My Life on a Schedule!?!?

I think this saying is going to go on my mirror! For the past 6 yeas since I have been a stay at home wife/mom I have been in total resistance to living on a schedule. I mean for 20 something years I was up at 5am with somewhere to be and something to do, so yes, at the first chance to not get up before the sun, I took it and have lived that way ever since.... and loved it!!! I've even trained my 4 year old not to get up before 8am! 

The only drawback seems to be that with no schedule on paper I run one in my head what I want to get done that day and where I should go and it works to get by the daily things, but I'm finding that as I have set much bigger goals these past couple years the day just seems to go by without me actually getting any closer to what I say I want. Or when I was totally focused on a goal everything else in my life seemed to fall out of balance.

So, I decided it was time to put my life back on a schedule as if I had places to be and people that were excepting me, only the its me that I am accountable to..... and its amazing what I am able to accomplish each day. I am definitely guilty of making reasons why I didn't exercise, or why I needed to finish off the cake, I mean better it be gone in one day than add those calories everyday for a week right? Or why I didn't have time to do XYZ is my favorite reason, ummm excuse. Funny how in my head I am so justified, but when I say them out loud to someone they just sound like pure excuses. Now we all know excuses hold us back but this quote is pretty harsh that by stating every excuse I make is MY choice to fail in my dreams. Well I have HUGE goals and dreams, and I would much rather succeed than fail. (Hear my music at www.lundynrae.com) 

I have to say I am loving the schedule thing! I think I'm on week 3 of my life on a schedule! I know exactly what I want to accomplish each day and what time I want to have it done by. It has been amazing how much I can actually fit in my day, who woulda thought! I love that I have to account to myself (and my business coach, Melissa Haupt who is AMAZING by the way if you want that extra push, www.melissahaupt.com) for accomplishing what's on my day, and if I didn't do what I committed to do I get a chance to look at what I was more committed to, not an excuse why I didn't do something, but what was it that I was more committed to than my goals and dreams. I can really see if the thing I was more committed to worth not getting me closer to my goals.

So if your looking to accomplish more in your life and feel a little more fulfilled, get your life on a schedule! Its amazing what a difference it makes. Here's to a successful run at our dreams!

Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle!

         To start off the Christmas season I normally watch White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street, this year I thought I'd start off with a little humor and watched Jingle all the Way. I thought it was pretty funny and was quite critical thinking seriously, who leaves shopping until the last minute like that.... until the next day I went out Christmas shopping...... and struck out at every store I went to with my Christmas list! I thought how in the world can everything be gone? It's the 1st of December????? Darn those Black Friday shoppers.... I seriously started to feel like the main character, racing from store to store to get there before some other mom looking for the same princess thing for their little girl! It doesn't really help either when the ONLY thing my darling little 4 year old asked Santa for is a Sleeping Beauty Vacuum..... do they even make those????

As my anxiety started to rise to panic I called my husband and asked him what now? He calmly reminded me that our daughter was 4 and she wouldn't really care what she got as long as we created the magic of Christmas in our home.

And he's right. The magic of Christmas is in the putting up of the tree, drinking hot chocolate.... (which here in Arizona we have to wait until December for it to cool down to the 70's so we can feel chilled enough to want it!) Singing carols, seeing the lights, visiting Santa, baking goodies for our neighbors and giving to those in need. And of course Celebrating the birth of our Savior. I love how the most exciting thing to my 4 year old is to hear about baby Jesus.

Looking at this season through the eyes of a child is probably the smartest thing we can do to put ourselves in the right frame of mind for Christmas. As adults we all know the meaning of Christmas, and know that that is where we should be focusing, but no one else is going to get the tree up, do the baking, finish the Christmas shopping, make sure family pictures are taken, get Christmas cards out, buy presents for the teachers, PLUS manage the day to day household tasks, and worry about how we are going to pay for all this fun without putting anything on the credit card! SO how do we make sure that as we create the Christmas magic for those around us we actually get to feel it too?! 

For me I decided to take on the challenge that the commercial part of Christmas doesn't have to look any certain way. (Which for someone who likes to make sure everything is perfect is definitely going to be a challenge) In fact I even decided to make a few of gifts this year! A totally new adventure for me, and I'm actually kind of excited to put a little of me into my gifts! SO if my tree stands a little crooked and is decorated with popcorn, my sugar cookies have too many sprinkles from a little helper, and I don't get my Christmas cards out til New Years, just know I was enjoying the magic of this Christmas season and truly celebrating my Savior's birth!

ps. If you want a great Christmas gift of inspiring music go to my website http://www.lundynrae.com and purchase my cd A Better Plan, an inspiring and empowering gift to last all year!!!