Just Get It Going

With the hussle and bussle of the school year end and the new challenges of the beginning of summer holidays, once again I got off my routine. Hate when I do that! I shows within days and goes downhill from there.

So I had to bite the bullet and get back on track. I've been making an effort to get back on my BOOST Circuit and dedicate at least an hour to it every day.

Since things are unbalanced, the time slots have been as well, I've spent longer in some rooms than I normally would when I have been doing it daily.

But now, at the end of the first week I am seeing big changes. And I realize that the only difference between this week and last is that I made the commitment of one hour per day and did it, no matter what.

It brought to mind the common internet marketing advice, it doesn't have to be perfect, just get it going.

We get overwhelmed and wonder why bother, but the truth is, that if we start, and keep doing it every day, even a little bit, we will see a difference. It may never be perfect, but it will be better, and that counts for a lot!

ACTION TIP

If you've been treading water or worse - drowning, time to move ahead.

Pick a time to do a 10 - 15 minute clean up in a few rooms or areas of your house of your choosing (to total about an hour, if you are inspired to do more, go ahead, just know when to quit, if it becomes a chore, you won't want to do it again tomorrow, or your brain will tell you that you did well today so when tomorrow comes you will have an excuse not to do it. You need to develop the routine and stick to it)

Get your timer and go.

Do it every day for a week. By then you will be so happy you won't want to stop.

You may want to check out Carole Pagan's "Whole Life Overhaul", a weekly email program that will bring gradual improvement to your life. Interesting, down to earth and practical.

Whole Life Overhaul

http://myuam.com/x.cgi?a=r&id=155&aid=7480&p=37&cp=athoblogger

Do It Anyway and Be Happy

Over the holidays I was lucky, my husband was home and not only painted my daughter's room, but enlisted the kids (he is a natural born delegator) to help get the house back in order - it was still limping from when I was sick for a few weeks and then busy with catch up and a busy business month.

So now I am more determined than ever to keep up my circuit, it is my saving grace amongst KAOS! (I will have more details on my circuit so that you can do it too... coming soon on my website, just waiting for a few more details on the graphics for my logo and we will be on our way)

I had been doing well but was having a complete block as to wanting to do one of the modules in my circuit - my hall - it is a gathering point, both at the bottom and top of our stairs.

So I decided to do a fun one first - I did 5 minute magic - choosing a corner that had been nagging me for a week. It was finished in about 3 minutes - why didn't I do it sooner? - so I continued on to the hall.

When the time was up, I set it for another 5 minutes, pushing myself to just do that.

In 5 minutes, it was pretty much finished both of hallways, so I worked another minute and got it done.

Now I am enjoying a coffee, feeling very good about my clean space and the fact that I didn't cave and go for the easy now, hard in the long run solution - which would have been to leave it and pretend that I was going to do it later - later never comes!

ACTION TIP

Push yourself to do what you know you need to do to function happily and peacefully. You will probably be amazed at how easy it ease. Reward yourself when you are finished.

If you are having a problem getting started, set your timer for 5 or 10 minutes, what ever you can manage. At the end of the time, you will likely want to finish it. If you don't, promise yourself that you will set aside another 5 or 10 minutes tomorrow, next hour or this evening, and do it again.

Keep it up until your task is finished. And feel great all the way knowing that you are heading in the right direction.

Feels good, doesn't it!

It's Sad, but Sometimes We Bring It On Ourselves - I Know I Do!

I was contemplating how I dug in and stuck to my guns today, doing my BOOST Circuit as I was supposed to, to keep the house nice this weekend, instead of working on my far overdue bookkeeping. Have you ever been tempted by work when you had other obligations?

I had a shower and walked up the stairs to my bedroom, so totally relaxed in the feeling of peace and freedom that the clear and clean spaces gave me.

And it occurred to me how easily I could have spared myself a lifetime of guilt and feelings of failure but simply sticking to my guns, sticking to my plans, the ones that I made for myself!

