{"id":300,"date":"2018-03-15T11:47:50","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T11:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=300"},"modified":"2019-12-10T08:44:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T13:44:11","slug":"1st-quarter-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2018\/03\/15\/1st-quarter-review\/","title":{"rendered":"1st Quarter Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Commit to the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0whatever you do,<\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and he will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\nI thought I’d do a quarterly update.\u00a0 In December I mapped out my goals for 2018.\u00a0 My one word for this year is Commitment.\u00a0 My verse is Proverbs 16:3.
\nMy goals for the year are:
\nSpiritual:\u00a0<\/strong> Praying over my calendar on Monday mornings.\u00a0 Finding and completing a domestic mission trip.
\nPhysical:\u00a0<\/strong> Continue my two classes a week minimum.\u00a0 Increase cardio workout to 5-6 times a week.
\nFinancial:\u00a0<\/strong> Coming in on budget personally each month.
\nWriting:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Write a blog weekly
\nSo far so good.\u00a0 Or even better, as Mark Batterson likes to say, “So far so God.”<\/em>
\nI have to admit, reviewing my goals reminded me about the domestic mission trip. I thought I had it covered. I was going to do one\u00a0 in West Virginia.\u00a0 However the dates don’t work.\u00a0 At this point I still need to work on finding one.
\nPraying over my calendar has\u00a0 impacted my life the most. It has helped me not only live up to my commitments, but give them my best. It didn’t take long for God to reveal to me I was overbooked.\u00a0 This began an avid conversation with Him.\u00a0 I knew I had to give some things up. I didn’t know what.
\nI am volunteer staff for my church. I run two small businesses.\u00a0 I love all three of these things, each for different reasons.\u00a0 When working in balance, they balance me.\u00a0 When I’m doing one job, it gives me a break from the others.\u00a0 I need the diversity.\u00a0 It helps me get my mind off of one thing, focus on another.\u00a0 When I come back to the first one, I’m fresher, think clearer, can have fresh eyes.\u00a0 It’s how God designed me.
\nI didn’t want to give any of them up.\u00a0 Which was the first question I asked Him…what do I give up?
\nOver and over again the answer was nothing.
\nNow what?\u00a0 I became so frustrated.\u00a0 I was so tired.\u00a0 I was dropping into bed at night exhausted.\u00a0 I was walking through my days like a zombie.
\nIn addition to my work, I have been achieving my physical goals.\u00a0 I’m doing yoga three times a week regularly, again life changing.\u00a0 I’m doing cardio 5-6 times a week, can’t wait for warm weather so I can move it outside.\u00a0 The treadmill isn’t very motivating to me.\u00a0 Although yesterday I utilized the time planning for my tennis class. I found it inspiring.
\nI have been writing my blog once a week.\u00a0 I have come in on budget for the first two months.\u00a0 If I’m completely honest, I’ve pushed it to the last dime, but it is still on budget.
\nRe-evaluating my calendar has made all of the above possible.\u00a0 It revolutionized my life.
\nThe area I had to cut back the most in was my position on staff.\u00a0 I had taken on way too much work.\u00a0 I found saying no to God was harder than saying no to actual money.\u00a0 It peaked one day when even more was being asked of me than I was already doing.\u00a0 It was a pivotal moment in my 2018.
\nAs a result, I spent the next five days truly evaluating all I was doing.\u00a0 I started by analyzing my job description for church, which quickly showed me how much additional work I had accepted. No one’s fault by mine.\u00a0 I looked at my teaching schedule for tennis. I sat down with my partner and we outlined our classes for the entire year.\u00a0 I added in the hours I spend dog walking.
\nThis was the most fun part.\u00a0 I took a blank calendar for 2018. I added all of the things I was required to do.\u00a0 There is a weekly church meeting I’m required to attend.\u00a0 I plugged in the hours I dog walk every day.\u00a0 I added in our class schedule for teaching tennis.\u00a0 Then I plugged in my yoga classes and anything else I personally wanted to do each week.
\nIt was eye opening.\u00a0 \u00a0There was literally only one day I didn’t have something plugged into my calendar.\u00a0 I was booked before I added anything else.
\nIt was time to seek wise counsel.
\nI sat down with my husband and a trusted friend.\u00a0 I showed them my calendar.\u00a0 I asked them to be honest with me, to speak truth into my life.\u00a0 I asked them to show me how I could find balance?
\nAfter a long discussion, some hard truths, I created black out times.\u00a0 I literally blacked the times out on my calendar.\u00a0 One for me personally to have time to myself.\u00a0 One for my family, designated as time with them.\u00a0 I have a new rule in place.\u00a0 No work of any kind during those times.\u00a0 It is the only way I can remain sane, keep doing all of the things I love.\u00a0 More importantly, it is how I can give my best to those around me.
\nIt has been challenging.\u00a0 As a result I have had to say no.\u00a0 At first, it was really hard.\u00a0 I had to make some difficult boundaries.\u00a0 I’m better at it now, I’m learning to say no.\u00a0 I have been able to schedule jobs into my open time slots.\u00a0 I’ve honored my black out times.
\nIt has changed my life.\u00a0 I’m not exhausted.\u00a0 I’m not walking around like a zombie from one meeting to the next.\u00a0 I’m more present in my relationships.\u00a0 I’m saying no to things so I can give my best yes.\u00a0 I’m enjoying my time off.\u00a0 I’m relaxing, I’m refreshing, I’m renewing each week.
\nPraying over my calendar, in the first quarter has brought balance into my life.\u00a0 God has taught me so much through this one exercise. I’m not going to finish 2018 like I did 2017…tired, exhausted and ready to quit.\u00a0 God has re-vamped my life by this one goal: praying over my calendar on Monday mornings!
\nHow is your first quarter going?\u00a0 Do you need a reminder of what your goals are for 2018?\u00a0 I know I did.
\nI need to start working on a mission trip.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Commit to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0whatever you do, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and he will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3 I thought I’d do a quarterly update.\u00a0 In December I mapped out my goals for 2018.\u00a0 My one word for this year is Commitment.\u00a0 My verse is Proverbs 16:3. My goals for the year are: Spiritual:\u00a0 Praying over my calendar on Monday… Continue reading 1st Quarter Review<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1561,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/1561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}