If you’re like me and love the idea of starting the New Year off with all your goals laid out and properly broken down into manageable and simple to execute plans, I know you will not want to miss out on the New Year’s Goal Setting and Planning Workshop!
Join me as I walk through my goal setting process in the workshop replay and get my direct feedback via email support to ensure you are setting the most actionable and well planned goals possible for a successful 2020!
In this activity rich and thought provoking 3-hour workshop, I’ll show you how to:
✔︎ Balance both your personal and professional objectives for the year.
✔︎ Set the right goals by tying each objective to a concrete priority to keep you motivated and inspired to bring your goals to fruition.
✔︎ Clearly evaluate where you are right now in your life and what you were (or were not) able to achieve in 2019 and why.
✔︎ Manage the timing of your objectives across the year to ensure you have time to complete everything without getting overwhelmed!
This workshop contains the exact steps I take each and every year to help me achieve my personal and business goals.
I know you won’t want to miss this limited replay offer and have the opportunity to have all your important goal setting questions answered!
In addition to the workshop replay, you will also get a set of printable PDF Goal Setting Worksheets, and email support directly from me through January 31st, 2020!
I truly want to set you up for success in 2020 and I know this workshop plus my support will ensure your goal setting success!
This is just a quick reminder that I am going LIVE on my YouTube Channel tonight at 8pm ET to unveil my 2020 PLANNER SETUP!
Yes, this is a time change from the original afternoon schedule, but I really wanted to accommodate as many of you as I could, so I rescheduled the event for the evening time when more of you said you would be able to join live!
So, what can you expect?
Well, tonight I will be walking you through my choice of planner setup for the New Year, PLUS we will actually start filling in my planner together. SO you will get to see some of the key information I like to kick my year off with and how I populate certain spreads of my planner to maximize organization!
In today’s video I am sharing a look inside my planner for this week with a very important lesson or message I wanted you to hear! At the end of the video I’m also sharing some clips of my Fur-sons in their Halloween costumes so I hope you enjoy seeing their adorable faces!
Hi, my name is Alexis but I’m also known as @MissTrenchcoat all across the internet. I’m an online entrepreneur who designs and sells productivity tools to help YOU Manifest Success with Less Stress! Welcome to my YouTube channel where I make regular videos on the topics of productivity and planing to teach you the tools, strategies and skills to find success in your life. I teach a unique approach to productivity that focuses less on the daily grind and more on gaining clarity on your priorities and goals. To me, the answer to upleveling your productivity isn’t hustle, hustle hustle! The answer I have found is to get your mind clear on what you want to achieve, and then creating a simple, streamlined strategy to help you make it happen. From experience I have found, if you get your head in the right place and then plan better, you will end up having to take less action which saves so much time, energy and stress! I welcome you to join me with an open mind and a notebook, because if you are ready to learn a better path to productivity, I have a lot to teach you!
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I often use affiliate links in my description box to help my viewers find products. If you discovered an item through my videos that you would like to purchase, please support me and my efforts to bring you quality content by using these links. They do not cost you anything additional and they help support me!
In today’s video I am giving you a tour of some new planner goodies sent to me by Kikki K, including a binder that I am seriously considering for my 2020 planner setup. If you have a similar minimalist chic style and enjoy the very popular mock croc trend, then I think you will love some of these planners!
Last month I ran a special in the shop where I bundled together the 2020 Print on Demand Editions of the Charmed Life Master Planner with a few extra goodies. The set included 3 awesome printable planner accessories; a set of planner tabs, a set of 2020 dated mini calendar journaling cards, and an exclusive sticker set design! On top of all that, during my Planner Peace Master Class, I made the offer even sweeter by throwing in the Master Planning Master Class for FREE! The Master Planning Master Class is an entire video class with a mix of lecture and tutorials intended to help you learn how to use your Master Planner as productively as possible and is usually sold in my shop for $97! But, for September I bundled all these epic planning and productivity tools together for an amazing price.
