Happy Weekend!

Jesus Loves You! Bam! I said it. I'll say it again. Jesus Loves You!

It doesn't get any better or simpler than that! He loves you! Marvel in it! Revel in it! Rejoice in it! And... Go have an awesome weekend!

October 2014 Goals

This is one of the idea boards from my sewing room. I love pinterest, but there is something about being able to touch paper that makes me feel happy and inspired!

I am off work on medical leave until October 24th so most of my plans must be achievable from my favorite living room chair. My goals for this month are:

1. Pray everyday.
2. Purposefully encourage 5 people daily.
3.  Finish this Skillshare class: Beyond the Logo
4. Make a plan for starting my fashion line
5. Get closer to my goal weight.

For each goal, I like to write baby steps to getting the bigger tasked accomplished. I also think it is wise to set what the ideal for getting my goal accomplished looks like, as well as setting up a backup plan in case the ideal doesn't work out. (And it usually doesn't!)

Baby steps to getting each of these accomplished:
1. Pray Everyday
Ideal: Pray immediately after I have my morning potty break. I like to get this in early to ensure that it gets done.
Backup Plan: Pray before I fall asleep

2. Purposefully Encourage 5 People Daily
Ideal: Text and/or call friends and family after my morning prayer
Backup Plan: Spread out the texts/calls throughout the day as people pop into my mind.

3. Finish the Skillshare Class
Ideal: Watch the videos after lunch and spend nad hour a day on the projects for the course
Backup Plan: Watch the videos all at once on a Saturday afternoon

4. Fashion Line Plan
Ideal: 1 hour day. Preferably an hour before my husband gets home so I can talk about it with him. I like the way his brain works and like to have his input on things.
Backup Plan: I can dedicate a Saturday afternoon to getting a rough draft down.

5.Get Closer to My Goal Weight
Ideal: I would like to lose at least 10 pounds this month. I am not allowed to exercise so this will be a matter of 95% of the weight loss work in the kitchen and 5% of mini walks.
Backup Plan: Progress makes progress. Even if I cannot lose 10 pounds, even a few ounces closer to my goal weight is progress!

What are you working on this month?

Day Five: Prioritzing

Today’s post is about prioritizing your goals and dreams.

You are not expected, nor are you required to be superwomen or supermen. We only have so much time allotted to us each day and only so much time allotted to us in life. This is often where I get stuck. I look at my crazy list, get overwhelmed, and my list will stay nothing more than a list. Let's push past this inclination!

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you evaluate where you should start first:

Is there anything on my list that needs to be done?

Is there anything on my list that should get done? 

Is there anything on my list that I want to get done?

Is there anything that will take little time or effort to accomplish?

Is there anything that will involve several steps to get accomplished?

What are the high, medium, and low priority items?

Are there any thematic categories that require my attention? Do yo

need to reach a health goal? Do you need to make your finances a number one on your list? 

The key is to determine what is most important to you. Let me give you an example of what I have done to prioritize and categorize my lists of goals and dreams. 

Step One: I made a list of 50 goals and dreams. They run the gamut from lofty dreams to simple goals.

Step Two: My first method of organizing was along thematic lines: spiritual, health & beauty, financial, career, artistic endeavors, and home decorating.

Step Three: Once I had my themes, I prioritized my themes. I felt the spiritual goals, praying everyday and reading at least a chapter in the Bible a day would have a positive effect on achieving the other items on my list. So not only is that category a priority, it does not take a lot of effort or time to accomplish, and I personally believe it is something I need to do daily.

Step Four: I then addressed each thematic category and the items in the category one by one.  Within each category what is most important to me, what needs to be done, what should be done, and what I want to get done. Put it another way, what is a high, medium, and low priority?

Step Five: Once I look at the items priority level, I then look at time constraints. Is there anything here that I can accomplish in the next week, month, three months? Is there anything I can do to get my encouragement up? What will have to be broken down into further little baby bite sized pieces?

Tomorrow we will talk about the baby bite-sized pieces. Today prioritize the items. Do not evaluate the merit or worth of your goals. This is not that kind of prioritizing!  The goal here is to make your list manageable so that we can go from Dreaming to Planning  and eventually to Doing.
  
To Read 31 Days of Dream. Plan. Do. from the beginning click here.

Day Three: Organizing and Categorizing

Take your list of dreams and categorize them.

 A good place to start may be thematic, such as financial, professional, hobbies, physical, mental, etc.;

     You can do it chronologically, such as, three month goals, six month goals, 1 year goals, 5 year goals;

You can categorize them by order of import;

     You can draw out your dreams in a bubble chart or web chart.

Personally, I am a girl whose lists often have sub-lists. The goal here is to begin to break down your goals into manageable bite sized pieces. Do not get overwhelmed and begin to edit your goals and cross things out. We are only at day three! NO EDITING! NO being suddenly afraid and allowing that fear to edit who you’ve poured out onto paper. Embrace hope and future possibilities. All we are doing is organizing your thoughts!

Here is what I do. I buy a really pretty notebook and dream freely. Then I categorize thematically. Some suggested categories are financial, career, spiritual, mental health, physical health, health, artistic, home decorating, or projects. Whatever categories make the most sense to you.  I also am a big fan of sticky-tabs and other office supplies that make things visually appealing and organized. Now, this may not work for you so I would encourage you to do what does work for you. Organize your thoughts. Please feel free to add to your list as new things pop into your head. 

If you want to stay here for a few days and really think about how to organize your dreams, feel free to do so. Stay on this journey with me. We will break this down into tiny pieces together.  Please feel free to share how you have chosen to categorize your lists.