It all boils down to self discipline, trying to get away with something, and trying to do too much.

I have always found it ironic when I would have people drop in and would be horrified at the mess, and know that these people are thinking that I’m a lazy sloth.

Nothing can be farther from the truth.

I have unbelievable drive. I jump out of bed at the earliest time I can wedge my eyeballs open every morning and work until I can’t keep my eyes open at night.

I seldom watch TV or do much of anything that isn’t “doing” something.

But sometime I still fall behind.

And I know exactly why. It’s because I don’t always discipline myself to do what I know I know I should be doing. This leaves me scattered. And that does not accomplish what needs to be done in the order that it needs to be done in.

I think that by plowing through that I WILL get it all done, and I probably will, but at what cost?

My kids get muddled and stressed with the mess, what kind of an example I am setting I shudder to think.

The feeling that I just can’t get it right on those days, and those days are the ones that stand out like a sore thumb.

All it takes is the pledge to yourself, to do what you say you will.

Do you ever notice that the people who have it “together” have an iron will of self discipline? The are in control and don’t let what they need to do be messed with.

Take an example from them. (The ebook by Carole Pagan called “Confessions of a Clean Freak” is an inside look on one of “those people”. Ever wanted to be a fly on a wall. Now you can!)

So…

Set clear priorities first. Every day.

Home and family are a must. And the basics are a neat and functional home. And proper meals.

That comes first – a little bit every day is all that it takes.

If you can relate, believe me, it isn’t hard, it just takes conviction to stick to your plan.

Make one today. Make it doable and stick to it. And be sure to make it consistant.

The feeling of accomplishment – that you have ARRIVED – is so energizing that you will blast off from there to get the rest done.

Your family will win, your business will win, and you will win, big time.

Start today.

Honey - Slow as Mollasses!

As a miraculous result of having a clean fridge, I accidently put our jug of honey in there yesterday (it never would have fit before!).

It pours and as a result was very slow coming out of the bottle. I almost gave up when it was about 3/4 of the way out.

Then I thought, if I did that, all of the time I've stood here waiting would have been a waste of time.

Then I had a guilty moment, thinking of all of the projects I have half started, never finished.

The times that I had my house looking great and was at the point that I was going to start painting/decorating etc, but went off my schedule and had to start from 0 again.

Do you do that?

Take a moment to make a list of everything that may fall into this catagory for you.

If you will see big results from finishing it, put it on your project list (more on what to do with your project list later)

If it is something that you have started but will never finish, get rid of it. It is taking up space in your house, on your computer or in your brain and preventing you from having a "blank canvas" to work from.

If it is your daily circuit in keeping your house clean, if you've gotten behind, get back in there pronto! Every day that you fall behind makes the load that much heavier.

Don't rush or over do, just get back to your routine and the rest will take care of itself in short order.

Have a Great Day!
Janice

More on Getting It Done

If you received my newsletter , I had meant to add that I also did a quick clean up of my silverware drawer this morning as it was beyond being functional.

I admit, I was sidetracked while doing it as I had originally been getting something to make breakfast, but it's one of those things!

I found using the small organizing baskets that you can get 3/$1 at the store to be very helpful. I am using them to both divide and store like objects (measuring spoons and mini whisks for instance) and also as a holding spot for a bunch of lids that I need to check to see if I have bottoms for, we often save bottles that we buy to use for water bottles later, especially if they have the fancy lids that you can twist open.

Just wanted to throw that in there, hope it helps!

Clean Out Your Purse in No Time!

My purse had been out of hand for quite some time, it somehow seems to slip by the regular sessions around the house. I had to start digging for my debit card in plenty of time before I checked through the grocery line! Not cool!

Meantime I have regularly been driving to town with my son , he recently got his G1 driver's license which is a whole other story :0)

Anyway, I was sitting in our van waiting for him and it occured to me to just go ahead and do my purse right there and then.

