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7 Habits To A Highly Effective Me.

November 9, 2011

By:

Erin Schrader

That’s right.
I now am in the business of “Self Help” books.
I figured that there aren’t enough of those out there yet and because clearly I have life all figured out,
I should write one too.
{Note: This is a follow up to this post. Since I wrote that, my brain has been brewing over what I need to implement into my everyday life to make it a little more
exciting,
purposeful,
passionate,
and awesome if you will.
Everything listed below is written for me and may work for me and only me.
{That was like a heck of a lot of me’s. This is definitely a good start to this whole Self Help shaz…}
I am in no way stating you must do everything I list to make you happy, productive, and awesome. I will state however that if you do none of the below, you must be one of the world’s most boring people ever. And for that, I congratulate you.
But seriously—maybe you should check into a legit self help book if that’s the case..}
Oh and second note—this post somehow got ridiculously long. Woopsie.
So here we go kids-7 practical, effective habits I am in the process of implementing into my life.
Let’s get started:

1.    Time With God 
 For me, the most effective time to do this is in the morning. In the bathtub as a matter of fact. It’s just me, Him, my kindle, and a tub full of hot water. Filling my mind with His word first thing in the morning is the best way to start my day. The tone of your day is set first thing in the morning. And for me to get a good start to the day—I need some of Him. End of story.


2.    Relational Time
I am a people person. I need face time with those that I love. Or at least voice time {ie: my best friend who finds it necessary to live 8 hours away} Whether this be a lunch date with a friend, a phone call, Martini night with a group of girls {which happens to be tonight..score}, a dinner with just my man, etc. I need it. I know when I am not getting quality relational time. I feel lonely, sad, and sucky. To prevent this, I am making it a point to schedule at least one {preferably more} times in my week where I can connect with those that I need to.


3.    Workout Time
This is a work in progress. How I went from running a minimum of 3 miles a day and lifting weights religiously to doing absolutely nothing is beyond me. Okay, it is not beyond me—I got lazy. And I can feel the effects. Not just in how my pants fit either. I miss feeling strong-energetic-disciplined-and motivated. Working out makes me a happier, healthier person. It is time to start being intentional with my body {both with what I am putting into it and what I am getting out of it} An attainable goal for me is 30 minutes a day 5x a week. {I say attainable but the thought alone makes me cringe, ha}


4.    Try something new weekly.
 I am a Pinterest addict. I could sit and pin my life away if I was allowed to. Suddenly the other day it hit me-why do I spend all of the this time Pinning stuff and not creating anything? And that is when it hit me-I need to try something new weekly. Whether it be a new recipe, creating one of the thousands DIY crafts out there, trying a new hairstyle, styling an outfit differently, jumping out of an airplane, I don’t care what it is. Just complete something I have never done on a regular basis. The thought alone makes me giddy and feel empowered.

{My latest craft-a dried apple wreath}


5.    Volunteer My Time and/or Money
 There are not many things in this life that give off better endorphins than helping those less fortunate. I want to again, become intentional with how I spend my time and money. It is important to me that I can donate my time and/or money on a monthly basis. Recently I started mentoring a 3rd grade boy and it is something I can’t wait to do each and every week. I need more of this in my life.
Pronto.
{Photo from This Clothes Drive…so much fun}
6.    Relaxation Time
 I probably enjoy relaxing more than the average person. I could live in a bathtub or on a massage table. Unfortunately because my husband doesn’t find this necessary, I have to work. However, in my “free” time it is necessary I get to indulge in “me” time. A glass of wine, Ipod playing, and candles burning…That’s what I’m talking about. Fortunately, I do not have a hard time scheduling these moments into my life. I will look back at this one day after I have kids and be so envious that this was once my life. I just know it.

7.    Work Time “Plan your work-work your plan”
Lately I feel like I have “two” jobs. First there is my day job. While there, I want to focus on the work I am there to do. And then, there is this job. This whole blogging bit. I say job because I have learned, it does require work. Answering emails, getting sponsors up, writing posts, coordinating guest posts, editing pictures..it all takes time. Time that I need to complete numbers 1-6. This is why it is important that I start planning my work and then working my plan. I don’t want to be that girl who sits in the computer all evening and then complains she has time for nothing else.
 I want to be efficient and productive.
So if that means only allowing myself an hour a day to complete anything I can get done in that one hour, that is what it means.
This blog is fun, but it is not my life.
And as you can tell-I’ve got lots of other life enhancing things to get done =)
…Well there you have it.
The steps I have begun taking over the last week or so and that I plan on taking from here on out.
You may or may not have gained an ounce from this post.
If not, you just wasted a great deal of time that you could’ve been doing something much more productive.
Sorry folks 🙂
…For now, I am off to eat my breakfast because today–that hour of work time I talked about in number 7, happened to take place at 5:30 this morning.
Happy day to ya.

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