Balance Baby Steps

image from here

This looks like Micah, doesn't it?

In reality, this has been me for about the last year.
Buried up to my neck, praying no one throws another shovel full of something on top of me.

My search for balance is beginning.  My goal is to post my progress on Monday--what I'm doing, how I'm changing and if it's making any difference.

And my second goal is to keep it to Monday.  There are so many more interesting things that go on around here--way more interesting than my inner angst and trauma.

Brad and I had a business meeting over ribs and fries Friday night--a family/couple business meeting.  Actually, he was more "of counsel," as he usually is in his lawyer life, since this was all a talk about my life and how I can manage it better.  As always, he listened and gave great advice.

First, however, I had to be really honest with him.  I'm genius at deceiving myself about where my time goes.  Things always are easier or less time consuming than I'll admit.  He was shocked how much time I spend every week preparing for my class--and a touch surprised how much time I spend blogging.  And, quite frankly, so was I when I really thought about it.

Once I was honest with myself about where I spend so much of my time, I could begin to see a new approach to life:


I thought that all I cared about was being skinny, not being fit.  When I dropped exercise completely from my life, I cared.


I thought that I was only spending as much time studying and preparing as I absolutely had to.  I may be investing too much time.


I thought blogging was just a fun pastime, just a few minutes here and there.  I need to cut back here.


I thought I should be able to remember and do everything I need to do every week, just by the strength of my willpower.  Everyone, especially CEOs and business managers, take time every week to plan, prioritize, and schedule.

I love the quote I added above (just below my blog header) from Steven R. Covey.  I'm always busy, I'm usually efficient, but my goal is to be effective--in my life and in others' lives, as well.  This is going to be my mantra for the next week.  In order to bridge the distance between efficient and effective, I decided I first needed to focus on me--

This week I'm making a few course corrections and taking one giant, scary leap.

My weekday bedtime is set in stone--sleep at 9 pm.  If there is an emergency, it can be flexible up to 9:30.  That's it.  And I'm always up at 5--only exception would be all-nighters pulled cradling sick kiddos.

Exercise every day.  It matters.  This change is sad to me, since I've been super fit a few times in my life--I mean, I've run two marathons, for heaven's sake!  When did this priority disappear?

Sunday evening at 8:15 is weekly scheduling time.  Priorities become priorities when we make them priorities.  I don't want to spend my time flitting from fire to fire, extinguishing whatever catches my attention first.  I want to mother and live purposely.

The second part of this goal is to keep a chart of how I really lived out my day.  What didn't get done?  What took longer than I thought?

Blogging (sigh) will only take up one hour of my day.  If I'm not there commenting and laughing with you as much as I was before, remember me and smile and think, "She's balancing!"

And the giant, scary leap:

I am going to limit the time I spend on my Institute lessons.  Gulp.  The idea alone brings a panic to my chest and a lump to my throat.  This week will mostly be an experiment on what I can eliminate and what I can't.  This could be disastrous.  But I'm going to try.

Part of me is fighting how much time it will take to schedule everything and live by a list on a sheet of paper.  But what I'm hoping to accomplish is a realistic expectation of what I can do every day.

Wish me luck! 

 And you deserve a reward if you noticed the half-eaten Hershey bar behind Micah's head.  Even when you're buried up to your ears, there's always need for a treat!