A long, long time ago a great boss taught me a simple trick to stay organized. Ed kept a simple, spiral notebook on the desk at work. Each day the date was written in the center of the next blank line. Anytime a phone call was answered, or placed it was recorded in the notebook. The time went out to the left in the margin. All the notes from the day went in that notebook. If multiple people were working in the office, you put your initials next to what you wrote. When you called a person back, or finished a task, it was checked off in the left margin. All orders that came in over the phone were also written in this notebook. The start date and end date are on the front cover.
I started my first notebook when I worked for Ed, in 1991, before Ryker was born. Somewhere, in a storage unit, I have stacks of notebooks filled with my daily activities and phone calls for years of my life. On many, many occasions, the notebook has saved me. I have been able to make copies of pages and prove that a critical conversation happened. I have been able to go back and look up the date and time an order was placed, and repeat that order for a customer.
I have been self employed, with an office staff of me, myself and I for many years. The notebook went everywhere with me. I started writing my daily to do list in it at the beginning of each day. I also balanced my work and personal check book in it for a few years. I wrote the list of the passwords I was most likely to forget on the back page for awhile, and when I was traveling often, my frequent flyer numbers.
A couple years ago I started playing around with the organization features on my Black Berry. I love gadgets and gadgets can do all that my notebook does. I started to stray from my notebook habit, and would put some stuff in my google calendar which synced with my phone. Then about a year ago I got the iPhone, which can do anything. I found an ap simply called, "to do list". It is really good. I used it for a while, even until last week I was still trying to keep things current in there. It is really well done, and lets you sort the way I like, by project, due date, location, and priority. Of course you have to enter all of your items into this software.
I found myself writing daily lists on blank pieces of paper as well as putting the important stuff in my phone. There is just something about sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and filling it with words that I like. I think that somehow seeing my lists, or my thoughts, or my conversations, written makes they real. They become tangible when I put pen to paper. I see them on the page and my brain takes a picture. I know my list today was about half a page and the shopping items still need to be done, and that phone number, for the new client, is written in red sideways across the right side. Weeks, or months later, I can quickly scan through the book for that red number on the side of the page and find it.
I also enjoy checking of the items on a list. I like to see them all neatly checked off at the end of the day. Having an entire spiral notebook full of pages with checked off lists, is very satisfying. Having boxes of those notebooks stands as a witness that I accomplished something.
There are no forms to fill out in my notebooks. I can write anything I want. I am not limited to a list, or any categories. I can write or print in any color of ink. I can write upside down, or sideways. I can jot down a note in the middle of a list, or a phone number, or a quote I just heard that I don't want to forget. I am not limited. I can write something important in GIANT letters and then underline them in red and hit them with a bright yellow highlighter, just to be sure I don't forget. The blank pages beacon me to fill them as I fill each new day. The blank page is as if the blank day before me. I can cary over the unfinished business from the day before, or I can start out clean and fresh with something totally new. It is precisely, what I make of it.
But more importantly, I think it is the physical nature of a sheet of paper that starts blank, and then fills with words which are people, conversations, tasks, events, that come to mean progress, that is meaningful to me. That is why today, I went back to my notebook.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Quest
A few years ago I read The Secret. I had several months of great parking spots, which is nothing short of a miracle here on Oahu. Parking is a daily issue and having good luck with it is a BIG deal. The Secret works.
The concepts taught in The Secret rang true to me, but the book seemed over simplified. I wanted more than just good parking spots. I wanted to improve the quality of my life. I wanted to acheive my dreams. I prefer to take the AP class, rather than remedial reading, or maybe I expect life to be hard? Either way, I went on a quest for the details, the science, the meat of the mater. I wanted to know how it worked, why it worked, and just exactly how I should go about making it work in my life. I wanted facts and I wanted homework.
