One of the blogs I love to read when I get a notification in my inbox is “Break the Twitch”. Essentially Anthony Ongaro is trying to help us break the twitch from touching our cell phones every 5 seconds to see if we have notifications. Do you do that? It’s a nervous habit for me. A compulsion really.
I read his article Four Types of Personal Growth and decided I was in the forward focus stage. I typed up a whopping 19 point list I wanted to forward focus on. Yikes! My life must really need some better direction. Yes and no. If it was 10 years ago I would not have a stinking smart phone and I wouldn’t be on Facebook and Instagram or even WordPress for that matter. My mind then was directed exactly on what I wanted to focus on. Now? I twitch every 5 seconds looking at my freakin’ cell phone. Not terribly focused huh?
Here is my 19 point list of what I want to forward focus on. I think you will see it’s a lot but it really is what I should be doing anyway. Not checking my phone all the time.
What I Want to Forward Focus On
Being a Homemaker/Cleaning
A regular cleaning schedule
Finishing projects before starting another
Home Improvement
Decorating for seasons and holidays regularly
Decorating for the home in general
Spring/Fall Cleaning Work Days
Family Time/Corresponding
Regular outings and dates planned/Date Night with Doug
Keeping track of birthdays and anniversaries
Doing things at home with meaning (Movie nights, game night)
Organizing/Purging
Keeping office desks organized
Getting the attic and basement organized and purged
Getting both bedrooms organized
Bathroom and kitchen organized
Garage organized and purged
Paperwork organized and purged
Blogging
Publishing an ebook about mixes
Publishing a book on personal family recipes
You-Tubing
Blogging consistently
Listing the blogging projects I want to do and moving steadily forward on them
Gardening
Fencing done
Fruit trees bought and or pruned and fertilized
Herb garden built
Raised beds cleaned and maintained
Flower beds cleaned and maintained
Compost maintained
Enjoying the dirt and the sounds and the smells and the beauty
Food
Preserving
Cooking
Baking
Lunch and breakfast organized
Dinner prepped
Clean-up
Meal Planning
Effective Errand Running
Weekly time for grocery shopping
One day a week with a list of errands
Cross-Stitching
One Project a year
Work a little bit on it every day
Reading
Read a little bit a day
Visit Library once a week
Kindle
Books
Magazines monthly
Rotary/Farmers Market/Church
Work on twice weekly
Schedule meetings
Exercise
Walk
Cardio
Yoga
Personal Hygiene
Let’s just say I need to shave my legs more than once a month and leave it at that.
Being Efficient at Work
Keep a list for questions or things on my mind
Be more efficient with inventory and gross profit
No roaming
Stay on task
Have the next task in mind always
Stay within the time I schedule for myself
Bible Study
Daily devotions
Bible reading
Praying purposefully
Meditation
Personal Projects
Old photos of family and organizing current photos
Recipes organized from mine to the family’s
Headboard project
Debt Management
Work on it every day
Think on big purchases 24 hours
No buying on credit card
Entertaining
Garden parties
Halloween party
Birthday parties
Euchre nights
Rotary Euchre night
Sunday night dinners
Managing Schedules
Doug’s sports
MM’s meetings
Scott’s Meetings/little league commitments
Journaling
Everyday!
See these aren’t really unreasonable goals right? How many times have you plunked down in the recliner after a long day of work and heard that “ping” from Facebook saying you have a personal message and then you sit on your phone or computer for an hour scrolling through all of the quotes your friends put up on their newsfeeds and then after the fog lifts from your brain you realize you aren’t getting that hour back, EVER. I hate it. So now I look at this list when I catch myself scrolling mindlessly through Internetland. It give me a focus and reminds me what is most important to me. -MM
The Professional Domestic 