Dear Friends,

I know that some of you are feeling like you have falling off of the FlyLady wagon and you can’t get back on. Did you know that all of us do this from time to time?

One night I had a dear friend tell me that her 7 year old son noticed that he has been forgetting to brush his teeth some now during the summer. So when he realized that, he said, “I’m going to have to get my list back out.” She told me that, He used to have a list on the refrigerator that the checked off and it had gotten sort of automatic so he quit, but he knows how to get back FLYing. She was very proud of him.

Have your routines gotten so automatic that you don’t think you need your control journal any longer. Then your habits start falling off one at a time. Before you know it, your home is beginning to look like it used to.

Those of you who give up and throw in the towel are letting your perfectionism eat away at you once again. Guess what! There is no FlyLady Wagon. This is your home and you can start fresh any time you so choose. Do you hear me?

When I start to feel myself traveling that sidetracked road, we know how to stop ourselves in our tracks and get back on the right path. Here is how we do it.

We call it: 15 minutes worth of messie! That can be cured with setting a timer for 15 minutes and putting things away.

I like to spend 15 minute working on the computer and 15 minutes on the house. I set my timer and some days I can’t believe how much I can accomplish with this method. I call it a “15 minute day”. I wake up and say to myself.

Ok. I am going to spend 15 minutes answering emails and then 15 minutes doing things in the house.  My timers keep me on track. It is amazing what gets done when I do this. It also helps me to drink my water.

So how do you catch yourself before you fall off of this wagon that we don’t have.

First when you start to feel yourself get overwhelmed, I want you to go to a mirror and check and see if you are dressed to shoes! If you are still in your jammies; I want you to get dressed to lace up shoes and fix your hair and face.
Then go check your kitchen sink. If it is not shining back at you, spend a few minutes making yourself smile by shining it.

Next grab your timer and set it. Spend 15 minutes attacking one hotspot. I didn’t say every hotspot in your home at one time I said only one hotspot. Do that one and if your timer still hasn’t dinged then do another one.

Then when the timer goes off, I want you to sit down and breathe for 15 minutes. Do not beat yourself up. It is OK to need a shot in the timer to get your franny moving. We all need this! The major difference between staying sidetracked and getting back on the path is that we don’t wallow in self-pity. We acknowledge that we made a detour and now we are heading toward a peaceful solution. This beating ourselves up is not part of FLYing!

Are you ready to FLY?
FlyLady