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You are here: Home / Archives for Planning

Planning

2018 Blogging Goals

January 9, 2018 // Esther Filbrun 2 Comments

As I was working on finalizing my goals last Sunday on the way home from church, I remembered a footnote that was added somewhere in the planning process: Blog Mon/Wed/Fri. While I am not planning on setting three blog posts as my goal every week this next year, it did reinforce a point to me as I was planning—I needed, wanted, to schedule in time every week to blog.

I’ve been writing online since I was twelve, and in the years since then, I’ve often discovered I love the process of composing my thoughts into something half-legible, and sharing it with the world. I’ve also loved following other bloggers who do the same thing, sharing their thoughts, opinions, and encouragements as the muse struck them.

This Year's Blogging Goals 01

Over the past two years, I’ve sort-of lost out on my desire to blog. But now, in 2018, I want to get back into that. My goal is to post at least one time a week, ending up with fifty-two posts by the end of year. My prayer is that I can encourage the body of Christ over this year.

As I’ve believed for years (and many, many other people have believed before me!), words have power. To some small degree, I feel like I’ve been entrusted that power. And I don’t want to waste it.

So this year, while my goal is to write more regularly (and I’m trying to set aside time on Thursdays to do that), I hope I’ll end up writing more. I hope, no matter how much or how little I do end up writing, it will be an encouragement to someone.

This year, I’m hoping to go back to one of the basics, in some ways. 1 Thess. 5:11 says we need to “edify one another”, or, in other words, “build each other up.” I feel like I don’t know how to do that very well. But I want to try again.

What are you planning to work on throughout this next year?

Filed Under: Thinking Tagged With: Blogging, Planning

Task Management and Bullet Journaling

March 10, 2017 // Esther Filbrun 1 Comment

One thing I’ve been working on lately is figuring out how to best manage my to-do list. I often have a lot of different projects going all at once, and along with that often a lot of little tasks. Keeping track of everything—and knowing what to do when—is something I definitely haven’t gotten down to a fine art yet.

Daily log

Sometimes, I have to wonder if a lot of the struggle is mostly found in the fact that I’m in an in-between stage—not a child anymore, not really a young teenager anymore, almost an adult but not really that, either. As I’ve put it to some of my friends before, “Adulting it is hard.” Sigh. (And yes, all of you people with many years and much more experience than me, feel free to chime in with any advice you may have!)

What I’ve been doing lately as far as task management is collect everything in Todoist, then work through it each day as I can. I love Todoist because I can paste in multiple jobs at once, and if I type them up right, the inline parsing setting will automatically assign dates and priority levels (1-4) to the different tasks. It’s slick, easy, and remembers the stuff I need to remember.

Often through the days, though, working with Todoist involves transferring jobs to my “daily log” notebook—a fun gift from my aunt!—which I love, because seeing something written down and completed on paper is just that much more satisfying. It’s also helpful in the fact that if I want to find out when I last did something in particular, it isn’t hard to skim back through my previous entries.

Daily log

However, this means that in effect I have two systems running at once. While it works, I would like to figure out how to do this faster—or eliminate one or the other to make things go smoother.

Lately, I’ve come across a system called bullet journaling. And although I haven’t looked into it much, I do know a lot of productivity gurus out there use it. However, I’m not sure the time spent (at least at this stage) would be worthwhile to figure out how to do it. One thing I have discovered, much to my surprise, is how much of a “thing” this is! Search “bullet journal” on Pinterest, and you’ll find pages and pages of pins. Look on Youtube, and it’s easy to find 10 – 30 minute videos.

So while I’m curious about how some people do it, at this stage I’m choosing to use what I have. I wonder if Paul’s admonition to be “content in all things” would apply here?

What do you use for keeping track of tasks? How do you streamline things so you get things done rather than always trying to make the process work better for you? Have you ever heard of bullet journaling before—and if you have, do you have any experience with it?