I read several books by the authors quoted in The Secret - Joe Vitale, Christiane Turner, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, Dale Carnegie, Charles Haanel, Benjamin Franklin, etc. These authors led me to others, and related topics, like the fascinating concepts of quantum physics and the nature of time. I learned a lot of cool stuff, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.
Somewhere along the line I ended up on a daily newsletter written by Matt Furey. He is associated with the Psycho-cybernetics foundation, and the work of Dr. Maxwell Maltz. I love most of his stuff, and purchased his DVD about how to get rid of headaches. His particular flavor of this whole concept centers around fitness and internet marketing.
I am pretty interested in the internet marketing, but fitness? Well, slimness has always come naturally to me so I haven't given it a whole lot of thought. If an activity is fun or neadful, I do it. But just walking or running, or anything, for the sake of fitness - BORING~ I think reading those daily emails about how to lose weight and how to get fit might be making me fat. I'd read an email with a tip about what to do to exercise more effectively, etc. and I would think, "Oh crap, I'm not doing that, maybe I should be." Seriously! I never thought it of it before, and I stayed perfectly healthy and slim. I ate and did what I wanted. In the last year I have gained a few pounds, maybe 10 at the most. I know, I know, what am I complaining about, but I don't like it! I want MY body back, the one that I know, that acts the way I am used to, and fits clothes like I am used to. I feel strange in this slightly softer, rounder version of myself. I have thought about buying one of the fitness books Furey is selling.
It's all my brother-in-law's fault that I even know how much I weigh. When he moved back to the mainland about a year and a half ago he left his bathroom scale at our house. I was shipping him boxes a few at a time that he left here. I needed the scale to weigh them. After a few months of it hanging out in the living room, I put it in the bathroom. In all my adult life I had never owned a scale. I never thought about how much I weighed. I started weighing myself often, just cause it was there. Pretty soon it was every day. I'm not going to step on that scale again for at least a week. Maybe I will just ship it to it's rightful owner, he can have the dang thing back.
When I was reading all those books, I fairly devoured them. I would go through each one as quickly as I could, searching for the gems. Most of them had mental exercises you were supposed to go through at the end of each chapter. I was much too impatient for any of that. I remember thinking, "Ya, ya, I know, tell me what's next!". Generally these exercises involve deep breathing and meditation. I discovered that I was not very good at either. So, I skipped through them and on to more information, and then the next book, and the next.
Other than the daily emails, I haven't read anything new on the subject for the last few months. My mind has been processing all that data. Here is what I think:
1. It is really important to know what you want before you go about trying to get it.
2. The human mind is very powerful. Respect that power.
3. Be careful about what messages you send yourself. Look around your life and see what you are telling yourself. (ie the bathroom scale)
4. Knowledge is not enough for true success.
I have determined to slow down and actually DO the exercises in those books I read. I am starting with Charles Haanel's The Master Key System. This is the one that irritated me the most, so it's probably the one I need to do. He suggests you take a week between each chapter to master each exercise before moving on to the next. The first week you are supposed to sit perfectly still in a chair for 15 minutes. You are supposed to do this every day for a week. Simple - but surprisingly difficult for me. Each chapter builds on the previous and now in chapter 3 I am sitting perfectly still for 15 minutes daily with my body completely relaxed and my mind completely relaxed. I have dozed off a few times. Hopefully by the time the week is up I will have this one mastered.
The books I have read are included in the list on the right side of this page. My personal favorites are The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and The Biography of Benjamin Franklin. Come, join me on The Quest!
The concepts taught in The Secret rang true to me, but the book seemed over simplified. I wanted more than just good parking spots. I wanted to improve the quality of my life. I wanted to acheive my dreams. I prefer to take the AP class, rather than remedial reading, or maybe I expect life to be hard? Either way, I went on a quest for the details, the science, the meat of the mater. I wanted to know how it worked, why it worked, and just exactly how I should go about making it work in my life. I wanted facts and I wanted homework.
