by Donna | Jan 19, 2012
Habit #5: Get Completely Ready for the Day (Even If You’re Not Going Anywhere!)
Years ago, when my older children were younger, I seldom “fancied up” unless I was going somewhere. I often put on sweats, took my walk, then showered and put another pair of sweats on. I figured that if nobody was going to see me except the kids and Ray, I may as well use that time for something else. I hated spending time getting “fixed up” when I could be getting something done off my list (efficiency expert gone wild here!).
Then I became good friends with some gals who always seemed “fixed up.” They always looked great no matter whether I dropped in unexpectedly or saw them at the skating rink. And I decided that my family deserved more than ponytails and sweatpants.
Flylady (a self-help, organizing, cleaning guru online who helps thousands of women get control of their daily lives) sends out a daily email reminder early each morning that reads, “Dress down to your shoes.” Her premise is that if you get completely ready for the day (as though you are going somewhere), you will feel more professional and serious about what you do each day. Also, if you do it first thing (or at least right after reading or exercising), you will be more energized to attack the tasks at hand.
Now that Ray and I dance for exercise after work some days, I don’t just have to get ready down to my shoes; I actually have to get “dressed up” (well, somewhat dressed up). The studio where we dance has an unwritten “no jeans and no sweats” policy. But you know what? I like it. I have come to enjoy not being dowdy all the time! I don’t panic if someone pulls in the driveway. If I have to run a quick, unexpected errand, I don’t have to make excuses for my appearance to everyone I see.
Whether you get “fancy” each day or simply get completely ready for your day and presentable, if you are a work-at-home mom, homeschooler, or housewife with littles, I think you will enjoy it too. I feel so much better coming out to teach the kids and manage the home with myself pulled together. Besides my family deserves to have a happy, glowing mommy–and wife! Smile….
by Donna | Jun 21, 2011
Last year in our experiment to post 365 blog entries, I realized that I wrote a lot! A whole lot! And some things I wrote are good to hear again–or to be reminded of occasionally. With everybody scrambling to find their new normal for the summer, I wanted to re-post an entry from last year that has links for charts that you can create/use for designing your new normal–your summer schedules and goals. Hope they help today be a better day for you! 🙂
https://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-186-links-for-charts-for-reading.html
by Donna | May 23, 2011
I have been having computer issues–and now my computer will not open my WORD doc at all. I am scheduled to get a new computer as soon as I can part with this one for a couple of days, and it looks like now is that time!
While I can’t get to my blog posts in WORD, I do have a thought for the week that is burning within me as I prepare to graduate our fifth child in the next two weeks (party in a week; graduation in another week following): priorities are what we do.
Ray and I shared this in all three of our sessions this weekend–because it is incredibly true and incredibly life-affecting.
We can say that something is a priority to us (teaching our kids about the Lord, exercising, playing as a family, discussions, date nights, consistent chore times, etc.), but unless we are doing those things on a regular basis, there are not priorities but are simply wishes. Dreams and wishes that we fantasize about but do not do. Because priorities are what we do.
With that in mind, this week, let’s all examine what we are truly doing. (If your week is unusual, like mine with graduation party then graduation and grown kids in and out, you might wait a week or two to do this–but not everything is “unusual”—if something is the way it is, it is not unusual, but is our new normal.)
Anyway, let’s examine our lives this week–and see if what we dream of as our priorities–or even what we tell others are our priorities–truly are. After all, priorities are what we do. So whatever we do this week will likely be our true priorities in life.
by Donna | Jan 21, 2011
In the last post’s exercise confession, I described how I am an “all or nothing type of person.” This, as I stated earlier, can be a real boon or a real detriment.
I have always believed in the concept of “do a little bit of a big project everyday,” but, as is true with all really good things, it is not enough to believe it, you have to do it. And that’s where I break down a little.
