Monday, 12/28/20: Talking about a 21 in 2021 list and best 2020 purchases
Happy Monday!
And if you celebrated, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! It’s the last week of 2020, but it’s still a Monday, so it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter. Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.
Three Steps to a Happier Monday
Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.
Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend?
Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?
Step 3: What is my intention for this week?
GRATITUDE: From my weekend, I am thankful for time with family, sleeping in both Saturday and Sunday and for the beautiful weather.
TODAY: Today I am most excited to get lunch with my friend. Can’t wait to see her and eat at a favorite restaurant of ours!
INTENTION: My intention for this week is to get organized and plan out January.
Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂
Lesson of the Week: 21 in 2021 List
Are you making any New Year’s resolutions this year? After the craziness of 2020, I feel like the verdict is still out on 2021 resolutions. However, there is something about the week after Christmas that makes me want to reflect, get organized and dream about the approaching new year.
Today, I’m so excited to share my 21 in 2021 List with you! I first experimented with this idea, inspired by happiness and habits writer Gretchen Rubin, last year when I made a 20 in 2020 List. The list featured 20 things I wanted to accomplish by the end of 2020, and while I had to update a few of my items midyear because #2020, I really enjoyed this style of goal setting. As Gretchen writes, “somehow, this approach makes it more pleasant to think about what we want for the new year—it feels more hopeful and helpful.”
Hopeful and helpful exercises are exactly what I’m trying to seek out this week. If you are too, I hope the below will inspire you to create your own list of 21 things you want to do in 2021.
I’ve decided my word for 2021 is memorable, and the list below reflects 21 realistic things I can complete in this next year that focus on creating memories and adding some more joy and meaning to everyday life.
21 in 2021 List:
- Listen to The Daily most weekday mornings
- Buy a light that attaches to my laptop for better lighting in video calls
- Decide on a note-taking method for nonfiction books
- Write in my new one-line-a-day journal most nights
- Write 12 monthly recaps to remember little things that happened
- Organize photos from college to now
- Read 50 books
- Read for 21 minutes every day
- Go the whole year without mindlessly scrolling social media before bed (see above)
- Help plan a unique celebration of life event for my grandma
- Purchase art for apartment
- Weekly phone call with a friend or family member
- Say “yes” as much as possible when asked to do something by someone for the first time
- Make a meaningful donation to two different organizations
- Join a running group
- Plan a virtual get-together or trip with friends or family members each quarter
- Go on a solo adventure monthly
- Purchase a meaningful piece of jewelry
- Start a new monthly series for the newsletter
- Get a facial and learn more about my skin from an esthetician
- Master baking a dessert and declare it my “go-to” dessert dish
On My Monday Radar
Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar, including a few “best of 2020” finds:
- Do you feel the post-holiday blues today? Last year at this time, I wrote a list of five simple things that help me overcome that post-holiday blue feeling that creeps in after the fun of November and December. Recirculating and linking here in case you need on this Monday!
- Cleo Wade’s Heart Talk Journal. Artist and Poet Cleo Wade is well known for her book Heart Talk, a collection of poems, mantras and affirmations to help you feel motivated and empowered. I was really excited when I saw her post on Instagram about her Heart Talk Journal, which features 52 weeks of journaling prompts. The new year feels like a perfect time to start a journal like this, so I’m looking forward to adding these prompts on a weekly rotation starting next week.
- A Best Purchase of 2020: Amazon Laptop Stand. This laptop stand has been a gamechanger for optimizing my at-home work setup. I love it so much that I now have one at my apartment in Chicago, one at my parents’ house and bought one for my brother for Christmas.
- A Best Purchase off 2020: Dawn Platinum Powerwash. I’m seriously including dish soap as a “best purchase” product. LOL. But I know so many of you echo my praise about this product! Trust me when I say you need this – especially if you don’t have dishwasher. Mom, thanks for introducing me to this product!
- Best Books of 2020: It is so hard to pick just one best book. I read a lot of great and thought-provoking books this year! And I really only include my favorite books in this newsletter, so if I mentioned a certain title anytime over this past year, trust that it was a good one (in my opinion). However, if I had to pick my top five favorite books from this year, they would be: The Vanishing Half, Untamed, Off the Clock, In Five Years and I’m Still Here.
That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this!
Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan
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