How to Be More Diligent This Year

How to Be More Diligent This Year

I have been praying dailly about becoming more diligent for years. But only recently did I realize that I was going about increasing my diligence in the wrong way.

Why should we seek to be more diligent?

The Bible encourages diligence. Proverbs 12:24 reads, “The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.”

Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes to poverty.

The Bible also gives us a good example of diligence in its description of the Proverbs 31 woman (Read here and here).

I want to honor God by being diligent, but I also know I will be happier getting things accomplished instead of having more screen time. Ecclesiastes 2:24 agrees. “So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.”

Doing what you say you’re going to do

I had an aha moment with respect to diligence when I heard professional coach instructor Brooke Castillo’s podcast. She said that her husband is perpetually amazed by the fact that she does what she says she is going to do. Frankly, I am amazed by that. Always doing what you say you’re going to do? I’m an expert at finding reasons (also known as excuses) not to do that. Like I worked hard yesterday. It’s sunny. It’s rainy. I’m hormonal. I just don’t feel like it. Tomorrow I’ll feel like it. I deserve a break. Again.

The next thing that contributed to my change in thinking about diligence was from someone calling himself Mr. GetItDone on Mark Forster’s productivity forum. He said that when he comes to an item on to-do list, he just does it. Another weirdo, obviously. He doesn’t get a snack, check social media, or have to consider a hundred other things as potentially more important to do?

I am someone who enjoys being busy and accomplishing a lot. But years ago I noticed that I had a procrastination habit that got in my way. I decided that a fun way of improving my motivation and work habits would be trying a new produtivity approach every week. Initially, I thought I would discover the productivity holy grail for everyone. It turned out that I only discovered that for myself, and that the strategies I used successfully were only good for the season of life I was in. When life changed, my productivity approach changed.

I did discover a productivity formula that enabled me to finally publish my experiments in book form. When you get your copy of A Year of Living Productively, you will quickly learn the rationale behind more than 80 different productivity approaches without reading the books, you will get the basic instructions for using these approaches, and you’ll get my intial review of what worked and didn’t work for each. You’ll also get my review of each of them five years later with recommendations for other approaches to try if you had success with an individual tactic.

For example, even though David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology has hundreds of thousands of fans, I tried it twice and wasn’t able to make it work. I won’t be trying it a third time. That is not to say that I didn’t benefit from his approach. In fact, it helped me achieve what’s called Inbox Zero, where I process my emails to folders or a task manager, such that I have an empty inbox on a regular basis. It’s so much more peaceful for me not to have hundreds of emails that need my attention. My ability to maintain inbox zero is a direct result of David Allen’s teaching approach.

With A Year of Living Productively, you can save time and develop a customized productivity approach for this season of your life. You can stop calling yourself lazy and unmotivated and become an objective observer of your work habits and what helps you make the most of your time.

Despite writing and speaking about productivity, I realized that I have ignored a key ingredient to diligence.

It’s why I’m astonished by Brooke Castillo and Mr. GetItDone. To explain, I will use a fitness analogy.

Imagine that I have been praying daily for years to be fit. I also read sections of fitness books each morning. But despite my prayers and reading, I haven’t felt like going to the gym much. When I do go, I try some of the exercises I’ve read about. I either get bored with them or I quit them when they require too much effort. I find myself scrolling social media or watching shows instead. I’m no stronger and I don’t look any different, but I figure that’s probably because I’m older and I have a lot on my plate literally and figuratively.

If you know anything about fitness, you know that I will never get stronger with this approach. Waiting until I feel like going to the gym means I will rarely go. That’s how I used to view gym time. I would tell myself I’d go three days a week until there were only three days left in the week. Then I’d tell myself I couldn’t work out three days in a row!

Now I make myself exercise whether I feel like it or not. I’m always glad I did because I feel happier and more energetic. And to build muscle or endurance, I have to push myself out of my comfort zone. Muscle building doesn’t come from doing easy exercises. It requires an intense effort of doing more than you did before–more weight or more reps. Our muscles have to be fatigued in order to increase endurance.

I made the connection one day.

I’d been working at my computer for under an hour and I wanted to quit for the day. I realized that this was the equivalent of doing a few bicep curls and leaving the gym. I wasn’t truly fatigued. More likely I was bored. I had developed a habit of quitting well before I’d gotten a good workout in.

