Discipline...Me?

Proverbs 21:5 (NLT) Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

I realize right now that in order to be more fruitful and enjoy my life more I have to instill some discipline and boundaries into my heart and life.  Step out in faith and do GOOD what God has put in my path right now.  Pick a few things and have fun with it, really work on it, dig deep in those areas and "garden."  What would those look like?  Do any of these sound familiar to you:

• Wake up earlier for quiet time and exercise to start the day
• Make a simple, but clear, cleaning schedule for the week/each day
• Set exercise goals
• Be a good manager of my time so it is not wasted away (especially in front of the computer)
• Go to bed at a decent hour

Well some people may look at discipline or boundaries like this picture below:

I am starting to realize more and more that THAT is not true at. all.  

Lately I have read several things about how you can spend the same amount of time/work wasting time as you can being productive. Well you say how can I do that?  Ok, well the more I waste time, sit around, play on internet, and procrastinate...the more time I have to spend fixing all I didn't do to begin with, regular cleaning and maintenance of house and cars, catching up on finances that may get unorganized and out of order, chaos happens, more time spent bringing structure back into the children's day so that there is less chaos with them and their lives...the list goes on and effects all areas of our life.

So now I bring into my journey...3 IN 30!

To finish up the month of February here are my goals I am going to write down.  Then I will follow up with a post on how I did on those goals.  I have prayerfully considered what I will work on with God's help and will concentrate on these three things.  Ever heard of the phrase....bloom where you are planted?  That is what I am going to do.  Sit still and dig into the things I know I already need to be doing and stop looking for more things to do.  

1. Wake up at 5:30am when alarm goes off, hit the floor with my feet, and enjoy exercise, quiet time and shower before children wake up. (If exercising after children are at school, then quiet time and shower and wear my good exercise clothes to feel refreshed!)
2. Plan my day in the morning so that I have structure through the day.
3. Do at least 15-minutes (set timer) Monday through Friday cleaning tasks: Monday-Kitchen, Tuesday-Bathrooms, Wednesdays-Living Room, Thursdays-Bedrooms, Fridays-Clean van and some outdoor tasks...also daily 1, 2, 3's which are one load of laundry, do the dishes, and set timer for 10 minutes and declutter.

So I put it in writing.  These are my goals for the rest of the month, granted its not a full 30 days, but close to it.  Maybe I will continue these goals for my March 3 in 30 as well.

That's all folks.  Do you want to join me in working prayerfully towards 3 goals the rest of the month of February, and not waste anymore time?

More later...Love to you!

Kim :)

Timer is My Friend

Timers.  Until I met Flylady I never used a timer for much really, maybe some type of exercise things.

She says you can do anything for 15 minutes.  She breaks down house cleaning tasks into 15 minutes a day.  It is neat to see when I do something for 15 minutes every day, different focus each day, how much better I feel and how I see progress in the house and more organization and cleanliness.  It also motivates me to do a little more.

I have since added timers to other things as well.  One thing is making the childrens lunch in the mornings.  If I am running late especially, but hoping that habit is being broken with new habits taking over nowadays, I set the timer for 10 minutes and make sure that I focus just on making lunches and I know I will be done in 10 minutes with that.  Then onto the next thing.  I can break things down into periods of time so that I know how much time I have and how long I will take.  It is a nifty little tool!

p.s. I like to use my microwave timer!

Have you tried using a timer for anything?  Share any tips or ideas you have!

More later...Love to you!

Kim :)