Start Balancing was quick and easy read by Kristy Dickerson. She is GREAT and I love her PLANNER too!
The great thing about this book is that it's more of a workbook so you fill out pages and really work on your dreams instead of just reading about making a plan. It pushes you to take ACTION right there in the book!
A few of my favorite things from this book:
1- She starts by encouraging you to really get to know YOURSELF- reflecting on who you truly are and what you want out of life. I feel like so many of us skip this critical step and just dive into our to-do list- then we are left unfulfilled when we achieve those goals we THOUGHT we really wanted. This prevents that.
2- She talks about getting ORGANIZED- one of my FAVORITE things LOL. You wouldn't always know it by looking at my house, but I do enjoy organizing and figuring out the best systems to make our home peaceful and welcoming. It's a work in progress for sure, but I know when we are more organized with our time (aka using a calendar to focus time on the areas that matter most), organized in our home (aka things have a PLACE so you can find things easily and have a SYSTEM to make life easier) and organized in health and fitness (having a PLAN to follow and planning prepping food)- our lives will be so much less stressful!!
3- Managing your TIME- oh how I could go on! Time is the ONLY thing we're given in this life and the most VALUABLE of assets. How we use our minutes will turn into hours, days, weeks, months and years so every second counts! Just a few of her tips: wake up early, create a to-do list, prioritize, eliminate distractions, block your time, say NO, and optimize your work environment.
4- Becoming efficient- Are you still doing ALL the THINGS and feeling like you're running ragged? Why don't you outsource some things- could you get groceries delivered, hire someone to clean your house, someone to do the yard work? Could you automate some systems at work- maybe automatic email responses or scheduling social media posts? What about creating a workflow and system- like things you do EVERY night before bed and EVERY morning when you wake up- can you write ALL the things down so that others in the house might can help with them too? Maybe do a few things the night before to save you time the day of?
5- Establish healthy habits- You KNOW I'm all about this one!!! (And if you're struggling to establish some, I would LOVE to help you!) Write down some UNHEALTHY habits you have that you'd like to get RID of. Write down some HEALTHY habits you'd like to START. Then pick a DATE and COMMIT to START!!!
I could go on, but I would highly recommend this book- especially if you are a working mom trying to find that elusive balance and feeling like you're burning the wick at both ends and just going non-stop, but maybe not truly accomplishing what fulfills you! :)
