Do you ever think about which activities, events, and moments took place over the past twelve months?
One of the easiest ways to get a better understanding of how you spent your time over the past year is to conduct a calendar review.
This is as simple as opening up your calendar, schedule, or planner, and going through each day, week, and month, one after another.
You may be surprised as how a mere fifty-two weeks can feel like an eternity…yet at the same time feel like a few brief moments!
In this annual blog post, I offer a 2018 year in review off all the things that took place here at The Order Expert.
I’m a huge fan of year in review roundups.
In fact, I have been doing my own yearly roundups here on the blog for several years now (you can check out the 2017 year in review here and the 2016 year in review here).
I always look forward to taking a few moments to reflect upon what happened over the past year.
In some ways, you can think of year in reviews as a type of annual time management technique.
There’s tremendous value in taking a leisurely hour or two to review your calendar to see what took place (and what didn’t) over the past twelve months.
If you’re looking for a thoughtful wrap-up activity for the end of the calendar year, you should definitely consider holding your own year in review.
Doing your own year in review allows you to see just how much you’ve grown as a person over the past twelve months, and to fully understand and appreciate what you’ve done.
I think we all could use more appreciation and understanding in our lives, and this is one easy way to do it!
What’s more, a year in review sets a great foundation for you to move forward with when it comes to setting goals and new year’s resolutions in your personal and professional life.
And in case you’re wondering, your year-end review doesn’t have to be anything fancy or complicated.
You just need your digital schedule or paper planner, a pad and pen to take notes, a few quiet moments to yourself, and a genuine curiosity to see what you can learn by going back down memory lane…
I suggest you start your review by flipping through each of the calendar entries in your diary.
Make a mental note or jot down highlights on your notepad: from goals accomplished, to vacations enjoyed, to meetings attended, to parties, events, personal achievements, and so on.
When you’ve finished with your cursory review, you can dive deeper with my end-of-year time management reflection questions.
It’s my prediction that you will learn some very interesting things about yourself and how you spent 2018 during your year in review! 🙂
Before we continue on to The Order Expert’s year in review, please note that this will be the last blog post for 2018.
I’ll be taking my annual blogging vacation over the next couple of weeks. New blog posts will resume on New Year’s Day, Tuesday, January 1st, 2019.
Can’t wait until then to get some tips from The Order Expert? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!
Be sure to check out the end of this blog post for some ideas on how to pass the time until my next post.
Okay, are you ready to get this year in review started? Let’s go!
January
January started off with bang with the money-saving website Wisebread featuring two of my blog posts.
That’s a nice way to start the year, huh?
The article Best Money Tips: How to Be More Productive in 2018 featured my blog post, 8 Ways to Be More Productive in 2018, and the article Best Money Tips: Small Lifestyle Changes that Make a Big Difference featured my blog post 19 Fun Things to Put on a Calendar.
Blog posts in January included:
8 Ways to Be More Productive in 2018
19 Fun Things to Put on a Calendar
Want to Have a Productive Day? Try Making Your Bed in the Morning
Stop Wasting Time at Work: Avoid Holding These 7 Meetings
February
February was a relatively quiet month here at The Order Expert.
I continued to blog and was putting in some serious hours into a major project (you’ll see more about this project later in the year).
Blog posts in February included:
3 Reasons to Put that Project on the Back Burner
27 Posts to Improve Your Time Management Skills
How to Get Organized After Shopping at a Big Box Store
March
In March, I offered some helpful tax-season organizing tips on financial author Beth Kobliner’s website, BethKobliner.com.
The article, 6 Steps to Organize Your Tax Documents, offers practical tips to help you get your paperwork, receipts, and files in order.
Blog posts in March included:
April
This month was a great month filled with landmark events and forward motion!
I had a media appearance in the Business Insider article, 8 Morning Routine Hacks That Will Get You Up and Out the Door Faster. The article was later picked up by Thrive Global.
In late April, I got word from one of my readers that she saw my name and photo in the elevator screen in her office building in New York City.
Needless to say, I was intrigued! I did my research, and found out that Captivate Network (which provides cultivated news, weather, information, and more to office building elevators and lobbies around the world). It turns out, I appeared in one of their expert roundups from Twitter (you can check out the screen shot on the left).
Another exciting event that took place in April my blog’s 7 year anniversary! In some ways, I still can’t believe I’ve been blogging for that long. In some ways it seems like I’ve been blogging forever, and in other ways it seems like I’ve just gotten this blogging party started. 🙂
Blog posts in April included:
5 Time Management Strategies to Help You Manage Your Schedule
10 Practical Decluttering Tips to Try Today
12 Thoughtful Productivity Tools to Help You Get Things Done
How Managing Your Time Can Help Reduce Stress
May
After all the action in April, I’m happy to say I was content with May being a relatively quiet month. Onwards…
Blog posts in May included:
A Collection of 46 Incredible Organizing Tips
How to Appreciate Your Productivity Journey
5 Simple Steps to Creating DIY Lifehacks
June
June brought in several media appearances, this time in Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine picking up the Business Insider article, 8 Ways to Hack Your Morning Routine to Get You Up and Out the Door back in April.
