Clear & declutter (self-care month day 11)

Morning gang,

Todays self-care task involves space clearing and decluttering. Decluttering may not immediately strike you as self-care, but it is. It can be particularly difficult but we benefit from it in an emotional way that puts it firmly under the self-care umbrella. I think we all feel the benefits and notice how our mood can be different if we have a clearer space to manoeuvre in. Cont…

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Most Important Tasks

In my Leonie Dawson workbook that I filled out at the beginning of this year there was a page called

12 Zen Habits (From Leo Babuta at Zen habits.net)

They are all pretty useful and zen and go as follows

1. Set your 3 MIT’s (most important tasks) each morning
2. Single task (focus your attention)
3. Zero inbox
4. Process emails once a day
5. Exercise 5-10 mins a day
6. Work while disconnected
7. Keep your desk decluttered
8. Clear & declutter home for 15 mins a day
9. Stick to a 5 sentence limit on emails (make your words powerful)
10. Say no to commitments & requests not on your important short list
11. Eat fresh fruit & veg everyday
12. Follow a morning routine

I think we can all pretty much agree that these ‘Zen Habits’ are worth thinking about as we go through our days. In fact I have them stuck on the wall in front of me right this very second look

My favourite one is number 1. I actually do use this one every day now. Having 3 MIT’s is great because it isn’t overwhelming. It its an endless to do list. It is just what actually matters to you the most on that day. Sometimes there is time for more. Some days I have achieved my MIT’s by 11am and I have the rest of the day to frolic..or whatever. I take 5 minutes every morning to figure out what the 3 tasks are for that day that i definitely need to do. If i think of 4 i have to choose which ones are the most necessary to my day.

Todays MIT’s for example are

• Write blog post
• Go to appointment
• Start assignment

Today is pretty standard actually. Often my 3 MIT’s have something to do with self-care (appointment-actually for hypnotherapy) something for my business (today-write blog post) and often something to do with studying because there is basically always something I really need to do for that.

Other days, I know immediately that My number 1 priority is self care. Sometimes my MIT is actually to find time for a quick nap, or a bath, or just to read alone for a while. On days when I’m not feeling that great I know that that needs to be taken care of first.

Some days it is to do something fun with my family, to visit my grandma, to clean something, to business plan, to organise something for charity, to find time for yoga or a walk or to write in my journal if I haven’t done that for a while, to create something if i haven’t done that for a while.

You get the picture. I need to sit down each morning and actually give myself a few minutes to think about what the day holds in store for me and how I can work out when to do my MIT’s.

Why don’t you try it? Could you list 3 MIT’s today?

Peace out,

Imogen x

P.S.

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Hosting a stress-free kids party

  
Sometimes I feel like there is so many ideas going through my mind that I just want to run round and do them all before I forget them. Obviously I can’t do that because not only have I got kiddies to look after, I would seriously crash after a couple of days. Taking my time and easing into things is seriously a learning curve for me. I am still learning. But be prepared there are a lot of blog based goodies coming this way.

At the weekend it was my baby’s 2nd birthday party. I don’t know how other parents feel but these are usually times of great stress for me. Half the people that come are super critical, the kids are crazy and at least one of mine will have a meltdown, I invite too many people and I spend 90% of the time either cleaning up or making food and not enjoying the party at all.

  
This time, I wanted it to be different. I wanted to see everyone, I wanted it to be calm, I wanted everyone to get along. And actually, this time, I think I might have just about achieved it.

I decided before I planned the party that this would be the last kids party I do for family & friends and from now on parties will involve a few kids and a few parents for supervision. So what did I do this time to make it easier on myself? Heres a list of tips that made this party my most enjoyable one yet through 5 and a half years of motherhood.

• Delegate. I recruited my mum and my sister to help. Rather than them chatting and playing I asked them to help, and of course they didn’t mind. Mum washed up and sister made cups of tea. Thats all. It helped me immensely.
• Don’t offer different kinds of food. There have been occasions where I have separated children and adults food. That’s pretty crazy. They can all eat the same! And have in the past been running around topping up glasses of bucks fizz and wine and beers. Not this time, it was a tea only party.
• Simple food. Sandwiches were off the menu because of the time and effort needed to create them. I had quiches (pre-made) garlic bread, pasta salad (actually everything was pre-made lets just get that over with) coleslaw, cookies, bottles of flavoured water for the kids, grapes, strawberries, crisps, sausage rolls, carrot sticks, mini sausages etc.
• Make clearing up easier on yourself. I bought foil platters, paper plates, plastic knives and forks and popped it all in the recycling bin at the end of the party. Clearing up time seriously reduced
• Get them outside. Ok it rained, a lot. I knew it would be a squeeze to get everyone in the house so we borrowed a gazebo. Not that the kids minded, especially the birthday girl, she just got wet!
• When party time is over its ok to usher people out. If you have specified a start and end time on the invitation then people will stick to it. 2 hours is plenty.
• Some situations can’t be avoided. My boy caused a fight which wasn’t ideal. He was sent to his bedroom for a while which gave him time to calm down but as the party was drawing to a close it was getting more obvious that he had had enough excitement and I started to wind things down with a few songs and asked him to help blow out the candles.

  

• Arrange for some down time afterwards. I rewarded myself with a bottle of prosecco and a nice easy tea. The next day we spent time as a family and relaxed. It took me possibly about 3 days less to recover from than other kids parties because I gave us time to rest.

Overall I enjoyed my girly’s party. I had time to take photos of everyone, to greet everyone and even sat down to eat something at one point. Even with one or two little hiccups I would say that I didn’t get stressed. At all. really! Amazing isn’t it. There you go anything is possible!

  
Have a beautiful day guys,

Imogen x