Before you worry that I’m saying we need to be working hard all day long, understand that rest periods are built in to hard workouts. After every set, you rest. But the difference is, you don’t go home! When you’ve completed a full workout, you have a good long rest.

I realized that I hadn’t built up my diligence like I would fitness endurance. I couldn’t expect myself to work diligently for six hours straight with my history just like I couldn’t do a one-hour fitness class if I spent most of my time on the couch.

A diligence workout

As a result of this inspiration, here is the diligence workout I’m giving myself. I’d love to have you join me. I believe it will work for our kids, too.

First, diligence doesn’t require motivation. We will all have the whiny voice in our heads telling us why we shouldn’t do the work now and how we will magically be motivated tomorrow. Ignore it. That voice is a liar. The truth is that diligence GIVES us motivation, not the other way around. Do what you planned to do, regardless of your emotions.

Second, create a realistic plan. The Couch to 5K plan isn’t accomplished in a day. When we try to do too much, we are reluctant to work the next day. If you haven’t been very diligent to this point, increase your work load gradually. The only way you can look at everything on your list and do it is if it’s not asking too much of your mind and body. As you plan your tasks for the day, pretend you are planning them for a beloved friend. Given that you want her to have enough time for recreation, interruptions, and sleep, what will you put on her list?

Third, push yourself to do the work with cheerleading. One of the things I love about Chalene Johnson workout videos is her cheerleading. “You’re not tired!” she says. We can tell ourselves this as well as “You’re doing great” and “Just a little more work before you can take a break.” As you do the tasks you’ve planned for the day, you’re going to want to quit. Something will take longer, be more annoying, or be more difficult than you thought. You’ll want to call it a day, but don’t. Instead, try one of these tips.

1. Pray. Ask the Lord for patience and mercy. Ask your family to pray for you, too.

2. If you’re stuck on something, ask someone to spot you. In weight training, that’s someone who provides a little help lifting the weight if you need it. Numerous times I’ves struggled for hours on something that a skilled person can do in minutes. Get help.

3. Take a timed rest away from the work. The key is to set a timer and return to the work when it goes off. A rest can be going outside, getting some water, or doing some exercises or stretches.

4. Switch tasks. Sometimes we need to focus on something else and the solution or energy for the original task comes to us. Go to the next task on your list.

5. Consider how you will feel later if you quit now. Will you really have more energy for this tonight or tomorrow? Will you regret that it isn’t done?

If you push through and are diligent, you are ready to relax. In another podcast episode, Brooke Castillo describes the difference between rest and laziness. Rest, she says is relaxing, guilt-free, after finishing our work. So you’re watching Netflix after a full homeschool day and putting the kids to bed. Laziness, alternatively, is relaxing and feeling guilty without doing our work. So you watch Netflix before school and you keep telling the kids you’ll start school later.

If you want to relax guilt-free by being diligent this school year, I recommend The Organized Homeschool Life Planner. Each day of the planner includes space for the most important aspects of your routine like time with God, your relationship focus, and what’s for dinner. But it also lists just six tasks to complete in a day. I have space for just six tasks because on average that’s how many I completed in my experiments for A Year of Living Productively. Shocking that it wasn’t 25, right?

On the right side of the daily page, you’ll create a loose plan for getting your tasks done.

With your new diligent mindset, you will enjoy the reward you’ve planned for the day, guilt-free.

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How You Can Follow Through with Your Plans and Goals This Year

How You Can Follow Through with Your Plans and Goals This Year

Last I wrote, I gave three reasons we don’t follow through with our plans and goals. You’ll want to read that article first if you haven’t already. I had a mom tell me she hoped I could help her get past those three obstacles. I hope I can too. I want to share how I believe you can follow through with your plans and goals this year.

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Before we dive in, I want to say this. I believe that God is the source of our strength and success. I know He deserves all the credit for the changes in my life. My degree in psychology, my natural abilities, and the dozens of books I’ve read have all failed to change me in terms of getting organized, helping me lose weight, homeschooling my kids, improving my patience, or writing books. In fact, most of the time those qualifications have gotten in the way of my success. It’s only been when I have confessed to God that I can’t and don’t know how and need Him to take over that anything lasting and worthwhile has occurred.

