Category Archives: managing time

The first of the month has magical powers, doesn’t it???

30 Saturday Jun 2012

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Buster has mastered time management. That is why he is my mascot for these kinds of posts.

All days with special “beginning meanings” are more powerful for getting stuff started, right?  Monday- the first day of the week.  How many times do you tell yourself you’ll start that new thing on Monday? Even better -the first of the month – especially July 1, the beginning of the whole second half of the year– yeah, that’s powerful! Of course there’s the most powerful day of all -January 1 – the first day of a whole new year!!  But I can’t wait all the way until January so I’m going to start tomorrow.  July 1. Surely anything that’s begun on such an auspicious date has a better chance.  A better chance that I’ll stick to it.  A better chance that what I begin will become magically part of my everyday routine.

I’m going to wrangle  time once and for all.  To gently hold it down like Cesar Milan and show it who’s boss.  If you’ve been reading along with me here on the ol’ Wild and Precious blog for a while, you know that when I’m not writing about bonding with nature and loving hanging out with the cats and being wordless, I’m writing about time.  About trying to avoid being too busy, or trying not to get overwhelmed with tasks, stuff, to-do lists, etc. I have a bunch of theories about what’s going on with me, and I have a hunch they’re going on for others too – that this isn’t just my crazy little problem.   And I’m going to do a two month experiment to see just what happens when I treat this whole thing in a completely new way.  I can’t wait to tell you about it – but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.  Because you know – it will be July 1 and all.  And the first thing I’m probably going to talk about is how silly it is to wait for auspicious and magical dates to begin something important.

Too early, too late, too soon, not soon enough

25 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in managing time, thoughts

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Buster doesn’t concern himself with issues of too soon or too late. He just naps whenever.

Someone emails you a question, and you read it and know the answer.  You could email them back right away and tell them.  Or your mind might get in the way.  “You’re not even supposed to be checking email right now!”  “They’ll think you’re not busy, just hanging out on your computer if you respond right away!”  “It’s 9 p.m. on a Friday night – what will people think if you respond to an email now?  They’ll think you don’t have a fun social life!”  Oh, Mind, you are so very funny.

Or let’s switch to blogging.  You have an idea, some cool photos, a basic plan of what to write.  But then your mind pipes in.  “It’s too early to write – let’s do some other stuff.”  Or, “It’s too late – we’ll do it tomorrow when we’re fresh.” Or “That post would make more sense on a Friday and it’s only Thursday.”  Or “Those photos are from an event last week – who wants to read about that now!  Too late!”

Your somewhat nutty but well-meaning mind has you putting things off, waiting because it’s too soon, and then abandoning because – Oh! Now it’s too late.

Guess what?  None of it is true.  And it really gets in the way of getting valuable stuff done.

So want a real life example?  (I only know this stuff because my mind has its nutty moments!)  Way back in April, an extraordinary fellow blogger named Jackie featured me in a beautiful Shine post on her site.  And I never really told anyone about it!  Why?  Because of my mind.  First it seemed too soon.  Then I was busy, then I was out of town, then I was out of town again, then it seemed too late.

If this ever happens to you, tell your mind to shhhhh… and do the thing.  It’s not too soon. To write your memoirs.  To dust under the bed, even if you did it last week.  To call your mom.  To try that business idea.  Or if you don’t do it and your mind says it’s too late, again tell your mind hush.  It’s not too late.  To send the thank you note.  To organize your finances.  To plan that vacation you’ve been dreaming of. To start taking care of your body.

So, without further ado, here’s the link to a Q&A session with Jackie – I loved her questions and loved doing this interview!  Perhaps reading this link is exactly what you need today, and that’s why I’m posting it, two months later in June.  That’s what I’m believing tonight.  Thanks again, Jackie for the insightful questions!

Worshiping at the altar of busy

03 Sunday Jun 2012

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It’s funny, I was talking to a good friend about my crusade against the word “crazy-busy” and this idea of everyone telling everyone else how busy they are all the time, like it’s a badge of honor.

And surprisingly, she said, “Do you know how embarrassing it is not to be busy?  What are you supposed to tell people?”

Oh. Right.  That’s how we show that all is well in our culture.  A packed calendar, a list of accomplishments – a whole lot of doing, doing, doing.  We’re fine – we’re  just so busy!

Me – I’m starting to rebel against this kind of thinking. For the past bunch of years, I’ve been slowly chipping away at this concept. Now when people ask, “How are you?  Really busy?”  I’ve stopped saying, “Oh, yeah. Things are just so busy.” Because I really don’t want to live that way anymore.

Sure, sometimes I’m still busy, and sometimes my days are super-full.  But I’m not all proud of it anymore.  In fact, when my calendar gets too stuffed, I get honest with myself about what’s going on that’s led me to pile up so many appointments or commitments.  I get really curious.  Especially if I’m saying yes to everyone but myself.

I know what you might be thinking – that you don’t have any choice.  That there’s absolutely nothing you can do to escape the modern scourge of busyness.  Or that if you do elect to be less busy, that you’ll be excluded, ostracized, shunned. And God forbid you don’t sign your kids up for every available sport, activity, party, etc. Really – if we weren’t busy with all of this stuff, what would we post on Facebook?  Pictures of us finally getting enough sleep???

