Looking to live your life with more focus and passion? Want to acquire the specific tools that you need to lead a successful life? Well, you have already taken the first step…Welcome to Discovery!

Dr. Phil invented it before he was Oprah’s Dr. Phil.

I don’t know much about it. But, you know how I loved my Emmaus Walk experience.

You know what I love best about this whole idea and the whole retreat thing?

I don’t have to plan it. I don’t have to worry about anything. I just have to show up and follow instructions and participate. My friend Jen, my yoga buddy, invited me and she is taking care of everything down to the snacks. Snacks, dude. I don’t even have to think about snacks.

I’ve been rushing and rushing so much lately that I’m exhausted. I remind myself repeatedly through any given day – slow, go slow, slow down, don’t rush, take a breath.

I can’t wait.

I love a weekend retreat because it gives me a chance to shift my perceptions and regroup. I really need the opportunity to do that.

I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.

Post from: Blisstree

Discovery Training

Man, I really wish I could post on Blog Fabulous today. But, I’m swamped giving away a bunch of prizes elsewhere.

I do have this to say. Fruit makes me gassy and bloaty. Had to stop at the health food store for some enzymes to handle my new eating habits.

I love taking Mondays off my workout routine instead of Sundays. I always have time on Sundays and too much work on Mondays.

Also I’m learning to understand the value of outsourcing.

Photo credit: Newly redesigned and relaunched The Girl Revolution

Post from: Blisstree

Too Busy to Post

Last year I wrote about my resolution to get organized in a post titled Anal Retentive Compulsions in 2008.

In July I saw that people were still reading that post and took another look. Then I cleaned up and organized my office – which was still a mess – and posted the transformation in Resolutions Revisited.

If, 6 months later you realize that people are going to hold you accountable it’s a good motivation not to fail. To fail is hard on the soul – to fail in public is enough to make me clean my room and get organized like I said I wanted to in the first place.

I’m going to cultivate anal retentive organization to the point of compulsion. That way in 2009, 2010, 2011 . . . (you get the picture), I won’t ever have to think about it again.

I wrote.

Well, do I look anything like Kate Gosselin, mother of twins and sextuplets AND the most organized and sometimes anal and compulsive woman on reality television to you?

But, did I accomplish my goal?

Absolutely.

My house is pretty dang organized. It’s a little messy frequently because we have two kids. Hey I saw how the rest of America lives on Oprah’s Clean Up Your Messy House and I’ve got some relatives who have this hoarding gene going on. Compared to that I’m a dream housekeeper.

Every few months – around birthdays and Christmas and the change of seasons – I go through the toys and clothes and donate the ones we’ve outgrown.

Now that we’ve got a large enough house for the necessary storage our world is a billion times more organized. And I realize you have to keep working at it. You’re not going to be “organized” and then walk off and leave it for 10 years and have it stay that way.

Between Christmas and New Year’s is a great time to look at the messes and clutter piles and clean them up. By New Year’s Eve I’m going to sort through the 2008 photos and put them on a disk for storage and buy a photo book of the ones I enjoy best. Organized. It seems like the perfect time because no one is really going full throttle with other things during that week.

I’ve learned this great lesson this year. If I don’t take the time to organize my life – my things, my time, my email, my day, my work load, my schedule, my priorities – it will cost me unnecessary grief.

It was always the time to do the tedious and meticulous work of organizing that held me back. No one has ever lied on their resume more than I did when I copied “detail oriented” on my resume. Laughing Out Loud. I am not naturally detail oriented. Details, until my 35th year have seemed like such a waste of good time and energy when there was a big picture to think about. But, as they say God is in the details. The meaning lies in taking the time, slowing down the process, not missing it by rushing through, making life easier by putting things in their proper places.

I’m a million times more organized in my house and I’m becoming a million times more organized in my work. I’ve made sure I take time for my exercise and meditation and friendships.

In truth it is not wanting to waste money on organizational tools that has held me back so many times before. In July I realized my office was unorganized because I didn’t want to waste money on a $7 file hanger. Stupid. But, I get it now. The tools save me so much time and energy it’s not a waste. I’m learning to invest in the tools. Enter new iphones that will revolutionize my inability to follow and keep a calendar. It will be a great organizational investment.

If you trace any bad habit back far enough there is always a wrong or incorrect thought behind it.

If you change the thought you can change the habit.

My thought was: It’s a waste of time and money to get organized.

