We're all pregnant

I read this week, “Give birth to what God put in you.”

We’re all pregnant (metaphorically) with something inside of us.

Psalm 7 says the ungodly “are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies.”

Let’s hope that’s not you or I, and if it has been, you can always make a different decision, to stop living that way and live in the light of goodness.

With God on our side, we’re not pregnant with trouble, with bad breaks, sickness, lack, or depression.

We’re pregnant with favor, with talent, with victory.

You may not believe that yet, but start speaking that over your life. The minute you get the thought that all that’s in you is negativity, hopelessness, confusion, start speaking the opposite, declaring the opposite over your life.

All through the day, keep saying, “Lord, thank You that I’m pregnant with Your promises. I believe conception has occurred.”

Perhaps your dream looks impossible. It’s been a long time, you gave it your best effort, and it didn’t work out; but deep down, you can’t help it—something keeps kicking, telling you that it’s still on the way. In God’s perfect timing, when everything is ready, you’re going to give birth.

Quit telling yourself that you can never get ahead, that you don’t have enough of this, enough of that. You are pregnant with success, pregnant with ideas, pregnant with your destiny. You’re going to give birth to what God put in you.

A Prayer for Today“Father, thank You that I can put away any worries and discouragements. Thank You that in Your perfect timing, when everything is ready, even what looks to be impossible will be possible with You. I believe that what You’ve started in my life You will finish. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

— Ash

Work Less & Do More

We all hear this, but what does it actually mean.

Did you know that a traditional work week is 5 days but research shows on average only 2 are productive.

Work less & do more = get intentional with your calendar!

Having a planned routine of intentional activities is a lot more productive and less exhausting than an equally full schedule of mindless activities and business.

Creating a schedule and sticking to it is truly the only way to really evaluate where you are truly investing your time and gives you the opportunity to ensure that is aligning with your priorities and vision for life.

ie: something as simple as switching from checking my email every hour or mindlessly while waiting in line for my Starbucks and only checking my email twice a day 10:30 to capture anything that has come up in the morning that may need my immediate attention, and then at 3:00 when I can capture anything of priority that needs attention before the end of the day. This is WAY more productive and I’m checking less “working less” but doing more! I’m freed up to accomplish things when not mindlessly checking emails.

When I do check my emails, I have 30 minutes where it has my FULL attention and i”m not distracted in a different scenario from what I was doing in that moment like enjoying a morning coffee or devo. Having a schedule you stick to on your terms also trains others to be aware that you aren’t at their beck and call rather you are strategic and will get back to them at your strategic time so they don’t actually detract from something you may be doing FOR THEM on your scheduled time.

That’s just EMAIL. Imagine if we take that approach to everything that we do!

OTHER PRODUCTIVE TIPS:

Create your bucket schedule Monday to Friday and fill in the blanks with

1) What’s already scheduled today

2) What could I potentially do from my running list

3) What is most urgent and in line with my goals?

• Do what takes most energy first and get it over with so it’s not disrupting the rest of your day in the back of your mind.

• Sometimes procrastination is GOOD. “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow!” PRIORITIZE. Maybe it doesn’t have to be done today, so you can delegate it to a different day so you can actually do today what HAS to be done today. Procrastination actually means PRO - “forward” in latin and CRASTINUS “belonging for tomorrow” !

XOXO

Ashley

Boundaries Baby

Time for some border control in life.

You know roughly where the lines is in various areas of your life, right? But would heads of countries be okay just kind of knowing where their border lines were? If they were just roughly drawn?

HECK NO.

It’s time that we start valuing our time, ourselves, our lives enough to but up some strict border control. Here are some categories to start with:

1) OTHERS CANNOT:

2) I HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK FOR:

3) TO VALUE MYSELF & MY TIME, I CAN :

If you have a workout scheduled that is a part of your intentional “having it all” and a moms group invites your to brunch at the same time the day before, it’s okay to say you have an appointment.

I could give 1,000 examples of ways that sometimes we just allow others to determine the course of our days. We’ve got to keep strong against compromise or it will become constant and your intention setting we talked about on Monday was a royal waste of time. There’s no point in setting intentions if you are going to let anything and anyone push that of course.

It may seem like a little thing, and it’s only once, but then it’s twice and twenty times and three months pass and you’ve made no progress in any goals that you’ve set, and you’re not at all living the life that you set out to live, and you definitely don’t feel like you have it all.

Do it yourself chronic over achievers (like myself) want to crush any commitment they’ve made, but they make too many. Taking on more and more, and there comes a point when too many YES’S will crush you or dilute everything you’re doing.

Say the right no’s so you can say the right YES’s.

TIPS TO SAY NO.

Use an active voice: “I can or can’t” rather than “ I would or I might.” Use a 5 sentence rule. You don’t have to go on and on forever.

Thank you Sandwich: Be appreciative of invitations and opportunities, state what you are alternatively focusing on right now, and end with a suggestion for something that may work in the future, or if you want nothing to do with the invitation or opportunity, offer something of value, an idea contribution, a referral, or a compliment. And then be thankful again.