I read several books by the authors quoted in The Secret - Joe Vitale, Christiane Turner, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, Dale Carnegie, Charles Haanel, Benjamin Franklin, etc. These authors led me to others, and related topics, like the fascinating concepts of quantum physics and the nature of time. I learned a lot of cool stuff, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.
Somewhere along the line I ended up on a daily newsletter written by Matt Furey. He is associated with the Psycho-cybernetics foundation, and the work of Dr. Maxwell Maltz. I love most of his stuff, and purchased his DVD about how to get rid of headaches. His particular flavor of this whole concept centers around fitness and internet marketing.
I am pretty interested in the internet marketing, but fitness? Well, slimness has always come naturally to me so I haven't given it a whole lot of thought. If an activity is fun or neadful, I do it. But just walking or running, or anything, for the sake of fitness - BORING~ I think reading those daily emails about how to lose weight and how to get fit might be making me fat. I'd read an email with a tip about what to do to exercise more effectively, etc. and I would think, "Oh crap, I'm not doing that, maybe I should be." Seriously! I never thought it of it before, and I stayed perfectly healthy and slim. I ate and did what I wanted. In the last year I have gained a few pounds, maybe 10 at the most. I know, I know, what am I complaining about, but I don't like it! I want MY body back, the one that I know, that acts the way I am used to, and fits clothes like I am used to. I feel strange in this slightly softer, rounder version of myself. I have thought about buying one of the fitness books Furey is selling.
It's all my brother-in-law's fault that I even know how much I weigh. When he moved back to the mainland about a year and a half ago he left his bathroom scale at our house. I was shipping him boxes a few at a time that he left here. I needed the scale to weigh them. After a few months of it hanging out in the living room, I put it in the bathroom. In all my adult life I had never owned a scale. I never thought about how much I weighed. I started weighing myself often, just cause it was there. Pretty soon it was every day. I'm not going to step on that scale again for at least a week. Maybe I will just ship it to it's rightful owner, he can have the dang thing back.
When I was reading all those books, I fairly devoured them. I would go through each one as quickly as I could, searching for the gems. Most of them had mental exercises you were supposed to go through at the end of each chapter. I was much too impatient for any of that. I remember thinking, "Ya, ya, I know, tell me what's next!". Generally these exercises involve deep breathing and meditation. I discovered that I was not very good at either. So, I skipped through them and on to more information, and then the next book, and the next.
Other than the daily emails, I haven't read anything new on the subject for the last few months. My mind has been processing all that data. Here is what I think:
1. It is really important to know what you want before you go about trying to get it.
2. The human mind is very powerful. Respect that power.
3. Be careful about what messages you send yourself. Look around your life and see what you are telling yourself. (ie the bathroom scale)
4. Knowledge is not enough for true success.
I have determined to slow down and actually DO the exercises in those books I read. I am starting with Charles Haanel's The Master Key System. This is the one that irritated me the most, so it's probably the one I need to do. He suggests you take a week between each chapter to master each exercise before moving on to the next. The first week you are supposed to sit perfectly still in a chair for 15 minutes. You are supposed to do this every day for a week. Simple - but surprisingly difficult for me. Each chapter builds on the previous and now in chapter 3 I am sitting perfectly still for 15 minutes daily with my body completely relaxed and my mind completely relaxed. I have dozed off a few times. Hopefully by the time the week is up I will have this one mastered.
The books I have read are included in the list on the right side of this page. My personal favorites are The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and The Biography of Benjamin Franklin. Come, join me on The Quest!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Quincie the Zookeeper
The fish were followed by mice. There were 2, then 3, and then a litter of 8. Before we had the science of mouse reproduction figured out there was another litter of 8. The boys and girls were separated, and the boys were sent to live at Kylee's house. Kylee is Quincie's best friend and the other zookeeper. She has birds, mice (thanks to Quincie), dogs, and a cat. There are now only 3 very fat, very spoiled, girl mice. The girls stink less than the boys. This might be a universal truth, not just applicable to mice.
