Habit 3: Put First Things First

When thinking if the 7 Habits, Covey suggests that we should build one upon the other and shares this analogy. In Habit 1: Be Proactive, we learn that we are the programmer or our lives. In Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind, we write the program. So in Habit 3: Put First Things First, we run the program that we wrote.

Therefore, if our mission statement is our program, and we are running the program that we wrote then by principle we will put first things first. For most of us, if we were to make a list of the 5 most important things to us, those things would be (or at most involve) people. Our relationships come first.

This habit at a glance, looks like one I have already conquered. Hi! My name is Brooke, and I am a PLANNER. I plan, re-plan, plan, and plan some more. I know what I want to get done each day at home and at work. I have lists for both places by the day and the week and sometimes the hour. I conquer time management. Efficiency is my middle name.

Unfortunately, while I am busy checking things off my list and laughing at the clock, I might not be running the program I wrote in my mission statement.

Covey states that our paradigm shift should look like this

• Leadership then management
• Relationships then schedules
• Compass then Clock

He also teaches that people live their lives in one of 4 Time Matrix's. 

Quadrant 2 is the ideal quadrant to be in. We have planned and prepared and built relationships. We have many important things to do, but we are not operating in crisis mode.

I usually break my life into two main sections the summer and the school year. During the school year, I spend most of my time between quadrants 1-3. At school, I feel like I spend more time in Q1 and Q3, no matter how much time I spend attempting to be in Q2. At home, (I know this is because I don't have children) I feel that I am mostly in Q2. During the summer, except for a few brief moments, I am Q2 and Q4. I have time to get things done, and I have time to waste on the Internetz, so I happily do!

With all that said, I still think that I am failing at this habit. I feel stable and confident in management, schedules, and the clock. While my mission statement reads that I will display respect, kindness, forgiveness, and love (to people), I focus on checking things off a list in a timely manner. I will gladly turn down drinks with friends after work if I have already planned to go grocery shopping. I will let a call go to voice mail, if I have planned to do the vacuuming at that time. If someone (especially someone close to me) is not doing something my way, in my most kind southern voice, I will tell them they are doing it wrong. That is not respectful.

Right now, for me putting first things first means to put PEOPLE before THINGS. Sadly, I am finding not the concept but the practice difficult.

Hmmm.. maybe in true fashion to myself, I will just add relationship building to my do to list. Call so and so. Write so and so a letter. Hug someone. Now, that sounds like a "win-win" solution. *Wink*

Until next time..

XOXOXOX

Yarn, felt, and then some... #PinFTW

My sister, Angela, and her husband are visiting us this week (6 whole days). Yay, us!!!

While the guys were out attempting to snag the biggest fish EVER a fish that would place in the Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, I thought it would be fun for us to do some crafting. Angela didn't feel the same way. Apparently, she doesn't DO crafts and hasn't looked at Pinterest in FOREVER!! Maybe she is adopted...

Anywho... I convinced her that this was going to be sooooooo much fun!! She managed to wrap at least one wreath, and I don't think she would describe it as fun. I, on the other hand, worked on these wreaths every night because I HAD TO GET IT DONE by this weeks Pin for the Wednesday or else my world would end because, yeah, I'm like that.



My inspiration came from this Pin.

I think ours mine turned out pretty cute. What do you think? If it is not nice, don't say it! Just kidding.

Brooke

 

Jessica

Angela

Debbie

 

 

 

 

By the way, they did snag a few good catches.

This post is linked to Mommin' It Up's Pin for the Wednesdays at


Until next time...

XOXOXOXO

Canned tomatoes #PinFTW

I grew 4 tomato plants this year which did extremely well. Plus, we had/have the tomatoes from our local CSA.

I decided to be adventurous and try my hand at canning tomatoes. I knew I could make blueberry jam so how much harder could this be, right?

Lucky for me it was SUPER easy.  I used this Pin for inspiration, but didn't really do what she did.

First of all, I had a mis-mash of jars that had matching lids so I found about 6 that would do and those are the ones I used. I really didn't know how many pounds of tomatoes I had, I just knew I only wanted to keep about 4 in the frig, and I wanted to do something with the rest.

Here is how it went down...

I chopped 3 bellpeppers, 2 jalapeno peppers,and 2 small onions (that I grew). I placed them in a stainless steel pot on medium heat and sprinkled in some dried basil.

While the veggies were cooking, I shocked my tomatoes by placing them in boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes and then dunking them in ice cold water in my sink. I don't think I did this part right. The skins came off easier, but the tomatoes didn't just slip out of the skin like I thought they would.

As I peeled the tomatoes, I cut the larger ones in half ( the smaller one I didn't worry about) and dropped them in to cook with my pepper melody. I had Wes come in and stir this concoction about half way through the peeling process.

I also had a lot of cherry tomatoes so I cut the ends off and dropped a few handfuls of these into the pot to cook. I stirred and cooked all of this for about 10 minutes.

During all this time, I had my jar lids boiling and the water for my hot bath heating up.

In each jar I drop one garlic clove, and then spooned the hot mixture (which tasted delicious) into the jars. I really packed the tomatoes into the jars and then poured juice into each jar to fill. I topped that off with a tablespoon of canning salt.

I placed the lids on and screwed them down, dropped my jars into the boiling water of the hot bath for 10 minutes and viola!

Somehow without measuring, this was the perfect amount for the jars I had. I had about a tablespoon of juice left in the pot. Not to shabby!

This took me about 2 hours, total.

And since I was feeling frisky, I went ahead and canned two jars of pickled pepper as to not waste those either. I just used a recipe from this site (not a Pin), and they turned out beautifully. I have no idea how they taste, because I dropped my jars in a hot water bath to get a seal so that they will last even longer.

