Need Me? I'll Be In A Meeting

/

I went on a purge last year where I backed off, backed away, and backed down from a majority of professional and personal commitments. At the time, I had the distinct feeling my life ran me versus the other way around. 

Backing off helped and I feel my time is more my own. Life, however, is creeping back in. This is not necessarily unwelcome. But looking at the ol' calendar I'm realizing I need to be careful or I'll again quickly be overwhelmed. So far, I have the following weekly and monthly commitments:

Monthly

Weekly

  •  Monday - Hill runs
  • Tuesday- Trainer
  • Thursday - Trail Run
  • Saturday - Long Run
  • Yoga - 2x
  • Allergy shot

Looking at it now, the schedule doesn't seem so bad. And after all, all the weekly commitments are "fun" stuff I do for personal enhancement. But when I add in drive time to each event plus client meetings and "life" appointments (hair cut, vet, occasional coffee or lunch with friends) I feel like I'm grasping at spare moments to do actual work. Plus, the meetings are just the start. Then there's the work to be done as a result of meeting.

Blair and I have decided to start reserving as much of Sundays as possible for our time together. Hate to have to schedule "us" time but I'd rather schedule and have it versus leaving it to chance. 

How's everyone else faring? Finding decent work/life balance or is the scale stacked against you?

Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius

/

A friend sent me this link to a talk by author Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the international bestseller, Eat Pray Love. She's an engaging speaker and I love the new (or old, as it turns out) framework she gives to "genius."

From the website:

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

Sisterhood Blog Award

/

Hurray! Angie Bailey of Eclectic Catladyland chose to present me with the Sisterhood Award, seen in all its glory above. Angie and I connected on Facebook some time ago and she has fallen into that new and odd category we all have in our lives since the introduction of online social networking of "someone I've never met who I consider a friend." C'mon. How can I NOT like someone who loves cats and whose Facebook pic is often of a cat wearing an orange wig? (Click on her name in this paragraph and you'll be taken to her Blogger profile which has the cat pic.) Plus, she's got the greatest smile ever.

Now it's my turn to pass on the award. I've chosen to name for the Sisterhood Award the blogs of several close friends of mine. (Note to all: You want me in a position of power as I reward friends and family. I think I would do very well in politics, thank you.)

To my male blogger friends - sorry this go round. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a brotherhood award to pass on to you.

Visit my friends sites below and say hi and tell them I sent you!

Laine Cunningham: My writer friend Laine spent 6 months camping in the Australian Outback--BY HERSELF-- to do research for her first book, Message Stick, now available. Aside from the Sisterhood Award, Laine also wins my "bad ass friend" award for this "You couldn't pay me enough to do that" life-changing event.

Southern Fried Woman: My dear friend Pamela King Cable writes with the beauty and depth of any of your favorite Southern Writers. She also cooks a mean orange french toast. Grace, beauty, and wit all tied up with a bundle of Southern lovin.'

Marisa Pirih : My beloved trainer! Marisa has completed several Ironmen and is on a mission to show all women how powerful they can be—physically, mentally, emotionally. If you can get past the fact that Marisa is beautiful AND one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, you’ll enjoy her blog!

Amy and Tamara are members of my running group. Their job is to keep us laughing. From Amy I learned the phrase “dreadmill” (for treadmill) and Tamara has a “quit your whining or I’ll hurt you (with love)" attitude. I adore them both.

Melody Watson: My day wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Melody’s blog as I never know what I’ll find. Could be musings about shadows and light, could be technical info on how to improve a website, or could be pictures of her beloved nephew, Mr. Pie.

On the Run: This is the blog of the North Carolina marathon, written by my friend Lisa Watts. Informative, funny, and lots of heart.

Danielle Hatfield: Graphic Designer and PR person for artists, I met Danielle through Twitter. Who says social networking doesn’t work?

Mariela Perez Simons: Internet Marketing and Web Design blog written by my favorite Cuban friend. =)

I hope you enjoy all these blogs--I know I do! 

What's Your One Thing?

/

Spring fever has hit and I have the urge to clean... not just the house, but clean the body, mind, and spirit. Start over! Begin anew! Climb those mountains with a can-do attitude and become the self-actualized person I was put on this planet to be!

Okay... coffee just wore off. I'm back now. 

But I am in the mood for a little "get things done" attitude. Blair and I were going over a wish-list for the money-pit (aka, "the house") and we decided we want to build a deck and screened-in porch on the back of the house. For those new to this blog, a little heads up that we've been talking about building a deck and screened in porch on the back of the house for almost 8 years now. Something in the process seems stalled, yes?

So we decided to apply the "What's the One Thing That Must Be Done" strategy to our work and home lives. The "One Thing" method is where at the beginning of each day you ask yourself what is the ONE thing I must accomplish today? If it's something that takes 8 hours and you must ignore everything else, so be it. If it's something that takes 20 minutes and you do it and blow off the rest of your day, good enough. You got your ONE IMPORTANT THING done for the day. Blair and I just started using this in our work days and I must say, I'm finding it effective. Definitely brings into focus where my concentration and effort needs to be.

So in relation to the porch/deck, we asked ourselves, what one thing do we need to do today to move this project forward? The answer is measuring. We need to go outside and figure out how big/small we want these additions to be.  So tonight we will walk outside with a tape measure and check our ONE THING off the list.

As for today's goal, I need to spend 3 hours novel writing. I have a two-page list of tasks that need addressed, but for me to feel good about my day, I need to do this creative writing. 

How about you? What's your ONE THING for the day?