When I was finished I had an unbelievable pile of garbage to take to the house , but my purse is manageable and it took NO TIME out of my day to do it.

The moral of the story? Just Do It Now!

My inspiration? Carole's "Whole Life Make Over" ecourse. She advocates "wearing it away" - getting it done a little at a time. The funny thing is that often I seem to get it done a lot at a time in less time than I think.

A lot of this stuff really is a game we play in our heads. I am becoming convinced that much of the overwhelm in my life is due to me turning molehills into mountains, therefore avoiding them until they are mountains. One reason why the ecourse works so well, she gives it to us in bite sized, doable pieces so that it's easy to get to the top.

A Dream Come True

I dream of getting up extremely early to get an amazing head start on my day.

I dream of waking up to a clean kitchen so that I can start my day with a smile.

I dream of waking up to a clean bathroom so that I can start my day with a sparkle.

I dream of waking up to the washing machine on with a full load of clothes in it.

Guess what?

Today my dream came true.

I was lucky enough to stumble on an ebook called "Secret Confessions of a Neat Freak" and ecourse - "Whole Life Overhaul" by Carole Pagan last week.

To be honest, I haven't even been following the course or read the entire ebook yet. But through skimming I have already found a few gold nuggets that have made a huge change in the way I've been doing things.

It even works beautifully with my BOOST Circuit, making it even easier.

The first nugget is to make having the dishes done/counters wipe a non negotiable every night by bedtime.

That seems to be the general concensus of every "clean freak" I have ever known, and it really does change things. The first few nights I found myself propping my eyelids open to finish up before I went to bed. Guess What? Now I make sure they are done after supper, or at least early evening. It's already becomong a habit.

She also spoke of wiping down the bathroom as well. I thought - no way - dishes at bedtime is enough for me. But Guess What? After I started getting the dishes finished earlier, I had time to give the bathroom a quick wipe. It takes less than 5 minutes. The bathroom looks great. And it gives me another BOOST so that when I am in there during my cleaning time, I can do other things like pick up clutter that seems to collect there.

And, for the first time I tried out the timer feature on my washing machine. If you are lucky enough to have one, I highly recommend it! What a great feeling to get up in the morning to the washer washing and I didn't have to groggily touch a thing!

And it's done in plenty of time to dry if the kids are out of something too.

It kind of makes you WANT to get up in the morning!

If you are tired of buying books that you don't use, check out either one, I recommend both of them.

They are full of practical information, written by a real, live, Clean Freak.

Now we can find out the real, inside secrets to how they do it, which I have personally always wondered about!

And Guess What. It really is as easy as they make it look.

Strange Euphoria

I ask myself some mornings what is the best way to get motivated to do my daily BOOST Circuit instead of hopping right to the fun stuff at work.

What it comes down to is connecting with the deep feeling of gratitude for everything that I have, and the knowing that if I take care of it, it is even better, by a long shot. Remembering just what I am doing everything else for.

So when the kids go out the door for school, a feeling of deep peace comes over me. Not just because of the obvious!

I look around me and really see everything that I have to be grateful for. I have a home to clean. I have kids to look after. I have lots of things that I enjoy and admire, like a dishwasher (the best investment I have ever made)

I reflect on the fact that this won't always be so. So I want to enjoy it to the fullest today.

And that starts by taking the time to keep it nice.

So I'm off to do my BOOST Circuit - along with an MP3 audio, a timer and a smile. It really does give me a boost for the whole day!

Your Biggest Challenge?

I find that my biggest challenge as a WHAM is to stay focused, there always seems to be something staring me in the face that I need to do, or should do instead of business.

The best way I have found to combat that is to do my BOOST circuit every morning. I often feel that I am wasting good productive work time, but the day is always more pleasant and productive.

What is your biggest WAHM challenge?

More info on the BOOST Circuit can be found at Queen of KAOS.