In January Chester arrived! Quincie, and the rest of us, finally had a PUPPY!! We really are dog people and love him lots. Quincie is his "mommy" and takes very good care of him. She is the best at giving him baths and brushing him. She runs with him, teaches him tricks and lets him sleep with her. She kisses him on the head and carries him around on her hip like he is an actual baby.
Not too much later, sometime in March, Charlie, the SECURITY dog moved into Carl's truck. He is awesome. No one is going to mess with us with him around. His bark is fierce! But he is a sweetheart. He doesn't like to run as much as Chester, but prefers a chaotic walk involving sniffing everything sniffable along the way. He really loves the beach and will catch balls in the water until he is out of breath and water logged. Quincie is usually the one that feeds Charlie. When he was sick, he has allergies, and needed medicine, she was the one that hid the pill in the soft dog food and made sure he got it on schedule.
Last night Carl and Ryker came home from work with a surprise for our little zoo keeper. They had caught 3 poison dart frogs. They are working on a house in Manoa and they are plentiful in that area of the island. She had an extra aquarium in her closet, imagine that! They were set up in a frog habitat in no time. They like it warm and humid, wet dirt, dry dirt, a pond for swimming, and ants to eat. They are pretty small, like the size of my Jabra earpiece, less than an inch long. They are shiny black and green. The are not poisonous unless they are eating a steady diet of fire ants, which are not available here. These little guys are harmless. It took only a few minutes before plenty of ants were crawling on the wet cracker Q left outside. The original idea of sugar on a dish was quickly eaten by Chester - plastic dish and all.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Graduation
Ryker's graduation was June 6th at Aloha Stadium. There were over 580 graduates and thousands of spectators. It was a pretty cool event!
Dinner at Bandito's
Dinner at Bandito's
Lei Making
One of the graduation traditions here in Hawaii is the giving of leis. We wanted to give each of the graduates at the party a real flower lei. The morning of the graduation party we had a lei making party. Mom and I were out early picking plumeria flowers from our yard. We have 4 plumeria trees, in the yard and they are all different colors. They smell great and are so pretty as a lei.
It is pretty simple to make a flower lei, you just string the flowers one at a time on a long, thin needle and time them when it is long enough. There are plenty of ways to make it more complicated, but I am not the master of anything quite so crafty.
The lei makers - Grandma Cherie, Quincie, Christian, Kate, Kendra, Shane, and Doris.
It is pretty simple to make a flower lei, you just string the flowers one at a time on a long, thin needle and time them when it is long enough. There are plenty of ways to make it more complicated, but I am not the master of anything quite so crafty.
The lei makers - Grandma Cherie, Quincie, Christian, Kate, Kendra, Shane, and Doris.
Graduation Party
On June 5th we had a graduation party for Ryker. It was a combined party with Christian Putegnat. It was a fun party and everything went very well. There were plenty of hands to help with the set up and decoration. The school colors are orange and black, so to avoid looking like a halloween party we decided to go with a mixture of bright colors.
The 66 balloons seemed like a lot when I was trying to get them in the car, but were just the right touch as centerpieces on every other table. We covered 2 tables with plain white paper for people to write messages to Ryker and Christian. The coolest were the drawings by the Sonomura family!
Carl was our MC for the night. Carl and Ryker performed a couple of songs with Carl on guitar and Ryker on harmonica. The first song was one that Carl wrote for Ryker a few years ago. The other was a Tom Petty song with a great harmonica part. They did a great job! I wish I had it on video. One of these days I need to get a video camera.
The Graduates!
The 66 balloons seemed like a lot when I was trying to get them in the car, but were just the right touch as centerpieces on every other table. We covered 2 tables with plain white paper for people to write messages to Ryker and Christian. The coolest were the drawings by the Sonomura family!Carl was our MC for the night. Carl and Ryker performed a couple of songs with Carl on guitar and Ryker on harmonica. The first song was one that Carl wrote for Ryker a few years ago. The other was a Tom Petty song with a great harmonica part. They did a great job! I wish I had it on video. One of these days I need to get a video camera.
