a few little secrets.

Happy Monday, Y'all!

Like I mentioned, so many wonderful people have asked me how the Making Things Happen conference was!  I know my initial post probably seemed a little strange.  And really it's just because I have a lot to figure out.

But, I am excited to share with y'all a few secrets from the conference.  The very first thing that Lara Casey said after welcoming us on the first day of the conference was "I have no secret for y'all".  So, the end.  

Kidding.  She went on to say that there is no secret equation on how to make things happen.  And, although I wish there were (because it would make my life a lot easier!) it actually requires a lot of hard work, some time away and an excitement to make things happen!  

So, if you're interested in starting to make things happen, here's how to get started. 

First, go to Lara Casey's blog on the about page and click on the square that says "Goals".  This will direct you down the page to her goals posts.  Now, this is going to sound crazy, but I want you to open each post and print it.   All five posts.  Do it how ever you'd like - copy and paste just the text into a document and print it or print the whole post with the pictures and everything.  Do it however you'd like, just PRINT THEM.

Then, figure out a time when you can go somewhere by yourself (like really go somewhere - not just sitting in your living room during nap time or at your desk during your lunch break).  Leave your computer and your iPad at home.  Take the posts that your printed out and a fun journal or notebook.

Now we're going to get crazy.

Go to the coffee shop and leave your phone in the car!

  Let your husband or whoever know where you're going to be so they can call you at the store if something happens and they need to get in touch with you.  

Now, I know this sounds crazy and probably extreme.  But I promise you, this was a huge part of the success of the conference.  They literally took our phones away when we walked into the conference.  So we were forced to focus COMPLETELY on one single task.  

It was liberating.  I know that sounds crazy but to be honest, I don't even want to have my phone with me now.  I recognized just how addicted to it I was and just how much time I waste.  Truly, if you think about it, almost all of us are addicted to it.  Rather than sitting in the drive thru line and appreciating the music on the radio or sitting in silence just thinking or rolling the windows down and pointing out the trees and sky to our kids in the backseat, we are on our phones.  We fill EVERY EXTRA SECOND OF OUR TIME catching up on what other people are doing on Facebook or updating Facebook to let others know what we're doing.  It's exhausting.  

Okay, off the soap box.  But for real.  If you really want to get the experience I would leave your phone in your car.  You will survive.  I promise.  And, don't fake it and say that you're just going to leave it in your bag and only pull it out if you need it.  This won't work.   Promise.  You WILL pull it out at some point.  Just to make sure no one has called or texted.  And it breaks your train of thought.

So instead, walk in and appreciate just standing in line.  Look around.  People watch.  Smile at someone.  Just be.  Honestly, that alone is a huge step.

Once you get your coffee, you should sit for five minutes.  Five minutes is going to seem like an eternity.  But do it.  Just sit and enjoy your coffee.  Appreciate the fact that you have some time to yourself.  To your own thoughts.  Without anything encroaching.  No Instagram updates and no sippy cups to refill.  Just sit.  And think.  Or pray.  Or watch what's going on around you.  

This alone will make you feel refreshed and fired up and ready to make things happen.  

Only after you have sat for five minutes, pull out your posts and your journal.  Go through each post, read it and follow Lara's instruction.  Enjoy this time.  Think about your answers.  Give yourself a few minutes to answer each question.  Don't feel rushed to get to the end.  Even if you have a limited amount of time.  Get through what you can in the time that you've got.  Only moving forward to the next part when you feel like you've really thought about what she's asking and written down your response.  If you have to split this up into a couple of outings it will be worth it to go slow and break it up into two separate times than to rush through just to finish.  

Now, once you've finished all of the posts, you will be fired up.  You will be excited about living your ideal day and doing things that fire you up and accomplishing the things that you truly value in this life.

Once you get home, there are a few action items you need to complete.  

First, you will need to type up and print out (or write on a fun piece of paper) your list of things that fire you up.  Print it out and put it at your desk.  On your bulletin board.  Wherever the central hub is in your home.  Somewhere you will come in contact with it often.  

I'm not sure about you, but when I made my list, I actually realized there are some days when I do none of the things that actually fire me up.  That's ridiculous.  The majority of the things on my list take thirty minutes or less.  Lots under 5 minutes.  So why in the world am I not getting fired up every day?  

So, print your list.  And post it somewhere you will see it many times throughout the day.  

Then DO at least one thing on your list EVERYDAY.  

Next, I want you to move your phone charger to your bathroom.  Heck, if you have a house phone, move your cell phone charger to the kitchen or the office.  Oh, what's that?  You use it to wake up to in the morning?  GO BUY AN ALARM CLOCK.  

Or, still use your alarm on your phone get up when you hear it going off in the bathroom.  You'll kill two birds with one stone.  

First, you'll get in the bed at night and wake up in the mornings without checking your phone.  How many of y'all go to sleep beside your husband with both of you checking Instagram or Facebook?  And, how many of you wake up in the mornings and while you can barely see, you pull your phone over and pull up Instagram?  Without even thinking?  

You haven't prayed.  You haven't thought about your day.  You haven't kissed your husband good morning.  But you sure know about every person on your news feed.   

And, the other bird you'll kill is that you'll be out of the bed to get to the alarm and therefore not hitting the snooze button.

And then, lastly, write out your ideal day.  