If you are craving a weekend of less busy and more you, with time to think and reflect and perhaps create a new reality for yourself by figuring out how to say yes to what you really want and no to what you don’t,  consider joining me for my Clarity and Connections retreat in beautiful St. Francisville, LA, July 27-29.  A small group of women gaining clarity about what we really want and connecting with nature, ourselves and each other.  With waterfalls included!  Check out the details here.

I’ve designed it for me – what I mean is that it’s exactly what I want when I’m craving  a weekend to press my own internal reset button.  There will be plenty of Wordlessness à la Martha Beck, plus free time to lounge and reflect, along with some powerful tools that will give you major clarity, fast, even if like me, you’re already sold on the idea of backing off on busy.

$99 reserves your spot, and there’s still time to get the early bird rate! Click here to go to the information page.

And I’d love to hear your thoughts about busyness.  How are you dealing with it in your daily life?

Buster wisdom: Sitting in the grass and the power of *and*

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in animal wisdom, gratitude, managing time

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My head is positively swirling with ideas, to-dos, tasks, brainstorms – you name it.  And I am tired.  I just returned from an incredible coaching mastery retreat where I was supported, inspired, and filled up.  And now there’s so much to do!  And I want to wave my wand and have it all done now. The actual doing is a different story, as I suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to nap…

I spent the early morning today at the collision center dropping off my car and picking up a rental.  You may recall, when I was all zen about not worrying, that our car died.  And we bought a new one.  Not only new, but from the future!  A 2013!  And then a distracted driver backed into it while it was parked in front of our house last week.  This was not part of the plan.

So my wand waving waited. On the way home from the collision center, I stopped at the farmers’ market and bought peaches, blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, squash, eggs and more.  I filled my bags with healthy local food.  My computer and my wand waving waited a little longer.

As I opened the gate I saw my best wisdom teacher, Buster, resting in the shady front yard.  I unpacked the food, then stepped barefoot into the lovely grass and joined him.  And breathed.  Because if I don’t have time, on a beautiful sunny day, to sit in the grass for a few minutes, then something is really off.

This week I’m going to believe in the word “and”.  I can work toward my goals *and* sit in the grass for a few minutes.  I can complete tasks *and* cut up strawberries.  I can drive to unexpected places like collision centers *and* enjoy the trip, rocking out to the 80’s on satellite radio.  I can write *and* I can nap.  I can create *and* I can breathe.  Wow.  Buster knows.  We are so lucky.

What are some of your *and* statements for the week?

 

Working and wordlessness and trying to remember to breathe.

13 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in managing time, nature, resistance, wordlessness

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I used to stand at the copy machine, running off tests or project directions or packets for field trips to the swamp or the marsh or the barrier islands.  While I stood there, I would hold my breath.  Not purposefully, but in the way where once you realize it you notice that you’re barely breathing.  I get that way when I’m on a mission to get something done.  I can be impatient with process – I want to finish!  And so somehow my body gets an unconscious direction that nice deep regular breathing has to wait until everything’s complete.

I was doing it again today.  I’ve been working on a beautiful wordlessness kit to share with my people (that’s you!) and I am so close to finished.  But I’ve been forgetting to breathe during the process itself, and that’s so silly!  As I write this I’m taking big slow expansive breaths to try to make up for today’s earlier oxygen deprivation.

I’ve been away on a three-day retreat.  I had three big goals for this retreat: grieving (more about that in a future post), being wordless and then letting ideas and plans flow and percolate, and finally doing the work to get some big things done! (That’s where the breathing kind of fell apart…)

I started at my favorite getaway– my dear friend Rachel’s land in Mississippi.  Thursday afternoon and evening was for grieving, until the sun went down. A fire at the beach marked the passage to the next phase: planning, plotting, preparing, filling the well until all my creativity would overflow today.

I just discovered Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. Speaking of flames, it’s great for lighting a fire under you and giving you absolutely no excuse to submit to resistance or procrastination.  I decided on Friday, rather spontaneously, to mark a new commitment to fighting resistance with a ritual dip in the creek.

You need to understand why this was a challenge for me.  I hate to be cold, and the creek was a bit cool.  I watched my resistance get to work once I made the decision to swim, not just to wade (resistance said wading would still count.) I placed my palms together, took a breath, submerged to my waist, and asked for a sign. (Resistance said, “Really, that’s good enough – we’re getting goosebumps here!”)  I looked up and there was the most beautiful green damselfly perched on a branch looking right at me!

It looked just like this, although this photo is from years ago.  The damselfly was like my muse, saying, “You can do it.  Beat resistance.  You’ll feel so great!”  And I did it.  And I did feel great. I plunged under the water.  I floated downstream. I sat on a big fallen log, taking my time before drying off.

I will remember this ritual submersion when resistance tells me to wait until tomorrow.  (Or when I’m in a hotel room for part two of my retreat, and it says, “Go ahead and turn on the tv for just a minute” – only to discover that Pretty in Pink is on, along with a New Orleans version of that bad behavior girls dating show on VH1.  Resistance has many weapons!)

In the middle of a particularly annoying photo resizing session, after I realized I’d accidentally created a 32 Megabyte pdf, I had pretty much stopped breathing altogether.  And then for some reason, I looked out the window of my hotel room and saw this.

And I went outside and I smiled.  And I breathed.