A New Hashtag To Make You A Goal Getter #PACT15

Goal Getters, how to have a productive day by spending 15 minutes a day?

Below is how,

with a help of a new hashtag, #pact15!

I know, I know, I left you all hanging by saying the below in my previous blog post…

“Amidst all of this, practice #PACT15, at least 2-3 times a day. Wondering what the heck that is!? Sorry, that will have to be a whole other post (after all, I want you to come back to my blog again ;)).

But in all seriousness though, practicing #PACT15 daily for the last few weeks has TREMENDOUSLY helped me to stay on track and get so much more done every.single.day without feeling overwhelmed!”

But first, let’s clarify! NO, you don’t need a hashtag to make you a goal getter, it is just a fun little something to remind oneself to stay on track and not lose focus and get stuff done as far as your goals are concerned – personal, professional, and everything else in between.

Like, how I ask my husband, ‘did you #PACT15’ today’?

#PACT15 is a hashtag that I came up with on January 1st of this year. No, I didn’t mean to start something new just because it is the New Year.

The significance behind the hashtag is one that I have been meaning to make an integral part of my daily life for the longest time now.

In the past, I’d implement it for a few days and then would fall off the wagon (tell me, what’s new!?), and this has happened one too many times in the last few years.

But this time around, maybe it is, in fact, the magic of a hashtag (as everything else is in this day and age of #hashtagthis and #hashtagthat and #hashtageverything) I have been able to religiously follow through for almost a month and it has overall been having such a positive impact in how I feel about tackling tasks, in that it is seriously helping me hit some major major goals without it feeling like a herculean task!

And today, I am uber-excited to share this with you in hopes to inspire you to #PACT15 as well, if you know what I mean…

No? You don’t? Then let me explain…

It all began several years ago, when I hadn’t even remotely dreamt of blogging, and when I was still very much a part of the corporate world working in New York City.

Back then, weekdays were only meant for – wake up, breakfast, go to work, lunch, work, get back home, dinner, sleep, and repeat. So, slowly over a period of the entire work week, the house would turn into a huge mess.

I mean, who had the time to do anything else but go to work, be exhausted, come home, cook, eat, and crash. So, cleaning inevitably became a part of the ‘weekend chores’, which would take away a huge part of the weekend.

Between cleaning the house, and grocery shopping, and running other errands, Monday would roll around so freaking fast that I’d be left wondering where the heck did the weekend go?

Does that ring a bell?

I don’t know about you, but I can’t function well with mess all around me, just cannot stand when things are lying all over the place, it really gets on my nerves when everything around me starts to seem like a huge pile of garbage, which is exactly what would happen by the time we got to Friday evening (you know the feeling?).

And it is no one else but my own fault. I got lucky that my hubby can’t stand mess either, so he doesn’t even make a mess to begin with, and even when he does, he cleans up after himself, and he puts things back where they belong.

But I on the other hand, even though I like things to be organized and kept clean, when I am in a hurry, I just leave things all over the place (trying 2137 outfits right before work and leaving everything on the chair, couch, bed. Yep, me! Anyone else?)!

And that situation soon gets out of control as other things take priority, and before I know it, about 6735243 things are strewn all over the house, staring at me in the eye, and bothering me in the head.

Not like I can do something about it until I have more time on my hands, which is when I go on those cleaning and organizing sprees when I waste several days to bring things back in order.

Though it feels really good to see a house that is, as the hubby says ‘spic and span’ and as I say ‘Monica clean’, it is frustrating because I would have wasted a few days in a row to achieve that (especially if its over the weekend.

Weekends are meant to have fun, not to clean your weekday mess!). So why even let that happen to begin with, right!?

That is how this whole #PACT15 concept came about…

PICK A CORNER & TAKE 15

Except, I didn’t have a hashtag then, but had this concept in my head of spending about 15 mins each morning and each evening to clean/organize a few corners of the house so I didn’t have to end up spending an entire weekend doing so.

And then I could have the weekend all to myself and my house would also always be ‘Monica clean’ and organized.

P.S: Yes, when you are a hoarder, and when you have a fairly big house, and when you have a baby, an entire weekend could be wasted in just cleaning, organizing, and re-organizing.

So, even though I have had this idea in my head for several years, I never fully implemented it, as in, not consistently at least, not until it became a habit (read more here and here).

But recently, as I was thinking more about this concept, it dawned on me that this doesn’t have to be limited to cleaning the house, but it could be incorporated into every aspect of your life that you want to improve.

And if you can’t spare 15 mins once or twice daily to better your own life, then no one can help you…

Below are some thought starters, use these examples and carve out your own daily #PACT15

Need to tone up?

Pick an exercise (say leg day), set a timer for 15 mins, & sweat the calories away

Messy house?

Pick a corner of the house, set a timer for 15 mins, & organize/clean away

Improve photography?

Pick a concept (say lighting), set a timer for 15 mins, and practice away

Better your relationship?

Pick something that has been bothering you, set a timer for 15 mins, and talk away

So on and so forth, you get the point…

See, that isn’t difficult at all. I am honestly surprised at just how much gets done in only 15 mins. It also helps to shake things up if you have been doing just one thing for hours (say working in front of the computer) and helps break the monotony.

And cleaning doesn’t even seem like cleaning, it feels like a fun competition – you vs. the clock vs. the mess! Plus, you also get one step closer to your goals with every 15 mins you spend on learning a new skill or solving an issue.

And this also aligns perfectly with everything I said in the post here – they are all truly inter-dependent and help you with your #1 goal – to make yourself better, in every which way!

So, what are you waiting for, PICK A CORNER & TAKE 15, #PACT15 away…

“Two steps forward and one step back is better than no steps forward at all.”

xoxo,

Kusum