What I want to share with you today is wisdom that I believe the Lord gave me as I sought Him over and over again for help getting past my procrastination, disorganization, and addictions to get more done. But always take anything I suggest to you to the Lord yourself and ask Him to give you discernment for whether it is right for you in this season of your life. With that important disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about how we can overcome three important obstacles to following through this year.

How to get more done despite our minds equating planning with completion

Last time, I explained that when we plan a goal that has some anxiety attached to it like saving money or losing weight, we feel better after planning. We feel we’ve done something and that makes all the difference to us mentally. Even goals that don’t have anxiety attached like writing a book or running a 5K fade into the background after we’ve spend time planning them and dreaming about them.

Planning is an important part of following through with homeschooling and other goals, so how can we follow through even though our mind is kicking back and relaxing? The first way is to use a 12 Week Year. One reason our anxiety is decreased after planning is because the end goal is far off. We tend to think of our homeschools as a full year, for example. And many people have goals for the year. We become like the hare, thinking we have plenty of time to win the race. Our anxiety is gone as soon as we’ve begun the race. It doesn’t kick in again until we’re nearing the finish line or the end of the year. Then, of course, it’s too late to accomplish anything meaningful.

The solution is to plan our homeschools and our goals for a quarter, not a year. Twelve weeks go by much more quickly. We can feel an appropriate amount of pressure to keep working toward the goal. We can plan exactly what has to be completed each week to reach the goal, where a year-long plan has to accommodate too many unknowns. Larger goals can be broken down into 12-week progress points. I’ve written about how planning my homeschooling by the quarter made a world of difference in keeping my kids and me motivated.

The second way we can overcome the planning-equals-completion problem is with remembering our why. Last time I gave an example of a woman wanting to lose weight because she was worried about her family history of diabetes. We humans tend to avoid thinking about these anxiety-provoking truths, so we have to work against that. We have to regularly consider why we’re planning, whether that’s our homeschool studies or a personal goal. We have to really think about it and consider it. Let me give you a personal example.

Last January, I realized with a start that at my current writing pace, I would not have the third volume of Grammar Galaxy ready for the Great Homeschool Convention in April. I imagined myself talking with attendees and trying to explain why I didn’t have another volume done, despite a year going by. I hated the thought of it! I worked furiously to be finished in time and every time I grew tired, I called up that image. I also reflected on my why, which was written on my weekly page of The Organized Homeschool Life Planner.

Remember your why by imagining in detail both how you will feel if you do accomplish your plans and if you don’t. Then reflect on your why at least every week.

The third way we can overcome the planning-equals-completion problem is by developing systems instead of goals. You may have a goal of finishing the first semester of your history curriculum before Christmas break. You are consistently reading and studying for 30 minutes every school day at home. But then the kids or you get sick. It doesn’t happen.

You can easily be disappointed that you don’t meet your goal. I could have had something keep me from publishing the third volume of Grammar Galaxy in time too, right? Not meeting our goals could lead us to want to throw up our hands in defeat. But both the history studier and I have something even more powerful than a goal. We have systems. If we continue the habits that lead to the goal, we will succeed–even if it’s not on the exact timetable we planned. There’s a good chance that if you continue studying history consistently that you will finish the book by the end of the year. Even if you don’t, you will have learned so much. If I kept writing Grammar Galaxy consistently despite the setback, I would have had the volume done for the next conference.

Using a 12 Week Year, remembering your why, and developing systems instead of goals can overcome our mind’s resistance to planning.

How to get more done despite our subconscious being on to us

The second obstacle to following through I discussed last time is our subconscious being on to us. It knows when we aren’t being realistic, that our goal isn’t important, or that we don’t have a good reason for pursuing our plans. It runs the show and we don’t follow through.

The first way we can overcome this obstacle is by consistently using a paper planner. Rather than having a one-and-you’re done approach, we can create a planning habit. I have found that planning by month, week, and day, I can easily see when I’m overloaded. Seeing plans on paper allows me to see that my expectations of myself and my kids aren’t realistic.

Instructions for The Organized Homeschool Life Planner

I prefer using a planner for myself that includes a schedule or routine for each day. In my Organized Homeschool Life Planner, I take my list of tasks and add them into a loose schedule for the day. It becomes obvious when I won’t be able to fit everything in.