The Putegnats put together a slide show for each of the boys. It was fun to see all those old photos of them through the years. 18 years goes by so fast!! Here are some pics of Ryker with the family. Grandma Cherie was able to be here for the week and was a great help!
Ryker and Grandma Cherie
Ryker and Dad
Ryker and Q
Ryker and Mom
Ryker and Grandma Cherie
Ryker and Dad
Ryker and Q
Ryker and Mom
The Graduates!Deep Thinking on a Hot Sunday Afternoon
Lately I have been puzzling over the concept of time. According to our tools of measurement, time is very precise and cannot be altered. 365 days in a year, 52 weeks, 7 days in a week, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute .....
Then how does it slow down when you are sitting in the dentist's chair with a drill boring through your jaw? or speed up when you are late? A memory of 20 years ago can feel like yesterday, and yesterday can seem like an eternity. Time is relative, relatively speaking, or so it seems.
Time is not the only unit by which we measure our lives. Money, finances, wealth, debt, cash flow, investments, earnings, assets, liabilities, all are supposed to tell us our net worth. It's all there in black and white, just like the clock or the calendar. It is or it isn't. The balance at the end of the page doesn't lie. But it doesn't tell the whole story either.
When I was 16 and had $100 in my pocket I was rich! Today, $100 in my pocket and I am worried. A $10 movie ticket can be a bargain, or it can be a rip off. It all depends on the quality of your experience for that $10. Rent in Hawaii is expensive, but much more affordable than taking a 5 year vacation to Hawaii. Is a pair of shoes really worth $60 bucks? how about $100? $200? or even $5? I have a pair of shoes I thought were cute, cost me 5 bucks, but they hurt my feet. They are worth a negative $200. Monetary worth is relative.
Have you ever thought about what makes money valuable? It's just paper. Special paper of course, but still, just paper. It can be easily destroyed. It's the agreement that society accepts it that attaches the value. It's based on gold, right? Or it was at one point. What gives gold value? It's pretty, looks great next to your skin when you have a tan, but why is it more valuable than say, turquoise? It's a pretty color too. What makes jewels worth millions and a pack of ramen noodles worth a quarter? If we were to experience a disaster, what would you value? Gold or food? Jewels or water? A big house or a way to safety? Worth is relative.
If someone told you that there were $20 bills hidden all over town, you just had to go find them, would you go? How much time would you spend looking for those $2o bills? An hour? Two hours? All day? Would you take a job for less than $10/hour? Would you cut out a coupon to save 50 cents and then drive across town, taking an extra 30 minutes of your life to use it? What is your time worth? How much do you value each day, each hour, of your life?
Scripture tells us to use our talents wisely. Talents can be time, and talents can mean money. I think they are the same.
I like to be efficient. I like to be organized, and have a plan. I don't like to waste time and I don't like to waste money. Sometimes in my desire to save time, or save money, I miss the moment, miss the opportunity to enjoy, or grow, or whatever. My fear and indecision keep me from action, which is opportunity lost, time wasted.
I am changing how I think about time and money. I want to figure this out and make real, lasting change.
Then how does it slow down when you are sitting in the dentist's chair with a drill boring through your jaw? or speed up when you are late? A memory of 20 years ago can feel like yesterday, and yesterday can seem like an eternity. Time is relative, relatively speaking, or so it seems.
Time is not the only unit by which we measure our lives. Money, finances, wealth, debt, cash flow, investments, earnings, assets, liabilities, all are supposed to tell us our net worth. It's all there in black and white, just like the clock or the calendar. It is or it isn't. The balance at the end of the page doesn't lie. But it doesn't tell the whole story either.
