Posted in All In A Day's Time, General Reflections, tagged Balance In Life, busyness, friendship on June 2, 2010| 9 Comments »
I visited a friend in the hospital today. It was a good visit. We had not seen each other in a long while. The visit ended with the lingering reminder of how much I do love my friend, and how very quickly life passes.
My friend is going to be okay. She will get well. But what if it had gone in the opposite direction?
I have a lot of catching up to do. And I am glad to be reminded. Busyness tends to drag us away from what really matters, if we let it.
Have a beautiful day!
Posted in General Reflections, Goat Care (and General Farm), Health, Inspirations, tagged abundances in life, birds, busyness, healthy happiness, Nature on December 6, 2009| 14 Comments »
No matter who you are…a busy individual running a business…a student cramming for exams…a parent caring for youngsters…no matter your degree of busyness, I hope you remember to stop and enjoy the simple things in life.
The simple things are the abundance’s that have been given to us.
My kitchen is full of windows, one nearly spans the back wall. From it I can see my shop and a bird feeder.
This morning I noticed birds watching the feeder from afar…many beautiful hungry birds…intent on seeing when “the human” was going to fill their feeder with seed.
And then, I saw the red-headed woodpecker. He was a big young man. As if he knew I was trying to take a picture, he flew off each time I silently inched towards the window.
He made several trips to the feeder. With a mouth full of seed or corn, he would fly over to the electric pole. He carefully climbed the pole and placed his harvest inside the pole’s crevices and splits. Delightful…smart creature! He was happy. He knew his abundances.
Most of the birds had flown each time I took a picture…but a few remained in the lilac bushes.
Have a beautiful day…please savor your abundances, the smallest of things in life!
“Whatever we are waiting for- peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance – it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.” – Sarah Ban Brethnach
Posted in General Reflections, Inspirations, tagged Balance In Life, busyness, organization on November 11, 2009| 5 Comments »
Have you ever lost your go-juice?
The scenario: you are going full speed ahead, grinding through the long to-do list for the day. All at once you slide into the break down lane. You find yourself saying, “I cannot do any more. I am here for repairs!” The go-juice has leaked from your engine.
Last week I wrote two posts, When 24 Hours Is Not Enough (here) and Bringing The Balance Back Into A Busy Life (here). Unanimously, the comments circled around keeping lists, learning to say no, getting off of the merry-go-round, doing what is most important, and letting the rest go.
I said I would share my organization “system.” Warning, it is VERY dry reading!
I keep a Franklin Covey planner. Daily activities are broken down into 3 sections – a short daily task list, an appointment schedule, and a new list of notes throughout the day.
The planner also contains what I refer to as the “long list.” It contains tasks that I may not be able to complete that day. The tasks are color coded: pink-must do as soon as possible, yellow-very important but not top priority, blue-important but can be done at a later date. I also keep a shopping list (for the business), an inventory list (for the business), and a wish-list. What is a wish-list? Websites that I want to visit, books I want to read, places I want to visit, things I want to look at, things that are not important at all…except to my own well-being.
When the “short” daily to-do list is too long, when I feel overwhelmed, I select 3 items that has to be done that day, only 3. I mark them with a hi-liter to ensure I stay focused. When the 3 tasks are done I feel tremendous! It works. I accomplish what I set out to do!
The most important thing to do is not procrastinate. I cannot put off the “worst of tasks.” When something important is put on the back burner it comes back and bites me in the rear. Putting off a task of low importance, I often find to be helpful. I end up glad that I didn’t do it to begin with. It is like an idea that you tuck away. You do not forget it, but something better eventually comes along!
Last week, I was in the middle of a busy task filled day when I ground to a halt in the emergency lane. The go-juice was gone. The brain went to mush.
The break-down repair ticket contained orders such as dropping what was not necessary, taking a long walk, calling someone I love, and deliberately scheduling time for enjoyment.
The biggest thing I did was to become very aware of what I was doing that was not necessary. I scheduled email time, scheduled blog time, scheduled soap shop time, and deliberately stepped away from everything that was not going to make or break my day. When busy, a person has to be deliberate…it makes for a much healthier being!
I plan/hope to stay out of the emergency lane for a while!
