{"id":1910,"date":"2019-01-11T03:50:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T08:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1910"},"modified":"2019-01-11T02:18:17","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T07:18:17","slug":"week-226-spread-happyness-plan-ahead-and-use-those-calendars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1910","title":{"rendered":"Week #226 &#8211; Spread Happyness: PLAN AHEAD! (And USE those calendars!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_0116-e1547190548257-768x1024.jpg?resize=524%2C699\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1911\" width=\"524\" height=\"699\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_0116-e1547190548257.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_0116-e1547190548257.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_0116-e1547190548257.jpg?resize=624%2C832&amp;ssl=1 624w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_0116-e1547190548257.jpg?w=1250&amp;ssl=1 1250w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_0116-e1547190548257.jpg?w=1875&amp;ssl=1 1875w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 524px) 100vw, 524px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Week #226 &#8211; Spread Happyness: PLAN AHEAD! (And USE those calendars!)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Happy Friday, Everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today is Friday, January 11th &#8212; and this is your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1572\">annual reminder<\/a> to unwrap and USE those cutesy calendars you received over the holidays!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By now, I hope you&#8217;ve had the chance to process and celebrate\u00a0the year we just completed &#8212; and set some new goals or visions for the new year ahead. \u00a0(If not, click back to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1897\">Week #224<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=1902\">Week #225<\/a> for some ideas about how to do that.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Maybe you&#8217;ve picked your&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.getoneword.com\/\">ONE WORD<\/a>.<\/li><li>Maybe you&#8217;ve completed an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.davidco.com\/newsletters\/archive\/0112.html\">end-of-year review<\/a>.<\/li><li>Maybe you&#8217;ve taken a <a href=\"http:\/\/betterme.org\/cleansweep.html\">life-satisfaction assessment<\/a> to see where you&#8217;re at &#8212; and where you need to grow.<\/li><li>Maybe you&#8217;ve set some SMART goals &#8212; and you made them even SMART-ER by considering the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=268\">WHY behind your WHAT.<\/a><\/li><li>Maybe you&#8217;ve set up a daily tracking chart like Jerry Seinfeld&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.writersstore.com\/dont-break-the-chain-calendar\/\">&#8220;Don&#8217;t Break the Chain.&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li>Maybe you have cleaned your slate for January and are focusing on &#8220;Big Rocks First.&#8221;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do we do with all those goals, dreams, visions, aspirations, and insight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Plan them!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is well-documented that planning ahead is directly related to happiness.  And not only that &#8212; scheduling your goals and commitments increases the chances that you will actually follow through with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s a lot of discussion about the virtues of paper calendars versus digital calendars. &nbsp;Digital calendars have great portability and a low profile&nbsp;&#8212; but rarely are they in your face. &nbsp;A password, and then one, two, maybe three clicks &#8212; not to mention competition with all those other apps once you&#8217;re unlocked. &nbsp;They just don&#8217;t give you much information at a glance &#8212; or much time to really plan&nbsp;ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A paper calendar, hanging on the wall by your bathroom sink or on your refrigerator in the kitchen, may not be all that high tech &#8212; but it is certainly high-profile. &nbsp;It also gives you (and whomever you are sharing it with) time to ponder, compare, contribute, discuss, and yes &#8212; even plan ahead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And many people are boosting their outlook by using FULL-YEAR&nbsp;wall calendars to track all the major events, holidays, appointments, and deadlines that are already set by the time we turn the calendar to January 1st &#8212; not to mention their personal goals and&nbsp;commitments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve long been a 90-day outlook-er myself: three months seems focused, manageable, and it fits nicely with the seasons&#8230;but this year I&#8217;m trying a full year calendar.  I have to admit, it&#8217;s a little intimidating.  Three years after a series of major life changes (a job loss, a death in the family, and then a cross-country move)&#8230;I finally feel like I&#8217;m able to look up a little bit.  But I do so carefully, because I know that anything can happen.  Still&#8230;a full year&#8217;s calendar reaffirms that time is moving, the year will pass, and I may as well try to make the most of it from where I stand today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Why not try it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is an old proverb: &#8220;Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is the tree of life.&#8221; &nbsp;(Proverbs 13:13) &nbsp;Don&#8217;t allow your daily or weekly schedule to rob you of the joy of planning&nbsp;ahead! &nbsp;Start plotting&nbsp;your year today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead:&nbsp;PLAN AHEAD! &nbsp;<\/strong>Perhaps someone gave you a cutesy calendar during the holidays &#8212; or you grabbed a freebie at your bank or pizza place without really thinking about where or how you&#8217;d use it. &nbsp;I challenge you this week to HANG IT UP! &nbsp;If you don&#8217;t like the pictures, tear out the calendar pages and arrange them&nbsp;in months, quarters &#8212; or the entire year at a glance. &nbsp;Then open your personal daily planners, pull together all those school and activity calendars, queue up Google to search holiday dates &#8212; and start plotting your year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Start with the big&nbsp;holidays&nbsp;and three-day weekends, birthdays, and major events (like weddings, graduations, important anniversaries).<\/li><li>I also like to mark the solstices\/equinoxes, full moons, and time changes.<\/li><li>Then move on to some of your goals. &nbsp;Are you running a marathon? &nbsp;Writing a book? &nbsp;Growing a business? &nbsp;Saving for a house? &nbsp;Planning a vacation or next year&#8217;s holiday travel? &nbsp;Start plotting your desires on the calendar by asking: where and when will this take place?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Spread Happyness<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; PLAN AHEAD! &nbsp;Share your favorite calendar tips &#8212; but most important, share your calendars with the ones you love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>1\/11\/19 by Grace Church<br>\u00a9 Grace Church<br>grace@spreadhappyness.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Week #226 &#8211; Spread Happyness: PLAN AHEAD! (And USE those calendars!) Happy Friday, Everyone! Today is Friday, January 11th &#8212; and this is your annual reminder to unwrap and USE those cutesy calendars you received over the holidays! By now, I hope you&#8217;ve had the chance to process and celebrate\u00a0the year we just completed &#8212; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1912,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910\/revisions\/1912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}