Then I can use the third strategy for overcoming my subconscious and following through. That’s reduce commitments. When you’re asking a child or a work animal to do too much, they have a clear way of letting you know. They won’t budge. Our subconscious behaves the same way. When your weekly or daily plan freaks your mind out, you need to cut commitments. There are ways you consistently spend your time that should be eliminated, but there are also little things that just don’t have to be done. One way I identify these is by asking myself if I would stay up tonight as long as it took to get it done. If not, it can be removed from my plan for the day. My subconscious will start cooperating with me to get more done.

By using a paper planner, a schedule, and by cutting commitments, you can work with your subconscious to follow through on your plans and goals.

How to get more done by learning how we work best

The third obstacle that keeps us from following through is not knowing how we work best. We follow other people’s approaches and when they don’t work, we berate ourselves for being lazy. We may even tell ourselves we’re not cut out for homeschooling or the other goals we have.

This is what happened to me. I thought I wasn’t organized enough to homeschool or diligent enough to write books. I had plenty of evidence to back me up! But I tried using routines and wow! What a difference! Before I tried routines, I learned that time with God each day and exercise also helped me get more done. After trying routines, I tried other methods I’d read about like Getting Things Done. Some worked, some didn’t.

In 2013, I had the crazy idea to try a different productivity approach every week for a year and to share my results here on this blog. I was surprised by the response to it. I had people from all walks of life responding to my experiments. If you’re a long-time follower, you may recall the blog series. My intention was to write a book about the process at the end of the year. I started it but put it off and then gave up on the goal. Now I’m so glad I did.

Five years later, I’ve learned so much more about my own obstacles to getting more done and how to overcome them. In that time I’ve blogged, produced a podcast, written The Organized Homeschool Life book and planner, and three volumes of Grammar Galaxy. I also started a business and began conference speaking, while still homeschooling, making family and friends a priority, and enjoying several hobbies. What’s more is I’m happier and more at peace than I’ve ever been.

One big reason I’ve accomplished these things is I learned how I work best. I created a productivity formula unique to me in this season of life. I also know how to find what works for me as life changes. Instead of telling you how to get more done, I want to share with you how you can determine that for yourself.

Today I’m launching my book, A Year of Living Productively. In it I share over 80 productivity strategies. I give you the rationale for using them, the instructions for using them, my experience using them, and similar strategies to try. In the book, I help you decide which strategies to try first. Included with the book is a tracking form so you can reflect on your results. Like me, you may find that something that didn’t work before works brilliantly now and vice versa.

Purchasers will have access to a bonus that includes further reading for each strategy, another review of that approach when available, a list of the best tools, and a digital tracker option.

A Year of Living Productively is a great tool to use to become more productive as a homeschooling parent and as an aid in guiding your high schoolers and college students in getting more done. It’s perfect for assisting bloggers, authors, and entrepreneurs in achieving more than they dreamed they could. Save time reading the dozens of books I’ve read by giving only the methods that fit your life a try.

Buy the PDF for just $7.50!

The advantage of the digital PDF version is click-and-go access to the strategies you’re most interested in. And during the launch from now through December 16th, you’ll save 25% off the PDF list price. Get the book for just $7.50, or bundle the book and the digital Organized Homeschool Life Planner for just $22.50. If you haven’t gotten your copy of The Organized Homeschool Life book, you can add it to the bundle and pay just $30 for all three resources.

Buy on Amazon

If you’d like the Kindle or print version, A Year of Living Productively is also available on Amazon. If you know a productivity junkie, someone who struggles with procrastion like I did, or anyone who wants to follow through and achieve their goal, A Year of Living Productively makes a great gift. Note that A Year of Living Productively is not a faith-based book but The Organized Homeschool Life is.

My prayer is that you can overcome the obstacles that keep you from following through with your plans and goals so that next year will be your most productive year ever.

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Why You Aren’t Following Through on Your Plans and Goals

Why You Aren’t Following Through on Your Plans and Goals

Are you great at making plans for the school year but you never seem to do what you’ve planned? Or are you great at setting goals for the new year that you struggle to achieve? If that’s you, I’m going to put my psychologist hat on and explain why your follow-through fails.

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One of my friends mentioned that she is a great planner. She has a great time taking her goals and planning them out in her planner in detail. She is so excited about her plans. She tells her family and friends about them. She believes she will succeed. And then the plans she has spent time crafting, the plans she was positively giddy about, never get beyond her planner. Why is that, she asked me? Why do her plans so often remain in the planner where she put them and never become reality?

