Quotes & Cookies: Priorities

At this time of year, I think this is a very fitting quote:

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

~Stephen Covey

It all sounds so easy when he says it, doesn't it? I think I spent the last year trying to do EVERYTHING. (Hint: that never works out well.) This year, I plan to a) know what my priorities are and b) schedule them in. Ahh. That's the nice thing about a new year. You feel like you've got a fresh start to do things differently.

Like stare at some very large and in charge cookies, and try not to salivate. ;)

Is there anything you've decided to do differently this year?

photo credit: Mrs Magic via photopin cc

Quotes and Cookies: "Yes" burning inside.

I've had a lot of deadlines lately. And the glorious thing about crazy busy deadlines is, they set your schedule for you. They lodge themselves firmly in your #1 Priority spot. And then they tend to shove everything in #2 spot off the list. And sometimes even kick out the priorities in #'s  3, 4, 5, 6.... sometimes even 10 or more. (Okay, maybe that's a less glorious part...)

But for the first time in forever, I don't have anything due in the next couple of weeks. Like all of us, I have tons to do. More than I could ever get done. But I have so much to do, I can't figure out where to start. Without a deadline, it looks like I stirred up all the things I need to do in a giant bowl, and just dumped it on my priority list. Over the last couple of days, I sit down to work on my list, and don't have a clue what to do! So I grab something at the edge, mess around for a bit, then grab something else on the list and mess around some more. Am I doing the most important things? I have no idea! Probably not!

I've been thinking a lot about what is most important lately. And about how, if that list of priorities isn't made, it's likely the most important thing won't get done. And then I was thinking about how Steven Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) died recently, and how I've been wanting to do one of his quotes. I looked up a list of his top ten quotes, and this gem was on it:

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”

~Stephen Covey

Were the things I was grabbing from the edges good? Of course! Otherwise I wouldn't have been doing them! (Well, except the messing around part. That was plain and simple wasting time.) But were they the "best?" I'm pretty sure not.

I don't know about you guys, but when I get that jumble of a mess prioritized, where the best is at the top, those things gain a big enough "yes" burning inside, that it's easier to keep them where they belong on the list.

*Raises cookie* Here's to getting that list figured out!

kimberlykv at http://flickr.com/photos/87542849@N00/4643536339 cc-by-2.0

Do you have your priorities list figured out pretty well, or is it a jumbled mess like mine is? If you've got it figured out, CONGRATS! Have an awesome weekend! If you don't, let's shed a few tears together, then let's get this puppy in order! And then let's have an awesome weekend, too. :)



A huge thanks to Becky Povich for the Reader Appreciation award!

The secret reason behind why I didn't post yesterday.

You may or may not have noticed that I didn't post yesterday. Unannounced. For the first time ever. Rest assured, there was a good reason.

You see, early Sunday morning I got a call from a dear friend who had tickets to the Red Carpet at the Oscars. When an unfortunate incident happened involving a sick cat, a disgruntled doorman, and an angry mother-in-law, she could no longer use her ticket, so she gave it to me.

Which, of course, I gladly accepted! I hopped on the next plane to LA and headed straight for the Red Carpet. I didn't bother to change first, because there really wasn't much time. Plus, red: timeless. It's not like people are going to be looking at these pics years from now, thinking about how red is SO out.

I was TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY EXCITED to be at the Oscars! I couldn't help but let my excitement show!

(Except then they corralled me and stuck me in a seat, until they could figure out why some dude was sitting in the seat I was supposed to be in.) Oh, my gosh. You wouldn't believe how fascinating those Oscar statues are! They sparkle like a vampire in sunlight. No, more like someone spilled glitter on them.

Eventually, I started rubbing myself against the statue, so I could sparkle, too. And that's when they moved me closer to my seat. I was sure they'd figure out the seating thing soon. In the mean time, though, I had to admit: I had a great view of the red carpet. (I don't care what they say about your dress looking a tad matronly, Sarah Hyland. I think it looks fabulous.)

It was nice, and all, sitting right there. But not as much fun as I had when I was out in the mix of things. Plus, those actors can really strike a pose! I decided to try my hand at it.

I only got in one pose, though, before they worked out the seating thing. The seat was great and all, except for the wall between me and the actors, of course. But the person sitting next to me was FASCINATING! I chatted a lot.

And then you wouldn't believe who I saw! That one guy from Napoleon Dynamite! I swear, he's right over there. I am staring at him right now!

Man, I sure wish the cameraman would've gotten the two of us together in the same picture. That would've been awesome.

So, as you can see, between the jet lag and the flash photography sickness, there was really no way I could post yesterday.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.







And many thanks to Erin Summerill Photography for convincing me to into the variety of poses so conducive to photo bombing, in the same photo shoot that not only netted me my profile picture, but the spread of family pictures hanging on the wall in my home.

Suffering from N.E.T.S.

