Last year, I began writing monthly to-do lists to help me keep track of what’s on my plate. I thought it might be interesting to share these lists here, and to report back each month on what I was able to accomplish.
My November list focused on seeing some family and making progress on house projects. Here is what I was able to accomplish in the last month:
- Saw my family. In mid-November, my partner and I were able to see my mom, sister, and their respective partners. We also got to meet my niece who was born in May 2020 in person for the first time. This was a short, masked visit, but it was really nice to see them all and spend some time hearing my niece make all kinds of animal noises — one of her more advanced skills.
- Made progress on our kitchen and bathroom renovations. This project was launched toward the end of the month and we are right smack in the middle of it. The kitchen and bathrooms have all been demoed since we’re replacing all cabinets and countertops in each space, so we are operating with a fridge, microwave, and one pedestal sink (thankfully, showers and toilets are unaffected by this project). As I write this, we are waiting to have the cabinets all installed next week. Watching the progress of this project thus far has been really fun, and we’re excited to see it wrap up in mid-December.
- Drafted a book chapter. This is done! The original deadline was at the end of November, but the editors offered all of the contributors an extension until mid-January. I’m glad that I got the first draft completed and sent off to my co-authors for their review, and I’m even more glad that we have some additional time to make revisions.
- Purchased bookcases and put them together. I was able to purchase the book cases that I needed to store our books, and I also was able to put some of them together. What I wasn’t able to do was unpack all of our books in the midst of our home renovation. Every spare space in our home is taken up by cabinets at the moment, so I’m going to save my anticipation for unpacking books for a few more weeks until our house is a bit back in order.
November passed by quite speedily! And now it’s time to plan for a new month of to-do items. I’m ready to launch into December and close out this final month of the year.
Here are some of the items on my December to-do list:
- Finish the kitchen and bathroom renovations. Now that our new cabinets have arrived, we know that we’re on track to wrap up this project in mid-December. I’m looking forward to seeing the changes each night when I get home from work.
- Get the house organized. With so many of our spaces blocked off for renovations at the moment, I’m really looking forward to getting our house back in order later this month. All of our kitchen and bathroom items have been displaced, so putting all of our stuff back where it belongs is going to be very satisfying.
- Draft my 2022 goals. I’ve been noodling on my annual goals for 2022 for a couple of months now, but I need to finalize them this month so that I can map out what I want to focus on each quarter in the year ahead. I like to build in some easy wins, longer-term projects, and some goals that will be just for fun. Stay tuned for when I share these on my blog and my podcast in the coming weeks.
- Complete an end-of-year business retreat. As I close out this year, I’m also planning for next year in my business as well. I’m hoping to spend at least a couple days of my winter break working on some small projects that will help me prepare for events and programs I’m offering in my business in 2022. (You can read more about my winter retreat plans here.)
- Unpack our books, for real. With our house renovation, this task has been delayed, but December is the perfect month to unpack and arrange all of our books. I plan to turn on some holiday music and maybe even a fireplace app to make this process nice and cozy.
Once again, this next month is looking like it will be pretty full! What are you looking forward to in the month of December?
