OK so I’m a sucker for stationery. I love the smell of a new book, when you flick the pages in front of your face. I’ll go weak at the knees over beautiful pens. And don’t get me started on magnets, postcards and post-it notes.

What I do know keeps me and my big plans on track is a system all contained in one place.

It’s no secret that I love Evernote for work and family projects, but sometimes you just can’t beat a real “hold it in your hands” book – the perfect planner and I truly believe by committing your intentions, goals and ideas on paper can set you for achieving them. Why? The physical and mental act of writing it down, creates both the logic and the emotion to drive you on to bigger, braver, bolder things in life.

Here’s some of my 2015 favourites – is your perfect planner in here?

Using Whitney English’ Day Planner, you’ll never drop a task, forget an appointment or miss out on a key call  – buy yours here. Not sure, sign up and get a pdf of a single day straight to your inbox.

Passion Planner was build for a place of need and helps you set yourself up for a year that’s on track with your passion. Yep, clues in the name. Buy yours here: A4 and A5 sizes available to fit your handwritten (or your bag). Trial both sizes to get your perfect fit 🙂

Another of my favourites taps into the day to day plus helps you focus on goals whilst providing littles pieces of insight, motivation and inspiration. Buy your Dailygreatness Journal here. They also have gorgeous training and yoga journals too, if a new health, fitness or wellbeing trend is in stored for you in 2015.

I just love the cover on this one by MI Goals – gives me that little extra ooomph reading it before I even open up and get into its helpful structured pages. Inside you’ll find quotes, great layouts and clean design. Two places to buy – Worldwide here or if you’re in Australia, go direct.

Lead a double life and seeking a better work/life balance? This is the one for you. Left page for one, Right page for the other – no more double booking, simple at a glance harmony. Busy Life Diary – buy it with the organising stickers an tabs and save cashola 🙂

Discovered the Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte? Yes, then you’ll love this – The accompanying daily diary and journal. A Mini blaster of DM magic each day! Order yours express here. Oh not discovered the Desire Map? Order both together and save on P&P.

Fancy having a go at designing your own planner? You can with Personal Planner – you get to choose the look, content, layout, colours, size and so on. Want a different colour? Check. Want to personalise it? Check. Want to use your own image? Check. Seriously, you can have it any way you like!

Another beautiful layout and bright, bright colours can be found with IHeart Organizing’s day and week planner – the joy is you can get a personalised cover and print it any size you like to fit your filofax, mini ringbinder or lever arch (ok the last one might be a bit over the top!)

Want more freedom in how you create your layout, yet still have structure? I like bullet journalling – it’s low hassle, flexible and you can use ANY book you like. Learn how here with its creator.

Oh and yes, don’t forget Evernote – your online, go with you on your multiple devices, wonder tool 🙂

What kind of planner or tool are you going to use to maximise your 2015? I’d love to discover a few more to try out!!

Starter or dessert? Movie or a play? Beach spa or mountain retreat? Internal role or join a new employer? Stay on the couch or a jog round the park?

Life is full of decisions. Some are easy to answer. Others require a bit more investigation and thinking.

But some…… well, they get you stuck. Going round in loops, seeking out an encyclopaedia of information, gathering opinions, creating stacks of analysis from every angle possible or potentially, you might choose to avoid the decision, ignoring it or pretending it doesn’t need to be made.

The good news is all of those things are normal human reactions to decision making. Phew. The bad news is that there is no one single, perfect, failsafe method to get you out of being stuck. However, I do think there are somethings that you can do to improve your decision making comfort and success.

Check your responsibility

Ask yourself honestly “is this a decision I have to make?” If that’s a no, then you’re carrying someone else’s monkey. Let it go.

By caring for others, we can absorb their emotions, challenges and explore how we can make their lives or situation better. It’s a wonderful, kind, generous use of your energy – but only if they want your support and help in making their own decision.

Also check in that you’re seeking to resolve the right questions and what you can control or influence. Assumption is not your friend in decision making and could lead you down a rabbit hole or into a maze of confusion.

