And here we are again, at the start of the year … figuring out what our 2024 will look like.

There seems to be this pressure to start off the year strong, and in a new and better way … but honestly that’s a hard ask … especially coming off the crazy busyness of the holidays.

And let’s face it. At least my brain is scattered. The nagging in my brain is to push forward quickly, while I scan the utter chaos of a home with college boys in residence, and a bunch of Christmas decorations that need to be sorted out.

So I’m giving myself a solid two to three weeks to step back in … and gear up … in my own time, with a few experiments of trying out new things that I’ve been wanting to work on.

So I want to focus on the idea of navigating the chaos of our schedules, and share some ways of getting things back in control.

We all have a seemingly never ending long to-do list, with a little lack of focus sprinkled on top. That lack of focus typically comes from not finding the time to be proactive with daily planning.

September is the notorious “Back to School” month. There's a palpable energy in the air. Everyone seems to be “starting up” again.

Did you know, according to organizational behavior experts, September and October tend to be our most productive months?

So I figured, why not put our best foot forward and figure out how to seize that opportunity of productivity and activate it for ourselves.

For those who have been on my mailing list for awhile, you know I write about goal setting from time to time.

Because it is easy to get lazy with goal setting, I like to occasionally tee it up, and offer new ways of thinking about how to achieve our goals.

While most of us are probably not headed back to school, the “back to school” mentality provides a tidy process for enabling us to think through and activate our goal planning process.