Know Your Why

By on January 10, 2011 in Goals, Motivation, Work

questionsDo you really know why you want the things you want? How and why did you set those goals in the first place? What is the motivation and who has ownership? Setting goals and objective is absolutely essential, but if you don’t really identify your “why” or your purpose, then you won’t have the clarity and motivation that is required for maximum progress.

This week take some time to contemplate your “why.”

  • Why do you want to achieve a certain outcome?
  • Will it bring about some positive change in your life or someone else’s?
  • Who might be affected?
  • Does it give you some kind of satisfaction or fulfillment?
  • Is your purpose in line with your personal and/or company values?
  • Is this goal or objective even really yours? Or are you just going along with another person or entity’s wishes without questioning?

For more information on setting goals see the related posts.

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Change One Thing at a Time

By on January 7, 2011 in Goals, Personal Growth

Are you taking on too much, getting caught in the resolution frenzy?

Are your resolutions really more like wish lists?

This year why not try making one profound change. Make it important enough that you will reap rewards, see results or gain satisfaction as you progress and work towards this “goal.”  Change is a process that usually takes time, so don’t beat yourself up.

Do you want to start a business, get fit, stop smoking, write a book, start a blog, get out of a dead-end relationship or job, pay off your debt? Whatever it is . . . make this your top priority and put your focus on it until it’s done! You may need to let something else go or at least put it on the back burner to free up time and energy. But what’s the alternative? You will be back in the same place this time next year and nothing will have changed……

I am still making up my mind…write a book, build my business, get fit (exercise every morning, run long road race, build more muscle,) increase financial savings, meditate daily, have more fun……starting to sound like a wish list to me. We are in this together…….

Keep me posted on your progress and we can journey through 2011 together!

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Housekeeping Routines: How to Improve Your Routine

By on January 6, 2011 in Life Balance

From time to time I like to feature guest posts by other contributors. If you’re interested in guest posting on this blog please contact me. James has some tips for helping you organize your space.

Housekeeping Routines: How to Improve Your Routine

Keeping your home clean, tidy and organized is a task that most people put off for another day, which is only serves to make cleaning up even more time-consuming when you finally do bite the bullet. It doesn’t need to be that way. With an optimized routine when you know exactly what to do, where to do it and when, you can turn an unwieldy and stressful chore into a lightweight point cheerfully ticked off your to do list.

  1. Tackle one room or area at a time. If your schedule is already hectic, the idea of cleaning the whole house from top to bottom is likely to send you into a panic. However, you do not have to feel this way as long as you break it down into digestible parts. For instance, one day of the week you could handle the kitchen, then the next day scrub down at least one bathroom, and so on. In this way it is easier to get things done, and you will not need to rush just to finish and move on.
  2. Keep the house free of clutter – Do not let a pile of magazines overcome your coffee table, and avoid letting the children leave their toys all over the yard. When the time comes to clean you are only adding extra work; after all, you cannot wipe the coffee table if it is covered in personal possessions. Put things away when you are not using them. If something is old and you do not even look at or wear it anymore, toss it or give it away. Should the item prove to be worth something, there is nothing wrong with selling it to bring in a little extra money. This not only helps speed up the cleaning process, but you will feel more at ease with less mess to deal with.
  3. Get the whole family involved in the house cleaning process – Assign the children to vacuuming and emptying the dishwasher on certain days of the week. Have the spouse wash the windows and take out the trash when needed. The more people that are involved with the routine, the easier it will be to get it all done.
  4. Keep a calendar of chores that need to be completed – Choose a place in the home where it will be displayed; a wall in the kitchen, your room, or next to the front door is all good locations. It does not really matter what you go with, as long as it is in plain sight and hard to overlook. By keeping track of what needs to get done, you are less likely to forget something, leading to a lot more cleaning than you anticipated or wanted.
  5. Do certain chores at certain times of the year – In the winter season, known for its chilly weather and onslaught of snow, it would be unreasonable to leave rugs outside to dry. Removing leaves and debris from the pool is not critical. Nobody would expect you to clean out the garage during such weather, either. These housekeeping routines are not absolutely necessary, and can wait for warmer weather. By taking these chores off the list, you will be able to tackle what matters the most, rather than focusing on things outside of the months where they are appropriate. Keep in mind that some things can and should be done all year.
  6. Do not ignore the hidden issues – In other words, though you may have wiped away the food stains in the kitchen, you may not have completely removed the germs from the area. Be sure to add disinfectant wipes and other cleaning solutions to your shopping list; when you make sure that your home is clean when it comes to both visible and invisible issues, it will become a safer place. For a house with children, this is something that will be especially prevalent. It does not take too long to do, however, and can make all the difference in the world.
  7. Clean for only a few minutes a day – On top of taking care of one room at a time, another way to help prevent the feeling of panic is by spending only a few to fifteen minutes on each project. Should you attempt to clean for longer, you may become tired, and thus not want to do it anymore. Then the next day you are liable to be lazy about it, believing that it is not worth the work involved. Unless it is an emergency, such as an unexpected guest coming for a visit, excess cleaning should be avoided. Take it slow, and do not act is if you are being graded on the results. As long as you do your best, that is all that matters.

