Do You Need a Mulligan?

No, not the stew but a "do over" or second chance. Not in golf ~ but in life.

It's always easier to do something right from the first than to have to undo it and start over. I have a friend who has four children. Her youngest child is much more disciplined in the daily cares of life than his older siblings. All because she taught him differently. At a very early age he knew to put his garbage in the garbage can, his dirty clothes in the laundry room, and so forth.  Her older children struggled with these disciplines because they had not been taught this when younger. Unfortunately, I was the same way with my children. I did not teach them many of the daily disciplines that they should have been taught. Which left me with the load. Yep, I tried to take care of it all and quickly found that taking care of a whole family was way more work than one can do alone. So I was sometimes frazzled, overwhelmed, and frankly not very organized. It really is a shame that I did not realize the importance of delegating, and especially teaching my children to take responsibility of their own belongings, messes, garbage, and so forth from the beginning. Though I have tried to change this over the years, my family still struggles with this. Yesterday I found myself picking up an item that our youngest son had left in the living room. As I picked it up, I thought that I really should wait and have him take care of it. It was easier at the time to do it myself, so I did. I did the same thing this morning, cleaning up several things our youngest son had left in the kitchen that should have been put in the garbage. Old habits are hard to break. Though it may have been easier for me to take care of it, it was not the best thing for my son. We are all still learning.

Fortunately we can start where we are. Like I said we didn't start out as we should have but we have changed a lot for the better over the years. We still have much to work on. So it is in much of life.  

So what about you? Do you need a mulligan today?

On a Quest to Simplify ~ Part 1 ~ Follow Up

Well, Monday I said I was going to go clean out the cabinets under our kitchen island. I have to admit I think I took more than one bite out of the elephant. After emptying out the 4 cabinets I felt a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff on my counters. I wanted to stop at that point, but I didn't! I actually ended up emptying out an additional cabinet because I was trying to match up all the bowls with the lids. I am pleased to say that I accomplished this step. Here are a few pictures of the results from yesterday. (Sorry, no before shots.)

This is the get rid of pile. I think my mom, my sister and I are going to have a big yard sale together in the spring.

Tip # 2 
Remember tip # 1 ~ Keep it simple ~ set small obtainable goals.

(Feeling overwhelmed half way through a project is not a positive.  I continued to work in the kitchen yesterday, but took much smaller steps.) 

On a Quest to Simplify ~ Part 1

I don't know if it is an age thing or if people are just tired of stuff consuming their lives.  Maybe, it is an age thing or at least partially. I can remember several years ago when our Sunday School teachers shared with our class how the big house, car, etc. was not really what was important. They were older and wiser and had passed that road some time before those of us sitting under their teaching. I can also remember that at one point my parents, especially my father, would ask us not to buy them things to sit around. At the time I didn't quite understand their request, but for the last several years when asked by my children what I would like as a gift I have asked them to please not get me anything to sit around or to hang on the walls.  A pair of socks would be fine.  I don't know that I've received any socks yet, but they are getting better each year with my former request.

So, I have decided that one of my goals this year is to go through my house and get rid of the clutter and organize our home.  I have way more stuff than I or my family need.  There are two obstacles that stand in my way ~  LACK OF MOTIVATION and LACK OF PERSEVERANCE. The lack of motivation is not because I lack knowledge in this area. I have many books on the subject of organization. I have read them and find that they all have helpful information to get the job done. I also find that when I read them I highlight and read the entire book and feel very motivated while doing so.  The problem comes after the reading ~ I simply lose my motivation.

You've heard the saying ~ How do you eat and elephant?,  and of course the answer ~ One bite at a time.  Well, I have decided that one way to defeat lack of motivation is to set small attainable goals. Perseverance also seems much easier when looked at from this point.  Committing to each milestone is a lot easier than feeling overwhelmed by a 1000 mile journey.  This concept of course is not new and works in just about any area of life ~ weight loss, managing finances, and so forth. We just have to put it into practice.

If you would like to join me I am going to share some tips I find along the way.  

Tip #1

Keep it simple ~ set small obtainable goals.

(I am going to clean out the cabinets under our kitchen island. Until later...)