The One Thing Principle

Have you ever watched that movie, “City Slickers?”  It’s an oldie starring Billy Crystal who, with his friends, spends a summer on a cattle drive, and learns life lessons along the way.  It’s actually been a long time since I watched it, so I can’t remember if it’s appropriate for me to recommend it or not, but I do remember that there were both funny and poignant moments.

There’s an important scene about 3/4 of the way through the movie (spoiler alert!) in which the grizzly old cattle boss, Curly, has a conversation with Crystal’s character.  Curly says, in essence, “Everything in your life boils down to just one thing.”  When Crystal’s character, eager to know the secret of life, asks what the one thing is, Curly tells him, with wisdom, “That’s what you have to figure out.”

I was having a conversation with a friend this week and it occurred to me that in just about every situation I find myself, it’s important to find the one thing.  The thing that matters most.

Let’s say, just as a hypothetical example, that I moved into my new house over nine months ago and yet my garage is still full of boxes and bins that have never been unpacked.  In fact, those same boxes and bins were in a storage unit for over a year before we moved them here.

Okay, maybe it’s not so hypothetical.  Anyway, my garage is full.  Now, I know the things in those boxes must hold some meaning for me, because I packed them up and stored them and moved them.  Some things, like books, just haven’t been put away because the shelves aren’t built yet.  But as I look at and go through the majority of the things stacked in my garage, I can’t help but wonder: why am I keeping all of this?

And this is where the question comes in: what’s the one thing?  What is most important in this situation?  Is it a clean and organized garage where I can actually park a car?  Is it not having the burden of all this stuff (that I obviously haven’t needed or used for almost two years) taking up mental and physical space?  Or is it keeping all these things out of a sense of obligation or guilt or emotional attachment?

Here’s another real-world example.  You may know that some of our children have emotional and cognitive and developmental needs that go beyond typical teenaged issues.  I have to tell you, some of the behaviors that I deal with on a daily basis make me bone tired.

Please don’t read this as complaining, because my children are an absolute blessing.  I’m just being honest about my struggles.  Sometimes, when it’s been a long day, I just don’t feel like I have the bandwidth to listen to the same question over and over as my daughter seeks reassurance about what to you and me might be a trivial issue.  And it’s at that moment that I have to ask myself, what’s the one thing here?  Giving my daughter the opportunity to learn how to work through things that are stressful to her has to take priority over my own selfishness.  I have to decide what my one thing is.

As I see it, there are so many opportunities to practice the “One Thing Principle.”  When you look at your to-do list on a particularly busy day, what is the one thing that absolutely must be done?  If it’s the only thing you accomplish, at least you know that the top priority took precedence.

If you are trying to be more healthy, you can ask yourself the question at the beginning of each meal: what is the one thing this meal needs to accomplish?  Hey, sometimes the answer is that it needs to taste really good and be a celebration of great food!  But sometimes it needs to give you enough protein to sustain you until dinner, or enough carbs to get in a really good workout!  (That’s my understanding from others, by the way.  Working out is NOT one of my one things.  But maybe it should be!)

And then, there’s the overarching One Thing Principle. Have you ever thought about what it is your life is all about?  What is the one thing that drives you?

I have a One Thing.  It’s how I try to live my life.  Here it is:  To glorify Jesus in everything I say and do.  I try to let that principle guide my words and actions every day.  I don’t always do it well.  Sometimes I downright fail.  But I pick myself up and try again, and again, and again.  Because I’ve figured out that it’s who I want to be.  It’s my One Thing.

What’s your One Thing?  What makes you who you are?  I encourage you to take some time and figure it out.  And then try applying the One Thing Principle in your everyday life and see what happens.  You may just clean out the garage, or let go of an unhealthy habit, or get in that workout.  Let me know in the comments what you think and, if you feel comfortable, share your One Thing.  I know it could be an encouragement to others.

Blessings, Mindy

 

A Hard Re-Start

So, maybe you’ve noticed that I haven’t posted here for a couple of weeks.  Or, maybe you haven’t noticed.  The truth is, not too many people have been following this little blog.  And that’s okay, really!  I like to write and I enjoy posting, so it doesn’t really matter if anyone is reading.

