time management

Hocus Pocus, Focus Focus

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I popped on to my LinkedIn account this morning and came across a great article called:

The Power of One Focused Hour a Day by, Rao Srinivas.

When you are a creative, you can become overwhelmed at times with multiple projects going on (At least I do.) And also being thirsty for knowledge in the digital age can be as addicting as hardcore drugs. Metaphorically speaking. Let me explain what I mean.

If you love reading and learning, you may easily get distracted with the chitter chatter of content available online, with so many social media platforms. For example, I myself am a lover of sayings, quotes, poems, articles, blogs, free e-books, free homeschool worksheets that many resourceful and savvy mamas create, and so much more. So that can easily snatch up most of my day. Perhaps for you it’s YouTube, CandyCrush, or Pinterest.

I told my dear friend, (fellow blogger) Ralph Nyadzi, from Cegast Academy about my conundrum. It’s all the wonderful content that others are C R E A T I N G that inspires me. It’s like I don’t want to miss something great. He reminded me that it’s my quest for knowledge that makes me devour the words on people’s creations.

The problem with that, is that I’m hindering my own creations. So I was very happy to stumble across this article on LinkedIn. And as always, I have to quote a piece of his work. Because that’s what I do! That’s the type of writer I am. I love other writers words WAAAAAYYY more than my own. 😂

One FOCUSED hour a day is the equivalent of having two full weeks to work on whatever it is you want. In one FOCUSED hour a day you could write a book, build a company, learn an instrument, and so much more. What would add more value to your life? One FOCUSED hour a day of M E A N I N G F U L work, or countless hours pissed away on Facebook and Twitter comparing your insides to everyone’s outsides?

The good news for me is that I spend at least an hour a day on one of my projects already. The bad news is, I still piss away countless hours on social media obsessed with other people’s work. Liking pages, quotes and memes. I go cook dinner, come back and log back in to do the same crap. Welp! Yes, getting inspired, but yet neglicting my own work.

Whether it’s fear, procrastanation, or pure addiction, or the sum of those collectively, I’m not really sure. But the article had some great tips, that I will be utilizing to help me square things away. So, if you want to read the article I will include the link at the bottom. Now, I have to logg off my blog and go do some of my other work. (I mean after I check Facebook just real quick!)😋 Hey give me a break, it’s day one and you know what they say, “Old habbits die hard!”

To read his article, click the link below. And also, because my friend Ralph is amazing with words, I’ve shared a link to his blog as well where you can read 12 Success Quotes For Achievers.

https://www.thriveglobal.com/stories/14866-the-power-of-one-focused-hour-a-day

http://wp.me/p7YF6X-22u

Discerning The Direction Of Your Dreams

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Sometimes I wonder why God gives me these Herculean dreams. I can be thinking that I have it all figured out, and then suddenly God gives me more.

That’s not a complaint really, I’m thankful HE trusts me so much, to assign these special jobs to me. But I am just sitting here talking to God, and maniacally ruminating over every idea and project.

Thinking,

Dear Lord, can I handle all of this? God I have the first documentary to work on… now you bless me with this one. But you’re right LORD, this project is immensly more meaningful, powerful, and massively needed in the Mexican community. God what about my childrens book series? I should be doing that as my PRIORITY. After all, that is my very first project idea. Not to mention my illustrator is patiently waiting on me to finish this. GET IT TOGETHER DEANNA! I tell myself. Tick-tock, tick-tock! Time is of the essence D! Where will I get the resources and finances to fund this? How? How? How? Please tell me now LORD! Yikes! This could take years. Where do I even find the equipment? What about that project I wanted to help my daughter with? They will be grown and gone before I know it. (Big sigh).What about my creative business idea? Can I incorporate that in too, into my schedule and into my life? I have to! It’s mandatory not optional.What if I never finish, or I die? That’s like a permanent, irreversible, INCOMPLETE on my entire life. God please let me accomplish all these wonderful ideas you have put on my mind! It scares me to think what if my dreams don’t come true? What if my time runs out?Etc. Etc.

That would be the greatest tragedy of my life. Those are the things I obsess over daily.

Mix together my maniacal thoughts, with a dash of fear, a half cup of doubt and cup of procrastination. Guess what you get?

You get a lone loba writer, stranded on the deserted island, of the Prisoner Of Words. Cautiously, waiting for the spirits to guide me in the right direction. Waiting to be free to run into the wild once again, to regain my clarity and my vision.

