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Coffee with a Twist!
Coffee with a Twist!
A New Year of Growth with Time Management and Joyful Anticipation
As the year closes, I, Madame Ballou invite you to join me in a personal journey of reflection and preparation for the year ahead, all over a comforting cup of coffee. Unveil the transformative power of time management and time blocking, the very tools that have enabled me to cherish moments of joy during the holidays and plot a course for a prosperous New Year. Learn how these strategies can not only enhance productivity but also balance the demanding roles we juggle daily, especially as a working mom like myself. Discover the surprisingly simple yet impactful change of rising earlier, a decision poised to weave a thread of tranquility and efficiency through the fabric of everyday life.
Savor the gratitude that comes with overcoming the year's hurdles, as we acknowledge our collective growth and the valuable lessons we've gathered along the way. Setting goals with a partner, embracing the importance of practical preparations like financial planning, and the foresight of drafting wills or trusts are all part of the conversation. I'll share the essence of aiming for non-material achievements, such as enriching knowledge and nurturing relationships, and the significance of materializing these aspirations on vision boards early in the year. With a heartfelt thank you for your steadfast support, I'm thrilled to tease some exciting updates for our podcast and my commitment to a weekly episode schedule in 2024. Let's raise our cups to embracing joy and prosperity in the upcoming year.
Thanks for listening coffee with a twist.
Email me at: coffeewitatwist@gmail.com
Hey guys, welcome back to coffee. With a twist. You are here with madam Baloo. Hope everyone had a good day, a good week, having a good mom, merry Christmas. Today is December 27th, so I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas, got to Do what it is you want it to do, but if that's relaxing, or relaxing with family or relaxing alone, even Whatever your Christmas look like, that you enjoy. I hope you enjoyed it and ready to start the new year.
Speaker 1:I've been off work for a Mm-hmm a little bit. Oh, I think I started being off last week Thursday. So I actually go back to work this Thursday, but not too bad, because only work Thursday, friday. So Get in there, get my work done and get out of there. It's kind of nice that the work probably powered up. So and as you know, this time of year it's typically slow, but I'm you know I'm sure I got plenty to keep me busy for the next day or two. But yes, so I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas and starting to switch gears and you know, enjoy, you know using their presence and things like that, and starting to look towards the future. I know I am so Couple of things I've been working on.
Speaker 1:I'm getting a jump start on my vision board. Have not done my vision board, but what I what I mean is getting a jump start in my mind and like jotting down a couple of notes of Things I would love to accomplish next year, and you know I've already, you know, started making a small list as well as getting some things in order for it just To kind of start setting those things up. So I'm hoping that, um, you know if I can start it off right. One other thing that I don't think I've discussed, but another thing that could help you all, or all of us, into our new year and our goals and just our normal day-to-day activities, is time blocking and time management. That is the one thing that I know, even as a mom and as a working person. It it can be hard to manage our time and Find time to do the things that we would like to do. That haven't maybe quite become a habit yet, to where we really Put it first or you know what I mean or or Prioritize it. So one of the things that I want to do Next year and Gonna try starting it for the little time we have left in December I Am an early bird, but I typically get up about 6 30, especially during the weekday, and then you know, I get up About 25 minutes before my son and you know, get a couple of things, get some of his stuff together I didn't get his clothes together a night before, you know get get his stuff together so I can wake him up at 6, 5th, or getting him situated to get him out the door on the bus into school.
Speaker 1:So One thing I would like to try I Hope I will be successful at it is I Would like to you start getting up at five, no later than 5.30. And using that time up until about 6.30, so giving me about an hour or an hour and a half to do some time, blocking things to try to extend my day. And I say that because because my day, let's say I get up at my 6.30, from 6.30 to 6.55, really from 6.30 to about 7.30, you might as well say that is all Eli's time. What I mean is, like I just discussed, getting his things together, been getting him up, getting him situated, getting him out the door, waiting on the bus, getting the bus to pick him up, so that whole hour or so is his, not mine. Then, after he gets on the bus, I come in the house, then I start trying to like I might make my. It depends on how I'm feeling that day too, because, as we know, we're human, some days we don't feel the best. He might curl back up at bed or just lay around until my work day starts and then, you know, typically, you know, put my pot of coffee on or make a cup of coffee, might tidy up a little again, depending on the mood, might watch a little news or TV.
