, ,

Remembering the Sad and Lonely During the Holidays

A Simple Holiday Reminder 

The holidays can be the most wonderful time of the year….

for some…

For others, this time of year is sad and lonely.

Following are some ideas for you to be a Joy-Spreader for those having a difficult time during the holidays:

  • MAIL:  Send cards or letters to the elderly or home-bound people in your life.
  • VISIT:  Visit people who don’t have family or close friends nearby.  There are lots of people living in nursing homes that rarely have visitors–call ahead and ask who could use a visit.  Don’t forget your neighbors…sometimes those right under our noses, could use a friendly face in their lives.
  • SERVE:  Serve a meal to the homeless, deliver a meal through Meals on Wheels, or visit a Children’s Home.  Smile and engage in conversation–being “seen” by someone is a powerful gift.
  • INVITE:  Ask someone to join you for a holiday concert, your kid’s holiday play, a social gathering, or a church service.  Requiring less time, an invitation for a cup of coffee is also a great idea!
  • REMEMBER:  Don’t let the “out of site, out of mind” adage leave your loved ones feeling left behind.  Remember those far away from home (military, college students, etc.) by sending a special care package and having frequent communication.
  • PRACTICE COMPASSION: Be sensitive to those who have lost loved ones.  It never gets easy, but the sting of the loss is especially hard the first year or two.  This goes for those you have lost loved ones to death, but it’s also important to remember those who have experienced loss through divorce, too.

Here’s to being a rainbow in someone else’s cloud!

As always, I appreciate you spending time with me here today.  Please share this post with your friends, family, and co-workers.

Jill xx

/0 Comments/by
, ,

The Importance of Proper Maintenance

 

I was raised by a single mom who didn’t choose to highlight the importance of maintaining cars.  As a teen, and a pretty sizable portion of my adult life, I thought nothing of driving around with the oil light on my dash lit up like a Christmas tree or with freakishly bald tires.  And when I say bald, I’m talkin’ slick bald with little wires coming out of the treads!

No, it didn’t occur to me that that little light on my dash was trying to alert me to add oil so my engine wouldn’t seize.  I seriously thought the light was an optional warning!  Nor, did I understand that when driving with bald tires, I was in danger of sliding off the road while taking a corner a little too fast (yes, this happened) or worse, slamming into another car.

Thanks to my husband, I am a now a recovering car-maintenance neglect-er.  I’m now a regular at Jiffy Lube and the tire shop!

You’ve probably guessed that today, the last installment of this five-part series on Creating and Sustaining Momentum, is about the importance of Maintenance.

Yes, car maintenance is important, but we’re talking about “all-things-life” maintenance.

BIG FLASHING WARNING: Neglecting maintenance, in any area of your life, is a surefire way to throw off the momentum that you’ve worked so hard to build.

It’s not rocket-science, it just takes some intentionality, scheduling, and record-keeping.

Pretty much anything you do in life could have some sort of maintenance plan associated with it and provide benefit to you and even the world at large (dramatic sounding, isn’t it!).

Now, don’t let that last statement overwhelm you.  A maintenance plan doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out process.  For example, it only takes 10 minutes per week to water (maintain) the plants in my house and another 10 minutes per year to give them a dose of plant vitamins (I don’t really do this step, but I should, and now that I wrote it, I think I will); whereas, it takes 50 minutes, three or four times per week, to get my exercise (maintaining my physical health) by walking the dogs.  Whether you’re maintaining a plant or your body, both are important for you overall well-being.

Let’s look at a few examples of areas in our lives that could benefit from some maintenance:

MIND/BODY/SOUL 

  • Prayer/Meditation/Exercise:  Although you may have a prayer/meditation and exercise practice set up, you should check in from time to time to see how you might switch it up to provide more meaning and benefit.  Consider joining a new class or group, or attending a retreat.
  • Meal-Planning:Planning and preparing healthy meals is an excellent way to maintain a healthy mind and body.  Try to avoid getting stuck in meal ruts where you eat the same thing all the time.  Listen to your body, it has a tendency to speak pretty clearly about what it needs.  Buying local fruits and vegetables seasonally is not only good for your health, but good for your community as well.
  • Doctor appointments/checkups:Keep up with your annual appointments to maintain good health.  Yes, going to the doctor can be a hassle, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not really that big of a deal and the benefits can be huge.
  • Mental Health:Seek help from a counselor, when needed, to maintain a healthy mind, body and soul.  Don’t be shy or embarrassed in this area.  Everyone can benefit from a good counseling session!
  • Continuing Education: Never stop learning and growing.  Sign up for a class, go to a conference, join a knitting group, and read books.  Feeding your brain and your curiosity is an important step in maintaining you overall health.

RELATIONSHIPS:  

  • Relationships take maintenance to grow and stay strong.  When you neglect an important relationship, everything else around you has a tendency to fall apart.  Spend quality time with those you love and limit your engagement with those you don’t.