I no longer believe that’s true.

I’ve changed the thought to: It’s a waste of time and money NOT to buy and learn to use the proper tools to be organized.

In 2009 I’m going to keep up the skills and lessons I learned in 2008. I’m going to put more of these lessons into my work and my work day.

I’ll be so productive in 2009 I’ll look like an overnight success.

Tell me, did anyone else make a similar goal last year and did you stick with it?

Post from: Blisstree

2008 Resolution Revisited – The Truth

Employers report they must send jobs overseas to find an educated workforce.

This is patently inaccurate.

The truth is we have all the talent we need. Women are this country’s most underused resource. We have insight, college degrees, years of experience and yet, employers would rather go to India than give us a family-friendly workplace and equal pay?

Invite the women back with tax incentives and initiatives that reward family-friendly work environments and you will see a profoundly positive shift in every sector of this nation’s personal, private and business life.

The last thing this country needs is to replace the fired and retired CEOs who created this disastrous, short-sighted, profit-is-our-only-motive economic crash with like-minded thinkers.

Women are the resource, ingenuity and fresh thought this country needs to forge a new economy. The feminine perspective is one every Board of Trustees and Government Program needs to mine for creativity.

Hire me.

Photo Source: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Post from: Blisstree

Open Cover Letter

I was really glad I took the day off to go on this field trip. Look how much more fun school is than staying home with Mommy.

Post from: Blisstree

Pumpkin Patch W/ My Pumpkin

Did you know women are opening their own businesses at rapid, never-before-seen rates? (Over The Top Aprons)

I, personally, believe it’s because women want to work, find fulfillment and validation in work, need the economic stability of work, but don’t want to pay the unnecessary price of a patriarchal workweek which ignores the existence of children and women’s need for flexible hours.

(Baby Fabulous)

I want to see these new women-owned businesses succeed.

(Quirky Dolls)

My odds are on women changing this economy with these new businesses and their new business models that put children and families first. We’ll get equal pay, probably only partially because the government insists on it, but because women will become the bosses in our new economy.

(New Song 64)

This Christmas, where ever possible, I want to shop from women-owned companies.

(Heart of Autumn)

Have you checked out the super COOL stuff on Etzy? These are magnificent examples of The Feminine Arts and all of these women are self-employed with their own little businesses. There’s even a pledge to buy only “Mom Made” stuff.

Click around the Blogosphere and you’ll find tons of women who are selling brilliant items.

Post from: Blisstree

Stimulate Women’s Economy

So, I L-O-V-E-D speaking at BlogHer in July. (Ask again, please!) It really awakened the idea that public speaking is something I’m naturally good at and would like to pursue.

Then I’ve gotten good feedback about my performance and that’s built my confidence.

Lately, I’ve been drawn to public speaking events and felt and urge to have the podium for myself.

The only problem is stage fright.

Marcus Buckingham, leading professional coach says we should pay attention to how we feel when we do certain tasks.

The adrenaline I feel before I speak in public is both nauseating and exhilarating. That would be the exhilarating adrenaline rush.

Martha Beck, in her new book Steering by Starlight, sites a source that maintains the only consistent way to maintain happiness a is to challenge ourselves with something just a little harder than we’ve already mastered. That’s where the nauseated fear comes in.

I went to a Toastmasters meeting Tuesday night. Toastmasters is a non-profit club where you can develop your speaking and speech-making skills. Once a week you practice speaking in public and taking constructive criticism that will help you get better.

I’ve discovered this about the world. We respect a bold move. People will honor and reward a bold move.

So, when they asked if a visitor would give an impromptu “table topics” speech – I stood up and rocked the house.

My question was . . . what dead person would I like to have dinner with?

Well, Dorothy Parker, of course.

I sat through the rest of the meeting critiquing what I should have said with what I actually said when on the spot.

But, still – I walked away with the 1st Place for Table Topics ribbon.

Seen any bold moves lately? Tried any yourself? Did it turn out in your favor or did it cause a backlash?

Photo Source: Me at BlogHer, Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Post from: Blisstree

1st Toastmaster’s 1st Place – Bold Moves

My blogging mentor and my Channel Editor at b5media, Gayla McCord, just struck it “rich” selling one of her blogs for $95,000.

Over at momgadget.com she writes a compelling story about learning how to do from reading Problogger, the book.

Problogger , Darren Rowse, featured her story on his website too – cause really is there better advertising than having the advice in it propel a blogger to fantastic success?

