Dear Friends,
I know that you have spent several years, feeling over-worked and frazzled. Most of the time after a tiring day of running around with your head cut off, you can see absolute nothing you have accomplished. I know just how tired you feel. Your day has been spent running around putting out one fire and then the next. Oh and we are so good at dealing with crisis situations. In fact we pride ourselves for being so good under pressure.
We have all seen the juggler that can keep several plates spinning on a several poles at one time. Do you feel like this person most of the time? Running every which way, being forced to jump to keep the plate from hitting the ground. What happens if you stop? You think you would have a lot of broken plates. I have a little secret. We don’t let the plates fall off the poles, we grab them in full spin and set them on the counter.
I know your frustration. Running around putting out fires is not very productive work. Guess why? You are letting the problems set your schedule for the day. We are giving you to tools for you to address these spinning plates once and for all time. The stress level that you have put yourself under is not good for your health or your family.
Each time you are in the midst of spinning those plates, think about why you are forced to juggle them.
1. You didn’t pay a bill on time. So you are running around trying to get it paid before the electric company turns off your power, or the phone company shuts down your service. You have the money in the bank, but you just forgot to pay the bill? Not having the money is another problem, and believe it or not this system will help you with that too.
2. It is 6:00pm and you have no clue what’s for supper. Your children are hungry, so you pile everyone in the car and go for fast food. The guilt levels are rising and money is being spent on food that is not that good for your body. No wonder you can’t lose weight or there is no money to pay the bills.
3. Getting yourself dressed and the family dressed is a pain, because you don’t have clean clothes. They are sitting in the dryer and were not quite dry when the dryer stopped and they have soured. Or they are wadded up in the laundry basket and not fittin’ to wear because of all the wrinkles. Or even worse they are in piles all over the house and have never been washed to start with. You know that sick feeling when your child needs their baseball uniform and it has been at the bottom of the laundry pile, because it just slipped your mind. There were just too many loads to do, so you became overwhelmed and stayed on the computer too long, so you didn’t have to think about it. Guess what. Out of sight, out of mind, does not work for this problem.
4. You need to leave the house for an appointment and you can’t find your car keys. Don’t you just hate that helpless feeling and the more you search, the later you become and the more stressed you feel. That doesn’t even begin to address the fact that you were running late to begin with, because you were having a hard time finding something to wear. Do you see the vicious cycle of spinning plates? One is just about to hit the floor.
Do you want out of this frantic juggling circus act?
Here are the steps?
Listen to us and start by establishing small routines for your morning and evening. Oh and put on your lace up shoes!
As part of your routines, we ask you to think about your day, think about tomorrow and think about next week. This simple act, called planning is going to help you quit spinning your plates. No longer will you be stomping out fires or trying to keep the plates from hitting the floor, you will be in control of your schedule. As you stop the plates from spinning you will find more time for the important things in life. The daily maintenance of your home and yourself becomes automatic.
This will not happen over night. This is why we teach you to establish one habit at a time. As each new habit becomes part of your routine, you are taking that plate off the pole and putting it in the cupboard. Eventually you will be in total control and only have one plate to spin on rare occasions. You will find that this peace is contagious. The more you implement your routines, the easier it is to add new, habits.
This is behavior modification. You are going to have to wean yourself off of the adrenaline rush that you have been getting from the CHAOS. So the next time you feel yourself spinning plates, take 5 minutes and look at what caused this circus act. I’ll bet it can be traced to something you refused to do or didn’t even think about until it was too late.
Are you ready to FLY without spinning Plates,
FlyLady
We have lots of tools to help you get out of this circus act.
