Home Sanctuary

If I Could Live Today Over Again I'd

Last week, I started a simple Productivity Schedule, which I found over at Donald Miller's Storyline blog.

 

I love how Donald frames his system with a life theme, and makes use of your mental energies when they are the strongest. It is geared to help you structure your day so that you can get the most out of it, and also to remind you of your over-arching goals so that you can not only focus, but reward yourself as you go along. I need both.

My favorite part:

There is a small, revolutionary section to fill out each day: "If I could live today over again I'd:"

 

Mr. Miller says:

Most people wake up worried about all the stuff they have to get done, but if you think about what you’d do differently if you pretend you’re living today over again, you’ll find yourself realizing most of the stuff you worry about isn’t worth it and instead add more relational elements into your life.

Asking yourself what you’d do differently if you were living today over again is one of the keys to living a more meaningful life and assessing priorities.

 

I'd never thought about asking myself this question at the beginning of the day. It was much more likely that I'd ask it at the end of a defeated day...then promptly forget about the answers the next day as I struggled with the same distractions over and over.

I'm absolutely astounded at what a difference it makes to my mental focus. It's helped me to spend less time on the unimportant (checking emails and Facebook) and more time on the important (staying focused on writing, adding exercise to my day). What a great habit to incorporate into my daily life.

No matter what type of career you have - from stay at home mama to corporate business tycoon - this is something you can use right away.

 

Today's Small Thing

Answer this question: If you could live today over again, what would you do?

 

You can find Storyline's productivity schedule here. It's just one piece of a larger program, but clearly an effective one!

I'd love to hear how you'll answer the question!

 

Simplifying, Slowly

I'm simplifying.

I'm trying to clean things up and pare things down.

I started with the guest room, which I'm now using as my office. After Christmas, I hauled out a bunch of accumulated stuff, and brought in a small desk and computer.

And I painted the walls. I could NOT WAIT to paint the walls!

I found a soft gray color and went for it. It feels so fresh and clean and new. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

The vintage door with the framed print above is in the corner of the room...I will post complete "after" photos soon, I promise. Until then, I'll keep primping just a little bit more.

 

I'm trying to simplify around the blog as well.

Did you know that I've posted daily Small Things for SIX YEARS? That's a lot of little tasks and prompts!

And I love the Small Things. I believe in them. I believe in their power to transform our homes. I believe big things happen in small steps, every single day.

But it's time for a change. A freshening up! A paring down and simplifying.

So I'm changing up the daily "Small Things" just a bit. Oh, I'll still bring them out to nudge us along, but I don't want to be tied to them when I feel like yakking about something else. Some topics just don't fit into a neat, small task...and it will be simpler for me to have the freedom to branch out...to talk about things like parenting, marriage, creating, blooming and making things beautiful. OK, maybe also some cleaning and organizing, but you get the picture. :)

And don't worry. I'm still here to hold your hand and tell you that you can do it. I've got lots of encouragement, tips and ideas to make your home a GREAT place to be. Let's keep journeying together as Company Girls.

I'll be back on Monday for another week of Home Sanctuary goodness. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Love, Rachel

What would YOU like to hear me talk about? Is there a question you'd like to ask me? Where are your areas of need, when it comes to creating a home environment that feels like a sanctuary?

 

Moving Past Failure Toward Excellence

With each New Year, my optimistic goals are shadowed, dogged, by past failures.

My diet of 2013 lasted about a week.

My zumba class lasted several months before fizzling.

My one-year Bible Plan collected dust by March.

My "get organized by April" never actually materialized.

 

In short, I failed.

And it's hard to move past it.

 

But maybe I'm going about things the wrong way. Perhaps instead of trying to move away from past failures, I should try moving TOWARD something.

And that something is:

 

Excellence

 

Tweet: Don't retreat from failure. Simply pursue Excellence, and success will follow.

 

Excellence is a state of mind that makes me sit up straighter and pay attention to details. It says,

I can do better.

I can go the extra mile.

I can put away the clean dishes.

I can exercise today.

I can limit Facebook so that I have time for what really matters.

 

I wonder what would happen if we simply applied "excellence" to our endeavors?

 

In big and small ways, we would raise our game each day.

Instead of "meh," we'd have "wow."

Instead of almost-done, we'd have done.

We'd limit the things we'd take on, knowing that we can only do a few things well, which is better than doing lots of things poorly.