Open your mind

You may have heard of “analysis paralysis” – the whirlwind circling of being driven to collect facts, details and evidence and then review it from every conceivable angle, yet not quite getting to a conclusion – rather finding more avenues to travel down first.

Finding the right amount of insight prior to making a decision is tricky. For example, you may be confident to move ahead based on a gut or heart reaction. Or you may feel the need to do more in-depth research. This will depend on how significant the decision is. Deciding to have an extra helping of dessert may be a positive emotional reward for a milestone achievement so gut happiness alone works. What if it could be breaking of a new healthy eating habit? Then combining the emotional and rational together could help make a more long-term decision.

My suggestion would be to find a balance of emotional comfort and logical satisfaction for all major decisions – the ones that impact the key areas of life, relations, work and finances.

Visit alternative universes

Many times when we’re making a decision, we get stuck in the impacts on the present or in how similar decisions went in the past. What about the future? The aftermath of decisions beyond the first wave are overlooked.

Try this approach: taking each potential option, fast forward time to 1 year, 3 years or 5 years ahead. Then create a “video” in your mind, write the story or draw the setting of how things are if you had taken one specific option. Include the colours, sounds, emotions, people and places in as much detail as you can. Replay and notice your reaction here in the moment. Do this with the different options.

This type of future visioning can help inform your decisions today.

Set your end time

If you aren’t given a firm deadline to decide by, create your own. Mark it in your diary. Post it on the fridge door. Adding certainty to the decision point, enhances your brain’s comfort levels and helps to prevent decision avoidance.

Leaving it open ended encourages more turning in circles, avoidance of making the decision and typically, greater stress levels!

I’m interested to know what types of decisions get you stuck and how you move ahead? Ask me a question on how to get unstuck or share a different way.

In the strengths series, I shared a number of different ways of discovering, growing and utilising your strengths. (Check them out here – part 1, part 2 and part 3) I’ve got one more new shiny tool to share with you – I’ve used it with a couple of clients and coaching peers recently and it’s getting great results with lots of “lightbulb” moments.

Have you ever been asked “When are you at your best?”. If so, how did you answer it? Could you answer it authentically? Or did you give a response that you thought the questioner would approve of or like?

Perhaps you’re looking to express yourself in your biography, online profiles or branding more clearly? Or you want to develop a balanced work/life aligned to being the best you, but not sure where to start?

Are you part of a team struggling to move ahead or find the best ways of working together?

May I introduce to you the “at my best” card deck. 48 cards put together by Work Positive, a positive psychology consultancy; having researched and validated their approach across fellow psychologists and conducted regional tests with volunteers, these lovely cards were born.

They are double-sided; an image on one side and a word on the other. No definitions, no explorations, no directions.

I’m finding clients struggle to keep their hands off the cards – somehow they have this magical attraction. I love the exercise suggestions from Work Positive on using the cards and find a few simple open questions get the ball rolling.

And using both sides of the cards enables us to draw upon how the images and words speak or have meaning to us.

My expression of “flexible” or my interpretation of the cute puppy image might be different to yours. That’s ok and for me as a coach, that’s the joy of these cards – they draw from you, words, images, memories, experiences and more that speak to you being at your best from all aspects of your life.

Whether used with a team or in one-to-one or group coaching, these cards provide a basis, a language and a safe way to create your authentic “at my best” response. Results I’ve seen include more engaging, compelling copy on entrepreneurs’ websites, job offers received and teams increased their awareness and appreciation of others. With every use of the “at my best” cards, energy levels rise, smiles emerge and shoulders open out as confidence and motivation grows.

Where could you use great confidence, motivation, clarity and inspiration in your life, career or business? Shout ’em out in the comments – I’d especially like to hear how you’d use this new info?

I’d love to help you achieve all of those things using these brilliant cards – take advantage of my introductory offer for a 15 minute Skype initial consult and 60 minute coaching face to face session in London for only £80(inc VAT). Hop over to drop me a short note on the challenge you’d like to apply your “at my best” to and we’ll get started!