Dear Friends,

I started getting organized in 1999 with two ideas in my head. The first one was to establish one habit at a time. The second was the most important and it was to be nice to me. These two ideas have formed the foundation for FLYing!

That New Years Day I began my journey. I was so tired of living in CHAOS and beating myself up because I didn’t know how to keep our home clean. As I tried to figure out why I had so much trouble with housework; I realized that I was being mean to myself. Those negative words kept coming into my head and I was feeling sick to my stomach. I made the decision right then to stop the negative self talk and make it easier on myself by building me up instead of pulling me down.

Recognizing when I would be mean to myself was the first step to stopping the negative self-talk. Then I turned that thought to a positive affirmation. I realized that I would never say those ugly words to my son so why was I saying them to me.

Our negativity manifest itself in more than words; we do things to set us up to fail and make excuses. Those excuses don’t make us feel better; they just make us feel worse. As part of being nice to me I decided to come up with ways to make it easier on myself to do my routines.

With my first habit of shining my sink, I realized that if my dishwasher was not emptied as soon as it was finished that I would pile dishes on the counter till I got around to doing it. That got in the way of my feeling good. Not emptying the dishwasher was not being nice to me.

To make it easy on yourself; empty your dishwasher as soon as it finishes.

Another way to be nice to myself and eliminate excuses was to pick out my clothes before I went to bed. This set me up for success by making “getting dressed to shoes” easier the next morning. I didn’t have to drag my feet about getting dressed. My clothes were picked out and was being nice to me!

To make it easy on yourself; pick out your clothes before you go to bed.

Another way I was nice to me was keeping my favorite cleaning product under every sink in my house. For only a couple of bucks I could have Windex bottle within my reach for my morning swish and swipe and my evening shiny sink ritual. There are no excuses when you look for ways to make it easy on yourself. This saved me steps and eliminated those words, “I don’t have time” from popping in my head. I also love having a Rubba Swisha beside each toilet and a Purple Rag under the sink.

To make it easy on yourself; keep Windex under every sink in your home. A Rubba Swisha by your toilet and Purple Rag for shining your mirror and sink.

When it comes right down to it; establishing one habit at a time is just another way I was nice to me. Isn’t this what Finally Loving Yourself is all about? Being nice to yourself in everything you do!

Are you ready to try my strategy for getting your home in order? It really does work when you are nice to yourself.

FlyLady