I was also featured in a piece on Money + Work called 11 Pieces of Advice That Can Help Every Blogger Succeed. There’s some useful information in this article if you’re thinking about taking up blogging. 🙂
Otherwise, it was back to blogging as usual.
Blog posts in June included:
18 Quick Ways to Declutter Your Calendar
21 Posts to Increase Your Productivity
4 Time Management Solutions that Are Easy to Implement
July
July was another relatively quiet month, but that’s to be expected with the height of summer vacations.
I helped people get a head start on back to school season with my Back to School HQ.
Blog posts in July included:
How to Declutter Your Home Office
5 Effortless Ways to Improve Your Productivity Levels
75 Time Management Ideas to Try Today
How to Organize a Personal Care Item Kit
3 Things to Remember if You Want to Be a More Productive Person
August
August started the countdown for back to school season. Oh, and my countdown to my upcoming launch…
Blog posts in August included:
How to Stay Organized By Writing Yourself Notes
5 Common Productivity Tools You Probably Haven’t Considered
29 Time Management Experiments to Try at Work
September
September means back to school and back to work!
I was featured in the article How to Be More Productive When Working Alone on Moneyish.
There, you’ll find tips on how to make the most of your time when you’re working solo.
Blog posts in September included:
7 Things to Declutter on Your Computer
The Importance of Time Management in Your Life
October
October was a landmark event for me as it marked the release my first online course, How to Plan a Great Event in 60 Days.
This online event planning course is for people who, you guessed it, want to plan a large social event in a little over two months’ time.
If you’re planning an event in 2019, or know of someone who is, you should share the course with them!
You can find out more information on the course page by clicking here.
Blog posts in October included:
4 Fantastic Reasons Why You Should Create a Meeting Agenda
How to Organize a Linen Closet
7 Mindset Hacks to Planning a Large Event
November
November means it’s countdown time to the holiday season…and the new year! I got things rolling with a few choice blog posts below.
Blog posts in November included:
What to Keep in Mind When Scheduling Tasks into Your Calendar
Which New Product Would You Like to See from The Order Expert?
December
And here we are finally in December!
I love this time of year because it’s a great time to review and clean up everything from 2018, and get things organized and ready for 2019.
I enjoy holding my year in review, buying myself a new paper planner, scheduling practical and fun items into my calendar, and of course, wrapping up 2018 administration.
Blog posts in December included:
2018 Year in Review (this is the post you are reading right now)
That was quite a year, wasn’t it? I’ve got some exciting plans for 2019 coming up, so stay tuned!
You can stay in touch by signing up to my email list and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest.
As a reminder, this will be the last post on the blog for 2018. New blog posts will resume on Tuesday, January 1st, 2019, New Year’s Day!
Want to get a head start on getting organized in the New Year? Here’s several great ideas for you…
Check out the most popular posts on the blog
Are you new to the blog? I suggest you start off with the most popular posts with readers. There, you’ll find my most popular organization, time management, and productivity posts.
Learn more about me and the blog
Want to know the story behind The Order Expert? Take a look at my about page to learn more about me and my work.
Check out my media appearances
Pick up more tips, tricks, and ideas from my media appearances across the web. You’ll find a whole collection of my media appearances by clicking here.
Get organized in 2019 with 31 Easy Ways to Get Organized in the New Year
Want an easy-peasy way to get organized in 2019? This guide will show you practical and reusable techniques to keep your home and office in order, year-round.
Create your own customized calendars with The Order Expert’s Calendar Printables
Looking to keep track of that temporary project or event? Want to make your own calendar for that side project? Need a way to track your appointments? My customizable printable calendar system is just what you need!
Learn how to manage your time with The Order Expert’s Guide to Time Management
Take charge of your time…in a timely manner! This practical guide shows you how to solve common time management problems.
Start planning a large party or social event with How to Plan a Great Event in 60 Days
Could you use some help planning that large event? My guide will show you exactly which tasks to work on, and when, for a well-planned and coordinated event.
Plan a large party with step-by-step help from my event planning online course
Looking for more event planning help? You’ll find it in my new online course! With step-by-step instruction, over 5 hours of videos, and 25+ worksheets, you’ll learn how to plan that upcoming large event with ease.
Hire me as your professional organizer to organize your home or office in the new year
Do you need help decluttering *that* closet in your home? Want to finally get a room organized but don’t know where to start? Looking for a cleaner, neater, more professional workspace or desk in 2019? I offer a variety of professional organizing services to help you clear the clutter and bring order to your space. You can learn more about my professional organizing services here.
Hire me as your time management coach and take control of your calendar in 2019
Are you tired of wrestling with your calendar, constantly arriving late, or just need to get a grip on your schedule? If so, you may want to consider time management coaching to help you create more balance in your life at home and work. You can learn more about my time management coaching services by clicking here.
Well, that does it for this year in review post. I wish you and yours a healthy, wealthy, happy, organized, and productive 2019!
Yours in order,
Rashelle
How about you? What were your most memorable moments of 2018? Are you going to conduct your own year in review? What organization, productivity, or time management projects did you complete this year? What are your goals, dreams, and aspirations for 2019? Join in the conversation and leave a comment below!
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