My maternity leave curriculum in my Sterling Ink common planner that I use like a Hobonichi daily journal.
If you know me, you know I have approximately zero chill.
I love a challenge. I love a project. I love a checklist with little boxes waiting to be marked off. My brain is happiest when it has something to chew on.
One of the hardest parts of maternity leave with my first son wasn’t the sleepless nights or the endless laundry (although there was certainly plenty of both). It was that my mind suddenly went from running at full speed to…not having much to do. I loved caring for my baby, but I also missed feeling more mentally engaged. I found myself reaching for something to think about beyond the next feeding or nap.
So before this maternity leave began, I decided to give myself a little curriculum. I wasn’t looking to optimize maternity leave or squeeze productivity out of every nap. In fact, I wanted the opposite. I wanted something playful. Something that would gently nudge me toward the things that make me feel like me without becoming another obligation.
This year, my word is attune—paying closer attention to the things that have always been there but are easy to overlook in the rush of everyday life. It felt like the perfect lens for this season.
Instead of goals, I made categories:
Family adventures. Reading and personal growth. Photography. Home and lifestyle. Faith and spiritual formation. Nature and beauty.
Each category is filled with tiny ideas rather than big accomplishments. Visit a new playground. Read a classic. Print Instax photos. Memorize Scripture. Watch a sunrise. Notice wildflowers. Organize one drawer. Take one photo every week that tells the story of this season.
None of them are urgent. None of them are required. They’re simply invitations.
An invitation to notice.
An invitation to keep learning.
An invitation to create.
An invitation to be fully present during a season that I know will pass far too quickly.
The best part is that there’s absolutely no pressure to finish it. If the days get full of spit-up, contact naps, and keeping two little boys fed and loved on, that’s okay. This isn’t a race to the finish line. It’s just a collection of gentle reminders for the moments when I have a little margin.
We’re about five weeks into maternity leave now, and I’ve loved it so far. Not because I’m crossing everything off, but because it’s helping me stay connected to the things that fill me up alongside motherhood.
I’m also collecting little pieces of this season in a small album—photos, favorite quotes, scripture, gratitude lists, funny moments, things the boys do that I never want to forget. A tangible reminder of what this maternity leave actually felt like.
I’ve always loved creating little bucket lists for different seasons of life. Not because I think every moment needs to be productive, but because I know myself well enough to know that intentionality helps me slow down and pay attention.
And I think that’s exactly what Attune was always asking me to do.
I definitely didn’t invent this system. The cards themselves are designed around a combination of several familiar productivity practices: prioritizing your most important work, keeping a daily task list, and time blocking your day. Minimal Desk Setups’ recommended method is to choose your focus for the day, brain dump your tasks, put those tasks in the order you want to tackle them, and then use the timeline to block out when you’ll work on them.
I took that framework and made it my own, using a set of symbols for managing my tasks and a numbering system to determine their order of priority. I started using the timeline not only to plan my time, but also to track how I actually spent it. I added a color-coding system so I could see where my time went at a glance.
Every morning, I started over with a fresh card, migrating any outstanding tasks from the day before. Starting fresh forced me to ask: What needs my attention today? What is most important? And, maybe more importantly, what can realistically fit into the open spaces I can see on my timeline?
There’s something about having to physically rewrite a task that keeps an unfinished to-do from becoming invisible. If I find myself writing the same thing over and over again, eventually I have to ask why. Do I still need to make time for it? Do I need to break it into smaller next steps? Or is it simply not important enough to keep carrying forward?
In general, my work tasks either need to be done within the week or at a specific time. Anything that isn’t already in progress or urgent gets added to my Outlook calendar on the day it needs to be done. I’ve heard this referred to as the “drop and find” productivity method: instead of keeping everything on one giant running list, I drop a task onto a future day and find it again when I get there.
My work calendar is digital, and I live and die by it. It has to be. Meetings involve other people, invitations need to be sent and accepted, things move around throughout the week, and my calendar needs to reflect all of that in real time.
Because of that, I don’t actually need a full paper planner or calendar setup for work. Recreating an entire week of meetings on paper when they’re already living—and inevitably changing—online just means maintaining two versions of the same thing. My digital calendar is always going to be the source of truth.
The Task & Time Card serves a completely different purpose.
My online calendar tells me where I have to be. My daily card tells me what I’m doing with the rest of my time.
Each morning, I look at my online calendar and transfer that day’s meetings and other time-specific commitments onto the timeline of my card. I’m not trying to duplicate my calendar. I’m simply giving myself a visual representation of the shape of today.
Once those immovable pieces are there, I can see the time I actually have available and decide what realistically belongs on my task list.
The Task & Time Cards are designed for time blocking: assigning tasks to particular portions of the day so you have a realistic plan for when you’re going to accomplish them.
I used that idea, but I also started using the timeline in reverse.
Throughout the day, I colored in the timeline based on how I had actually spent my time. I created a color-coding system for the different kinds of work I do, so I could glance at the card and immediately get a sense of my day. Rather than having to remember whether I’d spent most of the afternoon in meetings or had actually gotten a decent stretch of focused work, I could see it.