Now, sadly, that special bundle price has ended, but I heard from many of my customers that this bundle was something they were highly interested in because it was like a Functional Planning Starter Kit! So, I got to thinking that perhaps I should keep this as a bundle in my shop, for those who are interested in getting all the planning pieces in order for a productive new year! Of course, the price has shifted, but is still nowhere near the full $200+ value of the tools included.
So, if you are someone who has been looking for planner peace and wants, not only a complete functional planning system, but a great bundle of accessories and videos to help you get the most out of your experience with the planner, look no further than the 2020 Master Planner Starter Bundle!
Go ahead, what are you waiting for? Click the button below to get started with your new system today!
In today’s video I am giving you a tour of my new personal size Kate Spade agenda! I recently picked this planner up at TJ Maxx for $40 which was such a bargain that I had to give it a try with the personal sized Master Planner inserts!
Keep in mind I shared some important dates in this video for upcoming LIVE videos you won’t want to miss, here is my schedule.
Are you struggling to find your perfect planning system? Your unicorn planner? A sense of that ever elusive Planner Peace? Well, in today’s class I am going to help you finally find that peace by helping you identify the reasons why people fail to find the planner of their dreams and stick to using it so you can get more done!
If you are someone who is looking to become more organized and successful with the help of planning, the formula is pretty simple.
Step One: Find a reliable planning method.
Step Two: Make sure to write down and make time for all scheduled events and known tasks within said planning method.
Step Three:Do the things!
Simple, right?
Well, maybe in theory more so than practice. Step one can sometimes be a process of trial and error, which I get, but then again I think we put too much pressure on ourselves to find a system that conforms perfectly to our lives, when the truth is most people could make do with a pen and a notebook! Step two is a habit you just need to work on, making time to sit down and plan out your tasks and activities, and then also making sure you keep your planner with you in situations when you might need it so you can record information there making your system air tight. Step three, though, is were the real work is done and it’s really where all tutorials and direction for planning just taper off. Step three is go time, the moment of truth. To do or not to do, that is the question and if you are not someone with a lot of internal motivation, accountability and self-discipline, this can be the moment when the whole process falls apart.
If this is you, I get it!
Despite whatever you believe of me, how productive I am, how self-motivated and on the ball I can be, even I have moments were I see a task on my to do list and then I go blank. I might walk away from my desk for a while, take a break, or work on something else. I’ve clearly hit a wall with this task and I am trying to avoid it with all the psychological defense mechanisms known to mankind. For one reason or another, I’m experiencing resistance preventing me from starting and completing the task.
Resistance is the best way I know to explain this situation. Of knowing what I need to do next, but avoiding taking the action. It’s not something I experience with every task, and I think for the vast majority of us that is the case. We might not avoid all tasks we’ve planned, but we avoid some. This actually gives us really good insight into what’s going on with us in our heads- because that is where the resistance lies. When I hit this sort of resistance in my day, one of the things I tend to do is avoid working on a specific task and skip to something else on my list or go do something else entirely like start cleaning my house or meal prepping something. So, clearly I’m not just being lazy here, I am willing to do something, just not that particular something for a reason that is likely unknown to me in the moment.
The reason is unknown to me in that moment because my brain is causing the resistance and it doesn’t want me to see or understand whatever trigger or limiting belief this task is brining up. This is a normal part of the fight or flight mechanism in the brain. When the brain senses danger or anything it has determined is a threat to its delicate equilibrium, it puts us in a panic mode. Hence the reason I tend to see a task I don’t want to do and immediately get up and away from my desk to take myself away from danger. It’s also not uncommon to experience anxiety, mental strain, physical stress in the body, and other symptoms of a fight or flight reaction being triggered. It’s important to understand that we ourselves aren’t the ones deciding to have this response, instead it’s the programming of our brain’s autonomic nervous system that tries to protect us even when we aren’t aware of the danger. In the case of avoiding a task on our to do list, it’s clear to our rational mind that doing that task isn’t going to put us in harms way physically (unless the task is something that does involve danger, rare, but possible), but our brain has interpreted the task as a danger none the less.
