Last Updated on July 18, 2021 by Sarah McCubbin
Ten Minute Momentum is a place where I want to help you look at your minutes and days a little differently. For too many years, I disqualified myself from accomplishing goals. I had lots of excuses. I was busy. I didn’t have time. I had too many kids. Homeschooling and foster parenting took up all my energy. My part time job didn’t leave any margin in my life and frankly, I was just tired. In the back of my head, I had these goals and dreams, but I would persistently push them aside and remind myself that maybe those things weren’t really for me and that I should be grateful for my many blessings.
I didn’t do nothing, but a pattern appeared. If I tried something and succeeded nearly immediately, I would continue doing that. However, if I tried something, perhaps spent money on it, and did not succeed, it was then relegated to the “been there done that” trash can. Maybe you can relate. In my trash can were things like losing weight, having an orderly house, maintaining a consistent writing habit, home cooked meals and consistently educated children. My trash can was pretty full. In fact, I had settled for what I could do easily and called it good enough.
But the reality was, it didn’t feel “good.” Trust me, I have a lot to be thankful for, but if you took a peek into my life, you might see rooms stuffed with too many things, homeschooled children struggling to do their work, lots of prepackaged foods, and STRESS. I was busy doing but none of it was for me. Frankly, I was a mess…I had too much to do, with not enough time and I was tired a LOT. And when I’m tired…its a quick step to ANGER for me. If anyone made a wrong move around me, I would SNAP and start yelling…taking my frustration out on them without really processing all the junk behind that emotion.
But friend, I will tell you that the good Lord has taken me on a journey so that I KNOW that I am qualified to do every good work He has for me. The dreams and visions He gave me are completely possible in His time and I don’t need to settle for second best. And here is the reality…I still have too much stuff (working on that), my kids are all learning in unique ways, and I still cook dinner most night…but I’m way less stressed. Something happened…it was one of several “ah ha”moments for me when something clicked and I realized there was a simple mental switch that I needed to make in order for things to change.
Don’t you just love it when someone says they have “figured it out”…eye roll
Haha! I agree…so annoying. I haven’t figured IT out but I something clicked. So I want to share it with you in case it helps you too. My goal in this space is to:
- See time differently.
We all have 24 hours a day with 60 minutes in an hour. It’s the same for everyone. But some people do SO MUCH and others spin their wheels. There are simple techniques we can use to increase our productivity to meet our individual goals. These are not magic…they are not expensive or hard. Everyone can do these things to move things off the “To Do List” and on to the “To DONE List.” This is for you…even if you are too busy, too tired, underqualified and overwhelmed.
2. Share Resources that Have Helped Me
As long as I can remember, I have loved reading…mostly books but articles and posts by thinking people are favorites too. I think I can count on 2 hands the number of books that have changed the direction of my life but there have been many others that offered just the right insight that I needed to see things differently. Similarly, there have been a handful of great websites and blogs that have helped me pivot and make productive steps in the direction I wanted to go. So I want to share snippets from great thinkers to encourage us to value and use our time in a way that leads to blessing and productivity.
- Learn to Value the Everyday Things We Already Do Well
Growing up, my mom made dinner from scratch every night. We ate on real plates with real silverware and everything tasted great. We didn’t know this wasn’t normal for everyone until we were older and realized that many people just eat out or ate microwave meals. Cooking is a family thing..my mom’s family is Macedonian American and they like to make fresh, delicious things. Thanksgiving is amazing! However, despite all this, my mom has often been heard apologizing for her food…saying something like, “I hope it tastes all right. I’m not sure its very good.” What??? This is crazy…she is an amazing cook! Why is she doing that?
I have seen this over and over. Maybe you have too. I have done it myself. If we do something well and it comes easily to us, it is easy to undervalue it and really undervalue ourselves. Let’s STOP doing that. We are all unique and I am so thankful for the people in my life that are good at things I don’t know how to do. Before we move forward and make our list of things we want to do or change, let’s stop and take inventory. Ask yourself…what am I really good at? Maybe you are a good listener, very organized, creative, athletic, financially astute etc. Think about what you are really good at. We build off our strengths. You are amazing just the way you are and being uniquely you puts you in a position to influence and help others that no one else has!
- Develop habits that help us move forward towards our goals
They say that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The problem for most of us is that we are excited to do the big thing. We jump in full of energy and then after a week or two when we haven’t made the progress that we hoped, we disqualify ourselves or modify the goal because it seems far out of reach. I hope to share things that have helped me finally stay on track even while being a busy mom with lots of distractions and interruptions that make it difficult to do something for me. Let’s do this…let’s go ahead and eat the elephant!
- Write a weekly post that shares ideas we can easily implement no matter what season we are in.
It’s a funny thing, most productivity books on the market are targeted at business people. A quick perusal of quality titles tout the virtues of getting up early…sometimes really early…maintaining perfect habits…prioritizing your goals above everything else and on and on. I love these books because they are loaded with good ideas but most of them are not practical for me in this season of life. Anyone who has ever had a 2 year old knows that they do not respect your priorities. My little darling likes to get up at 5am and interrupts everything I’m doing. What should take 5 minutes take 20 minutes when she helps and makes messes along the way! Similarly, a suddenly chatty teenager can derail my current “plans” with an impromptu opportunity to spend time with them. Basically, the hard and fast productivity methods are hard to apply if you are juggling home, volunteering, work, homeschooling and other responsibilities. So every week, I hope to tackle different topics and share simple methods that work despite busyness and distractions.
I’m so excited to journey with you through a whole variety of topics as we tackle time and productivity for busy parents. If you have a non-traditional schedule or juggle multiple responsibilites and still want to make headway toward your goals, I invite you to grab a cup of coffee and stay awhile. Thanks for dropping by!