I actually wrote this over the weekend, but didn't finish it until this morning. I still left it in Saturdays context, as it made more since that way! My Focus goals for January 21-25 are at the bottom.
Life isn't about how you survived the storm...it's about how you danced in the rain.(author unknown)
This morning I prayed for focus, as I do many mornings, but this
time I also asked God to help me to not let myself off the hook so easy.
While drinking my coffee I decided I’d read a couple chapters in the bible. I
am reading the book of Numbers, if you have read it before it is easy to let
your mind wonder. So a few paragraphs in
I was negotiating with myself, I’ll just read one chapter today after all it is
Saturday. When I came to the end of the first chapter it ended with, “spoke to him...…..”
Really!? I cannot remember another chapter that ended that way. It was
unfinished, to be continued if you will. Have you ever noticed sometimes when
you ask God for help with something he sends you a challenge? So I took the challenge and read on thinking I
bet I am going to learn something great reading this chapter. It wasn’t bad but
not inspiring like I had hoped. Then I realized maybe that was the point, it
wasn’t about what I was going to get out of reading on, it was about the focus
to continue that mattered. I felt better, for at least once this week I did not
give in to my negotiations.
You can probably guess by the last statement I am
disappointed and unsatisfied with how last week turned out. Not because my
house wasn’t clean like I had hoped at the end of Friday, though it wasn’t.
Quit honestly I spent so much time “planning how to get it all clean” I never
got to the actual cleaning part. I am
disappointed in my lack of mental strength to get things done. I actually justified
not getting chores done because I was making a schedule to help to get them done
better. What sense does that make?
When I wanted to break 5 minutes in the mile in college, I
didn’t come to practice and tell my coach I couldn’t workout today because I
was working on a great training plan. I also did not stop halfway through because
practice wasn’t going as I planned. I showed up each day and finished each
workout. Sometimes I wondered if it was
even worth putting my shoes on, but I did it anyway and it was worth it.
Getting better at things requires practice. I tell my kids
this all the time when they ask if they could just play games and not practice.
Just like training for a race or a game you should not skip a workout or even
worse give up in the middle of one. Some practices you trudge through and maybe
even walk through the finish line. In this case never get past the morning
chores for the day. It’s easier to start negotiating the worth of the day and
decide it’s a loss and give up, just like I wanted to stop reading. The days
you keep your focus despite the fact you may not have a sparkling clean house at
the end are the best days of training. Days, weeks or what the heck
months like this build your mental strength. Ask any athlete how far they can
get on a good training plan alone, not very far. Do you really need mental
strength to clean the house? I don’t know
about you but my mind is what normally lets me off the hook in anything I do. I used to be so productive and mentally strong
sometimes I wonder if that strength is gone? No, I think I am just mentally out of shape,
physically too but that’s another story.
With this said we need take into consideration the kid
factor. Kids are kind of like the weather. What do you do if it starts storming
when you are working out, allow yourself to be hit by lightning? No you head in
and adjust the workout for the day. When
you become a mother the ability to have uninterrupted work time is over. Let’s
face it despite the drought we are having outside it storms daily at my
house. How many times have I been
cruising along feeling good about my progress only to turn around and see the
toys I just organized are in a big pile again? Or just when I am thinking how
nice it is to have quiet while balancing the checkbook my thoughts quickly
change to, oh no why is it quiet? You
explore a bit and discover your two year old decided she was hungry and spilled
half the bag of cereal on the carpet. Working through lunch is no longer an
option. Then when I am folding the third load of laundry and am nicely asked to
unscrew the lid of her chapstic, and without thinking I actually do it. I later
clean it off of her, the coach, and a Rubbermaid tub of toys; those are only
the spots I found. Let’s face it your
routine is interrupted daily, wait hourly, no wait by the minute! Seriously
when’s the last time you went to the bathroom without someone hunting you down?
Right now you might be wondering which is it Samantha, stay
focused and stop making excuses or don’t worry you have kids and they are your excuse?
Both! There will be days you’ll get up and put your running
shoes on and never make it out the door. But don’t take them off and put on
your slippers. At the end of the day
just like at the end of Numbers 8 the result may not be inspiring. Some days
you just do the best you can. If you did you best it won’t bother you if your goals
for Monday become your goals for Tuesday. Only you know what your best for that day is,
and there will be days when you don’t give it all we are human. When this
happens instead of trying to justify it take a moment to refocus, re-tie your
shoes and keep running. You never know when you will finally break the 5 minute
mile. When I finally did it was in practice.
PS: I have nothing
against training in slippers I do! It was just a fun comparison. :)
New goals, comments and
excuses :) are in purple.
FOCUS for January
21-25, 2013
Goals for a Better Home
1. Personal Focus to better my relationship with God.
Daily: Start and end each day with prayer.
Read two chapters in the Bible.
Weekly:
Read one article from the Leaven Newspaper and one chapter in Reasons to Believe (I have been working on this book for awhile) to learn more
about my Faith. RUN.
Monthly: Find
and order a Bible Study for Lent. I have narrowed the options.
2. Remove distractions at key times.
Daily: No computer 6:30-8:00am and
3:00-5:00(or after everyone is home for the day)
Weekly:
Less TV and computer for my husband and me after the kids are in bed.(Lets try it
again it was harder than I thought)
Monthly: Plan a NO Electronics evening for the family. (NOT a
popular idea we’ll see how it goes.)
3. Add something to give
more of me to my family.
Daily:
Give my family a proper send off and welcome home each day. Focused one on one
time with each kid and my husband every day! Read out of the children’s Bible
before bedtime prayers (they liked this so I will keep it).
Weekly: Discuss, at each of their age levels, what
the baby bottle collection for Mary's Choices
that we brought home from church is for. Plan child #4’s Birthday party. Both still on
the to do list, and child #4 was still sick until yesterday! RUN
Monthly: Plan a study for the family for Lent. I have some options!
Goals for a Better House
1.
Daily: Have 3 daily “Check Points” for daily chores or routines.
Check Point 1(9:00): Kitchen straightened, previous day catch up, get dressed,
make bed, one load of laundry started, pets fed, have a plan for dinner.
Check Point 2(3:30): Laundry/Mud room, kitchen, dining & living room
straighten. Kids’ beds made (hopefully this will become their habit). Daily
laundry folded and put away.
Check Point 3 (After Dinner): Kitchen, dining room and living room straightened up,
backpacks ready for the morning.
2. Weekly: Daily Tasks
Monday: Weekly planning; make a to do list, update
the calendar, and pay bills(first and 3rd weeks).
Tuesday:
Finish a house cleaning schedule, that I will do, kid’s chores schedule, and
Household Purge schedule (Still needed). Print all and hang them in
view!
Wednesday: Plan meal menu for the next week (Thurs-Weds), make grocery
list, balance checkbook (weekly deposit, finish budget and get spreadsheet
posted).
Thursday:
Weekly errands; Christmas returns still not done! Drop off recycles, go to
bank, and Grocery store. Help kids straighten their rooms in the evening.
Friday: Cleaning Day and weekly catch up!
3. Monthly: Projects (big and small)
Start
my 2013 “Household Purge”! This week’s
rooms: the kitchen and dining room!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting on Scratch Paper Essays.