About mid-October I usually plan out my timeline for the upcoming holidays. I love having the plan and ten not having to worry about the details. This year is different. About the beginning of October, we realized that my husband, Rob, has cancer. Now, we really are expecting to win this fight but meanwhile with radiation five days a week and chemo once a week, life priorities have shifted. Right off, instead of sending out a “save the date” email for our annual holiday party

For me, family and friends rank right up on the top. I schedule times to visit my children and my siblings. I schedule time to visit with friends. Probably not enough but I do make a regular effort. This past weekend we really got it together and had an 80th birthday party for my husband, Rob. His family pulled out the stops and came from as far away as Texas. Both of his sons and his step-daughter plus many grandchildren attended. A lot of Rob’s friends also attended includi

For me, vacations allow me to spend more time taking care of myself. I tend to walk more, eat foods that are more varied, and have more down time to read and rest. I feel healthier. When I return from a vacation, I feel I can focus and concentrate better. I get a clearer perspective on projects I have been working on. It helps me revisit my priorities and just step back and look at what is really important. The time away from home is also good for strengthening family relatio

What do you say? You say, “Wonderful! How can I help?”. Friends are one of the most important resources that we have. I got together with other friends from my area who were invited, and we put together a delightful scheme. I invited myself to my friend’s home for the weekend. She was delighted that I wanted to come for a visit. The daughter reserved a villa for the other out of town guests and a restaurant for Friday night. The gang from my area planned on bringing in food f

I love my husband and my family as well as a whole set of friends who are almost like family. I love my home but I also love to travel. I know the importance of taking care of myself. So, for the next 15 days I am going to take care of myself and travel with my husband to Greece. Going back to visit Greece has been on my bucket list for a long, long, time. For the next 15 days I am going to eat a lot of delicious food, walk a lot, meet new people, and jut relax. I intend to

Easy to say – harder to do. Below are 9 tips to help you stay in control of your day: Know how you are using your time now. Track how you are using your time for a couple of weeks. The first week you might track Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The second week you might track Tuesday and Thursday. Add in weekend days if that is also an issue. Use a timer and every 1/2 hour make a quick note of what you are working on. No cheating! (Wow, the timer is about to go off, I’d better

I love my work and I love my hubby. Sometimes it is important to put the work aside for a few days and just enjoy some “our time”. I try to schedule a couple of days each month for us to just go off and play but sometimes a little more is needed. It’s great to put the daily routine aside and really let go and relax. I find myself laughing more, enjoying food I haven’t prepared, taking in different scenery, and just feeling grateful for this time. I feel healthier and invigora

While on my vacation, I checked emails and responded to clients. I did a Zone Plan Coaching call from the car using my cell phone (worked fine but couldn’t record the call). This did not take a lot of time and I still felt in vacation mode. When I returned, I was refreshed and ready to get back into the full swing of things at work and for the holiday preparations. I hope all of you find some time to take care of your needs to rest and relax this fall. Jonda S. Beattie Prof

Part of taking care of me is going away on vacations. I find that if I am at home, even if I have taken a day off from work, I still am working from the office or around my home. I always like to have a vacation planned to look forward to. Once a year or two, I like to take a long vacation and then scattered in between, I like long weekend trips. I really reboot during these times away. I get uninterrupted time with my hubby or any family members we are visiting. I rest more.

As my family gets older and more geographically and age spread out, it becomes increasingly difficult to find time to get together and visit. When that opportunity does arrive, I want to make certain that I grab it with both hands. This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to have family time with my 2 sons and wonderful daughter-in-law (as well as hubby). I feel so blessed to be able to have the whole day to visit, hug, walk, cook, eat, and talk, talk, talk. Everything else t

I love my profession and I love my clients, but……… sometimes, I just need a break. I love taking mini-vacations and grab them when there is an opportunity. This coming weekend, Rob and I have been offered some days at a friend’s home on Jekyll Island. We will head down on Saturday and return on Wednesday. I am looking forward to some days of no alarms, quality time with Rob, waling on the beach, bike riding, reading, and just restoring my being. While on my mini-vacation, I w

This is where we need to take a hard look at out “done list.” I have advocated for quite some time that after we make our “to do” list we should pick out the big 3 and be really happy if we accomplish or at least start on those 3. So, on my list for today I would have chosen: Work with client email clients outline presentation However, yesterday my son asked for help getting a computer and I didn’t think that would take very long. Today would be my best day to do it so that b

When we do one thing with our time that means we are not doing something else. This is the Law of Excluded Alternatives. It is important to know that we do make choices of how we spend our time. What is your time worth? As I have aged I have found that I no longer have this need to do everything myself. I chose to work on my job helping clients rather than polishing up my newsletter. I chose to spend time with my friend over the weekend rather than cleaning house. I would rat

How much is too much? What is really important to you? After developing your vision, and then brainstorming all you need to do to make your vision come true, actually placing those tasks on your calendar, makes it real. I use a paper monthly calendar to get the whole picture. I color code the tasks. I use the categories of major events (black), traditional holiday rituals and chores (green) , baking or other food preparations (red), and the giving of a party(blue). . Rem

My son, Ben, successfully defended his dissertation this week. His dissertation has the catchy title of Using a Proxy-Oriented Genetic Algorithm to Find a Millisecond Scale Model of the Hippocampus. He is going to “walk the walk” May 20 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. This means a lot to me. I plan to go for the ceremony which will involve changing some things on my calendar, trying to get someone to cover for me on a Saturday obligation, getting my son Dari

This doesn’t happen by accident. I made plans and had my vision on how this was going to happen before I left home. I called my family and announced I was on Weight Watchers. I planned what food I carried with me on the trips so that I would be satisfied and not tempted to eat junk food. I held the intention to maintain healthy habits during my vacation while having a wonderful time with my family. They, in turn, found a place for me to weigh in and were very supportive of my

What are you doing to keep your life in balance? Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer #habits #timemanagement #priorities #vision #goals

#gettinghelp #organization #priorities #timemanagement

#family #priorities #vacation

Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer #organization #matrix #priorities #joy #money