Two Weeks of Transformation

Wow.  It has been “all quiet on the Western {blog} front”!  I may not have posted here, but “things have been happening” as Gary and I like to say :)

For the past two weeks I’ve been participating in Lara Casey’s Making Things Happen Challenges.  Week one: Clear the Clutter,  then week two: Get Fired Up.

I took this photo this weekend while we were away.  It evokes in me feelings of calm, refreshed order.  Exactly what I’ve gained from participating in these challenges.

These work I’ve done while following Lara’s guidance has guided me to structure my days and my life around preparing for success!  As a result, I now:

• have business cards that I really like :)  And I have a method to use to approach tasks like “I need to order business cards to-day”!
• “download” daily to get all my to-dos out of my head into my new task manager: Todoist.  I use Todoist for Google Chrome on my computer and the BlueTick Todoist app on my iPhone and as a result can add new items whenever they pop into my head and triumphantly check items off as I do them as well–you know you’re all about the check marks, too!
• I’m working on “clearing the clutter” daily both on my computer/the internet and in our home.  Can I tell you how great it feels to have unsubscribed to 20+ newsletters/store ads that were filling my inbox with nonsense I did. not. care. about. every day/week for who knows how long??  It’s a-mazing.  Clutter at home: the fact that I work from home does not mean my house is cleaner than yours.  In fact, I really dislike dusting, so my house is probably much dustier.  Lucky for me, someone raised my husband right and he does it out of the blue sometimes!  (To my credit, I have discovered the Swiffer duster and use it on occasion . . . I’m working on it!)  What this challenge has done for me is get me to break down the menial tasks into bite size, 2-minute steps that are do-able right now. The top of our dryer is visible for the first time in weeks!  I was going to get to those things . . . eventually.  Well, now it’s done.
• I’ve gutted my internet.  Meaning, cleaned up my Google Reader to include only those blogs that I actually want to read and even further, ones that will inspire me to greatness, not have me comparing myself to those near my ability.  Also meaning: unfollowed people on Twitter whose posts don’t lift me up or add value to the limited time I’m spending on Twitter.  I’ve added motivational feeds and find their posts to be great pick-me-ups when I peek in at Twitter.
• I’ve cut the umbilical cord to Facebook and Twitter that was tethering me to my phone and computer far too many hours/day.  I’ve followed Lara’s recommendation and installed Boxcar on my iPhone to catch all Twitter and Facebook messages that used to *ding* my phone and interrupt my progress.  Now, I check it every few hours instead of every few minutes.  And I feel SO much lighter.  I’m actually relatively new to Twitter, but it can really be like sitting at Starbucks and chatting with people all day if you let it!  Which I found great at first, but my-oh-my did my productivity suffer.
• I actually took a “Social Media Vacation” last weekend!  No Facebook or Twitter at. all. all weekend.  Woah!  Luckily we had plans to be away and busy or it might have been more difficult.  It was actually great because I got to visit with my family face-to-face instead of facebook-to-facebook ;)
• I’ve started preparing for greatness in my tomorrow, my next week, and my next year.  Again with the little steps!  It’s really neat how thinking about how you can prepare for greatness next year, which seems so far away, can nudge the ball from stopped to a slow roll.  I’ll get “there” sooner this way :)
• Active Rest.  It’s important.  I used to take breaks from the computer to walk Claire or get a snack . . . but I’d have my eyes on my phone the whole time we walked, or I’d run downstairs and grab my snack and literally take it back to the computer to eat it here!  Now, I have things that I do during my breaks that recharge me, get me away from the social media or the computer and let my mind wander.  I take Claire for a walk and make it a point not to take my phone out of my pocket. (You might say, “why not just leave it behind?”  Well.  I might get there, but today is not that day.)  I stretch.  I get a healthy snack and eat it downstairs, away from my computer and not while checking Facebook or Twitter!  I lay down for 15 minutes.  I read a chapter of one of the books I’m currently in the middle of.  The idea is:

“Every now and then go away and have a little relaxation.

For when you come back to your work your judgement will be surer.”

— Leonardo di Vinci

• I have a new mindset about things that scare me.  This one’s been brewing for as long as I’ve been following Lara, so since about October.  “Feel the fear and do it anyway.”  Action obliterates fear!  To name your fears is to destroy them.  Do the thing that scares you, and you will see your life change.  I emailed a big name in the business even though I feel like the smallest fish in the sea and the fear I felt before?  It’s gone.  I’m no longer intimidated!  It’s better to fall.  To make mistakes.  To get up and try again than to do nothing.  These are all things I’ve learned and heard from following Lara and the Making Things Happen Tumblr for the last few months.
• Boundaries.  I didn’t have them before.  I do now.  My office hours are 10-2:3o (Pacific Time, Florida friends!) Monday-Friday.  I do not post business things on Facebook or Twitter after 6 pm.  Did you catch that?  I left myself open for “personal things” after 6 . . . I’m still learning how this works.  But in reality, I haven’t found myself really wanting to be “on” after that time anyway.  This morning!?  I went to the gym, showered, got dressed in normal clothes and ran an errand in real clothes all before my day started at 10!  GO ME!  Working from home is a test of self-discipline.  Nobody to tell you what to do or when to do it.  But if you don’t tell yourself, like I wasn’t, you don’t feel structured and I personally felt very unproductive.  I haven’t tried to do laundry in between e-mails today while I’m in my office hours.  When I’m done with this post I’ll be “off” and can do things for the house.  I like this plan.
• One more thing: Email!  I was tipped off by a fellow challenge-taker to a thing for Gmail called Boomerang–it gives Gmail some of the things that Outlook has like email scheduling.  AND, you can take select emails, let’s say “home” related ones, and have Boomerang remove them from your inbox until you’re “off” (like I am supposed to be now that it’s 2:30) and it “boomerangs” them back into your inbox (my home emails reappeared just now!  So cool!).  This way, if you decide to answer work emails after “hours” you can schedule them to be sent out when you’re back the next morning.

As a reminder, I leave for my big trip on Sunday to WPPI and Making Things Happen in Las Vegas, so I’ll be “out of the office” all week working on some really exciting things personally and for my business.  I’ll let you all know how it goes.  Thanks for being with me on this journey!

*Anyone who is curious about the challenges should click here for week one {clear the clutter} and here for week two {get fired up}.  It’s never too late to begin!

A powerful quote from Marianne Williamson via today’s challenge and my wonderful mom:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

— Marianne Williamson

Comments

comments