That little timeline became both a plan and a record.
I started using these cards because I needed a practical way to manage my workdays, but I didn’t expect to love the data in the growing stack of used cards as much as I did. The more data I collected, the better I became at predicting how long certain tasks would actually take—which, in turn, made me better at planning my time around deadlines.
But beyond the productivity of it all, there’s also something incredibly satisfying about flipping through them and seeing the accumulation of ordinary workdays. Some are packed and chaotic. Some are relatively quiet. There are completed tasks, migrated tasks, meetings squeezed together, unexpected changes, and colorful little blocks showing exactly where the hours went.
And I think that’s why this particular combination of planning worked so well for me.
Despite the pressure to go completely analog, I don’t need a paper system to hold everything.
My digital calendar can hold the future. The card only has to hold today.
And tomorrow morning, I get to start all over again.
It’s hard to believe that another year and another goal setting season are in the rearview. I love Christmas and I also love November and December for reflecting on the year and planning for the next one. I used to be someone who had the mindset that there was nothing special about the new year in terms of setting goals, but I’m rejecting that notion now. I truly get a renewed excitement over the new year that gives me just that little extra motivation and drive – so why not run with it?!
I had my one little word, experiment, picked out in September and felt ready to start carrying it with me. I mentioned at the beginning of 2022 that I wasn’t thrilled about “engage”. I started to lean into it a bit as the months set in, but I didn’t feel the pull to hold onto it as tightly as I had with other words. Experiment started to feel like a bit of a companion word that was hanging on for dear life while I tried to stick it out with engage. So, all that to say, I’m ready to give it the front and center attention that it deserves.
I’m really trying to keep it simple for my 2023 goals (which fits in perfectly with Goal #1). The more I try to add to my plate, the more my priorities are stretched and I think these two are worth really focusing on.
Simplify at Home
While setting goals for the year, I kept coming back to wanting to live my life intentionally. I have found myself (I’m sure like many other working parents) feeling like time with my boy is already limited, so I really don’t want to come home and have to micromanage my home. I want to come home and play and eat and learn and explore and go on adventures. This being said, I do want our home and my mindset about our home to be one of peace and comfort (for both myself and others).
So what does this practically look like? I’m glad you asked. Here are a few ideas that I have up my sleeve to reach this goal for 2023:
Get rid of 50% of our belongings.
Meal plan by month and then recycle through meals.
Spend more time outside.
Track spending/wardrobe in a way that considers if an item is consumable and how often it’s used.
Complete our basement work.
Stick to a cleaning schedule after bedtime.
Paint trim and walls in our main living space.
Inspiration:
Declutter your mind, your heart, your home. Let go of the heaviness that is weighing you down. Make your life simple but significant. – Maria Defillo
Minimalism isn’t about owning less than you need. It’s about owning exactly what you need. – Joshua Becker
Less, but better. – Greg McKeown
Focus on my Health
I’m annoyed at myself because I’m dragging last year’s goal into the new year. Last year, I honestly made a lot of excuses in terms of how I was treating my body and I don’t want to do that anymore. I mentioned above that I get a lot of motivation and willpower from the start of a new year, so I’m running with all that positive energy in hopes that I can make habits that stick. I’m sticking to a meal plan and trying working out regularly. My thought is that I don’t have to exercise everyday, but I can’t go two days in a row without moving my body.
Inspiration:
Visualize your highest self and then show up as her. – Unknown
Below is my vision board and how I hope 2023 feels with both my One Little Word and my goals.
It’s been nearly two years since I’ve shared my monthly goals, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been putting my PowerSheets to work each month. Goals with a toddler look a lot different and feel a lot more functional than they have in the past. I think there’s something to be said for priorities and being more intentional about how I spend my free time these days. When it comes to goals this month, a lot of this has been on my radar and circles back to the big picture of my word of the year, engage. I’m thinking of November as the prep work for the holiday season in order to really be able to slow down and spend as much time as possible with family during December.
Write 10+ Blog Posts – I’ve been hoping to figure out a balance of what I want to share in this space and I think that having a goal will help me do that. One of my favorite things to do in years past was Blog-tember – where a group of us shared a blog post every single day of September based on a list of prompts. Leading up to November, I wrote down a list of things that have been on my mind to share, so I’m going to start there.
Finish Christmas shopping – I really want to set the pace for the holiday season by having a plan ahead of time and focusing on family and experiences this holiday season (vs stressing last minute about gifts). I already have quite a few ideas so it’s just a matter of getting a few more and making the selections.
Have Family Photos Taken – This one may be cheating, because it’s already scheduled, but it’s my goal to have family photos taken at least twice a year. I’m hoping this lines up perfectly for Christmas cards.
Decorate for Christmas – I normally wait to put Christmas decorations up until the beginning of December, but with celebrating Christmas out of town (and knowing I’ll take everything down the moment I get home), I really want to enjoy the decorations in our home more than ever. I cannot wait to see Callahan’s delight at the lights this year.