Posted in General Reflections, Inspirations, tagged Balance In Life, busyness, stress on November 4, 2009| 11 Comments »
As you sift through the daily list of things to do, do you find yourself wanting to set the work aside? Do you vision yourself pushing away from the computer? Could you possibly be so bold to consider turning off the cell phone?
We are definitely a world full of list makers. Lists that guide us through each and every day.
As elaborate and carefully put together our lists are, some of us are better than others at working a balance into our lives.
Is balance in life important?
Busyness in life does not segregate itself into a few of life’s roles. Power to the homemaker that has learned to say “no.” By example, perhaps she can help the business owner that feels he nearly needs to work around the clock. And what about the woman that reports to the corporate job each day? She drags herself to the laptop, even working from home on the days she is too sick to travel to the office.
We can block off the calendar to show others that we are not available during a certain period of time, to ensure we get work done in our office, can we do the same for our personal lives?
Some say their minds are healthier, they accomplish more when they simply say, “Enough is enough.” Does shutting the work day down lead to procrastination? Or does it lead to a fresh start, accomplishments that abound once we return to work?
I know, some of these questions are “no-brainers.” But we do not always listen to our brains, we ignore our wills, even though they are screaming out to us, “Stop this ride!”
At what point do you “stop the ride?”
Do you take charge and pull the brake?
Do you come to a screeching halt, just when you cannot possibly take it any longer? Or do you plan for a smooth stop?
Posted in General Reflections, Inspirations, tagged Balance In Life, busyness, Goals, Organizing on November 2, 2009| 23 Comments »
Do you ever feel as if there is not enough time in a day to get everything done that you want to do?
I’ll reword the question just slightly.
Are there times when you feel that you cannot accomplish what you need to do?
I am there at times. As hard as I try, I am there more frequently than I would like (or like to admit).
What about you? What do you do when the list is longer than a day, or perhaps longer than several days?
Do you make a list and prioritize?
Do you pray?
Do you walk away, take a break?
Do you say humorous things like, “Stick a fork in me, I’m done!”
What do I do? I make a list. If I end up making a list that is fairly daunting in size, I hi-lite 3 items on that list. If I accomplish those 3 crucial items that day, I accomplished what I set out to do. It was obatainable, and it felt good.
But it isn’t always that perfect or simple, is it?
What do you think? Before I say more…I am curious about your initial thoughts. Who knows, you may change the discussion path completely!
Posted in AGH Business News, tagged Blogging, business help, busyness on September 22, 2009| 4 Comments »
Mr. Yellow Tom At It Again
Mr. Yellow Tom becomes my subject matter from time to time. He has an agenda, so do I. More on that boy in a bit…
One word sums up my week so far, busy!
This blog is a communication tool that I treasure. I publish business information, farm updates, and occasionally personal tidbits. I do Facebook and Twitter, and I love those connections as well, but the glue that bonds me to everyone is much stickier in this blog. My website is a good communication tool, as well as the newsletter, but again, this blog is the creme’ of it all.
I do not pre-plan a lot of blog posts, well, one or two, here or there. I prefer to pop in and say, “Hey…this is what is going on!” When I am too busy to do that, I feel a bit disconnected.
I do not know if the disconnected feeling is good or bad. Shoot, it does not matter! What matters is I am back and reconnecting. I am still working on cleaning up my email in-basket, amongst some other connections. So…if you get a message that says, “I am busy, have to keep this short for now…,” it’s true. I care immensely, just going at rabbit speed instead of turtle mode.
I was watching Mr. Yellow Tom as I milked the girls this evening. How can it be that the meanest young adult cat in the barn be the mother to all of the kittens? A kitten will come up and bat at Mr. Tom, he bats back, and then he starts licking. In this photo he licked the young kitten to sleep. Yes, Mr. Tom walked away, and the kitten did not stir. She was out of it!! Funny stuff! And this is the same Mr. Yellow Tom that still looks for that yellow cat in the bumper of my truck. And guess what? He has taught the kittens to line up below the truck and watch with him. The farm clown, Mr. Yellow Tom.
And what does he have to do with busyness? He has an agenda, and he gets it done, and he still makes his connections, obviously! Perhaps I should hire him? I could use a part-time helper, one that loves like he does. Only the best.
Enjoy your day!
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