Oh, I’ve had varying degrees of success with it—and have always loved the outcome of that success. Many years ago, I made a commitment to write curriculum a few days each week—a little at a time. And thirty thousand pages later (they are not *all* text; some are student “worktexts” with lines for the kids to fill in), I know that “write most days” really worked.
I learned a dozen years ago that organizing experts say that you can maintain an organizational system in twenty minutes per day of maintenance. We have applied this to most of our home’s organizational systems and kept things flowing despite full time jobs, homeschooling, and starting a business/family ministry. A little every day keeps things moving on bigger projects in the same way that a few “dailies” each day keep things moving on a day-by-day basis.
I even taught my kids to do this. I can remember our third child, who is now a disability ministry director and gets tons done every day, announcing near the beginning of high school, that no matter what her days held, she was going to do ten minutes of each subject every school day. Obviously, most subjects required more than that, but her thinking (and it is great thinking) was that if she got out each subject for ten minutes every day, regardless of whether she was working that day or going on a field trip, etc., she would make her way through everything by the end of the year. And it worked.
Last year I set out on a “do a little bit of a big project everyday” as I started Positive Parenting 3*6*5 and committed to write a post every day—365 days in a row, as much as possible. I ended that on December 30th with success—365 parenting blog posts.
I was inspired again to apply this approach to some big projects I am working on right now by the “Git ‘er Done Guy.” This internet self-help guru described how he broke down a big project (an upcoming book) into twenty minute increments every day. I am doing the same this year with my outlines and presentation materials, as well as with our parenting blog and our Language Lady 365 blog.
Truly, to “git ‘er done,” you just have to do it….a little bit at a time.
by Donna | Jan 20, 2011
If you have read Positive Parenting long, you have probably heard me say that I am an “all or nothing type of person.” This mindset can be either really great or absolutely horrible. It is really great when I have the time and energy to put “all” into something and come out with something wonderful because I gave it my all. It’s absolutely horrible when I can’t do “all” of something, so I do nothing. Exercise and I have definitely had that all or nothing relationship through the years.
I either walked 90-120 minutes a day, did “Abs With Denise” every night, and lost eighty pounds. Or I did nothing and gained eighty pounds. Definitely all or nothing.
As I have found with most things in my life, the older I get, the more balance I achieve—and exercise is finally coming into balance for me. No more all or nothing. If I can do ten minutes of arms and stomach a day, I do that. If I can ballroom dance for two hours one day, I do that. If I can take a long walk with one of the kids, I go for it. If we can play basketball in the driveway for thirty minutes, pass me the ball.
With this “new” approach to exercise, I will probably never be a size six again…but I will never be a size twenty-four again either! I am healthier than I have been since my “exercise mania days” (which turned out to be not so healthy when coupled with starvation diets!). And definitely healthier than my size twenty-four days.
So…do you want to join me in the coming year? Exercise a little everyday—ten, twenty, thirty, sixty, or 120 minutes. Because a little bit all the time is better than a lot very infrequently.
by Donna | Jan 19, 2011
Parents are busy people! And last on the list of “to do’s” in our lives is often anything that is “for us.” However, it might behoove us to look at some of those things that we “do for us” as not being just “for us” after all. Reading for yourself each day could just be one of those things.
I’ve been a big reader all throughout my parenting years—parenting books, homeschooling magazines and catalogs, devotional materials, and discipleship books are staples that I have pored over through the years. However, a few years ago, I realized that I was seldom picking these things up anymore. I would stack them on my headboard or desk, look at them longingly, remember the days of long naps for the kids and my “lunch and reading time,” but not really get to them.
In the past few years, I have gotten better about going back to my own reading. But in 2011, I want to make it even more of a priority. Not just Bible and character in the morning with the kids, not just reading stories to Jakie, not just a chapter book with my guys, not just a family devotional at the dinner table—but my “Trusting God” by Jerry Bridges and my “Grammar Girl Devotional” and my “Writing Handbook” and my “Raising Kids for True Greatness” and on and on. Just for me…because in the long run, reading for me is not really just reading for me.