When I was 16 and had $100 in my pocket I was rich! Today, $100 in my pocket and I am worried. A $10 movie ticket can be a bargain, or it can be a rip off. It all depends on the quality of your experience for that $10. Rent in Hawaii is expensive, but much more affordable than taking a 5 year vacation to Hawaii. Is a pair of shoes really worth $60 bucks? how about $100? $200? or even $5? I have a pair of shoes I thought were cute, cost me 5 bucks, but they hurt my feet. They are worth a negative $200. Monetary worth is relative.
Have you ever thought about what makes money valuable? It's just paper. Special paper of course, but still, just paper. It can be easily destroyed. It's the agreement that society accepts it that attaches the value. It's based on gold, right? Or it was at one point. What gives gold value? It's pretty, looks great next to your skin when you have a tan, but why is it more valuable than say, turquoise? It's a pretty color too. What makes jewels worth millions and a pack of ramen noodles worth a quarter? If we were to experience a disaster, what would you value? Gold or food? Jewels or water? A big house or a way to safety? Worth is relative.
If someone told you that there were $20 bills hidden all over town, you just had to go find them, would you go? How much time would you spend looking for those $2o bills? An hour? Two hours? All day? Would you take a job for less than $10/hour? Would you cut out a coupon to save 50 cents and then drive across town, taking an extra 30 minutes of your life to use it? What is your time worth? How much do you value each day, each hour, of your life?
Scripture tells us to use our talents wisely. Talents can be time, and talents can mean money. I think they are the same.
I like to be efficient. I like to be organized, and have a plan. I don't like to waste time and I don't like to waste money. Sometimes in my desire to save time, or save money, I miss the moment, miss the opportunity to enjoy, or grow, or whatever. My fear and indecision keep me from action, which is opportunity lost, time wasted.
I am changing how I think about time and money. I want to figure this out and make real, lasting change.
Friday, June 5, 2009
My Thoughts Today
Today is the day of Ryker's graduation party, and tomorrow he graduates from High School. It's an exciting, joyful event. We have been looking forward to this day, and planning for it for months. Well, years really. I always knew today was coming, but it seems to have come too fast.
I'm not sure I am ready to say good bye to this era of my life. I like being the mom of two kids that I see everyday. Ryker and Quincie are terrific kids. Spending every day of my life with them for the last 18 years has been awesome! In just a couple months that is all going to change.
He will be attending BYU Hawaii in the fall. It's the best of both worlds for me. He will be at a good school, with a good measure of independence, but not too far away from home if he needs us, or if we need him.
My Mom is here for the big event. I haven/t seen here in over 2 years. It has been at least 6 since she has been in my house. It's been so long that neither of us remembers for sure. It's been awesome having her here. It's the closest thing to cloing myself. She did our laundry yesterday, just like I would, only better! It has been one of the busiest, craziest weeks of my life, and I haven't had even a single headache. Having my Mom around is good medicine for me. Having her here makes me realize even more what I am missing. How great it would be to have my family close on a daily basis!
Today is so good, I am sad for tomorrow to come.
--
Wendy
808-347-1133
I'm not sure I am ready to say good bye to this era of my life. I like being the mom of two kids that I see everyday. Ryker and Quincie are terrific kids. Spending every day of my life with them for the last 18 years has been awesome! In just a couple months that is all going to change.
He will be attending BYU Hawaii in the fall. It's the best of both worlds for me. He will be at a good school, with a good measure of independence, but not too far away from home if he needs us, or if we need him.
My Mom is here for the big event. I haven/t seen here in over 2 years. It has been at least 6 since she has been in my house. It's been so long that neither of us remembers for sure. It's been awesome having her here. It's the closest thing to cloing myself. She did our laundry yesterday, just like I would, only better! It has been one of the busiest, craziest weeks of my life, and I haven't had even a single headache. Having my Mom around is good medicine for me. Having her here makes me realize even more what I am missing. How great it would be to have my family close on a daily basis!
Today is so good, I am sad for tomorrow to come.
--
Wendy
808-347-1133
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)