Whether you answer yes or no, check out this video!  It’s bound to brighten your day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP2SXfdJs5w

A quote by Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we’re inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small doesn’t serve the world!”

I give you this quote today to remind you that you have the power to create great things.  Often we put our power on hold because we are scared, we are waiting for the perfect moment (it doesn’t exist!), or possibly both.  It is normal to doubt yourself but you can’t become paralyzed by your fear.  I was once told that “fear is nothing more than false evidence appearing real.” Don’t shortchange yourself by giving into false evidence! By evidence I mean your past experiences. A failure in the past does not determine future success.  Everyone has failures; it’s what helps us learn.  I am happy for every mess up because it has taught me what not to do or what I don’t want.  Focus on the times in your life when you accomplished something great and don’t confuse falling with failing!

Taxes can be a costly expense if you decide to have someone else prepare them.  Fortunately there are reliable ways to get your taxes filed for free. Check out the article  at walletpop.com for more details.

The challenge: ” I have chronic health conditions. I engage in professional employment. I want to organize my time to get office work, housework, social life, and rest in each day.”

Weekly blueprint to the rescue!!!!!!!!!!!

At this point, most of you are probably wondering what a weekly blueprint is anyway. I use the term “weekly blueprint” to mean a suggested guide for how you spend your time each week. It has enough structure to help you be more productive with not too much structure so that you feel it’s oppressive.

To get started on creating your own blueprint, you’ll need a blank sheet of paper and pencil.

1. Begin by writing the seven columns along the top of the page, one for each day of the week.

2. Along the left side of the page, list time increments by 1/2 hr going from 12am to 12pm.

3. Now it’s time to fill in the blanks. Start by noting when you go to sleep and wake up. Add in the hours that you spend on major time commitments- your professional employment, family responsibilities, your personal needs such as exercise, etc.

4. Once the major commitments are highlighted, this usually brings about an “ah-ha” moment. A good amount of the hours in the week are now accounted for. Take a look at the types of activities you haven’t yet recorded and begin to analyze how you might fit those in as well.

5. Make tradeoffs. Playing volleyball on Wednesday nights might mean that you don’t get to tuck your kids into bed that night. Time socializing with friends is not time that you are spending on professional work.

6. Post this blueprint prominently so that you can refer to it often.

7. Commit to honoring your blueprint when you’re making appointments with others or scheduling tasks within your day. For example, if you know that you need rest everyday from 3-5pm, that would not be an ideal time to schedule housework or social activities.

A word to the wise… sometimes I’ve witnessed people get so excited to have a weekly blueprint that they want to create this structure for every hour of the entire week. Control yourself!

Recognize time management is more than scheduling. It’s freeing time so inspiration can flow. Leave blank space on this weekly blueprint for life to unfold. A healthy balance between structure and spontaneity is so much more enjoyable than week after week of rigidity.

The Scenario: You’ve started an endeavor with high hopes for a specific amount of time that you want to devote to it in one sitting. Once you find a rhythm, you loose track of time and don’t want to stop until you’re done.

In some ways, finding your rhythm and completing an activity can be quite satisfying and productive. You set your goal, focus on it with gusto, and get it done. Great! So why was this presented by one Harmony At Last blog reader as a challenge?

The challenge has to do with the concept of tradeoffs. When you loose track of time, you become so engrossed in a task that everything else falls aside in temporary neglect. In that moment, you’ve made a choice to do one endeavor instead of another. If this wasn’t a good choice for you, you feel regret at not having been able to untangle yourself.

Some simple steps can resolve this challenge…

1. Before beginning a task, identify what specific actions you’d like to complete and how much time you wish to spend on it.

2. If you find that it’s easy to loose track of time, set a kitchen timer to ring after a certain work interval. When it rings, you can check in with yourself to see if you are doing what you had intended to do, if you’re still being effective, and if it’s the best choice to continue for another interval.

3. While your engaged in the task, if you decide that you want to continue beyond your original time allotment, make this a conscious choice. Become aware of what you are saying “no” to, in order that you say “yes” to continuing your efforts on the task.

4. Determine when you’d like to revive the neglected tasks (whether later that same day or in a special time designated in the future) and then make it happen.

In this way, you use your time in a way that most productive for you. Each task gets attended to in its rightful time and you can feel good about making the best choices for yourself.

I’m heading into day 8 of bronchiolitis for all four of my kids (ages 5 & under).

So far we’ve had three doctor visits, one ER visit, and countless calls with the doctor’s office. Earlier this week when I showed up at the doctor’s office, four miserable kids in tow, I had to chuckle to myself at the how crazy it is to fit all four of my kids, myself, and the doctor in one of the tiny exam rooms. A bit wild to say the least. Then the trick was to keep three of them entertained while have the doctor evaluate the fourth!

Other than having to rearrange my work schedule to become an around-the-clock nurse, I’ve had a chance to reflect on the word “peace” and that is what I’d like to share with you.

In his book, The Invisible Force, Dr. Wyane W. Dyer says:

“By feeling good throughout the day, you become an instrument of peace, and it’s through this channel that you eradicate problems.”

I recognized that if I became a cranky mama (which given the circumstances would be a very easy role to slip into), I would do nothing to ease the problem. I would simply be adding to it. If I instead chose to embrace the feeling of peace, I would have the presence needed to improve the situation.

The fastest way I have discovered to embrace peace in an otherwise overwhelming situation is to breathe. Simply noticing my breath allows me to center myself. From that place, I can conquer the world… Or at least navigate getting thrown up on and being needed in four places at once.