If you can relate to my friend, know that I can too. I’ve left so many plans and goals in the planner cemetery. I wanted to know why I did that and how I could carry out my plans and achieve my goals. So I started doing some research. Then I did some experimenting. I learned there are three reasons we fail to follow through with our plans and goals.

Planning reduces anxiety

The first reason we fail to follow through was a surprise to me. Let’s say the new school year is upon you and you’re stressed. You don’t have anything ready. So you collect your books and grab your lesson planner and you start planning. Before long, you have several weeks planned. Ahh! Doesn’t that feel better?

Or let’s say that you haven’t been working out much this fall. As a result, your weight has increased. That makes you nervous because you have diabetes in your family. And you’re not that old. You know that if you don’t deal with eating and exercise now, you could have a serious problem later. So you talk with your husband about it and you agree that you’ll give one another the gift of a gym membership for Christmas. Yes! You ask for a new pair of running shoes too. Now you don’t need to worry about your health, right?

The problem is that sometimes when we make plans, set goals, or even take a small step toward achieving them, the anxiety that drove us to plan in the first place is greatly decreased. Research shows that in our minds, planning our goal is like actually achieving it. It’s handled, so we don’t need to think about it again.

When another homeschool commitment comes up that really needs to be arranged in your schedule, you don’t worry about it because you’ve already done some planning. But then things get real and your plan isn’t working. You stop using your lesson plans. Or it’s the holidays and you know you should work out and eat healthfully but you tell yourself that your gym membership in January will take care of it all.

Should we avoid planning to keep our anxiety high then? No, but there is a way we can stay motivated once we’ve planned. I’ll share that in next week’s post. In the meantime, I recommend reading How to Keep the Happy Planning Going.

Our subconscious is on to us

The second reason we fail to follow through with our plans is our subconscious knows the real reason we’ve made our plans and it’s not a good enough reason to do the work required.

So you planned lessons using two different science curriculum because you couldn’t decide which one to use AND you know that some of the best homeschoolers say that one curriculum isn’t enough. You really admire these homeschoolers whose kids got full-ride scholarships. You also scheduled one read aloud a week regardless of how long they are, simply because you want to read a lot of great books this year–like the ones you meant to read last year.

[Read Curriculum Paralysis]

But your subconscious is thinking, “Really? Like that’s going to happen.” We can ignore our subconscious for a while, but as soon as we get through a week or two of school and get nowhere near everything done, our subconscious behaves like a homeschool hater. “You may as will give this up,” she mocks. And so we do, even though we don’t acknowledge that we aren’t being realistic in trying to be awesome homeschoolers. By the time we acknowledge that we aren’t following through with our plans, we’re more likely to tell ourselves that we’re losers than see that no homeschooler could do everything we planned.

When it comes to fitness, if one of the real reasons you wanted to set a fitness goal is because you know you’re going to see your super fit relative over the holidays, you aren’t likely to follow through. You’ll see her and say, “Yeah, so we got ourselves a gym membership for Christmas.” She’ll be enthusiastic. “That’s great! Good for you,” she’ll say. And you’ve accomplished your goal as far as your subconscious is concerned. No need to sweat it until next year when you see her. You can join a different gym then.

If you aren’t following through, there’s a good chance your “why” for your plans or goals is weak. Next time I’ll share strategies for keeping a strong why.

You don’t know how you work best

The third reason you aren’t following through is you don’t know how you work best. Some of the homeschool bloggers you follow have their kids start school by 7 a.m. It works for them, so you’ve been trying that. But you’re a family of night owls. Every time you try to get the kids up in the morning, it’s a battle. They’re tired and you’re cranky. Once you start, the kids sit and stare into space, falling asleep during your great read aloud. You’ve tried letting them get up much later, but that doesn’t really seem to work either. You have no idea how to get it all done without being mad at your kids and yourself.

And that’s just the beginning. You don’t know if you should be a year-round homeschooler, a textbook homeschooler, or a co-op homeschooler. Do you have time to work, blog, or start a business too? It sure doesn’t seem like it, though your finances could certainly benefit from the extra income.

Your super fit relative gets up early to work out. It gives her energy, she says. But you are so exhausted from staying up late and exercising early that you just want to crawl into bed and skip school. You’re just not the exercising type, you decide, and the fitness goal is forgotten.