But I did have to ask myself why I’m not getting any comments or feedback, and truth be told, I was actually kind of tired of talking about simple living.  Burnout after only six weeks?  Something’s wrong.

So I have spent the last couple of weeks thinking, and praying, and making some decisions.

Never did it enter my mind to stop doing this, no way!  But it became obvious to me that I was trying to force something that wasn’t really working for me or for my intended audience.

I do love the concept of living more simply, don’t get me wrong.  But when I look at my life and the things that really drive me, simple living just isn’t one of them.

Oh, I love my planner, and I’m sure you’ll hear me talk about it every now and then.  And I think it’s really important to clean out your junk drawer.

What I’m REALLY passionate about, though, is Jesus.  And family.  And adoption.  And music.  And a few other random things.

Honestly, I was kind of failing at the whole simple living thing myself anyway.  I actually had a pretty chaotic week, and I lost my keys more than once, and my bed stayed unmade, and I went to bed several times without re-setting my kitchen.  How can I, in good conscience, teach about simple living if I can’t live it?

But Jesus, I can talk about.  He never fails.  He’s got this whole living thing under control.

My family, I can write about.  I think I might have some wisdom to share about raising kids, and adoption, and loving on people who have experienced loss and trauma.

I like my brand and my logo and my title, so those I’ll keep.  The content of this little blog, though, is changing to reflect who I am and what God has given me to share with you.

I was at a ladies’ conference this week, and the speaker talked a lot about being an influencer.  Her contention was that if we have influence, we should use it to point people to Jesus.  That really resonated with me.  If I have a platform, I need to use it to talk about things that really matter.

I’m calling this a hard re-start, but I’m keeping the content I’ve already written; it represents a lot of hours of work, and I’m not willing to just throw it away.  If you’re interested in meal planning, or using a planner, feel free to go back and read those.  They’ll still be available.

In the meantime, I’m going to wax poetic about the things I really love.  I hope I can encourage you, and I hope you’ll enjoy our little chats each week.

Please, leave me a comment and let me know that you’re here.  I’ll keep plugging away, and let’s see if what I have to say connects with you.

Thanks for letting me be myself and change things up to better reflect what I think this is supposed to look like.  I’ll see you next week.

Blessings, Mindy

Simplify Scheduling (planner basics part 1)

I just can’t even express how excited I am to share this post with you.  It’s so big and important that I’m splitting it into three separate weeks’ worth, so stay tuned!

One of the best things I’ve ever learned to do is to use a planner.  Now, maybe you are already super organized when it comes to your schedule and appointments and keeping your kids’ activities straight, and if so, yay!  It’s possible you don’t need this information.

But it could be that in the last year you have missed more than one appointment, or forgotten a birthday, or even left a kid at soccer practice long after he was supposed to be picked up (voice of experience right here!).  If that’s true, your system, or lack thereof, isn’t working.  I’d like to introduce you to the joys of systematic planner usage.  I’m telling you, this is life-changing stuff!

Now, I’m going to tell you right off the bat that electronic calendars don’t work for me.  My husband keeps his schedule on Google calendar on his phone, and it works great for him, but I’ve tried and tried to make it work, and there are several things about electronic scheduling that make me crazy.

First of all, I need to see the whole week at one time.  I can’t just look at today and be okay with that.  I am a very visual person, and I need to know and see the big picture of what’s happening over the course of the week.  It helps me to know which days are going to be super busy, and gives me a heads up about anything that I need to plan ahead for.

I also really believe in color-coding when it comes to my planner.  I think there’s probably a way to do that with the calendar on my phone, but it would take me a lot longer to figure that out and highlight things in different colors than to just whip out my pens and write or highlight what I need to in my paper planner.

Finally, I want to be able to go back and look at previous years’ planners and see the wonderful, important things that happened.  My planner has recorded births, deaths, prayers answered, first days of snow, breakthroughs, and incredible vacations.  I keep my planners from year to year and they are diaries of my life.  I don’t keep a journal, per se, but I keep my planners.  I can’t do that electronically.

