December 2024 Productivity Report: Skillful Life Navigation Requires Both a Compass and a Map

Reading Time: [23] Minutes

Welcome to my December 2024 productivity report! To backtrack, check out where I started in October 2023. You’ll find November 2023 here, and December 2023 here. For 2024, January is here, February is here, March is here, April is here, May is here, June is here, July is here, August is here, September is here, October is here is here, and November is here.

🌱 How I Felt About December 2024

Every end-of-year is a natural reset point. We all know that, especially those of us who work in the organizing and productivity industry. Most people pause in late December and take inventory of their life. “Where am I going? How am I doing? and how far have I come?” All these are valid questions, and having that check-in with yourself is so important. Any opportunity to reflect is good. That being said, I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t tell you that once a year isn’t enough.

Every January, all of us organizers feel the influx of New Year’s resolutions in the air. People are excited and engaged to meet their goals. They commit. But only for a second or two. Come February, those goals are long forgotten. Motivation is dead. They have officially quit. And then when December rolls around again, they wonder why they didn’t meet any of those goals. It’s a fascinating cycle to watch, but also incredibly annoying for me as a Coach. Needless to day, December was an irritating month for me. I try not to get too frustrated, but when you observe the same destructive pattern over and over again, one can’t help but sigh aloud.

Many content creators share their annual reviews online, and I enjoy reading them. However, I feel like there is one unspoken part that nobody talks about… Those of us who successfully meet our goals check in with ourselves far more often than once a year. That’s how we accomplish more, and that fact needs to be crystal clear to anyone who needs help with goal-setting. I’ll say it again. Once a year is not enough. That’s an all or nothing approach, and it doesn’t work.

I check in with myself once a week, and that works. When you regularly check in, you sustain motivation, notice the changes, and make progress in a whole different way. You end up actually meeting your goals because they become real. When you don’t check in often enough, you either forgot what you were doing and don’t many much progress at all, or you travel too far down the wrong road before you notice that you’re off course.

So with that said, we arrive at this month’s message.

🌻 Skillful Life Navigation Requires Both a Compass and a Map

Your destination is your north star, and you have to have both the compass and the map to find it. In other words, the bigger picture is the map, and the details are your compass. That combination is what grounds you and guides you through all changes that need to happen in order for you to reach your objective. When you utilize both well, you can skillfully navigate life.

We keep ourselves anchored to our goals by regularly taking small steps in the right direction, and reflecting on those steps to make sure they were correct. This is what my entire Mindful Monday Mapping framework is based on. You see, solid decision-making based on both the bigger picture and the data we need ultimately leads you to the outcome you want – guaranteed. I’m living proof of it myself.

Organizing, planning, and productivity skills are life skills, so when you improve on them, you don’t have to worry about New Years resolutions. There’s no regret at the end of the year because you actually accomplished what you set out to accomplish. Believe me – there’s nothing more empowering than that feeling. If you want something, you have to take that goal seriously. Are you in, or out?

When you improve these types of skills, you also learn how to manage change and everything that comes along with it. When we’re in knee-deep in transition mode, it’s to get so caught up in the details and the messiness of it all that you forget the bigger picture… but that bigger picture is what keeps us in balance. Without anchoring yourself in the that, you can easily spiral into obsessing over what might happen (or might not happen) in the future. That’s not productive nor healthy. It’s anxiety defined.

When you improve your productivity skills and learn how to switch between the big picture and the details, you start to see why change is necessary. What’s more, you welcome it because you know it good for you. You don’t stagnate. You see that flexibility and adaptability are keys to all of our thriving systems. It’s the nature of evolution at its core. Darwin himself would agree, I’m sure.

🤔 Do you focus on the details, the big picture or both?

I’d love to know: how do you approach change? Do you focus on the details, the big picture or both? Do you go with the flow in an optimistic way, or feel like you’re just along for the ride? Do you resist? Let me know in the comments!

🏆 How Productive I was in December 2024

December was probably my most productive month to date. Did I overwork? Yeah, a tad, but the amount of content I produced was beyond even my own expectations.

A big part of productivity is to consider the ROI and impact of what you are doing, not just how long it takes. For example, I could spend 20 hours working on any given project, but it that project doesn’t lead to measurable, significant results, it’s a waste of time, energy, and effort. The key is to know where to put your effort, and how much time to invest into various things in order to get results.