Day One: Fast and Pray

Day One: Fast and Pray

I’m a Christian and I like to begin all adventures with fasting and praying. You may have just rolled your eyes, but before you pretend gag yourself and think I’m going to go all religious and weird on you, let me explain what fasting is, why I do it, and what fasting most definitely is not. Then I would ask you all to join me in a time of fasting and prayer.

1.                What is fasting?

Abstaining from food and drink for a period of time.

2.                Why fast?

To draw closer to God,

To ask for direction,

To ask God to meet a specific need.

Please note, this is not a command to fast, but a hope that you would link hearts with me before we embark. Here is a short list of people in the Bible who have inspired me to fast in times of need: Jesus, the Disciples, Esther, King Jehoshaphat.

3.                HOW AND WHY do I fast?

When I fast, I can typically fast and pray for a whole day. Honestly, I find it very difficult to set aside more than an entire day to fast and pray without getting super grouchy and losing the whole point for fasting in the first place. I only drink water when I fast—no food, no smoothies, and no sugar free food. I also try not to do any strenuous activity when I fast because then my blood sugar drops dramatically and then I turn into a big ol’ mess.

I have fasted for a variety of reasons. I have fasted for help with finances, career decisions, and battles with emotions, etc. I fast as a way to take some time to stop, quiet everything going on in my head, and to symbolically tell God that He is all I need to sustain me. It is my way of telling him that I believe that He will provide all of my needs, both spiritual and physical. I don’t think of fasting as a magic potion or super salve for all of my problems, but it does give me a timeout to look at my problems from a new perspective. It often gives me direction on how to face them. It does give me a hope that God hears me and will send me help to get through!

4.   Biblical Reasons for Fasting

STOP AND STAND STILL SO YOU CAN see and hear from god

II Chronicles 20 

King Jehoshaphat got some seriously bad news and called a community fast. The bad news: A foreign invasion army was headed his way. He had some choices: Panic, Terror, Fear, Running Away, Offering a Surrender in exchange for mercy… the list goes on. Instead he chose to call a community fast. The kingdom assembled with their wives, children, and families. (v.13) This is a little bit of what they’re prayer sounded like, “O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.” (v.12, NLT) Encouragement came very quickly. A man standing in the crowd, Jahaziel, had the honor of speaking the word of encouragement. He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (v.15 NLT). He then proceeded to tell the assembly what to do next. “But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the LORD is with you!” (v.17) 

Even though many of you are probably not facing an invading army, your everyday problems may feel like an invading army. So before we tackle dreams, goals, and planning them out, we are going to stop as a group and assemble for a big dose of encouragement and direction from God. In asking for encouragement and direction, that doesn’t necessarily mean the problem goes away, but it does give us a glimpse into God’s heart. “Stand still and watch the Lord’s Victory.” Part of fasting is allowing yourself a moment to stand still and watch for the Lord. When you’ve stopped and are standing still you are in a better position to hear God and to actually see what He is doing and will do.

You may be fresh out of ideas as to how you are going to fix this or you’ve already tried to overcome your problems on your own. This time you don’t have to. We are going to start with a community fast/prayer fest and rely on God before we undertake any new adventure.

MOTIVATION CHECK: READ ISAIAH 58 and MATTHEW 6

1.               Do not fast out of false piety. 
2.             Do not fast to beat yourself up for past sins. 
3.            Do not walk around miserable and disheveled (Matt 6: 16, NLT) 
4.             Do not fast as a way to lose weight. 
5.            Do not fast as a sort of magic potion to get God to give you what you want.

Do wash your face and comb your hair. Do keep praying all day. Do what you can do. If you cannot fast because of health reasons, then set aside the day for prayer.

The goal is to stop and be still before taking another step forward.

So my dear readers please take a moment to bow your head with me and pray:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this opportunity to link hearts and pray. I pray that those who do not have a personal relationship with you, that they would come to know you. I lift up every person who is reading this to you. I ask you to speak into their life, to deal with the issues of their heart, and to honor this time of fasting and prayer. I pray that you would direct and guide us over these next 31 days and into the future. I pray that we would not allow fear, discouragement, and anxiety to take hold, but instead that we would take a moment to stop, stand still, let go of our own resources, and rely on you. Help us as we prepare to DREAM, PLAN, AND DO. In your name we pray.

Amen.

(or as my friend says, Yay Jesus!)

To Read 31 Days of Dream. Plan. Do. from the beginning click here.

31 Days of Dream. Plan. Do.

Welcome to 31 Days of Dream. Plan. Do.

1. Day One: Fast and Pray 
2. Day Two: Freedom to Dream 
3. Day Three: Organizing and Categorizing
4. Day Four: Motivational Music Mix 
5. Day Five: Prioritizing 
6. Day Six: Stop and Take a Big Deep Breath
7. Day Seven: Realistic Timelines 
8. Day Eight: Bite-Sized Manageable Pieces 
9. Day Nine: Defining Success and Achievement 
10. Day Ten: Doing the Hard Tasks First 
11. Day Eleven: God Bless My Egg Timer
12. Day Twelve: Talking Too Much 
13. Day Thirteen: Over-thinking Paralysis 
14. Day Fourteen: Motivation Check No. 1 Guilt
15. Day Fifteen: Motivation Check No. 2: Fear 
16. Day Sixteen: Motivation Check No. 3 Revenge 
17. Day Seventeen: Motivation Check No. 4 Self-Deprecation
18. Day Eighteen: Motivation Check No. 5 Selfishness 
19. Day 19, 20 and 21: Starting Fresh Again and Again and Again
20. Day 22: Accountability Buddy
21. Day Twenty Three: If You Don't Know How...