So let’s start with the basics: what planner is best?  I know this is very individual, and I can only tell you what works for me.  I have tried so many, and over the last several years I have settled on planners from Plum Paper.  You can look at what they have here: Plum Paper.  I am not affiliated with them at all except for the fact that I love their planners, and I’m not being sponsored by them in any way for this post.

Why do I love them?  Let me count the ways.

First, they are fully customizable.  You can choose your size, layout, the number of months, which month to start with, whether you want weekly, daily, or monthly, and many more options.  I usually add pages for shopping, passwords, and cleaning, but we’ll talk about those things in a later post.

As I said, I like a weekly format because I need to see the entire week at once.  I also want my week to start on Monday, because after all my years in education it just feels right to me.  You can start on Sunday instead if you choose.

I use a vertical format called M/A/E.  The days of the week are listed from left to right, and each day has a column with three sections.  If you don’t customize it, those sections are labeled Morning, Afternoon, and Evening; but I suggest customizing to better reflect your own priorities.  Last year my planner’s columns were schedule, to do, and household; this year they are schedule, blog/vlog, and to do/call.  I think next year I may do schedule, to do/call, and today’s verse, because right now there isn’t a designated spot to put my daily Bible verse and I don’t end up using the blog/vlog space as much as I thought I would; I put those items in to do/call along with the other things I need to accomplish.  (If you want to read about how I do my daily Bible study using the verse of the day, you can read it here).

Here’s a picture of one week from last year’s planner:

I also start my planner in August and run it through July.  Why?  I guess because I was in education for so long, and I still have kids in school, so the year for me really runs according to the school schedule.  You can start your planner on any month you choose, and have it go for as many months as you choose.

So let’s get into the good stuff.  How do you simplify your life using your planner?  In just a few steps you can set yourself up for success!

 1.   Spend some time before your year starts                       putting in all the important recurring dates.

Like I said, my year starts in August, so I spend time in July putting in birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.  I also put on my to-do list the first of April to order my new planner!  Why so early?  Because I usually already have important dates to put in for August and September by then, such as six-month dental appointments.  I never want to be without the ability to write things in, or else I WILL forget!

 2.  Learn the joys of color-coding.

I do this two ways: with pens that have different color ink, and with highlighters.  Why is it important?  The visual of seeing different things in different colors helps your brain keep things straight.  I use orange for appointments, pink for birthdays/anniversaries, green for church related events, and blue for choir things.  But you do you!

 3.  Write every schedule related item in your                      planner.

This is tricky, I know.  It’s a habit you need to get used to.  Remember, routines develop habits, and habits are maintained by routines.  You need to get into the habit of checking your planner each night before you go to bed (so you remember what time to set your alarm for!) and each morning when you wake up (so you know what to expect from your day!).  And most importantly,

 4.  Always, always carry your planner with you.

I suggest that you develop the habit of putting your planner in your bag every time you leave the house.  Once you have started to keep your schedule straight, you don’t want to derail your efforts by not having it with you when you need to write something in!

I don’t carry my colored pens or highlighters with me, by the way.  I use a simple pen with black ink when I’m out and about, and when I get home I highlight anything I’ve added throughout the day.

A couple of other things I put in my planner as soon as I’m able to: the school year schedule.  I have kids in three different schools this year, and of course the days off and vacations don’t always coincide.  I need to know which kids have school which days, so before school starts I go to each school’s website and download the school year calendar.  Then I transfer the information into my planner with my highlighters.  Each school has a color–this year they are red, purple, and gray, taken from the school colors–and I make a small mark (in the schedule section) for each school on each day that school is in session.  No mark, no school.  Here’s what it looks like a couple weeks from now:

Just a small mark is all I need to visually tell my brain that all the kids have school on the 23rd and 24th.  I can still write other appointments or schedule items in the space, because it’s highlighter, so it doesn’t interfere with anything else I need to write in.

I’m going to end here for now, because there’s so much more about planner usage that I want to tell you, but I don’t want to overwhelm you, especially if this is all new to you!  So look for another post next week…….TO BE CONTINUED!

Do you have a planner you particularly like?  Let me know in the comments!

Blessings, Mindy