I’ve read Problogger, the book. And recommended it to several bloggy friends. It’s one of those books with so much valuable information in it that you take baby steps or get overwhelmed. Then go back and read it for more baby steps.

Salute to Gayla – who relied on her prayers during a tough time and then used her business savvy to not just recover from a natural disaster, but reinvented herself as an entrepreneur.

Instead of relaxing after her big sale, she launched two new businesses and hired 5 family members to work for her.

She’s some empowered woman. I’ve been marveling at how she even turns out the plethora of content she does and manages an entire team of writers and teenage children. That’s before I knew about two new businesses and negotiating a big blog deal. AWE. (No, I’m normally not a kiss up).

Read her incredible story in When You Don’t Know What To Do, Say a Prayer And Buy The Book.

Image Source: Amazon.com

Post from: Blisstree

Holy Crapinola Gayla Strikes It Rich!

We’ve talked a lot about The Feminine Mistake by Leslie Bennett’s here on Blog Fabulous. I’m thrilled to have the publishers send a copy of this fantastic book to Lindley from my post Gloria Steinem Got Married.

My book club read it and it was one of the very few books that nearly everyone finished and then changed their perceptions. None of us can stop talking about it.

This book talks about work and women. It examines the benefits to women and their families if women work. It examines the real and present dangers if women do not work.

Here’s the thing – I was prepared to hate this book and disagree with it’s premise. I quit my professional journalist job to be home with my kids. I was defensive about my Mommy War position and my reasons for “choosing” that.

Several of my book club friends have made similar choices. Several of my book club friends are professionals with higher education degrees who made the opposite choice as I have. I was kind of expecting it to be controversial within the club. It wasn’t. The only person who hated the book was the SAHM who didn’t read the book and kept feeling a need to defend the old SAHM arguments.

After reading the book – we all felt powerful enough to re-examine our choice in a more educated light. We didn’t feel trapped in our choices. We didn’t feel like we’d made permanent choices – we felt empowered to change our minds and reevaluate what we really want as women – wives and mothers.

Two of my book clubbies went back to college to pursue more ambitious careers.

One of the mommies quit looking forword to the day she could quit her job.

I let go of mountains of working mommy guilt and started accepting the feminine judgement that often has me feeling like I have to fence-sit to make everyone happy. Which really – makes no one happy – least of all me. Won’t half of you hate/judge me anyway no matter what I do? Making a choice to ward off judgement isn’t a “choice” it’s just cowardice.

I don’t know what your working/SAHM internal Mommy War is like. But, I do know this – every single woman I’ve ever met has some insecurity about it and it either makes them aggressive or insecure and defensive. This book will help you let go of that and re-examine your choices in a new less defensive light.

Or at least it did me.

More on themes of The Feminine Mistake:

Battle Ground of Feminism: The Home

15 Years – Suck It Up

Stress for SAHMS v. Working Moms

Motherhood is a Temp Job: The Feminine Mistake

Post from: Blisstree

The Feminine Mistake Winner

We keep hearing from heads of state, political candidates, senators, congressmen, businessmen, mainstream media and Wall Street that the United States is suffering from a labor shortage.

I call bullshit.

Look across the dinner table and see that beautiful wife? See your brazen sister, your wise mother and the really smart neighbor?

She’s not just a “SAHM.”

She has a masters degree.

She has a doctorate degree.

She’s got 10 to 20 years of experience in the labs, in the newsroom, in the office, in the market, on wall street, in the classroom, in virtually every sphere of industry that exists.

Women hold half the knowledge and a very high level of training and experience, not to mention the creativity and ingenuity this country needs.

This country is FULL of skilled and knowledgeable women who are waiting to be invited back into the workforce.

What are they waiting for?

Family-friendly working conditions and equal pay.

Instead of claiming they have to move their operations overseas or import workers for a qualified workforce, employers would be wise to look at the resource right in front of their face: WOMEN.

Qualified and educated women who are worn out from sexual harassment from coworkers, pregnancy discrimination, lack of family medical leave, working hours that extend 2 crucial hours past the school day, lack of sick days, etc.

Solution – employers should stop being so attached to the workplace policies and the rigid 40 hour work week that shut half their qualified workforce out and invite the women back.

They’ll come.

Visit Momsrising.org for information about what kinds of specific workplace policies will lure women back to their industries.

Post from: Blisstree

Qualified Workforce