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.
Undercommit
A couple of weeks ago someone asked in one of my online communities, "What tips and tricks will you be implementing this summer to stay on track in your business?"
People had all sorts of great answers, ranging from creating marketing plans to setting up systems to automate more of their businesses and lives. I knew I could use just about everything they named, but my body rebelled and wouldn't let me declare one more action item or goal for the summer, no matter how big a difference I imagined it would make.
This is what came out instead…
Getting to an Effortless "No"
Yesterday I got an email from someone who wanted something from me that I didn’t want to give. She wanted my time.
I have become more and more fiercely protective of my time over the years, but apparently had not yet mastered the art of the effortless no. The moment I read the email subject and knew what the request was, I felt my stomach clench — first because I didn’t want to give time to this particular conversation and second because I knew that I probably would anyway.
This was a bad idea...
WHY do I sometimes think that something is such a good idea, and then it turns out to be such a bad idea but I keep going anyway, like if I can just force myself through it it will be totally worth it? This is what just happened to me, and some ways it might help you when your own brilliant ideas have you banging your head against the wall...
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."
Overestimate much?
So this is what I brought to the coffee shop this morning:
-
My laptop (so I could write)
-
My planner (so I could map out my week)
-
My to-do notebook (so I could update my to-dos, list the things I still need to get done for my daughter’s birthday party this afternoon, and go over the list of people I want to connect with)
-
Client tracker forms (so I could update session dates and notes)
-
A book (The 12 Week Year) and a second notebook (so I could define my goals for the next twelve weeks, break them down into specific steps, and put the first week’s steps into a tracking chart)
-
Headphones (so I could listen to a meditation)
- My phone (so I could catch up on emails and texts)
Super intentions for a jam-packed morning of efficiency and action! And super-overestimating how much I could possibly accomplish in the two hours I had to get my work done.
WHY DO I DO THIS???