The Mission

Our mission, should you choose to accept it – is to go from overwhelm and chaos to cool, calm, and in control.

Let me tell you about 2 women. They live in the same neighborhood, work similar jobs, and have 2 kids. See how different their lives are…

stress and overwhelmMeet Anita

She’s hit the snooze button one too many times. She realizes she’s going to be late again. She pulls her tired body out of bed and starts the Mad Dash Shuffle.

Rushing to the bathroom, Anita lets out a little yelp and swears as she stubs her toe on the books piled up on the floor next to her bed. She can’t find the new slippers she bought to replace the old ones she thinks might be buried in the closet. Darn, if only there were more hours in a day, she could get everything done! Good Lord, the bathroom tiles are cold this morning.

Great, the mirror’s dotted with God only knows what and the sink looks like it’s the source of a science experiment.

Anita, now sort of awake after a quick shower, dashes into the kitchen. Oh great, she knew she should have done the dishes. She had been so tired after rushing around all day, like she always does, that she couldn’t stand the thought of being in the kitchen one more second after cooking, serving and clearing dinner. Now, not only was the sink overflowing, there wasn’t even a clean cup for her coffee.

Finding a cup that wasn’t too bad, Anita gave it a quick wash. Thank goodness, no matter what, she always sets up the coffee maker the night before. Anita poured herself a cup of coffee, threw in a couple of sugars and grabbed some milk. Only it wasn’t milk, it was outdated, rather thick and lumpy heavy cream. ICK! She tossed the carton in the sink and went back to the fridge. No milk. Anita made the mental note – and not for the first time, to start keeping lists.

Anita yells down the hall for her kids to get moving.

boy-screamShe listens for the familiar sounds of the school day morning. Anita wasn’t disappointed.

“Mooooommm, Where’s my …..?

“Mooooommm, I can’t find the…..”

“Moooooommm, I need a ride, I can’t bring my project on the bus…

Anita manages to get the kids out the door, just in time to catch the bus. Someday there’ll be time for breakfast. Someday when things are not so hectic.

She grabs the project she has to drop off at the school on her way into work, jumps in the car happy to see that at least she remembered to get gas yesterday. Anita glances at her watch. She’s going to be at least 15 minutes late for work…again. Oh no, more like 25!

Anita grabs the steering wheel with both hands and taps it repeatedly with her frown-lined forehead. Grumble, Grumble, Grumble. This is so unfair. If only there were more hours in a day.

For some reason it never dawns on Anita that the number of hours in a day is the same for everyone.

Anita is the perfect example of living your life by accident.

woman in kitchenLet’s pop in next door and meet Mary

The alarm goes off, it’s set for 15 minutes earlier than usual. Mary smiles as she gets up. She’s thinking of how excited Jane was last night with the school project she had finished over the weekend. She’d had plenty of time to touch it up here and there last night.

Mary was eager, as usual, to start her day, there was so much to look forward to. Going into the carpeted game room that she had vacuumed last night, Mary slipped her Pilates DVD into the player. A half hour later, all stretched and feeling ready to take on the day, she headed toward the bathroom. On her way, Mary checked to make sure the kids were starting to show some signs of life. She smiled and began humming when she heard them ready to start the adventure of a new day. She heads to the sparkling bathroom. There’s a nice clean smell in the air. She takes a nice hot shower and heads for the kitchen.

The kitchen is clean. She is greeted by the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She has 15 minutes to sit and drink her coffee and prepare today’s game plan.

Just as she completes her morning routine, the kids come piling in to get breakfast. Mary and the children laugh and eat together. 20 minutes later, they all grab their stuff and head off to buses and cars.

Mary strolls into the office. She enthusiastically greets people with a smile. Grabs another cup of coffee and sits down with her “to do” list. When the phone rings, she answers it with that big smile in her voice – which makes her boss on the other end smile. It feels good to promote someone like this.

Across town, Anita rushes into her office, 25 minutes late, drops her stuff and grabs for the ringing phone – grumbling at the person on the other end. The caller happens to be her not too happy boss.

Rather an amazing difference, wouldn’t you agree?

In the coming months, I will show you easy habits that will help you get to a life more like Mary’s. Will that be cool? 

 

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