Why…?

Dear FlyLady,

Why do you call it a “Control Journal” ??? It makes it sound like you are being controlled by your routines. I do not like that and am surprised that YOU do !!!

Dear Friend,

Sweetie it is the other way around you are in control because of your routines. Routine free you up to have more time for yourself and the things that give you job. No one likes house cleaning but it is a fact of life; once we get it out of the way our mind are no longer controlled by the CHAOS in the house and the things that are left undone.

As for the name Control Journal; my friend Tracy came up with it because her kitchen is Control Central for her home. She did not much like the term “routine”s, so it took her a little time to warm up to the idea that routines are not straight jackets but a way to gain control over the one thing that was keeping her from FLYing! This was her Fight Manual and with it she was able to spread her wings and FLY!

A Control Journal is just a place to keep your routines. It keeps us from having to continually make those list that never seem to get us any place but feeling bad because we don’t accomplish all the overwhelming stuff we put on there.

As SHEs we love to make lists, but those lists overwhelm us and allow us to waste precious time procrastinating. With our Control Journals guiding us and any other family member that may happen to open it to see exactly what Mom really does do; we don’t have to think we just have to build it one routine at a time. Our Control Journal is the place we go to mark off what we have accomplished and celebrate every single bit of progress.

Don’t get hung up in a name. The reason that the word control may seem bad to you is because we have been control by others all of our life and we are tired. With you taking to bull by the horns and building your Control Journal/Flight Manual/Home Operating Manual and allowing it to help you; it is a tool not a person. Don’t let your fear of oppression keep you from building the one tool that is going to help feel better about yourself.

If you are having trouble building your own Control Journal and are letting perfectionism take over then I suggest that you purchase the workbook that I wrote for you. All the directions are on our website. I didn’t want to do this, but Kelly begged me to for those of you that just could not do it for themselves. Check out the FLYing Lesson on how to create your own Control Journal.

If you still need some help, then check out this Control Journal FlyLady designed. You can purchase it from The FlyShop!

– FlyLady