Oh, my gosh. You guys totally killed me in the comments yesterday! You're all a hoot. (See what I did there? A hoot?) Thanks for playing! I absolutely love hearing about the ways we work differently and the ways we work the same. After deciphering the results to the best of my ability, as of posting, there are 14 of us who are Larks, 13 of us who are Night Owls, 4 that are daytime only, and 6 that are neither. And a whole heck of a lot of us who may be one or the other, but tend to write during the middle of the day more. I love the way Lan put it--- Worker Bees. :) And several that are working against their preferred time.  Interesting stuff!

Now on to the serious stuff.

Sadly, it seems I have come down with an severe case of NETS.

No, not that kind of NETS.








No, not that kind, either.





The kind of NETS I'm talking about is Not Enough Time Syndrome. I'm guessing I'm not the only one suffering, either. Probably 99% of us have it from it to one degree or another. As much as I wish this were going to be a post about how to overcome NETS, I'm sad to say it isn't. I haven't quite gotten it figured out myself. In fact, if you looked at this past week alone, I'd say I've THE OPPOSITE OF figured it out.

So what about you? Have you figured out any great ways to be more efficient with your writing? Blogging? Blog visiting? How about tricks to do all those NON-WRITING things we do? What things do you skip when you feel a time crunch?

Give me a suggestion, and I'll love you forever. Wait, what? I already love you forever? Okay, I'll up it: I'll love you forever AND I'll think of you fondly while I'm implementing your great suggestions. Who knows? Maybe I'll even do a post with some tips I thought were particularly helpful and link back to you.

And if you don't have any ideas but want to commiserate, I AM HERE FOR YOU. (But only until tomorrow. At that point, we are going to FIX everything so we no longer have N.E.T.S. Deal?)

Have a great day! And best of luck to everyone in recovering from however badly you're suffering from NETS.

Quotes and Cookies: Writing is Your Choice

First off, I need to tell you guys how much I LOVED reading all of your How Old Were You stories on Wednesday. They're all downright inspiring! It made me all kinds of giddy to read them. One commenter, Iain from Iainspiration did a post to tell his whole story. Check it out!

And holy canoli was this a busy week! Anyone else SO GRATEFUL that Friday is here? Got a craving for some cookies or a fabulous quote? Me, too. Let's get to it!

"No one is asking, let alone demanding, that you write. The world is not waiting with bated breath for your article or book. Whether or not you get a single word on paper, the sun will rise, the earth will spin, the universe will expand. Writing is forever and always a choice - your choice."

~Beth Mende Conny

Kinda puts it into perspective, doesn't it? The world won't end if we don't write. We will survive if we don't write (even if it really doesn't feel like we would). We create those stories the world needs because we CHOOSE to. It's our choice, and if we're going to make such an all-consuming choice, then you can bet we are going to do THE BEST WE CAN.

Because that's what writers do.

(Oh, and we also eat cookies.)

http://www.itsfordinner.com/recipe/hershey-kiss-cookies

Have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Shooting at Targets

You know, the thing about writing is that it always feels like you are behind on everything. You should've already gotten through that first draft. You should have already finished editing. You should've already read a million more books and blogs.

And that's not even counting all the REGULAR LIFE stuff you have to do. It can kind of feel like there are a million things you need to do, and you can't even figure out which one is most important to work on, right?

Sigh. And it gives you grief.

I was driving down the street, stressing about the aforementioned malady when something brilliant came to mind. My mom hangs frames on their bathroom wall with great quotes or pictures, and every so often she changes the quotes. Suddenly, as a gift from above, one of the quotes came to mind.

“Nothing can add more power to your life
than concentrating all of your energies
on a limited set of targets.”
~Nido Qubein

Well, duh. Now that you mention it, it makes all kinds of sense.

If you have a circle of 50 targets around you and you’ve got 50 arrows in your quiver, then you can shoot one arrow at each target. Sure, you’re probably going to get a bull’s eye every now and then. And you might hit the rings on twenty or so more. But there’ll be a lot you don’t even hit.

And here’s the kicker— the ones you don't hit could be the most important targets.




But if you shoot all 50 arrows at ONE TARGET, you’re going to get a few bull’s eyes. And a couple dozen or so in the other rings. And of course, you’ll miss the target quite a few times. But you’ll get bull’s eyes! And hit tons of other places that give points! Your target is going to be full of arrows!!


When you have that one target that you’ve been aiming at, and it’s filled with tons of arrows, IT FEELS REALLY GOOD.

And when you have a whole mess of targets with no arrows, it kinda makes you feel like you really suck at... Okay, we’ll say archery.

So I decided to make a gigantic bon fire and huck most of my targets into it, leaving only a the most important ones to aim at. (Of course, unless you're talking ONLY writing, you're not likely to whittle it down to just one target.)(And okay, I didn’t actually burn the others targets, because I really like most of those other targets! I’d like to shoot some arrows at them again sometime. So, I mostly just stood them on end in a neat little row with a label on the side so I could find each one at a moment’s notice.)

But holy cow, does it feel good to have less targets to aim at!

I’m talkin’ REALLY good.

So I say, chuck some of those targets you’ve been aiming at!

I think you’ll like it.

I mean REALLY like it.



P.S.  I was interviewed by ever fabulous Cristina at Once Upon a Time.... Go check it out! :)