Walk – I am hoping to get outside to walk with Callahan every day when the weather is nice! Let’s say 45 degrees or warmer.
Sabbath – I haven’t been great this year about prioritizing a day of rest. I feel like I go-go with work through the week and then the weekends are my time to focus on errands and around the house chores. I’d really like to take a look at my normal rhythms to see if I can’t adjust that for a whole day of no commitments and to do list items.
Four Books – I want to keep up the pace of reading/listening to four books in November. I’m already at 32 for the year and hope to finish at about 40!
Paint the Upstairs Trim – A project that I’m not looking forward to that will pay dividends in terms of enjoying how my home looks and feels. The ideal situation would be to take a day off work to do it.
Here’s a quick snap of my One Little Word talisman while we were at the corn maze for a family event with work! I have my 2023 word already all picked and out and the coin to commemorate it is on it’s way (yippee!).
What a year. One that simultaneously felt a million months and just 2 months long at the same time. While we dealt with so many things we could have never imagined (dare I say…unprecedented?) just a year ago as we were ringing in 2020, this year was one of significant growth in so many areas of my life. I attribute so much of that to being able to slow my pace. I said to multiple friends as we were talking about the year that it felt like a time of intense Sabbath. A time of rest, a time of reseting, a time of learning and a time of figuring myself out.
I’ve been choosing a word each year as an intention and to help set goals. The strange thing about this year, is that delight has been my word for 2021since 2019. I knew open was for 2020, but delight just never left my mind. Delight feels a little like joy, but maybe more sought out.
delight (noun): great pleasure; satisfaction
Delight is an invitation to find the joy in the mundane.
Delight is an invitation to celebrate, to have dance parties in the kitchen with Kev, and just be silly.
Delight is an invitation to watch a beautiful sunset, or sit outside and watch rain fall, or take a long drive.
Delight is an invitation to continue the slowness I personally experienced in 2020.
Delight is an invitation to practice gratitude, even when days are hard or busy or stress-filled.
Delight is an invitation to get out of my comfort zone, but also to rest.
I hope 2021 is full of delight.
Goal: Number my days.
Why: I want to ruthlessly cut out anything that prevents me from being present, intentional, and LIVING this life.
What success looks like: More time spent doing things I love and less on social media and obligations. Feeling less rushed and more intentional every day.
November was a whirlwind of stress and COVID spikes, so I’m not going to even try to pretend that I came close to getting much done in the way of goals. At the end of the day, my number one thing was to keep up the exercise routine. And I definitely did that. I cannot say enough how much of a game changer that has been for my mental and physical health this year. It’s ranged from Orange Theory work outs to walks around the block with the dogs and so many different things in between. I’m excited to build on this habit in 2021.
November Monthly Goals
Paint Built in Book Shelves – I had really good intentions (I even have the paint!) but it didn’t get done, so I’m taking it off my list for the time being.
Read 4 Books – I read 6!
Replace Blinds – This fell down on the priority list, and didn’t get done in November. I’m not 100% on when it will, so I’m putting it on pause for now.
Complete my Real Estate Courses – womp womp. Extended until the end of December. Let’s hope I can wrap this thing up!
Show Small and Local for Christmas – We have loved shopping local this season. I did a fun little round up here of our favorite places.
Vote on November 3rd! – Yep!
November Weekly Goals
Two Orange Theory Fitness Classes – check, check but I’ve frozen my account for the time being due to COVID.
Weigh In – done!
Budget – done and done, proud of our progress this month!
Weekly Sabbath – I practiced a Sabbath every week but one, we’ll call that a win.
November Daily Goals
Exercise – got most days in November.
Read the Word / Prayer – honestly, I could have done better with this one.
Take Vitamins – high five!
Journal – Yep!
November Highlights
We voted!
Taylor and Todd got engaged!
Kevin attempted the 10,000 calorie challenge with Andrew.
We tried HelloFresh (yum!)
We decorated a little earlier than normal for Christmas.
This month, I feel like I’m getting back down to the roots of my goals by only including things that will move the needle in one of these two areas:
Goal 1: Prioritize my health – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, environmental, and social.
Goal 2: Allow open to be an invitation to live intentionally.
It feels good to get back to the basics. Each year, by December, I notice that little side goals, or things that I just want to tick off start finding their way into my monthly list and that’s not really the point of completing Powersheets for me, personally.
December Monthly Goals
Send Christmas cards – I love doing this each year and think it’s an awesome way to connect, especially in a year where I haven’t gotten to see my family as much as I’d like.
Take a week off work! – I need this. Looking forward to taking some time off after Christmas.
Set phone hours – The scrolling numbers are creeping up. I’m trying to work on intentionality, so here we are setting some boundaries for what that looks like.
December Weekly Goals
Sabbath – New month, same goal. Love this practice and look forward to it every week.
Meal Prep – This one helps the next one, and it just makes my days feel so much easier.
Weigh In – Really proud of my progress both on and off the scale but this one just helps to keep me accountable.
