HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I have been away for a while busy with the holidays and just trying to get organized in general. It’s not my plan to be gone that long again. I am also working on planning out a regular posting schedule so that I can get to talk with you at least twice a week.

Does that sound good to you ?!? I kinda thought it did when I wrote it!

Any who, I know that we’re on a journey here and that we’re all going together right? Great!

 

Lara Casey the author of the book Make it Happen talks about adopting one word for the year 2015. So with that being said, I’ve decided to have ONE WORD for the year too. See I gave up on New Year’s resolutions a LONG time ago! They just never, ever seemed to work out for me and I’m sure that I’m not alone in that. (This is the part where you slap me a virtual high five or an I know that s right! Ha! ) I have been thinking about my 2014 and how challenging and stressful it was. Some things that I never thought I would have to endure I did. Maybe one day when I gather the nerve, Ill tell you all about it. I don’t plan on being in that overwhelmed place again.

My word for 2015 is SIMPLIFY!

I shared with you in my previous post about how I felt God calling me to realign myself to doing the things He’s called me to do. So I plan to allow Him to help me SIMPLIFY every area of my life. I am choosing to LIVE ON PURPOSE. Not according to what anyone else thinks or says but to what God says. That’s really the One that matters RIGHT? It’s all about doing things that are pleasing to Him. He doesn’t desire for us to live lives that are burdened or full of business. His desire is that we live life more abundantly. I think I can dig that! This doesn’t mean that I just get a free pass to do as I please (Not even) this kind of living requires that I give God all of me so that He a give me His best. That means totally surrendering myself to Him.  Sometimes easier said than done but I’m willing. You may be asking Nicole how do you plan on doing that? Or how can I do that? How can I simplify my life? Now keep in mind I am in NO WAY an expert, but I have had more than enough life experiences that have grown me up a bit. So I wanted to share a few tips that I’ve picked up along the way.

1. Learn how to say ‘NO’

I read an awesome book last year titled “Say Goodbye to Survival Mode” by Crystal Paine. You may know her as The Money Saving Mom. The caption on the book said “Calling the super busy, the stressed out, the overtired”. Boy this spoke volumes to me! I had to see what it was all about and I’m so glad I did!! Crystal talks about deciding what your highest priorities are and having the courage to “pleasantly, smilingly and unapologetically say no to other things, so that we can say “YES TO THE BEST“! She states that “The enemy of the best tends to be the good“. I have found this to be true. When you learn to say no at first sometimes it can feel uncomfortable, because you don’t want anyone to be upset with you. In the end I believe that our sanity is more important and if you’re anything like me you’re not good to anyone, especially yourself over worked and tired. I know that sometimes we may feel like superwoman but it’s physically impossible to do it all. This can QUICKLY lead to burnout! We want to be able to say yes to the very best things and give ourselves wholeheartedly to living INTENTIONALLY & ON PURPOSE. There is a freedom in graciously & pleasantly saying no. I have discovered it and I want you to embrace it as well!

2. Set S.M.A.R.T goals.

Some of you may have some things that you already have in mind that you want to achieve for the year and I think that’s great we definitely should have some goals set. If you don’t have them yet, that’s ok too! Just keep reading! I would challenge you to take your goal setting just a step further and write them down. Not only that, I use a system for my goal writing called S. M. A. R. T. Here is what the acronym stands for:

Specific – Identifying the details of your goals, knowing exactly what you want to accomplish.

Measurable – Tracking the progress of your goal

Attainable – Make sure your goals are not too far to reach but far enough to be challenging.

Relevant – Link the goal to something that is unique to YOU or inspires YOU.

Timely – A realistic time that you want your goal to be met by.

These types of goals can range from anything that is unique to you. Such as family things you may want to do or business or personal specifics that you want to accomplish. Set goals for things that you know you can accomplish yourself. This is about what YOU want to accomplish this year not necessarily in a lifetime. Once you do this, take each one of your goals you’ve written and break them down into even smaller goals that are going to help you attain the big goals! For example, one of my big goals may be to have an even closer relationship with my husband(who I like ALOT!!). The steps to get to that big goal would be attacking it by making steps to get to it such as, being intentional about dating at least once a week, praying and studying together every day and committing to at least 2 overnight trips WITHOUT the kids, Yeah! By taking smaller steps to get the big goal I will have achieved my main goal. Does that make sense? I hope I didn’t over complicate it! I’m still working on SIMPLIFYING!

3. MAKE IT HAPPEN!

I’m not sure what your IT is, but now that we’ve learned to SAY NO TO THE GOOD AND YES TO THE BEST and we’ve set S. M. A. R. T. Goals, we’re ready to…

MAKE THINGS HAPPEN!!

I am currently reading another book called Make It Happen by Lara Casey. The book talks about surrendering your fear for faith to make living on purpose happen. The things that you’ve been wanting to do, go and do them! Now is the time, this is your moment, don’t let it pass you by!

I challenge you today along with myself to take a GIANT leap of faith and go after your dreams! There is nothing worse than living life with regrets!

 

So let’s start living life on purpose. I plan on following along in my Make It Happen book to see what all it has in store for me. I encourage you to join me! See ya next time friends!!

Nicole

@SheDoesaBunch