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Planning, Productivity, Tools

Photo Challenge Finale (days 6 and 7), Snow, and This Week’s Plans

August 7, 2016 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

Whew! Busy, busy times. Between a full-on weekend last weekend (often not to bed until 11 or so), getting sick for the good part of last week, and a few other things that needed to be done, I decided to take a break. I’m sure I needed it, but in many ways I always hate taking breaks because it’s often really hard to get started again.

However, this time it hasn’t been that bad to get back in the groove. Yes, I did miss posting the last two posts of the photo challenge, even though I did take pictures each of those days. I finally have time today to get this post up—yay!

Day 6:

Birthday deserts
I even got a chocolate cake in the end—wished on me by a cousin, and given to me by a friend!

It was my birthday! I spent the whole day playing in the kitchen baking different things (pavlova, sugar-free pavlova, and sweet rolls), which was really fun. That evening, several friends came over to help us eat the turkey that had been butchered for the occasion. We had a great time.

Day 7:

Cook-out 01

The boys decided to burn a pile of sticks we had out in the paddock, and someone suggested a cookout for Saturday lunch. So that’s what we did. They got one of Mom’s cast iron skillets, fitted a long pole to the handle, and settled it in the middle of the coals after the fire had burned down. They then proceeded to roast precooked sausages. It was a delicious meal, finished off with a few marshmallows!

Cook-out 02

Cook-out 03

After lunch, most of us headed out to the ocean. Ross, one of the friends who had come Friday, was staying with us for the weekend and we wanted to show him around a bit. Since we were going to be near water, the boys inevitably wanted to bring their boats along. They had a great time for a little while—until it simply got too cold to be on the water any longer!

Boating 01

Boating 02

Boating 03

Boating 04

The two little boys got cold first. They ended up sharing a towel for a bit, until the older one was offered a quick boat ride. Then the youngest sat on my lap in an effort to warm up a little while we waited for the older boys to get ready to leave.

Boating 05

Flowers

Someone had the brilliant idea of giving me a few of the early daffodils right before we left the ocean—I loved it! And it was fun to be able to use my new vase for the first time, too. Lovely spot of color for my desk, especially these last few days as a winter storm has finally brought a little moisture to our part of the country.

And now today, a week later:

We got a little rain the last part of this week, and both yesterday morning and this morning we actually had a little snow on the ground! That doesn’t happen very often, because we’re only 50 meters or so above sea level—we do have a range of hills between us and the sea, but even so we generally only get rain. This morning on the way to church I got to take a couple pictures of the gorgeous hills and mountains surrounding us. There’s nothing like a touch of snow to make everything look bigger and even more beautiful than before!

Snow! 01
Kaikoura mountain range
Snow! 02
Taken as we crossed a river north of us—these are some of the hills between us and the sea.

Since it was snowy and very frosty (so much so, in fact, that early this morning we couldn’t get any of the van doors open—they were frozen shut!), we set off for church half an hour early. There’s a fairly high range of hills between us and church, and we’ve slipped a bit before on black ice, so Dad wanted to take it slow. Praise the Lord, we got through safely with plenty of time left, so we headed out to the ocean for a five-minute stretch break before going back into town for church.

Ocean

It’s been a gorgeous day, and the sun just set about half an hour ago behind the trees and hills to the west. It was one of those golden sunsets, the kind that you have to just stop and take in for a moment or two. God is so good to us!

Plans:

I posted a “planning” post two weeks ago, and although I would have done a new one last weekend, that didn’t work out due to more worthwhile activities. This past week ended up having plenty to keep me occupied with anyway, even without goals to meet, and I learned some valuable lessons through that. Even though it was a more difficult week, God has shown Himself faithful in innumerable ways and I think I’ve learned to rest even more on His guidance. It’s tough at times, but I know He holds the future and in that I can find complete peace. After all, “…the LORD thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (see Deuteronomy 31:6). What a promise!