PHYSICAL ASSETS, EQUIPMENT & FINANCES:

  • Proper maintenance of vehicles, your house, equipment (computer, workshop, kitchen, lawn, etc.) is crucial in order to avoid unnecessary and costly repairs and purchases.
  • Financial advisers will suggest you visit with them at least once per year.  There’s good reason for this: Maintaining a budget, a savings plan, and an emergency fund will protect you in the short and long term.

If you don’t already have a stellar maintenance, scheduling and/or logging system, following are a few suggestions:

NOTE:  While there are lots of ways to organize your maintenance schedule/log, the important part is to find one that works for you and that you’ll actually utilize.  You may find that one method works for a while and then you find something that you like better later.  That’s OK, just pick a system and get started now.  

Paper or Electronic Calendar.  Sit down at the beginning of the year and schedule your reminders/appointments.  This may seem daunting, but it’s really not.  As long as you have a clear idea of what needs to be scheduled, you can probably get this task done in less than 30 minutes.  Of course, unless you already have an appointment scheduled with doctors, vets, and counselors, you’ll have to be flexible.  The key is to get it laid out in your calendar with the “give or take a few days” mindset.  The further out you schedule your appointments, the easier it is to get the day/time you want.

Excel spreadsheet.  You can create a very simple (or complex, depending on your skill level) custom spreadsheet to track and log all your life-maintenance items, but if you have a newer version of Excel, I recommend you check out their awesome pre-made templates.  In Excel, click NEW, and in the search box, type “maintenance” and/or “log” and you will find several great options.  I love playing around in Excel, but why reinvent the wheel?  Just take one of Excel’s templates and customize it for yourself or use it exactly as they’ve created it.

App:  “There’s an app for that!”  Seems like this is the phrase that comes up in most “How do I _____?” conversations.  Yes, there are apps to keep up with all your maintenance needs.  I’ve heard good things about both these apps: Bright Nest, a free app for home maintenance, and Car Minder Plus, a car maintenance app that is $2.99, and from the reviews looks like it could be money well spent.  For financial tracking, I trust my financial rockstar friend, Scott Alan Turner‘s top three suggestions: Mint, Every Dollar, You Need a Budget.  Because the app world is ever-changing, do some browsing in the app store for your device and see what would work best for you.

Service Provider Reminders:  My vehicle maintenance reminder for my oil change is the mileage sticker they place on my windshield.  If you go to the same shop for car maintenance, they’ll remind you of other things that should be done to your vehicle when you pay them a visit.  When you go to your doctor and dentist visits, make sure to schedule your next appointment before you leave the office and ask them for an email or text reminder.  Even if I’m not positive I can make that appointment, I will at least schedule it and then make a call to change the appointment if necessary.  Same goes for the vet!        

Notebook.  Last, but not least, use the good old pencil and paper method.  My husband is a dynamo with keeping up with most everything in his work and personal life, our home maintenance, and our financial stuff via this method, and he is one of the most organized people I know.

Do you have a system that you’d add to this list?  Share in the comments area.

When you put organizational systems in place like these, you’re making your life less stressful by not allowing things to fall behind or to be missed entirely.  You’re also clearing brain space up for your day-to-day life.

Here’s to finding a system that works for you and maintaining the momentum you’ve worked so hard to build!

As always, I appreciate you spending time with me here today.

Jill xx

Momentum Series Archive: 

Click here for week 1.

Click here for week 2.

Click here for week 3.

Click here for week 4.

You’re reading week 5, which is the last post in this series on Creating and Sustaining Momentum.  I hope you’ve enjoyed and found value in this series.  Please share with your family, friends, and co-workers.

/2 Comments/by
, , ,

Don’t Make The Mistake of Skipping This Step

You know what I love about hard work, which also happens to be a major benefit of keeping a steady momentum?  The time you get to coast.  Using the analogy from our first week in this series, this is the time when you finally get your bike to the top of the hill and then you get to coast down the other side.  Feeling the breeze on your face, you slip your feet off the pedals and extend your legs out to the sides.  Closing your eyes, you rest for a moment–deep breath in and out.  Enjoy the fruits of your labor, you’ve earned it.

Friends, hard work pays off, but we have to allow it to.  Sometimes we have our heads down working so hard, we pass the precious coasting opportunities right by.  Don’t let this happen.  If you choose to skip over these “downtime” opportunities, you’re going to miss out on a part of life that is meant to nourish and rejuvenate you.

Following are the five areas that make up the COASTING phase of momentum:

Rest:  Resting your mind and your body is critical in your overall momentum strategy.  Think about resting as your time to refuel.  What happens when you don’t refuel?  You begin to run on fumes, and ultimately run out of gas altogether.

Recalibrate:  I think of recalibrating as regrouping or pushing the reset button.  Sometimes, just allowing time for rest will do the trick.  Other times, you may want to start a new exercise routine, do a body-cleanse, spend quality time with friends and family, take a vacation, or seek help from a counselor to deal with a specific issue.  Do what rejuvenates and/or heals you.

