How do we get done all we need to get done?

If someone has a definitive answer to this question - PLEASE post it here!

I’m serious!  Although women are known to be expert multi-taskers, there are still days when the overwhelming need to do more than any human can reasonably do gets in the way of getting it done.

You guessed it!  I’m traveling today, so finding the time to have a little chat here has been pressing me since early a.m.  Yes, I could have gotten up an hour earlier.  Yes, I could have not spent so much time downstairs with coffee and quiet thought time.  Yes, I could have not read several favorite blogs before rushing to bathe, wash hair, get dressed, do makeup - etc, etc. 

But that would have taken me out of or away from my usual necessary (and essential) quiet reflection time that I absolutely need to get through the day.

Since we are in the first month of the new year, we can still strategize, make and rework our ‘08 game plan and resolve to keep the resolutions we made.  That is where I am today and where the conversation headed while enjoying lunch with a favorite Christian woman friend as we worked through exciting opportunities we will share in the coming months.

We both concluded that having multiple balls in the air (metaphor for involvement in tons of activities and projects) is not what is intended for us this year - or any year in the future.  It simply keeps us from doing what we’re meant to do - passionate about.

I’m a person who has loved having at least 10 spinning plates in the air at one time.  Somehow it said something about me personally that I needed to believe.  That being actively involved in a number of great activities meant I was important or successful!  After all, look at what I’m doing and how well I do it.

Has that been true for you?  Has there been a time in your busy lives that being over-extended was a sign of importance or esteem.  As women, I think we come by this naturally, especially if we’ve spent some years managing a home and family.   This is particularly true if we’ve grown up in an environment where we were ’stroked’ by how much we did and how well we did it.

Well, this year, I have resolved it will be different.  I have been ‘called’ to work out the vision and mission of A Women’s Place and now the companion piece, Affiliated Women in the MarketPlace!  That’s the God-given plan.  It includes opportunities to speak with women individually, as well as in large groups.  It holds the promise of radio and maybe TV (who knows).  It fulfills the purpose for which He made me and answers the passion I have to see women come into their own!

Sometime ago, I wrote an article which got considerable play across the web.  Entitled “We Are Women - Hear Us Roar!”, it spoke to the power women have when we come together, to build each other’s lives and make significant differences in the lives of those around us - as well as those across the world.

How easy it is to get caught up in the many great opportunities that come our way!  Wow, we think - that’s got to be part of the vision - the mission - the purpose.  In reality, it may be simply a distraction that looks like the ‘real thing’.  It takes real discernment to determine if it’s for me - for real - or meant to simply distract me from the joy of the task at hand.

It’s still early!  We still have time to ‘clean the closet’ and ‘throw away’ what doesn’t fit in our purpose-plan and distracts us from the best.  That’s it.  There’s the “good”, the “better” and the “best”.  We can settle for much that takes our attention that’s “good” - to the exclusion of the “best”.  And the same is true of the “better”.  My thought is that if I can’t find a ‘fit’ for what I’ve taken on or being asked to do, it probably falls short of “best”.

I’m clearing my work life of anything and everything that doesn’t fit into the purposeful plan that I know He has for me to do.  It may take me a little while to figure out what belongs and what doesn’t.  Once I know, I’ve resolved to say firmly and politely - “Thank you, but no thank you!”

My purpose for sharing in this direction for the day is partly because I had to figure out how to get this conversation in before the end of the day.  And partly because it was much of the focus on my conversation today with friend Pam.

Mainly I went in this direction because I hear it over and over again - how busy we all are.  Busy with things that may or may not directly (or even indirectly) benefit our business or professional life.  Not that everything we do should be about “us”; but if there’s not some ‘pay-off’, then why expend the time and energy.

So as I wait for my quicky meeting with another delightful AWP member on the eastside of Indy; I’m working away in the pleasant surroundings of a Panera (free high-speed internet access!).  Sharing my personal conviction about over-achieving and over-extending helps me form a stronger conviction that I won’t let good distractions get in the way in ‘08 or ‘09 or at anytime in the future.

Life is too short to take on all the great opportunities that come our way.  Some are for us, some are for others, and some are just meant to be “thanks, but no thanks”.

May each of us gain the wisdom and discernment to recognize the difference!

Have an awesome day with much love and rich blessings!

Linda