For the most part, this week will probably be pretty normal, although next weekend is going to be busy. Lord willing, we’ll be attending a conference, so along with all the “normal” weekend stuff, that’ll be added in somewhere too. That means wonderful but FULL days! Even so, I’m looking forward to it. 🙂

To-do list from two weeks ago:

  1. Schedule reviews through the 31st
  2. Read The Destiny of a Galaxy
  3. Watch the DVD Fly Away Home (can’t watch this on my computer, so I’ll have to borrow Mom’s sometime)
  4. Read up/do practice tests for getting my learner’s driver license (nope, but I’m hoping to focus on that this week)
  5. Sign up for another affiliate program
  6. Work through the website to-do list
  7. Do some baking Friday!

This week’s to-do list:

  1. Write reviews of The Destiny of a Galaxy, Sacred Allegories, Capyboppy, and begin one for Coffee Cake Days (we’ve actaully almost run out of reviews, and I’ve read these lately so I ought to get the reviews written so I can post them!)
  2. Finish watching Ben-Hur and review
  3. Watch Fly Away Home
  4. Read Manuscript for Murder
  5. Upload reviews for the week
  6. Get this week’s newsletter out on time
  7. Study and practice for driving test

Overall, I’ve had a great couple weeks. I hope you have, too! Keep your eyes on Jesus this coming week and glorify His name!

Filed Under: Families, Life, Relationships, Siblings Tagged With: Brothers, My Family, Photo Challenge, Pictures, Planning

Week 30: Last of July and Photo Challenge

July 24, 2016 // Esther Filbrun 1 Comment

The sun was shining brilliantly through my half-window this morning as I sat on my maroon-colored bedspread reading from Isaiah. It’s such a treat these days to have the sunshine, and even though we’ve had much more of that than cloudy days this winter, I still love the sun and its warmth. The call came for breakfast, so I blew my candles out and watched the smoke weave its way upward—sometimes thin, sometimes thick curls that can be seen but never touched, smelled but only enjoyed when the light hits it just right as it was this morning. It was a beautiful sight. And yes, I got into breakfast a little late because I stopped to enjoy the sight of the smoke. It truly was gorgeous; I’ve never seen it last as long as it did this morning!

The light is long gone now, swallowed by the clouds that occasionally spit a little rain but for the most part make it chilly and as such more pleasant to stay inside this evening than be out. As I sit again at my blue fold-up table this evening, looking over my last week and praying for wisdom for the week to come, music playing quietly in the background, I can’t help but think how privileged I am. That I can take time to enjoy things like candle smoke twisting in the morning sunlight, that I can even plan my week! So many don’t have this privilege, so many in poorer situations must fight day after day to just get a little food on the table. Many—like my Dad—work incredibly long hours, never complaining, while I sit at home and can use my time just about any way I please. I’m incredibly blessed. And I don’t want to ever forget that, sunshine or not.

Colossians 3:1-3

One thing I decided this morning was that this week I want to do a photo challenge again. I did one back in January, and that was pretty fun, and I want to do it again. This evening as it was getting dark I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures yet today! Well, my chosen subject for this week was “daily life”, and as I looked at my desk I realized I had a piece of my daily life in front of me: One of my memory verses. I copied it out onto some note paper a week or two ago, as a reminder to focus on the Lord alone, and it’s proven to be a great reminder over the days since then. I love verse two, especially.

Last week’s to-do list:

  1. Schedule book/movie reviews through the end of the month
  2. Read one book
  3. Set up some settings with Amazon and AbeBooks (done Thursday; this was something that’s taken me quite a while to do, but it’s a relief to have it done!)
  4. Do bookkeeping (done Wednesday)
  5. Respond to the emails that I haven’t replied to yet (done Tuesday and Wednesday)
  6. Finish an interview (done Tuesday)
  7. Do 45 min. of science and last day of history
Jonah 2:9
A reminder I keep in my planning folder; a verse I found one day while studying Jonah.