This month, I am confident that the work I produced will generate at least $250,000 in sales within the next year or two, if not more. You’ll see by my time sheet that I put in about 30 hours extra to generate that result. That’s a productive 30 hours, especially if you break it down and think of it in terms of an hourly rate ($8,333). That’s what I mean by ROI. We want to invest our time, energy, and effort into things that are going to pay off long-term. This was one of them, which is why I made the decision to put in the effort.

This year in Mindful Monday Mapping (my coaching program), we will be talking a lot about project management, including how to decide what’s worth your time and energy, so if that’s a weak spot for you, consider joining us. Making good decisions is everything when it comes to productivity.

📁 Projects Completed 

In December, I completed six projects, which is double my target number. It was an interesting month in terms of project management because five of them were completed in the first two weeks, and the last one (my DPO PRO course update) consumed the full last two weeks.

Keep in mind that the projects I closed were not the only ones I worked on; that’s a big distinction. You’ll see by my timesheet below that I actually moved ten projects forward, and out of those, I closed six. That leaves four more that will likely wrap up in January, so I’m already on target for that. Closing out projects is an art-form, but when you get good at it, the world is your oyster.

🚀 My Favorite Project in December 2024

My favorite project this past month was the update of my course DPO PRO: The Ultimate Photo Organizing Masterclass. I’m so glad to have it done. I first released this course close to a decade ago, and it’s gone through a few changes over the years, but nothing as big as this. The curriculum was completely re-written, and I re-recorded all the videos too. It’s now the best it’s ever been, and I’m so proud of the work I’ve put into it. I truly believe that it’s the best and most comprehensive photo organizing course on the market today.

On top of it, The Photo Managers are now recommending it and including it as a part of their Plus tier membership, which is very exciting. It’s a sign that course itself if comprehensive enough to stand as “the” course to take for both DIYers and Pros alike.

⏳ Hours Worked in December 2024

This month, I overworked. Yes, I did. And I knew that was going to happen because I made that choice consciously. I had decided that if I was going to make all these changes to my courses, academy, and community, this was the month to do it. December is always more quiet because people are slowing down and focusing on the holidays. Few people are active around that time, and a lot of my clients are taking breaks. It’s the perfect time to implement changes because the New Year’s resolutions start to kick in.

I spent close to 125 hours working, which is just about 31 hours per week. Six more on average per week than normally. I was traveling (Los Angeles and Nashville) for the first two weeks of the month, so little of the work happened during that time. Most of the hours came in during the last two weeks of the year. The update DPO PRO was the biggest of the projects, accounting for 87+ of those hours, or 70% of the total time investment. No surprise there.

My goal has been 25 hours or less per week for the past year, so this was a drastic switch up from previous months. Again though, I’m focused on the bigger picture here. Putting in an extra 25-30 hours once for something I can sell over and over again is a good investment of time. Decision well made.

⌨️ Digital Images Organized in December 2024 

December brought a lot of new memories (1763 to be exact), and I kept and organized 1253 of them. I spent time both in Los Angeles and in Nashville with friends and family, so I took a lot of pictures. On top of that, I did two mini photoshoots and I went to two different concerts.

I was excited to see more of Nashville, spend some time there, and visit the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. I spend quite a lot of time in Los Angeles (it’s like my second home), so I’m very familiar with that city, but I had only been to Nashville once before while we drive through on a roadtrip. I’m a huge music fan, and some friends of mine were performing there, so it was a win-win.

Everything was decorated beautifully for the holidays, and I loved the energy of the town.

Overall, I enjoyed my time so much there that I’m planning to head back next year around the same time. I have some friends who are performing there yet again, so I already have my tickets. Can’t wait. 🙌🏻

👟 Steps Walked in December 2024 

I walked a total of 136,242 steps in December, which breaks down to about 4400 steps per day on average. For the first two weeks of December, I was out and about traveling, so naturally my step count was better. The second half of the month was worse, but I tried my best despite spending so much time in front of the computer. It’s an acceptable result, but it’s not in line with my target goal of 5000 steps per day.

