The quiet time after Christmas is right around the corner. Coming Monday is the 23^rd of December 2019, it will be quite a busy day where everybody will be rushing to get the last things done before Christmas.

Followed by a few quiet days.

I usually use these quiet days for reflecting on my own life.

Reflecting on my own life actually boils down to a day that is not too far in the future: my 70^th birthday party.

I assume that my children and grandchildren will be there, plus a few friends and family.

They will want a speech.

I will tell them about my greatest successes, how I achieved them, and what lessons I have learned — in only five minutes’ time, so that they may actually remember at least half of what I tell them.

I have a write-up of this speech in my Evernote database. And I update it every now and then, especially during the quiet time after Christmas and before New Year’s eve.

The Most Difficult Three Questions of My Life

These are the three questions that help me with my after-Christmas task:

What do I want to achieve?

How soon do I want to achieve this?

How much am I willing to pay to achieve this?

And the following three principles help with answering these three questions:

1. I am allowed to change a goal.
2. I am allowed to change a plan.
3. A bad plan is better than no plan.

Formalizing My Answers

Some people use a Goals Notebook, but I use Evernote. Evernote is the most versatile tool that I have ever worked with. I have earlier written about Evernote, here https://ip-lawyer-tools.com/save-search-time-with-evernote-web-clipper/

I have created an Evernote note for writing down my goals. The further away, the bigger are my goals. And I usually aim very high. I am using the following three categories for my goals:

1. Money
2. Influence
3. Legacy (if I dropped dead)

I have never linked my goals with specific ages of my life, but I understand that this could even better help me to have a more productive life. That would come with some self-micro-management which I do not want for myself.

Using my Life Goals List

Every day that a specific date comes up, for example my 55^th birthday, I could check out my notes and write down whether I am on schedule, why I am on schedule, or why I am not on schedule.

I am a natural do-er, so getting re-focused is often enough for me. But I also understand that a more specific time planning for each goal may help in order to do better.

Whenever I change a plan or a goal, I never throw away my original goals. I rather write down why I have modified my original goals.

I keep doing this every year. I always have my goals with me on my smartphone. I keep referring to my list often.

Budgeting

Not many people have money budgets. I understand that this can help tremendously to become rich.

I have put my own budgeting on autopilot. Plus I have a rather simple and inexpensive lifestyle. Plus, I understood early in life that from my two primary temporal assets “time” and “money”, my remaining time here on earth is worth more than my money.

This is why time management is more important for me than money management.

I am working on it.

 

Martin “reflect” Schweiger