We'd focus on creating the kind of life that feels good when our heads hit the pillow at night.

We'd pass on a love for beauty and craftsmanship, and expending effort on important things to our children.

 

Instead of focusing on the ways we've failed in the past, let's focus on moving toward excellence. And success is sure to follow. Often it's just a tiny bit of effort that makes all the difference, and lifts us from mediocrity to a new level we can be proud of.

And, yes, I'm already arguing with myself: "Rachel, you can't do everything excellently! You'll drive yourself crazy." Yeah, my shoulder-angels are going at it.

But I'm not talking about perfectionsm, I'm simply saying that each day, it's possible to embrace doing things better than we have before. We can intentionally choose which things to let go of and which things to apply ourselves to. We can take a couple of goals and work on doing them well.

Why not? I'm willing to pursue excellence. How about you?

What is one thing that you can do better today? How can you apply excellence to your day?

 

My Top 6 Home Organization Posts

Easy Schedules and Menu Planning

At the beginning of each year, Google and Pinterest light up my archives with searches for housekeeping schedules and menu planning. One of these days, I'll make an easy, downloadable e-book out of these, but until then I thought I'd give a short list that might help you get the year started right.

 

Need help with daily clutter and overwhelm? This is for you:

The Secret to Successful Home Management

What Does Minimum Maintenance Really Look Like?

 

Need a Super Awesome and Easy Housekeeping Chart? Three steps:

Household Organization - Setting Up a System that WORKS

Where Does Your Time Go?

And Now, A Real-World Housekeeping Schedule

 

Need help with menu planning? Mine is so easy, it's almost cheating.

Making a Menu Plan that Actually WORKS for Busy Families

 

There are several downloads you can print off in the posts above.....why not take a pencil and mark them up with your own ideas and tasks? Sometimes, just seeing what you are ALREADY accomplishing each day makes you realize how hard you really ARE working.

And listen. If you're struggling, you aren't alone. You are not a failure. You are not a loser-mom. Don't listen to that voice in your head that makes you believe you'll never be good at this "home thing." Today you are taking a small but significant stand to improve your life and help you find the joy you've lost along the way. Big things happen in small ways every day....and this step is one of those that will change the course of your life forever.

Have you ever made a simple housekeeping schedule? How could you incorporate Minimum Maintenance into your daily habits? I hope you'll share your success stories - and areas you struggle with!

We are in this together!

 

 

Bloom in 2014

I've had a really hard time sitting down to write my first post of 2014. I don't know why that is. I think maybe I just don't know quite where to start! There's so much I'd like to share.

So let's just start with the theme that's on my heart for this year:

 

Bloom

 

I've long considered myself a late bloomer.

Late to discovering things I love to do, like painting and writing. Late to finding friendships with other women. Late to figuring out God's purpose for me. Late to thaw hamburger out for supper. Late to send birthday cards. Late to bloom into the person I've longed to be.

 

Just....late.

But the other day, as I was thinking about this theme of blooming and wondering why it's taken me so long, I realized that in God's timing we are never late.

Because He makes everything beautiful in His time.

And I realized that each season of life holds different kinds of blooming - whether you're single, or a young mom, or an empty nester, or single again, or in the thick of carpools and sports practices.

Sometimes we don't even see that our petals are unfurling in the midst of it all.

God is creating something beautiful in us....and his timing is perfect.

Sometimes all we need to do is to embrace the season and let God work. Let your roots go deep and your leaves reach upward...and let Him do His thing.

 

I invite you to bloom with me in 2014.

 

Let's keep working on making our homes great places to be, because that's what Home Sanctuary is all about, but let's also keep our eyes on blooming - on seeing possibilities around us, and finding the seeds of greatness God's planted within us. I believe we can see miracles happen in us and around us if we'll take the time to notice, be intentional with our days, and be willing to grow.

 

Let's bloom.

 

Let's make this year the year we bloom, no matter what our circumstances, no matter what happens. We can trust that God is creating something beautiful in us and through us, and because of it we can impact our families, communities and the world in small ways every day.

I want to be that kind of bloomer. How about you?

 

What is one area you'd like to bloom in? Your marriage? Your parenting? Your organization? Your prayer life? Your cooking skills? Your personal goals? I'd love to hear from you as I put posts together for this year!

I'm looking forward to encouraging, challenging and cheering you on each day as we bloom together!