Reflect:  Reflection will provide illumination to areas that may normally be blind-spots or that haven’t been explored yet.  Use your coasting time to reflect on what has worked, what hasn’t, what was fulfilling, and what was draining.

Journaling:  Writing your thoughts, ideas, and reflections in a journal is an excellent way to, not only work things out in a stream of consciousness-type way, but to create a repository of content which you can access for future use.  For journaling ideas and inspiration, click here to read an article I wrote.

Plan:  The “coasting” phase is the perfect time to work on a plan for what’s next.  Use your clear, rested head, and your reflections to formulate your plan of action.

It’s important to use your “coasting” time wisely.  Don’t skip it because it sounds fun or frivolous.  It may be fun, but it’s far from frivolous.

Some questions for you to ponder:

Are you in a time of rest now?  How can you make the most of this time?  Is there one of the five areas you need to lean into a bit more?

Are you at a time when you might need to force yourself into a time of rest?  Don’t wait for the doctor to order it.

As always, I appreciate you spending time with me here today.

Here’s to coasting!  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Jill xx

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends, family, and co-workers.

Momentum Series Archive:

Click here for week 1.

Click here for week 2.

Click here for week 3.

You’re reading week 4.

Click here for week 5.

/0 Comments/by
, ,

4 Ways to Build Momentum Today

Welcome back! We’re moving right along through our blog series on How to Create and Sustain Momentum.  Last week we discussed the importance of, and how to create, the movement (think baby steps) necessary to either keep pushing through or get started moving in a positive direction, in relation to the things you’d like to accomplish in your life.

Today, we’ll discuss STRENGTH BUILDING, as it relates to creating and sustaining momentum.

What comes to mind when you think of Strength Building?  Sweaty workouts in the gym?  Bulging muscles?

Well, yes, that’s certainly one aspect of strength building.  Just like with a gym membership, we must consider what makes a successful strength building workout in other areas of our lives.

Can you imagine walking into a gym and half of the equipment was broken or covered with someone else’s sweat?  What if you arrived to your Zumba class and the instructor showed up 10 minutes late and didn’t have the right music?  Not the most conducive setup for your workout, right?

Creating and sustaining momentum can be tricky.  There are bound to be bumps in the road that you don’t anticipate or you can’t control, so anything you can do to prepare for a smooth ride is in your best interest.

Following are four key areas to focus on in your STRENGTH BUILDING efforts:

Workout Space:  It’s important to keep a clean, organized, and ready to be “worked out” in work space.  Whether your “workout” space is your dining room table, your office desk, your truck bed (landscaper or craftsman), or your kitchen counter, the more organized and clean you keep it, the easier it will be to dive right into your project and keep your momentum rolling along. Haven’t designated a work-space?  I strongly urge you to.  If you’re constantly having to pack up and move from place to place, this, alone, can kill your momentum.  You don’t need anything fancy, even a closet can be set up to be an awesome work-space. The point is, it’s your space.

Workout Tools:  What tools are necessary or helpful for you to perform your tasks well?  The tools I keep in my “tool-belt” for this blog are: my computer, a camera (for still photos and videos), a couple design apps to create graphical images, and a journal and sharp pencil for mapping out my ideas.  Not only do I need these tools to perform my tasks properly, but I need to make sure my tools are in good shape.  For me, this means keeping my computer updated, making sure my camera is in good working order, etc.  Can you imagine a tree trimmer showing up to their job with a bunch of dull blades for cutting the trees?  Not a good plan!

Workout Schedule:  It’s all about discipline and consistency.  Block out time in your schedule to complete your tasks and stick to it.  Why is it that we put things on our calendar, but allow other people’s agenda to interrupt?  Honoring your time is just as – if not more – important as honoring the time of others.  If you have a hard time saying no to others who are looking to infringe on your schedule, then I suggest you practice this response: “I’m sorry, but I have an appointment then, but I am available XX or XX time.”  Yes, you do have an appointment.  Just because it’s an appointment with yourself, doesn’t diminish the importance of it.  One last thing… you don’t owe anyone an explanation.

Workout Partner:  Most Sunday mornings, I walk five miles with a friend.  When we don’t make a plan to walk that day, I usually skip the walk altogether.  You’d think I’d just go anyway–I know that would be best, but the call of my cozy bed convinces me to stay a little longer.  The power of having an accountability partner is HUGE.  Even if you just check in with your partner every week or two and discuss what projects you’ve got going on and what you’d like to accomplish moving forward.

If you implement these four areas, your projects will be more enjoyable and your momentum will soar.

I’d love to hear from you.  I have a 2-part question: 1. Which of these areas needs some work in your life?  2. What will you do today to create a space, get your tools ready, schedule time, or get an accountability partner?  Tell me in the comment area below.

As always, I appreciate you spending time with me here today.

Here’s to the awesome strength-building taking place in your life!

Jill xx

Momentum Series Archive:

Click here for week 1.

Click here for week 2.

You’re reading week 3. : )

Click here for week 4.

Click here for week 5.

Jill xx

Read more

/0 Comments/by