Staying Focused

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How do you stay focused on an activity so that it’s completed with excellence and done on time? 

I have a whole file of techniques I’ve created to stay focused–with a few ideas I’ve borrowed from other people’s suggestions. 

A whole file of ideas, you ask? 

No, I don’t have Attention Deficit Disorder or anything like that. My problem is too many involvements, too many commitments, too many projects, and too many things I like doing. With that kind of brain, no wonder it’s hard to stay focused on anything! It’s constantly fragmented.

So why do I have a whole file of ideas and not just one good one? 

  • Maybe it’s because I’m a female and never feel just one of anything works all the time. 
  • Maybe it’s because not all projects can use the same “stay focused” techniques. 
  • Maybe it’s because I’m not in the mood to do any of them and you’re not going to tell me I have to! 

No, but I do still need to get it done. 

Here’s one of the simplest ideas I’ve ever devised and yet it’s one that I use the most. No matter how many appointments, commitments, or projects needing to be completed by the end of the day, . . . 

  • I write on a colorful note card in large marker the one item that I need to be working on or get completed at this moment. I may have a stack of cards with various “one items” of things written on them, but the one card with one item is what I post in front of me at the moment. Somehow seeing that one item keeps me on track and my brain focused.

(When you feel distracted, how do you stay focused? You can tell us below.) 

~ Glenda 

Why Can’t I?

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Sometimes all you want to do is bang that snooze alarm so that it never goes off again. But, you can’t.

Sometimes you want to shop and shop and shop and not worry about how much things cost. But, you don’t.

Sometimes you wish you could go out and party and pretend you’re not married, have kids, and have a job. But, you won’t.  

Just as you have to follow through with certain obligations in life whether you feel like it or not, the same can be true on goals you are trying to reach. Some days you may feel like quitting and chucking your whole idea out the window, but those can simply be feelings, not what you should actually do.

The best thing to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep taking one step at a time on whatever it is you want to accomplish. Instinct can be misled by feelings. Keep doing until you definitely know the answer of whether you should keep following one step at a time.

Don’t rely on your feelings. Feelings can be fickle.

(Do you ever have the feeling to just give up? What do you do? Please leave a comment and tell us.)
 

~ Glenda  (gj)   

If I Just Had Hope

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Never deprive someone of hope; it may be all they have.

 

Well wishers and do-gooders often try to bring others down to reality, to face the truth, to quit living in a fairy-tale land.

If every inventor or high achiever listened to the naysayers, their accomplishments would never have happened.

Sometimes things don’t go as we’d hoped, but keep that hope firmly in your heart as long as you can.

 (Have you had something for which you almost gave up hope, but thankful you didn’t? Please leave your comment.)

 

~ Glenda (gj)

 

Looking Backward

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No, this doesn’t mean using hindsight. It means are you always looking backward?  

How can you make a difference if your thoughts are constantly taken up with things that have already happened?

If the past is all you dwell on, you’ll never get anywhere.

Ever tried walking a mile backwards? Or jogging a mile backwards?

You’ll have the same difficulty reaching goals or getting anywhere in life if your thoughts are stuck in reverse.

The past is past; you can’t change it. Look ahead to change what you can, and become part of a refreshing future.

(Do you think and plan for the future or are you always looking at the past–living your thoughts on what you once wear or on what could have been. Leave a reply we’d love to hear your thoughts.)

~ Glenda

You Only Have Two Choices

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You have two, core choices in life. These two choices apply to everything: business, goals, activities, relationships, work, school, friends, family. . . .

  • You can do what God wants you to do.
  • You can do what Satan wants you to do.

There is no gray area. You can’t say, “Well, God knew I meant well” or “God knows I’ll do better next time” or “God knows I was trying.”

You either follow God or you’re not. Yes, everyone slips up and make mistakes. Not a single person is perfect. 

You have to trust God and let him lead you in all areas of your life. Satan loves it when you are afraid, when you make excuses, when you rationalize things, when you dilute what God tells you to make life easier. God is either a part of every moment in your life or he’s not.

(I know not everyone agrees with me. What do you think?)

 

~ Glenda

Excellence in All Tasks

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“Doing a thing well is often a waste of time.” – Robert Byrne

How can anyone say this? What about the adage that we all grew up with, “if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” How can you say it’s a waste of time to do something right?

That’s not what the quote said. It said, “is often a waste of time.” Think about it. For everything you do in life, should it require an excellence and exactness to be called doing it right? A silly example but let’s discuss laundry. I’m very particular about laundry, and we won’t talk about how I separate and determine washer and dryer settings and which products to use, etc. I actually do that by rote. But what about the putting away of the laundry? It is true that I like all the towels folded the same way, but should I get out of sorts if someone else doesn’t fold them that way so that my towel cabinet looks horrid when you open that cabinet door? Should I take extra time to make sure all the towels are folded to the exact same degree and have no edges showing? Should I tie a coordinating ribbon around towel and sheet sets like I saw in a Martha Stewart column one day? How much time and focus in life should your towels inside a cabinet deserve?

