Archive for the Time Management

I went to a holiday party this weekend at a private home in Rancho Sante Fe, Ca.  The gracious host was directing everyone to her laundry room to store their coats.  I just had to snap a picture to share with all of you (with her permission of course and a little help from my friend, Vana White Monica Lucas, Owner of SpaMode who was dressed in white and looking like a snow princess ). 

As I sit here in my San Diego kitchen looking out the windows at the cloudy morning sky on this Christmas eve morning, I wonder about all of you.  It’s quiet in my house as everyone else is still sleeping.  I am drinking my first cup of coffee from my new favorite coffee mug.  I’m very particular about coffee mugs.  This one says ” I heart Harveys. seatbeltbags.com“. It’s white with red letters.  But, what I love about it is the shape and the skinny handle.  It’s tall and slender.  I’m giving you details because today is all about the details.

Tracy Green just launched a new website, www.smartworkingmom.com.  Her site is worth a look if you have a minute.  This week, she emailed me and also left a comment on my blog.  I’d like to share them both with you because I think you’ll relate to what she’s saying.

 Email:  “I applaude you!  It was so refreshing to see a website that makes it okay for moms to work, and want to work and celebrates those who do!  I’m emailing to ask your permission to list www.sixfiguremomsclub.com as a  HOT LINK on my evolving website:  www.smartworkingmom.com.  I’m a full-time, plus working mom of two boys and enjoy having a career. My issue became that I was in complete control and successful at the office, but at home — forget it! I was out of my element.  (Snipped)

I know I wrote about RSS feeders before but I love them so much I just have to bring it up again.  As a working mother, you need every minute you can get.  This can help you.  Seriously!  (Sorry, Yes, I admit, before I started blogging I was, in fact, a Grey’s Anatomy fan).  I was talking to another Six Figure Mom today and I showed her how easy it is to use RSS.  She was amazed and ecstatic about her new toy.  If you already use an iGoogle or My Yahoo page, you have what you need to accept RSS feeds (there are others you may be using too but these are most mainstream).  If you don’t have a personalized homepage, you can establish one in about 2 minutes.  If you are still having doubts about whether you want to invest the time, read this post,  “RSS, It’s Not Just For Blogs Anymore”, written by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing.   His post includes a link to 100 Cool Things You Can Do With RSS Feeders. 

I arrived upon a car crash today just seconds after it occurred.  It looked like a one car accident with a single person in the car.  The car was pretty smashed but the driver looked unharmed other than being dazed and seemingly in shock.  This was a Sunday afternoon in a suburb so not like an urban holiday when crazy drivers are everywhere.  It’s rattling to be around the strange energy of an accident.  I wondered, what was going on with this driver?  Was he thinking about unmet commitments at work? Relationship conflict? Not spending enough time with his kids? Or maybe even sleeping at the wheel from exhaustion?  Whatever the case, he wasn’t present.  I’m sorry his Sunday afternoon was traumatized but I thank him.  You see, he gave me a gift.  Just another reminder to continue to work on being present at whatever I’m investing myself in every given moment.  Like most working mothers, I’ve got a lot on my plate.  It’s easy to spend too much time on one thing and get out of balance on the others.   Everyday I must continue to strive to get better at focusing on the highest of my priorities and to really be in the moment.  For me, this means I must rank priorities often and make sure every task I do is in line with my goals.  I keep a list of my top 10 goals with me all the time.  When I feel I get off track, I just need to refocus and realign my tasks to the goals and I feel more centered.  This means, if something is on my to do list that doesn’t fit my top 10 goals, then it’s deleted or delegated.  It’s not a grey area, it’s black and white.  It’s the only way I can keep up.  Now, let me confess, my life is clearly not black and white.  When it comes to my family, I can’t control or predict what they need.  However, having personal clarity allows me to have an available margin to offer when the unexpected pops up…and it always does.  If you want to work on being present in your life, I suggest starting with Steven Covey, The Franklin Covey website has lots of good stuff in their online library.   Enjoy!

Randy Pausch died this week and will be featured on ABC News several times Monday through Wednesday next week.  Who is Randy Pausch you ask?  Here’s an excerpt from ABC News, “It all began with one, age-old question: What would you say if you knew you were going to die and had a chance to sum up everything that was most important to you?  That question had been posed to the annual speaker of a lecture series at Carnegie Mellon University, where Pausch was a computer sciences professor. For Pausch, though, the question wasn’t hypothetical.  Pausch, a father of three small children with his wife Jai, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer — and given six months to live. Friends and colleagues flew in from all around the country to attend his last lecture. And — almost as an afterthought — the lecture was videotaped and put on the Internet for the few people who couldn’t get there that day. “  (Full Article from ABC)  You can watch the lecture on You Tube.  Although Randy’s video is less than 5 minutes, it’s filled with messages.  His attitude, despite terminal cancer, is amazing.  In 5 minutes he covers perseverence, family values, life passion, life leadership, personal character, karma and much more.  Working moms, Randy’s given us a reminder to really pay attention to what’s important because we just never know what lies ahead.   It’s so easy to get caught up in the demands of our busy lives that our do to lists take precedence over the good stuff.  It takes a consistent effort to make sure we run our lives versus let our lives run us.  Remember, you’re in control.