Starbucks claims it offers 87,000 drink combinations.
Seriously? How complicated do we need to make one of the most BASIC drinks?
This statement alone got me thinking about how humans just love to overcomplicate the most basic concepts. It applies to business – and how we do business, our social lives, and parenting. (The latter, of course, is included from personal experience!)
So what is it that keeps people coming back IN DROVES to their local (and not local) Starbucks? Or any other specialty coffee shop? Is the atmosphere? The options? Watching how these transactions go down, it appears people order pretty much the same thing every time, and do not typically stay long enough for an entire song (when the barista is that fast!).
So it seems, we have become mindless and numb to our tendency to overcomplicate. Over and over….
Is it that you don’t have “time” to make your own, so you go out and buy it? How much time to you spend actually driving there, figure out what you want (though you’ll probably end up getting the same thing you always do), waiting in line to order, then waiting for your order….??
OK, this wasn’t meant to be a coffee rant. If you want to get into it about coffee specifically, GO HERE.
The point is, there are so many things in our lives that we make more difficult than is necessary. Complication does not increase the value or importance of a person, place, or thing. Simplicity is BLISS!
Here’s a shameless plug about a book I love! To get a grip on your life and KISS (Keep It Super Simple) more often, you MUST read The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. My life got less complicated just by reading the first several pages!
“Grown ups” tend to over-complicate the most basic life principles.
Are you one of them? How would you know? If you are not where you want to be in life; If you have not smiled and laughed at least three quarters of every day; If you do not use more than one of your senses to enjoy your food, you are suffering this terrible, yet completely curable dis-ease!
I am currently undergoing “treatment” for my own case of Grown Up Disease (dis-ease). Who is my doctor and what is the treatment, you may ask. Well, let me tell you, I have TWO very wonderful doctors who live in utmost simplicity and know first hand how to live the life I desire – completely free from over-complication.
My kids are the best doctors I know, and have cured me of the blues many times, as well as helped to get my head out of my ….. let’s just say “a dark place”.
As I sit here blogging this on my couch at 2:45am, my almost 2 year old doctor is sitting with me watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Ironically, the show theme is DOCTOR! For whatever reason, she didn’t feel the need to sleep at this hour, so we’re having a little snack, diaper change, and some one on one time together before heading back to bed to finish our sleep and dreams. I hope.
Something I have incorporated into our nighttime routine, is straight from Yo Gabba Gabba. At the end of each show, DJ Lance Rock says, “Let’s go back, and remember all the fun things we did today”, and then goes on to highlight the best parts of the day. What a wonderful thing to do for a child, and even as an adult! How often to you lay your head down at night, and recall all the fun things you did that day? Nothing fun worth remembering?
When you have nothing fun worth remembering about each and every day, that’s a symptom of Grown Ups disease. Life is meant to be enjoyed! Of course there are serious parts to life, and not everything is funny, or is supposed to be. Trust me, I can write a whole other blog on that!
My kids have certainly brought fun into my life – as crazy as it sometimes can get. It’s so much easier to lighten up when you can see things the way a small child does. It took me a long time to figure that out. We have our off days, I must admit. But when we begin to recount what fun we DID have, it seems to make bedtime so much more relaxing. I appreciate the time I have with them, even more now, because I choose to focus on the good stuff.
We didn’t always have fun….and it took doing this on a daily basis to whip me into shape, and forced me to plan our days a little better! It’s so easy to slip into this never ending spin-around-doing-housework-and-running-errands life, and forget you have little sponges just waiting for you to have some fun! It forced me to build fun into the day, and be kind of organized about it, so we’d have something worth talking about at the end of the day. It will be the building blocks for teaching them how to have gratitude….for me too.
They are the greatest joy of my life (even on the craziest of days). They make life fun and interesting! It’s all a matter of perspective – and today I couldn’t be more excited about them!
Maybe it’s because I’ve had a total of 6 hours sleep in the last 2 nights (more than most, I know, and I’m grateful). Maybe it’s because I’m delirious from no food for the last few days (I’m on the Master Cleanse). Maybe it’s the awesome coffee I’ve recently discovered (ok, if you REALLY want to know how I Feel about this Great coffee Right Now, GO HERE). Maybe it’s because I’ve been meditating lately, and now notice and appreciate all the little things. Maybe it’s just that they are amazing all on their own!