What do you do when you are a size 8 and in your closet you have clothes that range in size from 2 to 12? A close personal friend has suffered with weight issues most of her adult life. However, she has successfully maintained her weight for two years and is now a happy and healthy size 8! The downside to all this is now she has eight closets filled with clothes for every size, style and season.

Clothes are a huge investment for many women. It’s so difficult letting go of something especially when it carries such a huge emotional and financial attachment with it. Even if your case is not as severe as this one, there comes a time when it is necessary to purge the clothes that no longer fit or that we just don’t wear anymore.

Give your closets some room to breathe and say goodbye to the memories of what your body size used to be! It was a long and arduous process, but she went through all her clothes and donated the sizes she no longer fit into. This gave her the opportunity to see exactly what fit and from there she was able to decide what she wanted to keep, store (as far as seasonal items) and donated the rest. Check out local women’s shelters or other agencies in your community. Make sure the clothing items are in good shape too. People would be grateful to accept these donations.

Once she narrowed her eight closets down to three, her clothes were visible and easily accessible. Her clothes were better taken care of and preserved now that there was more room for her clothes to fit. Success!

If you really want to jazz up your closets once you have finished this exercise, check out Hangers and Hanger Accessories for your Closet - Best Hangers or ClosetMaid Storage Products for some interesting storage ideas.

Priority lists can be long… pages and pages long of items that you need to do, want to do, and think that someday you may finally have time to do. Most of the time, these are items that you are doing for your professional work, your family, your home, your parents, or your community. Maybe, if you are really lucky, you might include an item that is just for you.

Here’s the moment of truth… right now… stop reading this blog post… you read this correctly… stop reading this post for just one minute and take a glace and your to-do list. How many of the items listed are just for you, just because you want to do it?

Did you even make it on your own list?

I had someone ask me an interesting question recently. Instead of the typicaly question of “what do you do?”, she asked something different…

What do you do for fun?

Wow. Quite a question. I don’t think I’ve heard that question in a long time as too often our society is focused on what and how much we “do”. Luckily, I was able to answer it after I got over my amazement that someone thought to ask such a thing. I was able to share that I like to run, go to the gym, read before bed, and have date night with my husband. I’m always up for a good People magazine too!

Homework #1: Answer the question “what do you do for fun?”

Once you have that question answered, there’s two more steps. First, you need to schedule it in your calendar. Yes, right alongside your children’s soccer game and mailing the birthday present next Tuesday.

Homework #2: Schedule your fun on your calendar.

Almost done… now you need to make it a commitment that you always honor. You know what I mean… some things on your calendar are a bit “soft” and if needed, you’ll blow them off. Typically, one is more likely to blow off a commitment to themselves before they’ll decommit to someone else. You’ll need to change this habit.

When you say “I try to ______”, that leaves wiggle room for failure to achieve. Life happens, things get in the way, you tried but it just didn’t work out. When you say “I always ____”, you firmly commit, no excuses. You’re focused on success and are making it happen.

Homework #3: Get to the point that you say “I always do _____ for fun.”

At this point, you have all of the tools you need. If you are starting to think “Nice idea but there is just not enough time”, let’s try something simple to get you started. Pick something that you can do for 5 minutes each day. Just 5 minutes. A cup of tea, a bit of meditation, your choice. For me it’s always been a hot shower at the end of my day. This is not a shower to get clean, it’s more like a steam bath and it’s my sacred time. I always do this… every night… no matter what else is going on.

Pick your five minutes for you and give it a try today. You’re back on your priority list now!

Overwhelmed? Overbooked? Overtired? These are some of the most common complaints I hear about this crazy busy life too many lead. In honor of Get Organized Month (yes… there actually is such a thing), the professional organizers and coaches at Harmony At Last and dotmine group amazing calendar creators have teamed up to offer you the chance to win one of six 2009 dotmine calendars. Simply send an email to jcubino@harmonyatlast.com (with the subject “calendar”).

Please include:
*your name,
* email,
* mailing address,
* a sentence or two on your biggest time management challenge.

If your challenge is selected, Harmony At Last will post suggestions to conquering that challenge on our blog and send you a dotmine calendar.

Some things in life really are free… enter by January 12th for your chance to win!

I look forward to hearing from you!

PS Want to learn more about the features of this calendar… check out the video!

I actually look forward to “getting worked out of a job” with a client. To me, this means that we have successfully completed the project, the person has new techniques and habits established, they are happily focusing on that which is most important to them and are getting things done effectively. Life has transformed from chaos to calm for them.

I am grateful for these experiences with my clients. It is through helping others find harmony and then celebrating their success that I live my life passion. A delightful woman, Melinda White-Bronson, captured this “getting worked out of a job” moment in her poem titled, “Our World Class Garden and You”. I share it with you below with her permission.

Our World Class Garden and You

We have a world class view from our garden
and our garden is beautiful, too, thanks to you.

I love to take pictures in our garden
-you laugh at me-
but it is so beautiful through the view finder:
I frame and enjoy your work in this garden,
the beautiful flowers, sun-lit grasses, the lake, and the mountains beyond…
but there, in every frame I want to shoot, there is your work
in progress: the garbage can (for compost)
the wheelbarrow, tarps, and garden tools…
and I know that on the day when I can photograph
a picture perfect garden without moving clutter,
I will be missing you.

- Melinda White-Bronson Nov. 2008