Word of the Year: Focus

Hi everybody.  This morning, I logged on, and saw that there’s a great big linky party at The Lettered Cottage with bloggers sharing their word mottos of the year.  I’ve been pondering having one this year, and the linky party was just enough to gain the courage to share the word with you this year.  To some people, this word will be hilarious.  And even to me and my husband it’s comical.  But sometimes using humor to encourage change in my life is best.

So here we go.  My word is Focus.  Now what’s funny about that, you say?  Well, there’s a tagline.  It goes:

Now, if you’ve seen the movie Up, you will have no problem understanding where this “Squirrel,” thing comes from.  I’ll bring the rest of you up to speed real quick.  In the movie, there is a dog who talks.  He is hunting during the movie, but while he hunts, he smells squirrels several times.  He quickly yells, “Squirrel!!!,” and gets distracted by hunting them.  I don’t remember if he actually catches the squirrels, but simply gets sidetracked by them.

And that brings me to my personal story.

I will be making dinner, and I will think about how I needed to look something up on the computer.  And I will leave dinner on the stove and head to the computer.

I will be cleaning the bathroom, and remember the batch of laundry that needs to be done.  And I’ll leave the bathroom half-clean with cleaning supplies scattered everywhere to do the laundry.

And while I’m doing the laundry, I’ll see that the floor needs to be swept.  And I will sweep them.

And that, my friends is how my days go sometimes.

**Sometimes it’s necessary and required to drop everything and take care of things as they come up, but when it’s day in and day out, it gets really tricky for me.**

I constantly am seeing things that need to be done, and never really finish ANYTHING.

And sometimes, my lack of focus causes disasters.  Like the morning I was running late getting lunches made and breakfast ready.  I had bread in the toaster, and it popped.  I checked it, and it wasn’t brown enough.  So I stuck it back in for a minute to brown….and did something else.  By the time I realized I would have black toast, the toast popped!  Into the garbage that toast went, and into the toaster went new bread.  Simple story, yes, but I really lack focus some days.

So this year, my word is FOCUS.  And I can’t just have a word without having a plan.

How will I focus?

Here’s a few of my ideas.  Some of them I’ve been trying lately and they are really working for me.

Make a Plan:  I have recently gotten a small notebook that I use everyday.  Each evening, I write the date of the following day at the top of the page.  I write a small list of things that need to happen the next day.  I have headings such as Laundry, Errands, My Job, Dinner, Crafty.  Most of those are self-explanatory.  My Job is something that I usually talk to my husband about the night before.  we assign myself something HAS to get done before he gets home that night.  Today, it’s cleaning my car out to get ready to sell. Sometimes it’s getting a bill paid, etc.  This helps me at least get 1 thing done that I give myself recognition for each day.  Crafty is simply a list of optional things I could do during breaks, etc.  Sometimes I forget to do fun things, so this reminds me!  I love crossing off things from my list each day.  And sometimes, plans change, and nothing gets crossed off.  And such is life.  Smile and go on, I say!

Use a Timer:  When I have something to do, such as dishes or folding laundry, I will set a timer.  I need to stick with that task until the timer goes off.  If I think of something else to do, tough beans.  Wait til the timer is done.  If it’s really important and I think I’ll forget it, I hurry and jot it down on a white board.  I get more done when I use a timer, because I can do anything for 7 or 15 minutes.  And when the timer is done, I am too!  I go to  the next task, or take a break.

Posting Reminders:  I will make a few cute word art hangings to put in my home to remind me to reduce the squirrel.

Have Support:  My husband has begun to call “Squirrel!” when I get distracted, and as comical as it is, and I laugh, it helps me return to the task I left.  When he’s home, I can get in the habit of calling out, “Squirrel!” to remind me.  It would be super comical when I get distracted while grocery shopping,  Can you imagine the looks I would get from people! I may have to try it when visiting another town. :)

And there you are my friends, my word of the year is Focus.  And hopefully because of it, I will become a little more organized this year.

Stay turned, I’ve got some fun things to show you this week!

~Lynette~