I’ve decided to keep going with this goal for 2025 because it’s still a bit hit or miss. If I were tracking this daily, I’d be a lot more spot on, but I’ve decided to make it a flexible goal and just monitor it monthly. This is something I want to improve, but I want to improve it in a no-pressure way, without thinking too much about it. I have too many other things that are higher priority. Regardless, moving the goal post or dropping this area completely now would likely result in a very poor performance going forward, and that’s not the direction I want to go in. Therefore, we’re gonna see how 2025 develops in this area. It’ll be fun to compare years at the end of next.

🍋 Home-Cooked Meals in December 2024

There was a slight drop in home-cooked meals for December (78.6%) as compared to November (92.1%). I still met my target of 75%, so I was happy with that, but the decline was in large part due to my travels.

Reviewing the bigger picture for the year, I’m proud to say that I can officially let this goal go. With the exception of a few hiccups here and there, I’ve been consistently hitting my numbers and the habit has been created. There’s no need to measure it anymore because I feel comfortable in knowing what I need to do to stay on track with it.

Starting in January, I will be replacing this with a new goal. 🎉

🎧 Books & Learning in December 2024

This month, I re-listened to the audio version of The Sell by Fredrik Eklund. I like this book a lot, so it’s not the first time I’ve gotten through it. Besides us both being Swedish, we have a lot in common when it comes to how we approach life. He is definitely better at selling than me though – haha. But we both sold Majblommor as children, so I could relate to a lot of his early experiences.

This book is a good read if you want to get a better grasp of all that goes into selling. Eklund makes the case that you’re always selling yourself as the professional, regardless of the product, so he covers how presentation, attitude, confidence, and appearance all makes a huge difference. And he’s right. It’s valuable to hear how someone with his expertise thinks about the different components of a successful pitch.

I’d recommend it to any entrepreneur because you have to be able to make money in your business, no matter what you sell. Pick it up on Audible or from Amazon.

☕️ Meaningful Conversations in December 2024

In December, I didn’t do any FIKA with Caroline rounds because of the holiday season, but I did have some really deep and good conversations with friends. I’ve been really craving more connection lately because I’ve been traveling so much on my own, and because the majority of the people in my circle live elsewhere. Fortunately, I do have some amazing people that I can lean on, and they’ve made all the difference this year.

Entrepreneurship and working remotely can be somewhat isolating due to the nature of it, so it’s really important that you get out and fill your cup with companionshop once in a while. Zoom calls and regular calls are obviously nice, but in-person rendezvous are much better.

FIKA with Caroline will be back soon, just not yet. I have some mailing list consolidation to do first.

If you’re not on there yet though, subscribe to get notifications when slots open up. 👊🏻

⭐️ Success Celebrated in December 2024 

I know I’m over-saturating the topic of DPO PRO this month, but there’s just no way around it. The fact that this course is still standing over 10 years (!) since it’s first release says a lot. And now, finally, it’s exactly the way I want it be. And I run it exactly how I first imagined I would a decade ago. That’s worth celebrating! 🎉

New course creators (and content creators) often ask me what it takes to run a successful course business, and there is no simple way to answer that question, but I can say this: The best way to build it is to just start. The first draft of your course is not the final one. Your second version isn’t even the final one. A course needs to be refined and updated as you learn and grow as a teacher, and the simple fact is that you don’t know how people will respond until you release something.

The best way to get a course off the ground is to pre-sell it. It feels counterintuitive, but it’s the best way forward. And beta-test too. Do not write a curriculum in a vacuum without getting feedback on it in real time. It’s so much harder to imagine what people want, write it, record it, try to sell it, and then figure out later on that people had completely different questions. Instead, ask your audience what they want, bundle that, and pre-sell it first. Then bring students in, test, update, and continue the development of it. Over time, it’ll become exactly what it needs to be, and that’s where DPO PRO is right now.

😍 This Month’s Favorite Hubs, Tools, Services, & Products

What hubs, tools, products, and services do I use to be more productive? Ah, lots. In an effort to be really transparent, I have some of my recommendations below. Some links are affiliates links, others are not, but either way, I’d recommend them. Feel free to reach out if you have questions on any of them.