Usually, the brain will trigger this sort of response to a task for one of a few reasons. First, if we have never done the task before. That’s pretty common. Our brains operate under a consistent fear of the unknown, and when we haven’t ever experienced something before, we get scared. Think of the jitters you got on the first day of school, on your wedding day or going to see a new doctor. Newness equals foreign to our brains and that means danger!
The second reason the brain might trigger this response is because we have some known existing anxiety over it. To give you an example from my own life, when I used to work at the fortune 50 before going full time for myself, I would dread our teams weekly calls or any event or interaction with my boss at the time because we did not gel. As a result, I would frequently avoid doing any work to prepare for those events (not going to make the situation any better, I know) because thinking about having to interact with my boss stressed me out to an unusually high degree. In fact, when I finally left my job, I gave my notice right after a one-on-one call with my boss and the day before we had a scheduled meeting together, and I didn’t even tell him, I emailed HR because I was literally shaking and overwhelmed with stress and anxiety. So, this is a bit of an extreme example, but I think it illustrates the point that sometimes we panic and avoid working on a task when we know we are afraid of it. Our known fear translates to a fight or flight response in our brains!
The third and final reason the brain might trigger this response is because a task is actually highly important to us and our personal identity. Now, this reason is something of a blend of the first two situations. It could be something we have never done before and something we are a little bit afraid of, but more so than that, it might be part of a larger goal that we feel strongly tied to. So, I find that when people set a personal goal for themselves, something they think is very important, something they feel called to do, or something they know deep inside is going to bring significant change to their lives, this can trigger the brain as well. I think the reason tasks related to the achievement of our goals ends up triggering our brains is because we have usually built up this goal in our minds, dreaming about it and fantasizing about it, that our brains fear the change you’re anticipating. I think of this as a subconscious anxiety response, similar to the second example but you don’t consciously know you are afraid of the tasks!
Okay, so these are three very significant reasons why our brains might set off a fight or flight response to doing tasks we have planned for ourselves, but what can we do to overcome this resistance? Eventually, we have to come back to the task at hand, and if it’s important to us to achieve it, we need to disable that fight or flight response and actually get down to work!
When this happens to me, when I get spooked by a task because I’ve hit a measure of resistance in the limits of my own mind, I use a simple but effective visualization practice to condition my brain. I’ll identify the task I need to work on and I will get myself in position as if I am about to do the work. For most of my tasks this means sitting at my desk, but if you’re avoiding cleaning out your closet or going for a run, this activity is best practiced in the situation where the task is to be accomplished for added ambience. So, once you’re situated in the right area, without taking any action, visualize yourself moving through the steps necessary to complete the task. So, if you were going to complete the task, how would you start? Imagine yourself taking the action and see with your minds eye the results beginning to form step by step until the task is complete.
Remember, you’re not actually doing anything right now, you’re just sitting or standing in the place where your task would likely begin and envisioning yourself doing the task like a daydream. If you need to, feel free to use some notes or an outline to keep your progress visualizing the task on track. This is you practicing to perform the task, and the great thing is, visualizing yourself doing the work actually convinces your brain that you’ve done it or that you have some experience that increases it’s confidence and therefore shuts off the fight or flight response. You might not think something like this, daydreaming yourself completing a task would have any affect, but science has shown that the brain can’t tell the difference between something that happened in reality and something that happened in your mind.
Everything is processed in your brain after all, those images you see in your minds eye of yourself performing the task are just as real as actually doing the thing, and get this, research has also shown that your body even records muscle memory from your visualized experience as well. This is why many pro athletes use visualization to practice when they are not at physical practice. Because this sort of mental rehearsal conditions your mind and your body to understand what it looks like and feels like for you to perform a task. This is why we see so many inspirational quotes about visualizing your goals and daydreaming about your future, because mental dress rehearsal increases the chances that you will actually take action and it will help you produce better results when you do because you’re prepared. You’ve done this before, even if it was all in your head!
So, next time you run away from or avoid a task that you had planned, take a moment to regroup and spend some time visualizing yourself taking the action. It might feel funny the first few times you try it, but like everything practice makes perfect!
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and anything you have to add, so please feel free to leave me a comment below. Also, let me know how this strategy works for you- I’d love to hear your experiences and of course celebrate your successes with you!