Speaker 1:You know try to like get some type of relaxed time in, because once my work day starts I'm tied to work for the most part, you know, one and off throughout the day, and then once two o'clock hits it turns back over to Eli time. So two o'clock will come and you know my alarm goes off. I take my break, in a sense wait for the bus to drop him off between 2.15 and anywhere from two to 2.20, I'll say so, of course. Then he's home, so it's kind of his time and of course me getting some work done up until the time I get off around four, sometimes five, and if it's on a day that he has speech and things to that nature, then guess what. I get him off the bus, he gets in the house, might get a snack, and then we're right back out the door driving 30 something minutes away. Then you know, waiting there and coming home.
Speaker 1:So again, like I really have no time for me and to like time block and it's not even like having time for me, it's the best way to say it. Undistracted time, I guess, is more what I'm getting after that undistracted time where I can sit down and focus on something, even if it's 30 minutes. It's my time Outside of work, stuff that helps build my brand, build my business, help me to continue to do my podcasts. Just that real time. Instead of trying to stay up late when everyone's sleeping. I should be sleep to do a lot of these things. So I'm like well, I am an early bird, I really don't mind being up early at times, you know, and I get up at 6.30, but I'm like if I could push that by an hour, even 5.30, ideally I'm pushing for 5. I could, 5 to 5.30, go on my basement workout, let the dog out, things like that. That's time From 5.30ish to 6, again, time blocking, and it might not go exactly like this.
Speaker 1:From 5.30 to 6, I could tidy up my house at that time because it doesn't take much, like you know. When I say tidy, let's say say I didn't load the dishwasher last night, go ahead and load that. Let's say my son's toys. He left out the night before and I didn't pick them up, like it's too tired, we went to bed. That type of stuff, the stuff that I would be doing at the 7.30 hour typically you know what I mean up until time to go to work, use that 5 to 6.30 hour to do a lot of that and it's out of the way. And I won't feel as guilty later on in the evening of I didn't know workout today. I didn't tidy up the way I wanted to, I didn't do this, I didn't do that, I didn't sit down and brand my business. So I could do 5 to 5.30 workout, 5.30 to 6.
Speaker 1:I could tidy up or some days if I was good and I tidied up, take that 5.30, 5.45 to about 6.30 to work on my brand, sitting down, even setting up a list for the day of things I want to work on, or take that time, it doesn't take long. Post a couple of things on my Facebook page, business page, things like that, rather than just checking a message, checking my email, productively focus, set timers, 6.30, I could still do where I'm getting his clothes together. All of that I normally do all that. Set everything up that way. When I wake up at 6.55, it's boom, boom, boom. And then, guess what, when I put him on the bus, buy 7.30, 7.20, come in, hit the coffee button, the coffee brewing. I could sit down, have some me time for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and then start my day, my work day. So it's like I still have things accomplished that I've been wanting to do. And then by the time he gets home, I don't feel like, oh man, I didn't do this, I didn't do that. So that's a tip I'm trying to do this new year.
Speaker 1:Part of my goal is time blocking, time management, becoming better at it and using it more productively, even if it's a productive relax. Hey, I want my me time. I'm productively just sitting, okay, things like that. So you know, guys, think outside the box. Don't just think of things that you have to like check off in the sense of like, oh, I gotta buy a house, or you know, you know what I mean, or I have to, I don't know, I'm trying to think of something off the top of my head, but just think of the little things it might take to get to those goals. So I feel like if you have a better time management and time blocking etc, etc. It will help the other things, the other things will come. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:So once you start certain healthy habits for you and again that one is the one I'm trying you might be the opposite. Where you're like, huh, I'm not doing the morning Doesn't work for me, you may or may not have kids, or your kids are different ages to where you're more like, nope, nighttime is my thing, so guess what. Or even the middle of the day, I don't know. Just find what blocking you need.
Speaker 1:Just to try to think back through this past year and even though you may have accomplished all your goals, majority of your goals, think to yourself how challenging was it? What could I have done better? What could I have done different? That might have made this a little more seamless or less stressful. So take that advice and that observation of things and try to do better for the upcoming year.
