the Blog
Welcome! Find insights on building your business, priorities, motherhood, entrepreneurship, time management, joy, vision, magic, and, occasionally, food.
Use the tools, guidance, and real life examples to figure out where you’re heading and navigate a course you love. Even the messy parts.
It's Easier the Second Time
[You may not be able to tell from the next few sentences, but I promise—this article really IS for entrepreneurs!]
The kids were on break last week and we took a 300 piece puzzle out of the library (because that's what you can do in my mother-in-law's awesome suburban library!).
My ten year old daughter and I labored together for hours to bring to life a picture of a general store and assorted old-timey bric a brac. We wasted only a minimal amount of time arguing about the best way to tackle a puzzle (finding all the edge pieces and organizing everything by color/pattern—yes; trying to put together random pieces you think might fit and then leaving them semi-attached even when they clearly do not go together—not so much).
Burn This (or, how change is possible)
Ever try to do something that seems like a really smart idea, an idea that will save you time and/or money and/or energy? And then it totally blows up in your face and ends up costing you MORE time and/or money and/or energy than it would have if you'd done it the regular way in the first place?
Insert Your Favorite Curse Word Here
Been hitting a wall?
If so, you're not alone. According to The Power Path's monthly forecast, the theme of July is "Growing Pains." If my life, or the lives of pretty much all of my clients, are any indication, these shamans have it dead straight:
Yep, I cried. Shocker.
A couple of weeks ago I attended my son’s school talent show. He is seven. He held up a glass and showed the audience that there was a quarter in the glass. It was good that he said this, because I don’t think anyone in the audience could actually see that there was a quarter in the glass. Then he made the quarter disappear. (I don’t think anyone could actually see this either.)
How to Focus When Your Brain is a Kaleidoscope
I just got this note from someone who participated in my last Get One Thing Done Day, we'll call her Abby:
"I 'got one thing done,' Jennifer, and put project to-do lists on my bulletin board, plus made shelves for individual project papers. But there are so many. I'm a KALEIDOSCOPE, with many interests. Setting priorities is hard. I end up doing the urgent things, jumping from one to another, all so important."
I Meant to Write You, But I Had to Check Facebook First
Well, my plan was to stay in touch with all of the amazing people in the Place of Joy community, to do it consistently, and to share things I think you’ll value.
I wanted to do this because (1) I have a lot to teach and writing is a great way for me to get it out there, (2) people respond to a lot of what I write about and it seems to make a difference to them, and (3) because the general consensus is that if you stay in touch with your community consistently and provide value, your business will grow.
C'mon, Flip It: From "Coming Up Short" to "Celebrating"
OK, so I know I’ve spent the year running programs and workshops designed to help people get their stuff done, and that a lot of the questions I ask have to do with what things you wished you’d gotten to this year but didn’t. And I’m not going to pretend that it’s not true that there are probably things on your list you haven’t gotten to—I know it’s certainly true for me.
Is it just me, or is anyone else freakin' exhausted?
I feel like I just got through one batch of holidays and am diving head-first into another, without a second to breathe. And while I know there are lots of other people who celebrate all sorts of holidays and still manage to run households, businesses, personal lives and school book fairs, frankly I sometimes can’t imagine how they do it. Or, more accurately, how they do it without breaking down and crying and/or getting a little snappish and/or wondering what would happen if they just quit doing everything.
Zombie Strategies for Your Business
Let me share with you a conversation I recently had with my six (and-three-quarter) year-old son on our walk home from school:
Me: Would you still love me if I were a zombie?
James: If you didn't eat my brains I would love you. [Thoughtful pause.] I would love the "you" I remember, not the zombie you. If you tried to eat my brains I would throw a jalapeno at you and burn you up.
I thought this was a reasonable response.
My husband agreed, and added this: You see, that's how James is going to make it through the Zombie Apocalypse, he realizes you can't get sentimental.
So what does this have to to with business? I'm glad you asked.