You don’t know how you work best because you’ve been trying to make what other people do fit you. I did this for years in my homeschooling. I wondered what was wrong with me and my kids.

I also did it in my efforts to blog and write books. I thought I was a loser who wasn’t cut out for writing because I couldn’t make other people’s approaches work for me. And then I tried something new. Instead of continuing to force myself to use other people’s methods, I started experimenting. In 2013, I tried a new method to help me follow through and be productive every week. In the process, I  found some things that worked brilliantly and discovered others that people raved about that didn’t work well for me at all.

At the end of that year, I felt like I understood better how I worked best. I planned to write a book about my experiments and share the secret to getting more done. But months went by. And then years. And I still hadn’t written the book. During that time, however, I learned more about how I can get more done. In fact, I started becoming more productive than I’ve ever been. In fact, in addition to homeschooling and podcasting, I published The Organized Homeschool Life book and planner and three volumes of Grammar Galaxy language arts curriculum. I began speaking at homeschool conferences and running a business while still having time for my family and several hobbies.

At the beginning of my year of experimentation, I thought I would be telling people the best strategies for getting more done and following through with their plans. But five years after finishing the experiments, I understood that the most powerful strategy is to learn how you work best. I finally felt ready to write a book about others could discover their unique productivity formula like I did. It’s going to be available to you next week when we talk about how you can get more done in 2019.

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But if you can’t wait until then to develop your own method of following through, you can download a free sample of the book, A Year of Living Productively, that will get you started. Click the book cover above for your free sample and productivity updates.

Next time I’ll explain how I overcome these three obstacles to follow-through to be the most productive (and happy) I’ve ever been. Talk to you then.

What’s your biggest struggle with follow through? Comment and let me know.

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Productivity Inspiration for This Spring

Productivity Inspiration for This Spring

Spring motivates me to get things done. I think it’s the return of the sun. Whatever it is, I’m glad! These are six sources of inspiration for me now. To receive the fabulous, time-sensitive sanity savers that I share with friends, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter.

#1 Spring bucket list

Spring bucket list

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bucket lists inspire me to do the things that matter most. I love this bucket list that is part of The Organized Homeschool Life Planner, now shipping in print to the US. Grab your copy of the bucket list (no opt-in required) and start adding activities like planting flowers, visiting a botanical garden, a zoo trip, flying a kite, or nature walks.

#2 Spring cleaning with the Lazy Genius podcast

Spring cleaning is one of the challenges in The Organized Homeschool Life. If we take a perfectionist approach, we’re sunk. We’ll quit before we start. But we can do it with the Lazy Genius’s approach to cleaning the house. Give it a listen!

#3 Focus and concentrate with James Clear

It’s no use planning multiple tasks for this spring if we haven’t learned how to focus. James Clear has you covered for tips on developing your concentration muscles. 🙂

#4 Tame your to-do list

It’s demoralizing to never finish your list. That’s why there is room for just three main priorities and three other tasks per day in The Organized Homeschool Life planner. Read Forbes’s to-do list tips to get your list under control.

#5 The Hidden Art of Homemaking

Most of my readers are homeschooling mothers. Some of them left careers behind to homeschool. But we don’t have to leave our skills and talents behind. This classic book will give you a fresh perspective on your calling at home.

#6 A Million Little Ways

Emily Freeman’s book is a new look on this topic that can make work seem like play. And isn’t that what we all need this spring?

Want more productiviy inspiration? Check out the last list of sanity savers here.

What’s on your spring bucket list? Comment and let me know.

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Productivity Inspiration Sanity Savers

Productivity Inspiration Sanity Savers

Sometimes it isn’t about a new app to increase your productivity. Sometimes we just need a little shot of inspiration. That’s what this week’s list of sanity savers is all about. To get access to time-limited sanity savers, be sure to subscribe.

Productivity Inspiration Sanity Savers

#1 Live to your potential

I’m a fan of Jordan Peterson’s and this video about how much time we waste and how we could live instead is worth watching and rewatching.

#2 Making Oprah podcast

Oprah Winfrey is one of the people featured in the above video as living their potential. Whatever you think of her philosophy on life, you have to admit that her accomplishments are amazing. I listened to the short-series Making Oprah podcast about her rise to fame and was particularly moved by episode #3, which discusses the famous car giveaway episode. She insisted that the giveaway have intention. I want to live with intention too.