The towel example is rather silly but the point is, some jobs need to be done. Get them over with. Call it quits. Go on to things in life that count more in the whole scheme of life: a task that will get you a promotion, more time to play with the kids, perfecting your tennis back hand, or studying for a test.

This reminds me of the movie, Sleeping with the Enemy, with Julia Roberts. In the movie, her husband was so exacting that every thing in life, including how cans were lined up in the cabinet had to be 100% perfect according to his standards. Right. Everything in life does not have to be done well.

(Should you do your best on everything or pick and choose? Please leave a comment.)

 

~ Glenda  

Doing Nothing

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“To do nothing is tiresome because you can not stop to take a rest.”

       taken from Sept. 29 devotion in the Daily Walk Bible

 

Haven’t you seen people who are tired all the time yet haven’t done anything but work to try to get out of work?

 ~ Glenda   

 

Not My Fault

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How many times do you say you weren’t able to do something because of situations or someone else’s actions?

Learn to listen to your own answers and explanations you give for why you didn’t do what you wanted to do.

Listen to your words to know whether circumstances really did impede you doing what you wanted–or were those simply excuses for why you didn’t do something. If you had an earthquake, flood, hurricane, fire, or tornado you probably do have legitimate reasons for why you didn’t get something done.

Be careful of the “blame game” though. It’s always someone else’s fault–not yours.  The blame game is one of the best ways to not accomplish what you want to do.

I wish I could say I was pointing fingers at everyone else on this, but unfortunately that wouldn’t be true. I’ve been guilty of the “blame game” so many times I could not possibly count them.

However, once you hear yourself and realize you are simply making excuses and pointing blame, you’ll be far less likely to keep using everything in life as an excuse.

(Do you know anyone who has an excuse for everything not done? No names please but leave your comment below.)

  

~ Glenda   

www.glendaschoonmaker.com

www.365DaysOfFunInMarriage.com   (look here for great ideas for fun in marriage)

Following Your Passions

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When you are passionate about something, what do you do about it? Do you wait until it’s totally convenient, or do you carve out niches of time no matter what it takes?

When thoughts of your desired activity swirl in your mind and keep your brain engaged 24/7 (and it will not harm or be destructive to anything or anyone) you must make sacrifices to engage your passion: give up something less important, carve time away from something else (like a lunch hour), lose a little sleep a few nights a week, learn to say no to activities that others can do. . . .

If you are that destined in an area, it might mean that you are the one intended to do it. Whether it’s jewelry making, music, a visual art form, reading, sewing, outdoor activities, starting a business, doing a Bible study, volunteering, if you work on those dreams, you’ll not only be a better person, you have no idea who along the way you may help. 

More than likely, the world will be a little bit better place if  you listen to your intuition and follow your passion. Don’t feel selfish; you may not be the only person who benefits.

 

 ~ Glenda 

Believe in the Impossible

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Like many other girls, Kiera Brinkley wanted to be a dancer–but Kiera has no arms or legs. At the age of two years old a rampant bacterial infection (meningococcal disease) caused doctors to have to amputate most of both legs, her left arm at the elbow and the right arm above the wrist. When the little girl left the hospital, her mother knew things would not be easy but said she ”could not let disability limit Kiera’s future.”

“She doesn’t have any boundaries, just hurdles” says her mom, Elesha Boyd. ”Life for her wasn’t going to be: ‘You can’t do that.’” Her mom says Kiera’s only different on the outside and treated her as a normal kid, just shorter.

Kiera loved music and when she wanted to be a part of the school’s dance routine, her mother encouraged her and sewed taps to the bottoms of her pants.

Later she won a lottery to attend DaVinci Arts Middle School. Kiera never treated herself as anyone different. She swayed to music with her whole body in rhythm. With exuberance she would get out her wheel chair and do cartwheels.

Later in highschool “Shriners’ staffers contacted the Dream Factory, a national organization that grants wishes to critically and chronically ill children. The group invited Kiera to live out one of her dreams: A trip with her family to New York City for a Julliard workshop.” Here she was able to see one of her choreographed routines that she envisioned with reaches of full arms and legs extended danced by an ensemble of students. She said she bawled at being able to see what she could only imagine doing.

Kiera is still involved in dance and believing in “impossible” dreams. She wants to be a prenatal nurse but always keep dance in her life–maybe be a dance teacher. She’s an inspiration to everyone who sees her.

Her mother never told her, “you can’t do that.” 

What a difference we can make in people’s lives by the words we use.

To see a full article and be completely inspired, check out   http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/02/despite_losing_part_of_each_li.html .

 

~ Glenda  

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