Sitting here trying to work, while my kids are in the tub, is sort of an oxymoron – my kids don’t leave me alone for a second! My 2.5 year old is really good at getting out, and wanting to join me while recording a video.
I wanted to touch really quickly on Mommyhood, and trying to grow your businesses – two things that are beyond “full-time” each in their own right! In the past, I had complained and was stressed about not having enough time to get it all done, but am currently working on a way to make it so there are few or no compromises.
As you will see below, I was not able to record the “professional” video that many bloggers do. However, this is the most RAW version of myself and my situation, so I felt it relevant to this particular blog.
Now, after looking this blog over, I realized there was not really anything to it! It’s almost like a Facebook Notes entry, and that’s not why people read blogs, right? So let’s get a little deeper into what I was trying to say!
My friend Donna Vail has helped me tremendously, with one simple exercise. It’s called “What’s On My Plate?”, and gets you to the point of understanding all you have going on in your life. It also allows you to take some stuff off your own plate, and hand to over to someone else. Remember, you don’t always have to finish everything on your plate. Just make sure you get enough good food, and save room for desert once in a while! Contact Donna Vail directly and ask her about the “meat and potatoes” of this eye-opening exercise, either through her Facebook account, or her website. I would post it here, but I don’t want to step on any toes!
After I took a good honest look at all I was doing (and not doing), it was time to figure out how to get it all done, and what was the priority of each thing. This next phase required some creativity and the ability to consolidate. Long gone are the days of putting each “To Do” item on my list as a separate entry. For example, because my girls are not in daycare, I had to find ways to get certain things done, with their “help”. Dishes, vacuuming, sweeping the floor, picking up toys – all of these things can be done with your kids (for the most part), and can even be made fun. Not only does it help to get everything done while still spending time with my kids, it teaches them real world skills, and shows them that it can also be fun. We dance, sing, chase each other around the house, play against the timer, whatever it takes to get the work done.
When we have to go out and run errands, I try to make that enjoyable as well. I have found pleasure in taking my kids to the grocery store (most of the time), while the other parents there seem put off by our good times! We sing, laugh, and have a great time. My 2.5 year old likes to either ride in the little car (attached to the front of the cart), while her sister is facing me in the seat, or push the kiddie cart by herself. We’ve had some not so fun adventures, but for the most part it’s an enjoyable experience for all of us. Like I said, the other parents there seem sort of out of it, or disconnected from their kids. No wonder they’re all screaming and crying! It’s not a fun experience for any of them. Now don’t get me wrong – I have taken them out at bad times – hunger and nap times need to be factored into the equation, but overall I have been really good about knowing the best times to go. Same thing with the post office, getting gas, doctor visits, and going shopping for other things. I even try to consolidate my running around as much as possible, while also making sure there is something fun for them to do, so it’s not just me dragging them everywhere.
As a stay at home mommy, I have the luxury of doing things with them in the middle of the day if need be. However, there is one area I have found to be the most challenging – WORK. This whole Network Marketing thing is somewhat new to me still. There is an incredibly sharp learning curve and overload of information. Not only is there much to learn, but you’re not always sure who to trust, and what (or who) to spend your money on. FOCUS is a key factor, and something that does not often happen during the day, because of my kids. They are not yet old enough to put in the playroom with some coloring books (or whatever), for an hour by themselves, while I watch a webcast, listen to a recorded call, read through my emails, etc. At this very moment, my 1 year old is taking a nap in her room (though she will be up in a minute), and my 2.5 year old has fallen asleep on the coffee table (long story!). I started this blog early this morning, and it’s now 5:22pm. This has actually been a good, productive day, considering I’m running on 4 hours of sleep! I don’t believe I should have to choose between being a Mommy and being a Successful Businesswoman. For me, being a Mommy and Businesswoman is one and the same!
As I grow personally, I also grow professionally. The more I learn about myself, the more I learn about this business. It’s amazing to me how much information is out there in cyberspace, and how much people charge for it! I will do the best I can to give people the information they need to succeed, without making them have to choose between an Ebook and food.
Like I said before in the video, at the end of the day, it’s all about having FUN! What kinds of things can YOU consolidate and make fun?
Do me a favor, and leave me a comment. I value your input, and would like to know what you think!