In detail.  

And try it.  

At least once.  

Force yourself to do it.  

You will feel like this:

Pure bliss. 

Your ideal day must be realistic.  And, for me, I had to recognize that in order to have my ideal day, I had to start at night.  If my ideal day starts early and with my house tidy then I have to get it tidy the night before and I have to go to bed at a decent time in order to start my ideal day out right.  

I'll try to post my actual ideal day sometime soon.  But, for now just know that this is such a huge part of being successful and making things happen.  TRUST ME.  I have tried it both ways since I went to the conference.  And the days that start out ideally are SO MUCH BETTER.

Then, lastly (okay, I know I said that the ideal day was the last step...but I lied) tell me how it goes! 

 Please!  

I'm dying to hear how this works for you!  

One of my favorite things that Lara says is:

Life's too short to live small.

And it's so true, y'all!  I want to live a life that is full!  I want to make life happen.  I don't want to sit back and watch it pass me by!  If you feel the same way, get started!

By the way:  these pictures happened when I was doing some things that fire me up!  Playing outside with my sweet boys, taking pictures and watching the sunset!  :)))

And, we talked about so much over the course of two days, but these are some of the huge things that I took away!  I hope they help y'all in some way!

mth 2013.

Y'all.  I don't know where to begin.  Last Wednesday and Thursday were phenomenal.  I learned so much.  But to be honest, I'm still in a haze.  Since Thursday (in between refilling sippy cups and changing diapers) my mind has been trying so hard to process all that I soaked in and wrote down.  

I have a new outlook on so much in my life.  But I also have a lot to figure out.  I have come to realize that it is crucial to schedule some time away.  The focus and clarity and passion that I felt for all of Wednesday and Thursday were because I had stepped outside of my normal, had my phone taken away from me and was solely focusing on one thing at a time.  It is unreal,  the amount of clarity that came come from that!  

But, here I am, on Monday, right back in the swing of things.  And I am fighting so hard to hang on to the things that we talked about and the things that we learned.  

One of the biggest things that was reiterated throughout the conference is to be careful how much you say about the conference when you go home.  You have a lot to process.  

In fact, they gave us a big ground rule for Wednesday night.  When we left the conference and everyone broke off into smaller groups to go eat supper, they asked us to do one thing.  Or really to not do one thing.  They told us not to offer advice.  

Their point was this:  We had fought all day to cut out any distractions, any of the "normal" that America tends to operate on, any of the voices in our heads.  And instead, think long and hard.  

For.our.selves.  

So, they told us to continue that through the evening.  To discuss what we had learned with each other but not to offer advice.  And, how quick are we to do this?  We want to empathize with people.  We want to let them know that it's all going to be okay.  We want to take their sometimes jumbled up words, process them for them and spit them back out in a nice, pretty package with a bow on top.  Making them feel better (or not) but really making yourself feel better because you were able to "fix" someone else.  Even though you are most likely a hot mess right along with them.

So instead, they told us to let people talk about their experience and then allow them to sit in it.  Allow them to process it themselves.  Not giving them tips on how you would do it or what sounds like the best plan.  Just hear them.  And that's it.  

And it was so good.  To be able to talk about what I'm trying to figure out without having someone say, "Okay, so here's what it sounds like to me..." or "Well, this is what I did when I was at that point..." or even, "Oh, Jenny, it's okay that you feel like that".  I was able to just say what was on my heart.  And sometimes, saying it aloud sounds different than just thinking it.  So it was good to say some things aloud.  For me to hear what came out of my mouth but then, still be able to process them on my own. 

So we were cautioned on sharing when we came home as well.

This is hard for me.  I tend to be an over-sharer. 

It's also hard because the people in my life knew how excited I was to go to the conference.  They knew that it was a big investment.  And that I was hoping for great things.  So, they are ready to hear about it!  They want to know what I'm doing with my life and what my ten step plan is.  And, I'm so grateful that they want to share in this with me.  But really?  What it boils down to is that I've got a lot to pray about.  I've got a lot of work to do.  And I've got a lot that still needs to be figured out.  

I have actually tried (once) to share some of the more specific things I learned since the conference (hmm...breaking the rule...that didn't take long...) and what I figured out is that words are cheap.  What I said and what I feel are two different things.  So, about 30 minutes after talking about it, I texted and said, "Forget everything I said, it wasn't completely accurate, I'm still figuring it out".  

And the truth is?  It's a lot of work.  Going to this conference didn't give me some perfect equation.  But they provided me with great tools.  Tools that I anticipate using for the rest of my life. 

 Because really, it's true.

Life is too short to live small.

So, all that to say, I'm not planning to be cryptic about this experience forever.  But, really, I need to figure out some stuff first.  For myself.  I want to hear God's voice the loudest in my life.  And sometimes that means not talking about things to every person in your life.  Because often their voices ended up replaying the loudest and not leaving room for who you really want to hear from (whether the answer is what you want to hear or not).

I did get to spend some time with amazing people and meet some lifelong friends!

I'm hoping to spend some time figuring out what's next and then really going at it hardcore.  And, I will be back with more to share, promise.  Just not today!

ps.  wow - i feel like even what I've written is a jumbled up mess :)  i just get so excited, nervous, freaked out, etc when i think about all that i learned!  so, sorry for being all over the place :)