This is a guest post from James, a full time writer for Spares Next Day who specialize in hoover bags for vacuum cleaners.

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What Can You Eliminate?

By on January 5, 2011 in Time
I love clutter
Image by sindesign via Flickr

As the year is starting to wind down it’s time to think about pairing back and “living lean.” As you go through this month give thought to what you can eliminate to free up more time and energy for work, for family and well… for living.

What can I eliminate? Well, start with eliminating unnecessary tasks, processes, and all around clutter.

Here are some easy tips for “cleaning up” and finding room more productive activities:

  1. Clean your desk/work area. – Do this today.  Now.  You need a clean and more importantly, welcoming area to work.  I can’t produce any amount of work at my desk when it’s messy.  Why not clean it up and at least make your work area welcoming if you have to be there, all day.
  2. Eliminate huge to-do lists. – Don’t get bogged down in minutiae by scheduling 36 tasks for one day. Choose your top 3-5 depending on your system and concentrate on those.   If you can only get one thing done today, what one thing will make you satisfied with your day?  DO THAT, FIRST!
  3. What are you doing that someone else can get done? – Can you let go of control bit and ask for help?  What are some things that someone else could get done in half the time with twice the results for just a small amount of compensation?
  4. What can you automate? Have you automated your bills? How about your computer back-up? Do you check your feeds in a feed aggregator like Google Reader or are you still clogging up your inbox with daily emails? Are you visiting each social media site individually or are you using a dashboard like HootSuite or TweetDeck, or even better get email summaries from NutshellMail?
  5. Get rid of junk. – Opt out of all those email newsletters and daily alerts that you never read. Unsubscribe from magazines, newspapers and catalogs that you don’t look at. Aren’t you ordering online anyway? Use a service like catalog choice to help reduce your paper junk.
  6. How many projects are you working on? Are you spread too thin?  Too many irons on the fire? How many are really important? How about focusing on income producing activities and cutting the rest? Are you doing one thing well or 10 things with mediocrity?

With all these tips, the key is to really examine what is necessary.  What is productive, billable or critical?

Stop and think.  What can you eliminate? Not just “stuff,” but processes, tasks, and so on.

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Looking Back to Look Forward

By on January 3, 2011 in Lessons, Life Balance, Personal Growth
This is where I've been
Image by nige_mar via Flickr

Looking Back

It’s helpful to periodically take a look back at where you’ve been; assimilate the lessons you’ve learned, get your bearings and figure out where you want to go in the future. In doing my annual look back at where I’ve been and what I learned over the last year I found some surprising, but choice wisdom.

Where I’ve Been

I was all over the map last year; I started two new websites and migrated two old ones, restructured and realigned my business, wrote a book on deployment from a spouse perspective, started 2 new books, sent my second child off to college, moved my widowed mother into a new home and helped her get the old one ready for sale, learned more about home repair than I ever wanted to and survived 6 months without my husband, who is still in Afghanistan.

What I’ve Learned

  • You can do so much more than you thought possible – This year I have had many firsts and am ever amazed at the expanding limits of my capacity. I started two new websites and migrated two old ones, restructured and realigned my business, wrote a book on deployment from a spouse perspective, started 2 new books, sent my second child off to college, moved my widowed mother into a new home and helped her get the old one ready for sale and survived 6 months without my husband, who is still in Afghanistan. Without my husband to lean on, I have learned my way around a caulk gun, helped to close the pool and successfully opened the fireplace while managing not to blow up our house.  Who knew?
  • Enough is perfectly acceptable – Who decides what enough is? The committee of “They?” Society? The business world? Our family? Friends? No. We do. I decide when something is good enough. How much time is enough? How much sleep is enough? When work is enough? What results are enough? What amount of money is enough? Maybe even how much happiness or joy is enough? What about love, how much of that is enough to give or receive? I don’t know the answers to all of those yet, but I’m working on it.
  • You cannot do as much as you think you can – In a seemingly direct contradiction of my first lesson comes the second one. Projects will take longer than expected, obstacles will arise and demands on your time and attention will test your limits when you can least afford it. You can’t do and be everything for everyone without losing yourself in the shuffle. I have found that when juggling competing needs, my time, my health and my care are the first to be overlooked. That can only lead to burnout.
  • Ask for help – Be open to support from wherever and whomever it comes and know who to ask for what – identify (at least in your mind) who will give you emotional support, who is your shoulder to cry on, you ear to vent in, who will offer sound advice, who will offer practical wisdom and think about the details, who can give recommendations and who can do repairs.
  • Keep your sense of humor – Life is so much easier when you laugh (even at yourself.) Don’t take life so seriously. Stuff happens, plans get derailed, things break, dogs throw up, your pool turns green, you get stuck in the ditch the first night of your vacation or maybe those things just happen to me…but at least I can still laugh at them.

I am my own worst enemy…no big surprise there. Aren’t we all? At this time of year when we are collectively making resolutions and setting goals for the New Year, these are the things I am thinking about. No resolutions or lofty goals this year, just an intention; an intention to push my boundaries, but to respect my limits, to try new things, but embrace tradition, to help others, but honor and care for myself and most importantly to embrace and acknowledge what is enough for me both personally and professionally.

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