Journal Entry 3.26.09

Ok, so today I finished publishing a 24 page booklet, put the finishing touches on a Rack Card and sent it off for proofing, worked on 101 Things for about an hour - organizing sales reports, insertion orders, and follow-ups, updated and consolidated all my notes, organized my work space, and wrote my first speech ever for the "business of the year" award which I will be giving at a banquet Saturday night.  It is 5:29 pm and I have been working non-stop since 9:30 am, after waking up at 6:00 am to get the kids a hot breakfast, off to school, and not to skip my morning workout - I pumped out a full 60 minutes in cardio at the gym.  All the while, fighting my inner self to keep at it and not surrender to the fact that my cuddly husband is home from work today and I would love nothing more than to just "play hooky" and snuggle up with a movie or lay on a blanket at the park in this beautiful weather we are experiencing.

I am trying to get through all the projects brought on by the winter so I can move on to new projects, mainly web design and SEO.. so if its time for you to update your site... look me up!

Focus Better

Make lists knowing your goals are high... staying within the boundaries of your own expectations... work diligently to get to the end of your list each day, and those things you were not able to get to - don't feel guilty, instead know that you did more than you would have without that list.

How Much Is Too Much?

Ok, so my good friend asked me "How many businesses do you think you can handle?" today.  What can I say... I guess some of us handle as much as humanly possible.  The part that is tricky is where balance and stability come in.  How much of our health and sanity are we willing to sacrifice for the profit of human success?  Im positive that the answer is different for all of us.  For me, I have received many a compliment on how much I can undertake and achieve at any given time of the year.  However, these people have no idea of the extent of which my boundaries are pushed.  People either see me on the personal side, or the business side... very rarely both.

Yes I have my share of business obligations, goals, daily sacrifices of any sense of "normal life"... as if I could just be content being "associate publisher" for an outstanding and successful tourism magazine... as if that wasn't enough... I insist on running my own Marketing company... which is my biggest dream.  Overwhelmed by the constant learning curve that is the internet, web browsers, niche marketing, websites (not to mention my sarcastic love of html coding - I'd rather stick to the "design" side of things)... not to mention the constant headaches from staring at a high resolution computer screen for most of the day.  Don't get me wrong... this is not from a negative standpoint at all... it is actually a realization that I am truly living my dream - graphic design, internet marketing....GREAT STUFF...!!  The part that is hard to control sometimes is all the extra devoted volunteer time that consumes me.

Yes, it is necessary when starting a new business to "give" a lot of your time and yourself to show people that you are passionate at what you do and give them a chance to see how talented you really are about it.  This is where I started speaking my mind at meetings, giving my ideas away, doing anything possible to have people notice my talents and committing to every chair and committee brought to my fingertips.  Leading to community involvement, politics, and executive board positions.

Where are the limits?

Then there is the most important thing in my life... My family.  Yes family.  Three Kids.  Husband.  Household.  Responsibilities.  These are the true things.  The reason for life is love.  Yes we can bring something true and just to community, civilization, the world by what we do.. but our legacy lives within our flesh and blood.  These are the opinions that matter.  What do my kids think of me?  Do they look up to me?  Does my husband appreciate, love, and support everything I do.  YES, YES, YES!!  This is what holds me afloat.  Without the ability to put work down and shut it off for four hours in the evening, and all weekend...I COULD NOT DO IT.  Balance.  Limits.  Boundaries.  Focus.  Concentrating on what is most important and being absolutely DILIGENT about it is the only way it is possible.

Thank you.  To everyone who inspires me daily, supports me by the minute, and to those of you that appreciate and bring it to my attention that you notice me.   You are my sunshine.

Macbook Pro Overheating issues

Dont take it apart to clean the paste... instead you need to download smcfancontrol and turn up the fans when you are doing a lot of processing.

Beginning a new month

Today is March 2nd, 2009.  Its not that I have been procrastinating on blogging, its that I have not chosen to take the time to do so.  So, today I worked for 101 Things To Do in the sales arena - visiting the lake again.  Sales is not really my forte` but someone has to do it :o).  Now I am blogging while in attempt to keep my patience with the AIT server that my Alaska clients are currently using.  If they don't fix their server by the end of the day I will be renaming the server to godaddy, so I can publish the site.  I finished readying the files for Magnus Pacific and Eagle Landing for Redding Printing which I will take and drop off in the morning tomorrow if I do not have Jury Duty.  I intend to work on the other 20 things on my list for today, and start keeping a recipe blog for our dinners, since we have been told many times we need to start a cookbook.

On a random note, I love my macbook pro.

till later......