This week’s to-do list:

  1. Schedule reviews through the 31st
  2. Read The Destiny of a Galaxy
  3. Watch the DVD Fly Away Home (borrowed, so I ought to get it back)
  4. Read up/do practice tests for getting my learner’s driver license (it’s about time…)
  5. Sign up for another affiliate program
  6. Work through the website to-do list (mostly simple changes, but ones that I’ve been putting off for a while)
  7. Do some baking Friday!

What are your plans for the coming week? Enjoy the sunlight and more than that, keep looking to the Light of the world, Jesus!

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Photo Challenge, Pictures, Planning

Playing Hookey (and This Week’s Plans)

July 19, 2016 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

(Before I start, I thought you might like to know that Mom is currently running a giveaway for two books from one of our favorite authors! Details here.)

I realized yesterday afternoon as we were winding our way up the curves this side of a nearby river that I had completely spaced doing my normal “Sunday” post on my goals for the week. I had fun Sunday afternoon, during the time that I normally do my planning…I played two different board games with my siblings and we watched part of a movie together! In the end it really isn’t a problem, except that after a day in the city I wasn’t feeling particularly up to trying to figure out what I want (or need) to do this week. So it falls to Tuesday evening to tell you of this week’s goals.

As far as last week, I think I got almost everything done. Thankfully, I hadn’t planned much, and even though we were gone only 3 1/2 days in the end, it was still good to be able to relax and prepare to face the world again.

Last week’s list:

  1. Finish preparing this week’s newsletter (done Saturday)
  2. Do a little sewing (done Monday)
  3. Reply to/take care of K and S’ emails (S’ done Saturday; the other had to wait until this week because of the technical difficulties involved)
  4. Send this week’s newsletter (done Saturday)

This week’s list:

  1. Schedule book/movie reviews through the end of the month
  2. Read one book
  3. Set up some settings with Amazon and AbeBooks
  4. Do bookkeeping (keep forgetting to do this!)
  5. Respond to the emails that I haven’t replied to yet
  6. Finish an interview
  7. Do 45 min. of science and last day of history for the “school” work I’m currently working on

I think that’s it. Have a great week, folks, and keep your eyes on Jesus!

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Planning

Planning: Second Week of July

July 10, 2016 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

Well, it’s already quite late, and I need to head off to bed but before I do so I wanted to do a quick recap of last week’s plans. This next week is going to be pretty busy, so I’m not planning to do much at all. And besides a few basics (like sending the newsletter), I’m probably not going to be online much either.

But as for last week’s plans…I went off the rails a bit last week! Instead of working like I probably should have done, I decided to watch a couple borrowed movies instead (ones that need to be returned, but I want to review first). Besides that, we had visitors one day, which cut into my time a little. It was wonderful to have them here, though—well worth the “lost” time! Also, I realized Friday that I hadn’t even looked at my plans all week. Hmm…wonder if the old adage “out of sight out of mind” had anything to do with not much being done? Must remember to look each day next time!

Last week’s list:

  1. Schedule book reviews through the 24th (done Saturday)
  2. Edit reviews doc 6 (done Thursday)
  3. Upload the four reviews that weren’t ready before now (two done Saturday; the other two need to wait because they aren’t quite ready yet)
  4. Send this week’s newsletter (done Saturday)
  5. Prepare next week’s newsletter (begun Saturday, but ran out of time to finish)
  6. Do bookkeeping
  7. Set up affiliate program payments
  8. Do some much-needed sewing!

This week’s list:

  1. Finish preparing this week’s newsletter
  2. Do a little sewing (has to be done Monday)
  3. Reply to/take care of K and S’ emails (need to remember to do this next Saturday when I’ll have a little time)
  4. Send this week’s newsletter

Okay, that’s all I think I need to remember later this week.

Have a great week, and keep serving Jesus!

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Planning

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Hi! I’m Esther, lover of the Lord Jesus Christ and brainstormer behind helping families find good books (read more about that here). My goal is to live a purposeful, fulfilling life—whether that is in what I read, write, cook, design, or do with my wonderful siblings. My life is full and often messy. But God is good. Welcome to the adventure!

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