#3 Next Right Thing podcast

A friend in our HomeschoolScopes group gave me this tip about the Next Right Thing podcast. The focus on just doing the next right thing is what I need. The host’s voice is soothing, like a friend who’s a counselor.

#4 Brilliant Business Mom podcast

If you have a blog or business, you’ll love the Brilliant Business Mom podcast. My favorite episodes are interviews with moms who have succeeded as entrepreneurs. The podcast inspires me to persevere as a business woman.

#5 Pre-Game Routine

James Clear describes a pre-game routine as how we can get motivated to do important things: start the homeschool day, write your book, or manage your finances. In reading it I realized that I often change my routine, making it difficult to enjoy the motivational benefits.

How to Get Motivated When You Don’t Feel Like It

#6 Christian Zumba

In thinking about a pre-game routine, I remembered that exercise used to be mine. I worked out before starting my writing for the day. Now I’m working out in the afternoons with my daughter and my pre-game routine has been willy nilly. I tried ReFit at a women’s retreat recently and enjoyed it. I tried doing these dance exercises to Christian music before I started my writing routine and it worked! I did another song after my writing session to get the blood pumping again. This is something you could do with the kids.

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My Favorite Sanity Saving Books from the Last Year

My Favorite Sanity Saving Books from the Last Year

This week I’m sharing my favorite sanity-saving books from the past year. I’m a sucker for nonfiction and if it changes my life? All the better. Remember that if you want all the time-sensitive sanity savers too, you’ll need to subscribe.

My Favorite Sanity Saving Books

#1 Sidetracked in the Wilderness by Michael Wells

I read this book by the late Michael Wells and discovered that I was trying to live like Jesus instead of letting Jesus live through me. I can tell you that it’s exhausting to try to live like Jesus. If you read one book this year, this should be it, in my opinion. I wrote Homeschooling Where Strivings cease in response.

#2 My Weakness for His Strength by Michael Wells

I wanted more of Michael Wells’s grace-affirming writing and I found it in this devotional. I love these devotions so much that I alternate between reading several at once and saving them because I can’t bear to finish the book. I am so thrilled that there is another volume. These devotions remind me of one of the best sermons I heard at church this year, on New Year’s Eve. Essentially, the message was I didn’t have to change. I was already loved. The change had already been made — not by me but by Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Hallelujah! That’s worth celebrating for this woman who is always trying to be better in her own strength, for all the wrong reasons.

#3 Deep Work by Cal Newport

I owned Deep Work on Kindle for a very long time and didn’t make time to read it. The irony. I got the audiobook and devoured it between working out and getting ready in the mornings. The book doesn’t tell you what your deep work is. In other words, if you’re a blogger, finding content that could go viral on social media may be deep work for you. Instead, deep work is important work that requires focus. The book both inspires us to pursue deep work and makes suggestions for finishing it for lots of different styles. I love the idea of going away to write, but most likely my deep work will happen in the mornings before the kids are up.

#4 Overwhelmed by Kathy Lipp and Cheri Gregory

Overwhelmed is another book I listened to in audio. I loved it. It’s not only helpful but hilarious. The narrator’s comic timing is wonderful. I wasn’t that overwhelmed when I listened to the book. What I appreciated most were the get-real stories from the two women in the book. They battled signing up for too much, difficult people, humiliation and more. A godly perspective with plenty of humor helps the listener feel like she can survive just about anything. Highly recommended.

#5 Mini Habits by Stephen Guise

I’ve written about how mini habits have changed my life and can change your homeschool. But this audiobook is a great listen as you exercise or get ready for the day. You’ll be inspired by what you can accomplish this year, one tiny step at a time.

#6 Work Clean by Dan Charnas

I’m recommending this book even though I haven’t finished it yet. It is not only a fascinating look inside a chef’s world but an uber-inspiring manual for becoming more productive in your life and work. I plan to write about how to apply the principles to homeschooling. In the meantime, I am lining up my toiletries in the morning, mise-en-place style!

#7 Organize Tomorrow Today by Jason Selk, Tom Bartow, and Matthew Rudy

Organize Tomorrow Today is like having a coach in a book. The chapters are chock full of inspiring real-life examples of achievement and a practical exercise. I incorporated some of its excellent principles into my Organized Homeschool Life planner.

Which of these books interests you most?

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