Designing a 365 life plan

"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. 

And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." 

Jim Rohn

This quote really struck home to me today when I read it in Michael Bungay Stanier's thought provoking newsletter.

Maybe it is because I am on holiday in the Uk and the change of air/light/ water is having an effect or perhaps it is time for change in me.

 Anyone else out there who is also wanting to stop and think about plans?

A few weeks ago I wrote about my fabulous 365 group on Flickr. Now I want to make a 365 plan for my life. I wondered how I could reincarnate my motivation  to take a photo a day into a 365 life plan.

Possibility:

~ just commit to writing a thought each day when I journal - not exciting enough

I realised

~ I am a visual person and one reason the photo a day project works for me is because I see a result every day. I need that.

~ So TODAY I am going to take note cards and make a card for each area I want to move steadily forwards on in the next 365 days.

Make a note card for each and then I can work on one of those areas daily. There is nothing more encouraging than looking back on work you've done to make you feel like you want to go further - so add the date.

All this sounds so wordy so here are some of my plans for the next year:

~ planning the family get together in our new house at Christmas 

~ developing my future retail business

~ shedding the things we don't want to move back to the Uk with (a mammoth task!)

~ finding a solution to getting Rufus, our dog, looked after in Europe for 6 months - he can't go straight back to Uk

~ creating new product lines to sell from business

~ planning house extension for new house

~ plans for the garden

I want to see that everyday I get something done on one of these areas. I also know that I will add new ones .

That's the beauty of using note cards - just add another one. I don't need to know now what it is going to look like at the end of 365 days.

Oh I almost forgot - COLOUR - we have to have colour on our cards.

How? 

Frame the card with thematic colours- everything on Rufus can be golden!!

Stick clippings onto the card. 

Draw

Add photos

This is going to be what the view from our kitchen 

I just need to get started now. So check back tomorrow and I hope I have something to show you.

Any ideas on how to build on this idea? Please share because I need all the help I can get to be organised.

On the road again ...

Once you realize that the road is the goal

and that you are always on the road, 

not to reach a goal, 

but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, 

life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, 

in itself an ecstasy.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 1897-1981

Today is the last day of April and I have been busy creating a mosaic of my photo a day for April.

Back in February I encouraged my friends to join with me to create a 365 Flickr group and take a photo each day.

With a little bit of trial and error we have managed to surpass our wildest dreams and had such fun on the way.

You can check out our 365 group here

We are spread out in the USA, UK, Thailand, Denmark, China, Vietnam and this is such a great way of staying connected.

I am just in love with my iPhone and the possibilities its brings, but any camera and a Flickr account are all you need to get started.

Because we love to keep it interesting, we have lots of mini themes going on such as : Floating, Fresh and Books we've read are a few of the recent ones.

Here's to enjoying the journey and having a few photos to remind me of where I've been  - because the way my memory is going I'll need this to remember what I did last week!

Technical info:

To make a square mosaic go here

To make the heart or circle go here

Be warned a 365 group is addictive!!