Speaker 1:So of course, no one wants to be stressed out. No one wants to have things too hard, because that's what stops you a lot of the time of going further. You know what I mean. So then it can discourage you. So we're here to motivate each other and to encourage each other, and I'm just again just trying to find and think of other ways that are you might have thought about, but just didn't do. I'm just here to reconfirm it for you. Let's try to just be better. You know, think things through. If it wasn't working the best for you last year, well this year I'm acting like we're already in 2024. You know, let's find ways and then take it a step further.
Speaker 1:So one thing that I did not do last year which I say we did not do last year that I want to do this year, and even though I have my individual goals, there are some goals as a couple that I would like my husband and I to go over. Now, when I'm talking about I'm not talking about material completely and things like that Finances. What are your financial goals as a couple? And let's go deeper. For instance, me and my husband work. We work kind of independently. We don't have joint accounts and things like that. So it would be good for us to start making sure that we each have accessibility to each other's accounts and knowing where everything is at and knowing everything that the other has leaving it in our safe, et cetera.
Speaker 1:If anything God forbid anything happened, it doesn't even have to be like a death. It could be, you know, a long term hospital stay or something, and you know you need access to things because, of course, if you're to income household, unfortunately you know that still has to happen. But just again, start thinking of things that we don't want to think about. But let's start thinking about those things. Hey, do we need a will? Do we need a trust? Do we need a this, do we need a that? Like? Think of if you're with someone, think on a couple level of some things that you might not know. That would be important to know if your back was against the wall or pushed in the shove something you know happened suddenly.
Speaker 1:So use this time, this next few days before the New Year truly hits and you start doing your vision boards, think of some things that you need to tackle that maybe you just haven't done. You kept pushing it. Oh, I'm young, don't have to do that yet. Hey, let's have it out there. Make life easier for your loved ones and things. So you know, let's use 2024 as a fresh start. We did good this year. Let's do even better next year.
Speaker 1:Again, everything goal doesn't have to be material. Every goal doesn't have to be you gaining a material item. It could be gaining knowledge or building a relationship, becoming closer with one another. It doesn't all have to be material. So just remember that when you're writing your goals in the next few days and I really hope that even if you don't do it on New Year's Eve, like I do, I hope you have it done by the first week of January, by the end of the first week of January.
Speaker 1:The reason why I say that once you hit the middle of January, the older we get, the time flies, time flies. So if you put it off and put it off, you're going to end up not even having a vision board. It will be in the June, you know. Of course you can start them whenever, but let's be good, let's start at the beginning of the year. I do mine New Year's Eve. That way I know it's done and sometimes I even add to it. I might not put it on my physical vision board, but even on my phone and under my reminders, I make little things there as well and I check them off as I go and review them and things like that. So, you know, find whatever works for you, but just please, at least have the base vision board, even if you add to it, that's fine, but have it done before the end of the first week of January so that you can have something to strive for.
Speaker 1:So, guys, I just wanted to get on here and say that while I was on my heart to say it, because, as I told you, I've been having many topic ideas but if I don't jump on, I forget them because I don't script anything. So I wanted to definitely put that out there and hopefully it motivated someone who's listening to do these things. And please, I hope, things that we talk about on here that you shared with others, even you know, send them to my page and listen, things like that. You know, I try to just be a motivating voice. There's so much negative things out there that we hear and see it.
Speaker 1:It gets harder and harder to watch the news daily that I try to make this a more positive podcast just so that to lift people up. You know we can always find a negative. That's always. Everywhere you turn there's negative. I try to keep this very light, fun and engaging and motivational, like we need that. You know life can be hard. You know life can be tough. Rather, if you have what you need or not, let you look around you. It's so much. It can be so much sad around. You know what I mean. So let's do what we can to stay joyful and be grateful is the main thing. Let's go into 2024 being grateful. So I will end it there. I hope you guys have a great, great rest of the month and a great new year if I don't pop back on here.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening to me this year, 2023. It has been an honor and a pleasure. My in January I'll get all my stats from 2023 and I'll share them with you of, like, the places that listen to me the most and most downloads, et cetera. But I just want to thank you all for listening to me, my rambles, my unpolished episodes, and I just thank you all for the support. This really does help me get myself together. So thank you so much for tuning in, sharing the link with people or even just sharing my topics with people. I do appreciate it. And 2024, this podcast is on the list as well to try to get back to my weekly. You know episodes, you know time blocking, that's why I got a time block. But thanks again for listening. You're here with Madame Blue Coffee with a twist.