I don’t have all the answers. Most days, I can see the vision clearly, and other days I don’t have the focus. But the appetite, the hunger is never entirely satisfied. Just when I think I’m full, I get hungry for more.

My brain tries to put all the pieces of the puzzle together quickly and painlessly. I try to be strategic in my plans and organization. In the end I know I can do more, and I have to do more. Most importantly I must conquer the fear.

My ideas are as colorful and infinite as Charlie’s Evergobstopper, in Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. They don’t dull or diminish.” They keep coming. To this I marvel at my God!

I found some apps this weekend to help me keep track of my writing productivity and projects. I am excited that I’m on a new journey. One I’ve never been on before. One that scares the bleep outta me.

But I feel my spirit leading me. It’s difficult for this lone loba to go to uncharted territory and pave a path. But I must confess that when a dream placed on you brings you to tears, and you feel it inside all of your soul, you follow it.

This is what I am being led to do. Hold nothing back. It’s better to try and fail than to always wonder what if. And it’s EVEN BETTER to make your magic in the world.

Leave your mark. Trust your instincts! They will lead you if you listen!

God Bless. I pray that God is giving you direction in your own creative dreams and goals. And that you can listen to the spirit guiding you.

You love what you find time to do.

-Dr. Robert Anthony

Quote: Anthony, Robert Dr. THINK BIG A Think Collection, Berkley, Aug. 1999

Photo Credit: http://www.freeimages.com,TomTown

5 Ways To Obliterate Idleness

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The hours we waste are golden hours

And stand for money lost,

For every idle minute spent

We have to meet the cost

The man who wastes two hours a day

Has hindered his career,

And shortened up his working time

Six hundred hours per year.

–Author Unknown

It has been frustrating in the past few weeks to find the free time to write for my blog and to work on my writing projects. Being a full time working mom has left me little to no time to practice my craft.

In the past weeks I would end up writing until 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning after being at work all day. That was already taking its toll on my body and leaving me sleep deprived.

Fortunately for me, I have some amazing employers who have come up with a brilliant revised schedule. One that will allow me, and the other shift manager, to rotate on a much better schedule. It’s like one week of Hades, and one week of Hawaii vacay.

That’s excellent news for me….because that’s 6 days of free time now. I am excited to finally have my most coveted resource, TIME! Time, so that I can finally write my children’s books.

I have made myself a little list of helpful tips to keep me on track with my goals. With some modifications, I am sure anyone can apply it to their own goals.

  1. Create A Work Space For Yourself – A space for yourself to do what you do. Whether you need a shop to do mechanical work on cars, or you need a sewing room to design clothes, make a space for yourself! I have been waiting to find a little desk so that I can do my writing. Finally, a few nights ago I came across one. Already I have more motivation to write, than I did before. Previously, I was trying to accomplish my writing goals on the sofa, bed, and even, the floor. Not ideal in the least. The key is to make and find “your space”. Gradually you can begin to personalize it with all of your special tools and create a more functional environment later.
  2. Have A Written Plan- Keep a little notebook or binder with your plans. As I have gotten older, the less I can remember off the top of my memory. Therefore I must rely on; apps, calendars, task lists, sticky notes, notebooks,etc…Don’t worry it’s normal! That just means we have a lot of people relying on us. Our brains are overloaded with information. So invest in the right tools of your trade.
  3. Eliminate Time-Wasters– Social media is the number one culprit in my case. Give yourself some restrictions and or rewards. For example in my case I might say, After I write and publish my blog post, I may log onto social media. In another example, a mechanic might buy some special tool from Amazon as a reward for fixing 5 cars. I don’t know….you will create your own little rules and rewards to accomadate your special needs.
  4. Use The Time Wisely- For me, I think just establishing a certain time/hour for me to write consistently, will be my key to success. Once you have your space and your tools, all that’s left is you! You have to do the work.
  5. Track Progress/Measurements- My personal way of tracking my own progress is aligned with my new years resolutions I made in January. I could make a new tracker, but honestly I want to keep it simple and achievable.

So there you have it! 5 ways to obliterate idleness. Let me know what type of space you have. Leave comments below. Or share your pics.

Works Cited

Quote taken from:

Braude’s, M., Jacob. 1965. Complete Speaker‘s And Toastmasters Library. Rhyme And Verse – To Help Make A Point. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.