Category: Work & Life

I’m a little odd when it comes to solving problems. You see, I don’t want to do something just because that’s the way it’s done or because a number of people recommend it.

If I choose an avenue or solution, I want to do it because it works for me or my family.

That means I’m not going to automatically reject something because it’s a fad or a common solution. But, I’m also not going to automatically select it.

Here’s an example. A couple of months ago, I suffered for a week from an ear infection. Now, I don’t like going to the doctor. Don’t get me wrong – I am so incredibly thankful for available medical care. But, if I can find an alternative, I’d rather not pump my body full of medications, even the OTC pain relievers and various allergy meds we keep on hand at home, and deal with the side effects.

This time, though, my ear hurt. Badly. So, I went to an urgent care clinic and got the dreaded steroids, 10 days of antibiotics, and prescription strength antihistamine/decongestant.

It didn’t work. Oh, the steroids helped bring the pain back down to a manageable level, but over two weeks later, my ear still bothered me, and I was still sick. Doug had found some homeopathic ear drops that were supposed to boost my body’s natural ability to deal with an ear infection. I’d been using them sporadically while following the doctor’s prescribed treatment plan, but after the antibiotic was gone, I finally decided to stop all other meds and use the ear drops aggressively. Within two days, the issue was gone.

Why? Because that’s what works for my body.

• Four out of five family members have experienced migraines. We take magnesium instead of prescription strength medication. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for all of us.
• We all use essential oils and local honey instead of medication for allergies as often as possible.
• We prefer homemade laundry detergent over store bought.
• We like to use simple ingredients for cooking instead of boxed ingredients.

It’s not because we’re anti-medication, anti-doctor, anti-chemical organic health nuts. We’re not. In fact, it drives me crazy to be fanatical about any one method or fad. There are too many options out there to be fanatical about any single one. Certain diets. Plexus. Various essential oil companies claiming to be the best. A push for organic. Anti this and anti that.

My family doesn’t make choices because we’re sold on any specific plan. Instead, we make choices based on what our experimentation shows works for us.

• Choffy has been a beautiful help for ADD, anxiety, and any potential blood pressure issues – besides just being a delicious and healthy warm beverage for the mornings.
• We are expanding our usage of essential oils because the ones we’ve already experimented with have worked so well. It’s time to try more.
• We planted fruit trees in our yard not because we want to be organic but because we go through a TON of fruit.
• We make our own laundry detergent because our recipe cleans clothes better than the store-bought options, and is cheaper.
• We cook from scratch because it’s cheaper and the reduced preservatives truly do keep us feeling better.

But, all of this takes a little digging. A little research. A little experimentation. It can be uncertain and confusing at times to dig on our own. There’s so much information to sort through! So many possibilities! So much conflicting information. And we’re all unique. So, we can’t just take someone else’s word for it. We have to experiment for ourselves, learn what works best for us, and advise other people accordingly.

I’m learning more and more how to dig, and it’s becoming more and more fun.

Have you done any digging? What has worked for you? What you share just might help the rest of us in our digging!

As I process the flow of my days, something stands out very clearly – it’s so much easier now than ever before to give into distraction. Once upon a time, distractions had to be much more intentional, at least for me. I could hide a book – my biggest distraction – from myself. But, since I work on the computer and need the Internet for just about everything I do, it’s so incredibly easy to just click over to Facebook or follow this or that.

I Must Focus!

Focus has to be very, very intentional. That’s always a challenge, but some days are harder than others.

I’ve tried little tricks here and there to help me with this intentionality, but the one that works the best is time blocks.

Thanks to a little app on my computer, I have an automatic timer that gives me consistent work and break blocks. It seems that 25 minutes is the perfect work block. My timer gives me a work block, followed by a break block – with my choice of 5 or 15 minutes for a break. Usually, I take the 5 minutes. That gives me enough time to go to the bathroom, check on the kids, do a few lunges, grab some water, or whatever. It gets me moving (helpful since I have a desk job!), but it doesn’t waste work time. In fact, in a one-hour stretch, I’m more productive with two 25-minute work blocks and two 5-minute breaks than with a solid attempt to focus on work for one hour. I get more done with the blocks.

But, the breaks are only part of the productivity benefit. The flip side is that I set myself specific tasks in my 25-minute work block. I might have a writing block where all I’m going to do is write for 25 minutes without flipping back and forth to this or that. Just write. Then I set aside another blog for e-mail and miscellaneous small tasks. It’s amazing how much I can write in that block when I don’t allow myself to be distracted!

The catch is this: I have to do it.

I have to remember to utilize the timer.
I have to be diligent to take that break when the timer goes ding.
I have to be diligent to come back to work.
I have to be diligent to not allow myself to be distracted until the work timer goes off!

Whether it’s time blocks or some other productivity technique, none of it works without the discipline to diligently use the tools.

Discipline, my friends, is what is lacking in so many aspects of life. We refuse to discipline ourselves, so none of our tricks work! The techniques that work for me may or may not work for you. But, discipline works for us all. It makes us a better version of who we are. Every single time.

May we grow in discipline this week, no matter what our technique of choice may be!