A couple of super helpful posts

I have come across 2 amazing blog posts that I'd like to share.  One is from...drumroll...Michael Hyatt (I'm telling you, this guy is good!) and the other is from Sarah Mae.  Both posts are aimed at making your life more fulfilling and more productive.  Most importantly though, they're about being honest with yourself.

How to Say No When You Feel Pressured to Say Yes from Michael Hyatt - My thoughts

Oh saying No...it's NEVER easy for me.  I've only just recently begun turning people down for events, trips, and hanging out.  It was really hard for me to acknowledge that if I'm really really sleepy, I should just go to bed and not give in to the desires of others.  Also, while I may think that I'm super human and can get a lot of school work done in a short amount of time, if I really do have a ridiculous amount of work to do, I should set aside time to do it no matter what comes up.  Now I realize that it's also important to spend time with others and to make that a priority.  But jumping to a yes when someone asks you to drive them to a concert over 5 hours away - that's the problem here.  MH lays out 3 ways that we respond to people asking us to do something that we don't want to do.  I'm of the accommodation camp 90+% of the time b/c I have an unhealthy need to make everyone else happy at the detriment to my own happiness.  And many times I end up feeling frustrated and slightly angry towards people b/c they're making me do something I don't want to do even though I was the one who said Yes!!!  Now, there is a sort of fine line here with the reality of love, which is in essence giving to others for their benefit irregardless of what would benefit yourself.  I do think that these 2 concepts can be reconciled though - if we are internally unproductive, angry, and debt-burdened people how are we to even begin to hear what God desires in our lives?  Plus, am I saying yes b/c I love people, or b/c I fear that if I say no, people will despise me?  I think by really being honest about these questions I can develop a much healthier attitude towards saying both no and yes in a way that pleases God.


Distractions from Sarah Mae - My thoughts

Most of us are probably acutely aware of the curse of Netflix.  You know, finding that TV show that sucks you in and then being able to watch episode after episode until you've watched an entire season and then - oh wait - you can go on to the next season without any delay!  This is how I've watched Heroes, Jericho, The Event, Law and Order: SVU, and more I'm sure.

Right now I'm over half-way through Monk.  The problem is that I consider myself a multi-tasker and so I'm always doing other things while watching these shows.  But if I'm really honest with myself, I never seem to get all that much done.  Tasks that should take some 20 minutes end up taking 2 hours.  Case in point, I watched Jericho while writing a paper in college - yes, I was up ALL night finishing that sucker.  While in a sense, having a TV show to keep oneself occupied can make focusing more bearable for someone with undiagnosed ADD, it also probably decreases the quality of the product in the end (although I did make an A on that paper in college...).  Regardless, when considering my home organizational goals for this summer, I'm not so sure how well it's working to have Monk on while I'm trying to accomplish tasks.  It really is just too distracting.  I'm still not ready to give up on having some sort of white noise in the background, and just having music on makes me anxious for some reason.  So I think the answer may be to turn on some good 'ole HGTV while I'm working.  With that, I've got built in motivation and inspiration and I don't really have to pay attention at all to know what's going on.  I'm gonna give it a whirl cuz Lord knows I've GOT to continue the organizational progress I've made so far in a timely manner.


Next step...the hard part...putting it all into action...