This post is linked to Mommin it Up's Pin for the Wednesday's. Check it out to find more winning Pins!



Until next time..

XOXOXO

Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

The principle behind this habit is that mental creation precedes physical creation. That is easy enough to understand, we think of something and then we create. My entire life excluding the last four or five years, I never thought of myself as creative. I couldn't draw. I don't sing (in public, anyway). I just didn't make things. I organized things other people made.

This changed one random night when I had an idea to paint flowers. Over a couple of days, I mentally went though all of the processes that it would take to create these flowers. So one night around 6pm, I said to Wes, "hey, you wanna go to Micheal's with me and get some paint and canvas?" He was like, "ummm.... What?"

I knew exactly what I wanted those flowers to look like and in the end they did. Regardless of the fact, that I knew no, none, nada single painting technique.

All of that to say, that most of the things we do we naturally begin with the end in mind. However, our ends may not always end the way we planned.
This quote comes to mind."Cleaning the house with kids in the house is like shoveling snow while it is still snowing."

During our 7 habits training, beginning with the end in mind took on a different meaning. My paradigm shifted, if you will. I wasn't just thinking about boiling noodles because I wanted to eat pasta or planning a lesson because I wanted to teach genres. I began to think about what I coined "the big end", the later years (the end) of my life.

That day we were asked to write a personal mission statement. We were instructed to just write without stopping. The following is what I wrote that day.


Disclaimer: I am not writing this because I want others to share (unless they so choose). This is My blog and the diary of My life. I want to share this for my memory, if it inspires someone, that is just a plus. Please just take it for a written work and nothing more.



When we begin with the end in mind, our journey may change along the way, our ending may look completely different from the end we had in mind for our lives. But beginning with the end in mind at least provides us with a compass a direction so that we are traveling somewhere, going in some direction, not aimlessly, but purposely moving from from small end to another so that the "big end" means something. Thus poses the question, how we will begin to live, today with the "big end" in mind? What do I believe? What moves me? What influences my decisions? Who will I impact? Who will impact me? Why?

I believe in love of all kinds. The love of a hobby, the love of tasting a delicious desert, the love of a pet, the empathetic love of a stranger, the love of a spouse, sibling, friend, parents. Love bleeds out and overflows resulting in respect, kindness, and forgiveness. I believe in fighting for the things I love.... Never giving up. Out of these things, I will develop a giving spirit that will leave a legacy.

From this rambling, I wrote my personal mission statement which is still under revision so that I can start living, today, with the end in mind.

I will live a life that displays respect, kindness, forgiveness, and love. In this way, I will leave a legacy.

Until next time...

Xoxoxoxoxo

Grilled Eggplant PinFTW

Our house is happily over flowing with vegetables from our local CSA.. However, this leaves me asking the what the %$)!@#$ am I going to do with all this stuff at a loss for recipes. I found this great grilled eggplant idea on Pinterest. Click here for the original post.

As usual, I changed it up a bit. Maybe I mentioned we have a TON of vegetables so, I sliced up a zucchini and added a layer to mine. I also used white eggplant versus the purple. What is the difference between white and purple? I have no idea besides one is white and one is purple. Ask a farmer?!? I thought they were really great and made the perfect summer lunch. My meat loving husband ate them. So, I consider that a winning Pin!

This post is linked up to Mommin' it Up's Pin for the Wednesdays.

Pinterest headband

These pictures were uploaded from my phone, and I can't figure out how to turn them. Either way, you can see the cute headband I made this afternoon. It was so easy.

I followed the instructions at this PIN http://pinterest.com/pin/86764730291619907/  and made the thing in like 10 minutes. The only change I made was instead of hot gluing long strings on mine to tie, I just hot glued the ends together and put a hand stitch in each corner for security. The T-shirt material is stretchy so it fits perfect.

Until next time,

XOXOXOX

I linked this post to Pin for the Wednesdays at Momminitup.com. Check out what others are pinning here

Be Proactive: The Habit of Choice

Habit #1 : Be Proactive

IMHO, to be proactive simply means to be less reactive. Reactions are based on emotions. They are the things that we let control us. They allow us to be irresponsible. On the other hand being proactive gives us the freedom to choose our responses and to be responsible for our lives.

If we are being proactive, we are the authors of our own books. We design and create a life of greatness for ourselves. We no longer blame things on the past, our parents or lack there of, our conditions, our spouses, etc. We understand and choose to control the who, what, when, where, and how of our lives.

That sounds all great and fantastic doesn't it? It is. But in reality, I often find myself reacting to things based on outside influences. Take for example, my relationship with my insurance agent. (insert forced smile) He and I operate on completely different paradigms. Lets just say, he is not as efficient as I would like him to be. Yes, my standards are probably too high. I want him to e-mail me documents. He wants me to come to his office to see documents. I want him to get the paper work done the day I call. He wants to get it done whenever he feels like it by the end of the week. Well because this happens every time we talk, I very much dislike talking to him. I say things like, I HAVE to call Mr. Insurance Agent. HE makes me so mad, and sigh heavily. All of this before I even dial the number. Indeed, our conversations are very reactive. I usually use these phrases in a stern and exasperated voice: Well, honey... no, that is not what WE are going to do, eyes rolling...

Thanks to Steven Covey, I now have been enlightened to the fact that I should be proactive with Mr. Insurance Agent. I will say things like "I choose" to call him. Hmmm.. I see a lot more forced smiles and possibly a bleeding tongue in my future.

In all seriousness, to choose to be proactive in our lives is the right thing to do. It makes us more self aware of how we go about our day to day living and the way we treat others and ourselves. It allows us to increase our influence on the things and people that are important to us. It helps us differentiate between the things we should try to influence and the things we should only be concerned about.

So let's be less coke and more water.

Until next time..

XOXOXO