It may be a surprise but…

We’ve been talking

We’ve been talking about the birds of the Birdland neighborhood and their perspectives on resolutions and goals on the blog this month. You can catch up or review here:

week 1, week 2, and week 3

Last but not least, is Sebastian’s turn. 

However, before we get to whether he makes resolutions or sets goals, I thought we might go back in history and learn a bit about Sebastian as a younger bird. 

It may be a surprise but…

Sebastian hasn’t always been organized and on top of things. Does that surprise you? It certainly surprised me.

His parents were apprehensive about him leaving the nest to head to college. 

They wondered about things like:

1. Would he be able to be responsible to get himself to school on time? 

They had tried everything to get him to take responsibility for getting up and out of bed in the morning. Consistent bedtime, early dinner, and no screens in his bedroom. They didn’t have the heart to pour water over his head but they came really close because nothing seemed to be working. 

Sebastian’s parents also worried:

2. Would he do his homework when he left the nest for college

3. How upset would his roommates be with the chaos and mess that seemed to follow him everywhere he went?

But what about alarm clocks?

They tried alarm clocks. They started by putting his alarm clock on the other side of the nest but he’d either sleep through it or turn the alarm off and quickly fall asleep after get back into bed. They tested the super loud alarm clock on wheels that you have to chase to turn off. The thing is that Sebastian wore really good headphones to bed because he didn’t like the sound and didn’t think he was capable of doing it anyway. 

How he got it together

His parents made a last-ditch effort and got him a sunlight alarm clock. They figured it wouldn’t work but…it did! Suddenly, he was actually getting himself out of bed without feeling like his mom or dad…or both of them were hen pecking him every single day to get up. He felt so happy that he was able to do it on his own. Finally! He figured if he could do this…maybe there was more that he could do. He planned to figure it out. And he did!

So, back to New Year, new bird

• Does Sebastian make resolutions? Set goals?
• Everybirdy who knows Sebastian probably has some sense of his thoughts on goals and resolutions.  

Sebastian gets a lot done. 

He’s a beloved teacher at Birdland Elementary. He seems to do it all with great ease.  He keeps his birdlet students interested and engaged most of the time. Sebastian can often sense when something isn’t quite right with his students. Are they hungry? Tired? Feeling something big? In his classroom, Sebastian keeps a stash of birdseed bars, a cozy corner for little birdlet naps, and an ear that’s willing to listen.

He throws a big holiday/Christmas party every year. He knows it’s the party that everybirdy wants to attend. It is planned to a tee. From the theme to how well everything coordinates. His guests feel a sense of comfort and welcome in his nest.  

He never seems to be stressed out. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

How does he do it all?

Sebastian plans everything out.

Yes, everything.

He sets goals. 

Sebastian’s planning process

Sebastian makes a day of it. While he makes notes all year in his bullet journal of what he might want to work on the following year...

Sebastian does something called 12-week planning

Actually: He does a general map of the year and identifies what he wants to work on. Then he breaks it down into goals he can accomplish over the next 12 weeks.

Why 12 Weeks? Good question! Have you noticed that when you have year-long goals you don’t do them? Maybe you get to the end of the year,  get stressed, and think that you better hurry up with working on your goals. Or perhaps you get to the end of the year and decide to try again next year. 

The idea behind doing 12-week goals is that it’s a short enough time period to have the end in close perspective but long enough to make actual progress. In other words, it’s easier to see the end of the tunnel when it’s 12 weeks than it is when it’s 52 weeks. That’s been Sebastian’s experience anyway.

Sebastian spends a day planning for the next 12 weeks

• An Enjoyable Experience: Sebastian starts by trying to make it an enjoyable experience for himself when planning. He starts his planning process by setting things up: a scented candle, a cozy blanket, and a matcha latte (iced when it’s warm out) at his side. 
• Review: He reviews his notes and spreadsheets of the past year. What progress did he make? What lessons did he learn? Things like that. 
• Making notes: He has a bullet journal that he’s been using to make notes over the past year about what he might want to work on. 
• Envisioning: He starts with a pile of magazines, a glue stick, and some stickers to make a vision board so he can focus on dreaming and envisioning what he wants. He sorts through the magazines and just sees what calls to him. 
• Focus: Sebastian chooses a word of the year. When making a decision, he considers whether or not it will connect with his word.  

Commercial break

Would you like to be a little more organized with the things you want to and maybe even need to get done? It’s great when you have something practical and whimsical to do to make planning a little more fun.  Might I recommend The Busy Birdy’s Daily Planner Collection? It features the lovely Literary Lillian on a variety of daily planner pages that will bring a little organization and whimsy into your life. You can click on the link and then scroll down to see the recommendations from some of the birdies in the Birdland neighborhood.

Questions for you

Which birdy are you most like?

• Literary Lillian who just wants to have enough time to read a book and is starting to find it by using a planner where she can put her to-dos and other notes in one spot (kind of like a nest maybe?)
• Iris who makes a bucket list (come on Uncle Peter, let’s make plans to go to the amusement park…you know you like cotton candy)
• Peter who says he doesn’t plan anything but still manages to get a lot done 
• Dahlia who is a let it flow birdy in her personal life but super organized at work (as a real estate agent) using digital calendars, an app to keep on top of everything (think Trello,  Airtable or Notion), and has her trusty phone with her at all times (along with her laptop). 
• Herman who tries to keep track of what he wants to work on in a notebook but kinda loses the notebook (how was it in the potting shed last time he found it?)
• Hazel the Halloween bird who makes very detailed plans and then flips a coin to make decisions but in the end, does what she feels like doing, no matter what the coin suggests
• Sebastian who gets really into planning. Uses notebooks, planners, a bullet journal, and Excel spreadsheets. Does 12-week planning. 

Thanks a bunch for visiting!

I’m so glad you’re here and hope you have a great day!

P.S. Don’t forget to go check out The Busy Birdy’s Daily Planner Collection!