using a face mask. I purchased some Tonymoly I’m Real face masks from Amazon. What I love about using sheet face masks is that I am forced to relax. According to the instructions, you place the mask on your face for about 20 minutes. I can’t eat. I can’t watch tv (mainly because I wouldn’t be able to see the screen without glasses). The most that I can do is lay on my bed, close my eyes and listen to some music or a podcast. The first time I tried this in January, it was amazing. The mask felt nice but I think what really made the difference was the fact that I was totally and utterly relaxed. Afterwards, I felt so recharged and ready to take on the world. Besides engaging in a relaxing activity once a week, I also want to journal more. Journalling about what I’m grateful for, what I’m looking forward to and how I’m feeling allow me to take stock of my life and what’s going on. So far I have three ways that I’ll be journalling. In my Day Designer, I write what I’m grateful for at the end of the day. The 5 Minute journal that I write in twice a day asks you to list three things that went well today and what could have gone better. I’ll also write a short summary of my day in my bullet journal (a Leuchtturm 1917 gridded notebook).

Can't wait to try all of these!

Can't wait to try all of these!

Adventure days - give yourself something to look forward to

Planning an adventure is something I always say that I’ll do but don’t. I tend to wait until Saturday to start thinking about what I should do on the weekend. When you plan to have some adventures or do an activity you have something to look forward to. Towards the end of January, I started thinking about what adventures I could have in February. This question was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Initially the only thing I could think of was going to a masquerade themed birthday party. After some thought I also came up with going to the movies and taking a trip to NYC. The masquerade party was a lot of fun and Deadpool was hilarious (it’s a must watch; do NOT bring kids). On our trip to NYC we went to Dallas BBQ, one of my husband’s favorite restaurants in the city. I’m glad that I took time to think about the ways to have fun through the month. I did find myself really looking forward to each activity.

So my first month using Powersheets has been great. I am making progress towards the goals that I set, taking better care of myself, feeling grateful for the people and things in my life, and looking forward to the adventures that are planned each month. The only downside that I see with my Powersheets is that my bag is a little heavy with my paper planner, Powersheets workbook, Five Minute journal and a book for lunch time reading. I think I could probably cut back on what I carried if I managed to write in my Five Minute journal before I left the house. Maybe I’ll add that to my daily goals and make that a new habit.

Do you track your progress with goals? If so, tell me how. I’d love to know.

Trying something new in 2016

something-new-2016.jpg

Going into 2016, I knew that I wanted this year to be even better than 2015. Last year was filled with some amazing experiences (wedding planning, getting married, launching my workbook) and some not-so-great experiences (an ER visit days before my wedding and my paternal grandma passing away). I attribute most of my 2015 success to planning and writing my tasks in my Simplified Planner (fantastic paper planner created by Emily Ley). Up until last year, I was using numerous apps for productivity and found that NONE of them actually helped me get stuff done or track my progress efficiently.

So I thought...What could I do differently this year that I didn’t do last year?

The answer I landed on was using an intentional goal setting and planning product created by Lara Casey called Powersheets. 

I purchased Powersheets and Lara Casey’s book Make it Happen last year. Her book fired me up about making goals happen but I didn’t really use the Powersheets. Why didn’t I use them? I’ll answer that in more detail in another post but the short answer is: the format wasn’t a good fit for me.

After that experience, you would think that I would steer clear of Powersheets. Why buy something a second time if you didn’t use it the first time? Well towards the end of last year, Lara Casey and her team released a spiral-bound workbook form of Powersheets. I love spiral-bound notebooks. This version was also 12 months instead of a 6-month loose-sheet paper pack. Another plus the sticker pack. Stickers make everything better. Besides the formatting changes, I was reading her blog more frequently last year and gained a better understanding of how I could use Powersheets to set and achieve my goals.

One component of Powersheets that I paid particular attention to was choosing my word for the year. When you think of your yearly goals, you try to integrate your word with each goal. I’m familiar with the concept of selecting a word to align your goals and activities with. I first heard about this when reading some scrapbooking and Project Life blogs. A prominent scrapbooker and memory keeper, Ali Edwards created the “one little word” (OLW) movement. The idea is that you select one word that you will focus on for the year. I’ve seen quite a few people tweeting or blogging about their OLWs. I wasn’t sure what word to choose and felt pressured to select a good word.

After praying and completing some of the exercises in the Powersheets and Lara’s goal setting series (highly recommend reading this series), I landed on a word that I wanted to focus on this year.

legacy-word-of-2016.jpg

During the planning exercises of the Powersheets, I was dealing with an unfortunate circumstance. My paternal grandmother passed away suddenly. I travelled to Ohio to attend her funeral and spend time with my family that live there. Throughout my time in Ohio legacy kept popping up. From her old journals, photos and scrapbooks that I discovered in the home she and my grandpa shared to the kinds words of family friends who spoke highly of the impact my grandma had on their lives, the legacy she left behind was loud and clear. 

I was a little scared to choose this word. It sounded too big and overwhelming. I considered trying to think of some other word and didn’t fully commit to legacy being my word of 2016. It wasn’t until I heard a podcast interview with John Lee Dumas that I realized I didn’t want to run from this word.

JLD spoke about his Freedom Journal Kickstarter on a few of the podcasts that I listen to. He is the host of the popular podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire, a daily show where he interviews entrepreneurs. During one of the interviews, I listened to JLD talked about leaving a legacy. I felt like John was talking directly to me and at that moment I knew that legacy was the word for me.  

This word has made me think deeply about the goals I’ve set for this year. I never thought that selecting a word for the year would make such a difference. Have you selected a word for 2016? If so, let me know what your word is and why you chose it in the comments below.