Here’s my list of things I loved this month:

• Notion → Where would I be without Notion? Not anywhere close to where I am now, that’s for sure. I run my entire life and business in Notion, so I wholeheartedly recommend this platform. We hosted a Building in Notion (for Beginners) event some time ago, and the replay is available for purchase.
• Airtable → We have used Airtable for many years now – as our main hub before Notion, and now for student-facing databases, external editorial calendars, and intake forms. Love it!
• Forever → This is good platform for storing photo archives. I invested in this company when they were a startup a decade ago, and it has only gotten better since then. Great for memory-keeping!
• ShowIt → Love ShowIt! It’s the most flexible and best website platform out there, IMO. Plus, it’s run by nice people, which is a plus. I just renewed my own subscription not too long ago.
• Convertkit → Convertkit is now simply Kit, and I’m not really used to that change yet. I’ll come around, but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be calling it Convertkit for a while still. Change is hard. 🤣
• Lightroom Classic → This is a program I’ve been using for two decades. I teach it and several other solutions in my course DPO PRO. Join us to learn how to use it!
• Teachable → I’ve been a loyal customer with Teachable since back in the early Fedora days, which says a lot about how much I like their platform. It’s a great place to host your courses.
• Circle → Circle is easy to use for everyone – from students to coaches to guests. We love it as our community hub. It stands well on its own, but also integrates nicely with Teachable (see above).
• Trackabi → My new time-tracking platform, which is working out wonderfully so far.
• Audible → I love my Audible subscription for when I’m getting my steps in, and I recommend trying it out if you want to get your learning on. Sign up for a free 30-day trial through my link to get a free book (or 2 free credits if you’re an Amazon prime member!) – cancel anytime!
• Secret → This is a wonderful place for finding deals on software hubs and tools. Who doesn’t love to save some $$$? Invest a little, save a lot! I’ve saved thousands. Great deals for the new year too!
• Grove Collaborative → Love my Grove subscription! It saves me so much time because I can restock all my household needs easily. They write sweet messages on each box too! So cute. Get a free gift set by signing up through my affiliate link!
• Almond Cow → In 3 minutes, you can have fresh nut milk. What’s not to love? I miss it so much when I travel. It’s the best thing I’ve ever bought for my kitchen, hands down.
• Nuuly → This is so much fun. I just love renting new stuff each month. It’s a creative way to try thing you never would have picked up otherwise. 🙌🏻 Use my link to save $ on your first order.
• Taja → I really like this AI-driven platform for optimizing YouTube videos. It’s a great starting point for coming up with attention-grabbing headlines, descriptions, keywords, and more.
• Wise → Banking as a digital nomad and international service provider can be a bit tricky, but lately, I’ve enjoyed using Wise to make things easier. If you’re a nomad or course creator, take note.
• Harney & Sons → My favorite tea supplier in the US. They have outstanding quality teas for all tastes and budgets, and they’ve worth trying out! Save $10 on your order using this link.

🫖 Tea of the Month

For this month, I want to highlight a wonderful Oolong tea from Harney & Sons that represents “new beginnings.” Fitting, isn’t it? This particular blend is for the year of the Snake, and you can get it from Harney & Sons online, or from Cost Plus World Market. Serve it hot!

H&S Lunar New Year's Tea

Yield: 1 Cup

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Additional Time: 1 minute

Total Time: 6 minutes

This is a fun oolong tea from my favorite tea provider (Harney & Sons) that represents new beginnings, so it's a fitting recommendation for this month. The 2025 blend is for the year of the snake.

Print

Instructions

1. Boil water (212º)
2. Pour water over one sachet (8 oz)
3. Steep five minutes
4. Enjoy

Notes

Purchase this tea directly from Harney & Sons, or from any Cost Plus World Market.

📐 Measure What Matters

Thanks for reading this report til the end! I hope you enjoyed it. Please remember that productivity is very personal, and you DO NOT have to track the same metrics that I do. Your goals and metrics could be quite different from mine, and that’s OK.

If you’d like to understand where you should be focusing your attention, join us in an upcoming Quarterly Planning Workshop to identify your own goals.

🎬 Prefer to Watch This Report?

• About the Author
• Most Recent Posts

Caroline Guntur Organizing & Productivity Coach

Hi there! I’m Caroline, and I’m here to help you get organized and be more productive, so that you can live better and have time for what matters.

www.theswedishorganizer.com

• The Organized Leader's Guide to Change Management
• Building a Clutter-Free Business Without Creating More Waste
• How to Start a New Project (Even If You Feel Overwhelmed)