I hope your September has been a productive one for you thus far, I know mine has been for sure! You might have noticed that I am back to creating content on a more regular schedule now, here on the blog, on my youtube channel and on Instagram as well. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about today, my content schedule. I know my content has been on and off for a few years now. If you’re one of my long time followers, you know I used to hold myself to a strict schedule of 3 blog posts a week, one to two videos a week and nearly daily posting on Instagram. That was until 2017 when I decided to take a step back from my content and take a good long look at my goals and priorities for my life, my brand and of course my business.
Honestly, it felt so good when I initially let myself off the hook for content and refocused on myself. So much of my time had been spent thinking about and creating content for so long that it was nice feeling like I had gotten back so much time in my weeks to dedicate to myself and other areas of my life and business. I spent much of that found time focusing on my own personal goals, prioritizing my self-care, and deeply analyzing my future goals especially around my brand and business. In a lot of ways I feel like that time was spent helping me to really wipe the slate clean for myself to make room for the next phase of my life and business. But, the longer I spent away from content creation, the further I seemed to be from that next phase at the same time. Eventually, I made my way back to posting regularly on YouTube, and I even dabbled in and out of Instagram again, but I still didn’t feel like my next phase was starting yet. If you watched my Money Manifestation Declutter Series on my YouTube Channel, you know that since the Spring, I have been bustling with energy and ideas for my business again, but through most of the summer I kept feeling like I was being stifled by my own creativity. I had all these great ideas and not enough time to share them all on YouTube or Instagram Stories. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me that I was feeling back to my old content generating self, but my ideas didn’t seem to be as organized and efficiently produced as they once were. That’s when I realized what was missing. I was missing writing, and specifically I was missing blogging. Blogging was the first content I axed from my schedule back in 2017- I really thought I could do without it and channel my content creativity to video to make a bigger impact there, but I think I was wrong.
Yes, I can see the results of my videos more immediately, but I think for me, blogging and written content had a more cumulative effect on my business than I realized at the time. Most importantly, it had a cumulative affect on me more than I realized. Blogging does a few things for me that unfortunately video never will!
First of all, blogging gets me to write regularly, and although I had always been hesitant to admit this in the past, I really think at my core, I’m a writer. I definitely don’t see myself as a great video creator, that’s for sure and although I do some writing as part of video creation, it’s not nearly the same thing as sitting and writing out a 2,000+ word blog post. Undoubtably, writing has always been my strength and I think for a long time I took it for granted because it had always been a skill I didn’t have to think much about.
Second, blogging is something of a cathartic activity for me. When I think of cathartic writing, I usually think of journaling or poetry or even novel writing, but blog posts count too! I guess it doesn’t matter what you’re writing about, pouring your thoughts and words onto a page can be extremely therapeutic. Looking back now, I realize that so much of my failure to step into my well planned next phase was delayed because I was missing this key therapy that helped me manage my thoughts and ideas.
Next, blogging gives me the ability to quickly update my community on my ideas, strategies, products and general information I need to share. One of the problems I was having with my YouTube content was that I had so many ideas for content but not enough time to execute on them all. So I had to cull down my ideas, choose the concepts that I thought would make the best videos and just shelve the rest for later. At best, one full days work creating, editing and uploading video content could yield me at most two or three videos if I was extremely organized and focused. On the other hand I can write, format and schedule out at least twice that amount of content for my blog in the same time. I can share ideas and updates so much faster when all I need to worry about is writing them out and creating a picture for a post! Back when I was creating content regularly, I lived by a methodology of separating ideas into video content ideas and written content ideas, which helped me to optimize my content for each platform. With this system my content ideas didn’t have to compete for a spot on my editorial calendar because there was a place for everything I wanted to share and a plan for creating it so that all my ideas come to fruition.