Gab union once said, I swear the second I learned to say no, that was the best anti-aging I could do for myself.

XOXO

Ash

Leaning OUT and Leaning IN

Define what it means to have “it all” for you & then devour it.

You can’t do it all, but can you have it all.

You see, having it all looks different for everyone at different seasons of their lives. No one has exactly your responsibilities and circumstances and no one combines those with precisely the same goals. Having it all will look different for everyone, and that’s why it’s so important that we examine ourselves, our lives, our goals, to really figure out what that looks like for ourselves. We can’ simply subscribe to what the world tells us is having it all but we must truly discern that for our individual lives. It’s also important for us to realize that what that looks like will look different season to season. Right now having it all may look different than it will in 5 years. When we’ve determined what that looks like for us in this season of life, we create action plans to get there!

Remember, you can do anything you want, you just can’t do it all at once. So planning and prioritization are key. Otherwise you’ll just have a mess.

Sometimes you actually have to lean out, not in. This isn’t being lazy but making mindful choices about how you spend your time. Over extending in too many areas of life often results in accomplishing very little and drains energy and motivation. And again you’ll just have a mess.

We have to lean out of the things we haven’t defined as a focus right now and not shame ourselves for it.

“Enter activity or commitment here” simply doesn’t line up with my vision and goals for this season, so unfortunately in order to really fulfill what I am focusing on, I can’t commit to investment into that.

A huge part of “having it all” is not having what we don’t need / or have as top priority in this season. We must lean out of things that aren’t a part of our focus in this season in order to have the energy to lean into what is our focus this season!

1) Acknowledge having it all and doing it all are not the same. Write down what it looks like for you to “have it all” in this season of life. Prioritize and plan what that can look like.

2) Take out your calendar, start pencilling in an action plan week to week that reflects your goals and “having it all” if you want to know what’s coming to fruition in your future just look at what’s in your calendar. If it doesn’t line up… well you may not achieve what you’d hoped you would. Find the time suckers in your life that don’t line up.

It’s about doing the right things but it’s also about NOT doing wrongs things.

You get to decide and define what “having it all” look s like for you. And to achieve that, you have to start setting up your day to day to achieve it. It’s not necessarily about doing these HUGE things to accomplish something, but it’s in the day to day routine that add up to a year and a lifetime.

If you don’t define what winning means for you, you are destined to feel like you’re loosing even though you’re not. You’re just unaware of what you’re accomplishing and will feel directionless and no further ahead.

Think about it this way, if you don’t know where you are going, but drive around all day, you won’t know how much closer you are to any destination, you’ll feel lost and annoyed, confused and no where. We need to set our desired destination, or lifestyle and work towards it. It’s time to get intentional.

Figure out where you want to do in life and reverse engineer how to get there, you can’t just jump in a car without knowing the address and expect to magically arrive at your destination.

Only 3% of people set clear intentions and actually write their goals down. But on average those people earn 10 times as much money than the other 97%. This is in no way just about money, that’s just one statistic that CLEARLY shows how much more productive, fruitful, effective and successful we can be when we set clear intentions..

Some categories to help you start setting intentions and define your desires and goals in life are… family, friends, faith, finance, fun & fitness.

Have fun :)

XOXO

Ash

Find your WHY.

There was a study done at Yale that observed Janitors and their career satisfaction. Those that viewed their job as one that contributed to the goal of healing and helping people, were much happier overall than those that approached it as just “a job”.

What’s your why, your mission, behind your job, behind your day to day commitments and activities? Dig deep, there’s got to be something. And when you define that, or create one, you’ll be more motivated than ever before. All of a sudden the tasks that annoyed you before will suddenly be manageable because you know the WHY that they’re contributing too.

Without a clear why, it’s hard to stay motivated and determined, and hey, without a why— what are we really accomplishing with our lives?

Maybe you’re saying… “But I hate my job.” — Maybe it’s not the job. Maybe it’s you? I know that sucks to hear and feels harsh as I even type it. But it’s a powerful thing to come to terms with. Maybe it’s time to put down the magnifying glass and pick up the mirror.

There’s a popular concept in positive psychology called job crafting. Job crafting helps to reframe your mindset around what you do.

1) List what you’d do in your dream job

2) List what you hate about your current job

3) List what you love

Examine your lists. Start with what you hate. Which of those might you be able to change or limit interaction with. Or is it simply a challenge that you can experience personal growth by pushing through?

Look at what you love. Which of those align with your dream job list? Perhaps they are actually very similar or are what you need to get to your dream job. How might you be able to elevate your current opportunities to become an open door to operate within your dreams?!

Now, all of a sudden a job you hate is a possible an open door that can become your dream job or become a season of growth to get you to your dream job!

• Find your WHY

• Find how that can be implemented NOW as you’re on your way to crafting your dream job!

XOXO

ASH