So funny story. I am going to point out a glaring mistake I made recently in The Weekly Reset just to keep things real, and to illustrate what happens when a. you don’t have a good system in place and b. you are so overwhelmed you actually forget what you have already done. When I create a Weekly Reset newsletter I build each one individually and focus on whatever topic I am obsessed with each week. The topics I pick come from a secret Pinterest board that I am constantly pinning to. Sounds good right? Well, I should have started with a list…the thing I always preach when it comes to planning. Start with a list, people! I wish I had taken my own advice. I should’ve listed out all the newsletters I’ve completed in a plain ol’ list. At least then I could’ve easily seen that I had already covered the topic of the Undo or Stop Doing List. Twice. Unbelievably, when I was writing the Stop Doing List No. 6 newsletter last week, I didn’t even remember that I had already covered it’s twin, the Undo List, in No. 2. Insert embarrassed emoji face here. How could I write so much about a topic and not even remember it just a few weeks later? Hello, my name is Cori…and I am a bit of a mess.
This is what happens when you don’t have a good process or system in place (hello, it starts with a list. Seriously, can I get an amen on that?) or when you get cocky and think you will just remember all that content you write each week. I can’t even remember what I ate for lunch yesterday but somehow I thought I would remember weeks worth of ideas I’ve written about? So consider this a cautionary tale for yourself. I know some of you very organized type A’s are sitting there clucking your tongue and shaking your heads right now at me, because of course you would never get all willy nilly with something as important as a newsletter. But me and my type B sisters…this is how we roll sometimes. Full of brilliant ideas, but sometimes forgetting things like “organization” or “a system”. It’s weird too, cause I love creating processes…I just don’t always follow them. So I share my frail humanity here to make you feel better about your own hot mess self, and as a very important PSA that lists should be the backbone of all we do. It’s all about the list, people. That is all.
CURRENTLY READING: HABITS
So last week I got to check off one of my goals for my slow planninginitiative. I got my book list posted and I kicked things off with Hello Mornings by Kat Lee. The old me would have tried reading a few books at one time, but in the spirit of single-tasking (a previous topic discussed here) I am gonna finish one book before starting another. In order to get all my books read this year, I need to read about one per week. Curious if there are any tricks to reading faster or retain more, I turned to Uncle YouTube to create a playlist of tips I thought you may enjoy too. I am slightly obsessed with reading about habits right now, so I will be furthering my research reading the holy grail of habits next. I mean think about it, the foundation for goal achievement is establishing good habits that shape your behavior and routines. I’ve been collecting posts about habits for a while like these morning habit suggestions, or this habit change cheat sheet, or this post for creating habits in 8 steps, or this one on habit stacking. It makes me a little giddy just looking at them.
CURRENTLY SLOW LIVING
As my slow planning has been simmering this month, I begin to think of other things ‘slow’ applies to. There is plenty of evidence out there that society has been “glorifying busy” for some time, as covered in this viral article from 2012, and last year this awesome book debuted that hit home for a lot of people. Some women have embraced not being busy or are good at realizing the difference being productive vs. busy. The truth is, I don’t want to be busy. In the spirit of the slow I am now embracing, I am going to start living it too. From the beginning of our marriage, Mr. Crafty and I have often worked 7 days a week, at all hours of the day, sometimes for 10-14 hours a day. We have lugged our laptops across the globe, working while visiting some of the most beautiful places I will ever see. Like the time we were holed up in our ocean-front hotel room, editing videos the entire time rather than enjoying the view, We have worked through family time, holidays, weekends, visits with my parents…all in an effort to make our business work. But this year it stops, even if we have to change our business…even if it means scaling back, offering less and unfortunately, disappointing some. I am just not a live-to-work kind of gal, and the last few years have really taken a toll. This is the year that balance is going to rule. We have already been making big changes in our business so that I will get to spend quality time with my community, we can really enjoy our lives, and we’ll be able to make time for caring for ourselves. I want to truly start using my energy, time and resources to do what I desperately want to do, what I feel called to do. It’s scary to give up things that have proved successful for our business, to do the things we hope are even more successful for our calling. I want to use everything I have within me to speak life and encouragement into others, to develop experiences and tools that truly impact lives in a meaningful way…all while having a meaningful life of my own.
So as busy has been down-shifting for me, I have been embracing the idea of peaceful in my daily life instead. One of the first Pinterest boards I ever created was my Peaceful Places board, a place where I could pin dream locations an introvert could get lost in. It’s been a soothing little place to visit, I can even feel my breathing slow down, my thoughts get calmer any time I take a peek. If you are in a busy season of life, I encourage you to create a board just for your Peaceful Places (whatever that looks like to you) and take a peek at it when you need a moment to “get away”. It works like a charm 😉
Well, that’s it for now friend. I hope you have a wonderful and inspired and peaceful week!
Love your face,
Cori
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