Dear Friends,

Hurry up and wait. The waiting is the hardest part.

I have been reading testimonials this morning. One reoccurring theme has been celebration of their FlyLady anniversary; from many years to one year. They have all been amazed at their transformations.

As FlyBabies we are not patient people and we are probably married to even more impatient husbands. Upon hearing about FlyLady; you expect to see phenomenal over night changes. Well we have all tried those methods. They are called crash and burn. We do too much and don’t want to do anything else for several days or even months. Then what happens? Your home is in a worse state than when you started. All because we don’t want to wait for the FLY Washing to penetrate our stubborn heads. We think we are super women so this does not apply to us. We don’t need to take babysteps because we are better than all those other people with messy houses. Only to find out that it is not fun to crash and burn.

I know this feeling of failure. For many years I suffered with my perfectionist attitudes that pushed me to the limit more times than I care to share with you. It wasn’t until I decided to be nice to myself and take babysteps by only requiring that I learn one habit at a time. I chose shining my sink. The rest was just simply adding one more habit at a time as the previous habit became automatic. For FlyBabies it takes about a month of practice to accomplish this. We need the habit written down in front of our face so we will remember. We can get sidetracked so easily. After all we are FlyBabies and the least little thing can pull us off track. It all starts with our perfectionism. I know because it just happened to me writing this paragraph. I was looking for the right word for the first sentence; I knew the meaning but could not think of the word. We drug out a thesaurus trying to find a word for being in a state of defeat. Robert finally came up with the simple word failure. That is really what happens. We end up feeling like a failure; all because our perfectionism will not let us win.

So when are we going to quit pushing ourselves past the limit of our endurance and take babysteps to accomplish the same thing? It took me many times of crashing and burning to get through my thick head that perfectionism didn’t work. Then I decide to be kind to myself and understand my sidetractedness as well as accept it and learn to love that part of me. Right now I am sitting in my favorite chair with my timer ticking away as I write for 15 minutes and when my timer dings; I will be up doing 15 minutes in my home. My home looks great; so I am doing some zone cleaning so I will never have to see dirt again. It is amazing how just a little maintenance keeps a home gleaming. It is almost as if my home cleans itself. My routines keep everything looking nice and when my home looks good; I feel good. The better it looks the more time I have to do the things I love. I would not be able to be FlyLady if my home were dragging me down. I would not be able to write or even think if things were piled up around me. This is why cleaning off your hotspot and keeping them policed daily helps your disposition.

Clean is contagious. Just clear off one little spot and see what happens to you. You become energized. Go shine your sink and look at how you feel. No one believes it until they do it for themselves. The shine penetrates your being; makes you smile and before you know it you feel better and you look better because you are no longer beating yourself up. You have hope for the first time in a very long time.

Celebrate every little accomplishment. You don’t have to brag to others to get this feeling of euphoria; it is inside of you. I want you to FLY! But we have to be patient with the process! Routines are just babysteps put together into a dance that makes your day FLY!!

Are you ready to let go of your Crash and Burn Mentality and take a few babysteps to find yourself through the clutter and CHAOS?

You can do this. If I did anyone can! It took me nine months of hurry of and wait for my babysteps to become life long habits. It is giving birth to a new you! What have you got to lose: Exhaustion, depression, failure? Try it the FLYLADY way and see the changes FLY all around you.

I love you all!

FlyLady