Finally, blogging is how I manifest for my business and life! This point is actually very important for me and something I only realized recently. Because blogging produces more content, more ideas and more updates on my site more frequently, it actually helps me to feel in flow and in alignment because I am in a constant state of creation. When I create video content, it usually takes me a full day of work and then I don’t see the fruits of my labor published and live for a number of days. All that time and only once piece of content to show my audience. But when I blog, one day of work means days of posts popping up throughout the week. Even after all these years of blogging, I still get a flutter of excitement in my chest when I see a post has published on my blog, and that positive vibration is ultimately what helps me attract new members to my community, new customers to my products, and new ideas and inspiration to my mind. My life just flows better in every way when I’m writing and posting to my blog regularly!
Okay, so that was a really long and drawn out explanation for why I am back to blogging after my time away, and now I want to explain the true purpose of this blog post which is to share my new content schedule for the rest of 2019 with you and set some expectations from what you can expect from me this fall!
Fall 2019 Content Schedule
• You can expect 3 Blog Posts per week from me here on my site. These posts will include articles on productivity, planning, personal development, success and more. I do intend to also use my blog as a means to share quick updates and news about products, classes, and anything I have going on that might impact my community online and of course my business.
• You can expect 1 YouTube Video a week from me over on my YouTube Channel. These will mostly center on helpful tips, how-to’s and different tutorials that really utilize the video medium. I have a number of different planning and productivity videos on my to film list, but as a rough expectation I am aiming to share one planning video, one business video, one vlog style behind the scenes video, one Live class and one fun lifestyle video a month (depending on the number of weeks in the month). I’m also planning to shift my weekly upload day from Sunday to Friday in an attempt to keep my weekends clear of anything work related. You can find more information about my Live classes in the LIVE Event Schedule below.
• You can expect sporadic posting from me on Instagram. Right now I am building out a concept for my Instagram posting schedule, but I’d rather focus my time and effort on creating original content on my blog and YouTube. So Instagram will be mostly announcements, behind the scenes and quick tips when I have something I want to share.
• You can expect occasional dog videos from me on Tiktok. If you haven’t heard, I recently signed up for this platform and it is a complete time-suck but at least I now have a dedicated place to share adorable videos of my dogs, Starbuck & Sultan. If you’re interested in following along, definitely look me up, I’m @MissTrenchcoat of course.
• Right now I have no plan for Facebook or Twitter outside of sharing and reposting existing content. I believe my blog and Instagram feed are set to autopost to Facebook and Twitter, but I won’t be creating any dedicated content on either of those platforms for now.
If you’d like to join me for any of my upcoming LIVE classes or events, here is a running list of everything I have scheduled. Some of these events are ticketed and I will link you to where you can sign up, others are free classes I’ll be hosting on my YouTube channel, so make sure you are subscribed and feel free to turn on notifications so you are aware of when I post a video or go Live!
• Friday September 20th @ 1pm: Planner Peace Master Class, Free Live Workshop
• Friday October 18th @ 1pm: Money Manifestation Techniques, Free Live Workshop
• Friday November 22nd @ 1pm: How to Create a Successful Passive Income Business in 2020, Free Live Workshop
• Friday December 13th @ 1pm: Set Up Your Planner With Me, Free Live Workshop
• Wednesday December 18th @ 1pm: New Years Goal Setting Workshop, Ticketed Event
• Saturday December 21st @ 8pm: New Years Goal Setting Workshop, Ticketed Event
• Saturday December 28th @ 1pm: New Years Goal Setting Workshop, Ticketed Event
So that is my Fall 2019 Content and Live Event Schedule! I hope this post has been helpful to set some expectations for my content and how we can connect live for the rest of the year! Make sure to review the dates on that LIVE Event Schedule and mark your planners for any events you don’t want to miss. I’ll also be emailing out reminders for those Free classes if you are on my email list!
So, we are currently sitting at the head of the second week of September and before we know it, it will be Thanksgiving, then Christmas (and the Winter Holidays) and then viola, we’ll blink and it will be 2020! So, last week I sat down to do some forward planning for the rest of this year so that I can have an intentional and well paced final quarter of the year. I highly recommend you do the same at some point this month because there is nothing worse than stepping into the busiest season of the year with no plan but a prayer!
Usually, my Q4 is something of a hot mess!
Obviously, part of this has to do with my business. Q4 is a very busy time of year for most businesses, and then on top of that, Q4 is really where I pull out all the stops on my home-maker vibes. I’m not usually what one would consider the traditional home-maker type, but during the holidays I morph into a completely different beast. My home-making type during the holidays is what I consider a perfect juxtaposition between Martha Stewart and Morticia Addams. Over-the-top theatrical, dramatic, dark, and yet surprisingly cheerful and welcoming. Home cooked meals, candles everywhere, multiple decor changes around the house, guests and lots of events and excursions. So, yea, my life usually gets pretty hectic, like most during the final season of the year, and making decisions and plans for myself under that sort of stress just leads me into a spiral of overwhelm and sometimes a bit of disaster management!
So, during this end of year planning session, the main focus I gave myself was to answer the following questions:
What were my hard line priorities going to be?
What did I absolutely want to get done no matter what, what would be great to have completed before 2020?
What would be my stretch goals (those objectives that I’d like to accomplish if I have the time but nothing concrete is riding on their completion)?
Answering those questions, a very clear picture began to materialize in my mind!
One of the top priorities for the end of the year was to make sure both myself and my community were prepared for the new year with clear 2020 goals! I know it might be weird to think of my priorities in terms of what I’m trying to accomplish for you and the rest of the community, but this is my role our community as I see it. So keep in mind when you do your end of year planning session, that it’s okay to have objectives for others that pertain to your role in their lives. Just make sure you are reasonable with your expectations of what you can accomplish in the name of others.
What I KNOW I can accomplish for both myself and each of you in the community is to host a series of live classes and workshops where I give you as much opportunity as possible to set your goals for 2020 and get time with me to answer your questions about the goal setting and planning process.
Last year I hosted a New Year Goal Setting & Planning Workshop that was a complete success, and it’s been my intention to do host a similar workshop again this year! So, I’m pleased to announce that I have opened up ticket sales for the 2020 New Year Goal Setting & Planning Workshop a little early so we can get this scheduled into our calendars and make the time to prioritize this very important annual task!
Now, let me give you some important details about the workshop. I loved last years workshop and so many of you reached out to tell me you loved it also, which I highly appreciate. But, I realize last year’s workshop would have benefited from a bit more strategic planning in order to ensure every single one of you had a stellar live experience.
The main issue with last year’s workshop that I want to remedy this year is that I need to teach this workshop multiple times in December, not just once! I know that the workshop is online and on-demand but, not everyone was able to attend the single workshop I hosted last year. Which is why I am very pleased to announce that due to my little Q4 pre-planning session, I have marked off time to host not one, not two, but THREE live sessions of the workshop!
The tentative dates for the 3 Live Workshop Sessions are:
• December 18th, 2019 @ 1pm Eastern Standard Time • December 21st, 2019 @ 8pm Eastern Standard Time • December 28th, 2019 @ 1pm Eastern Standard Time
Now, I say these are tentative dates because I have no clue what other obligations or family gatherings are happening during December, so I can’t fully plan for those right now (if only everyone were planning their year four months in advance lol) but I am very committed to these dates and times and if anything does change I will let you know and make up for the change with a rescheduled session!
For those of you who do pre-purchase your tickets, I’d love for you to reach out to me and let me know any suggestions for other times that work for you so I can keep those in mind!
Of course, when you purchase your ticket to the Workshop you won’t need to choose a single date, everyone who purchases is going to get access to all three live events so you have time to process your plans by attending more than one, or if you have questions during your first round and want to go through it again live, I know it’s great to be able to have more time with me live to get questions answered that may have popped up with you as you processed your goals the first time around.
With the Workshop, you are going to receive a set of goal planning worksheets for 2020, and once the live events are complete, you’ll have access to an edited replay of the workshop which will include the best version of the workshop plus all of the Q&A from the three sessions in one video. You’ll get access to the replay, plus email support from me through January 31st, 2020. Sound good?
Well, if you already know you are down for this year’s New Year Goal Setting & Planning Workshop with me, don’t wait to purchase, grab your ticket now with the early bird pricing because next month the price will go up!
If you have any questions about the workshop, feel free to let me know! You can leave me a comment down below or shoot me an email.
