I think weekends are a great opportunity to catch your breath from projects, spend time with family and friends, and just kick back and have some fun. It is also a great time for reflection, not only on how your week went, but also a chance to think about what you should do differently moving forward. The weekend is also a great opportunity to grab a cup of java and catch up on some reading. If you are at home and enjoy the ambiance of a coffee shop, check out Coffivity. They say their sounds are scientifically proven to help you increase your productivity and you can select sounds from Morning Murmurs to University Undertones. Come find out what’s going on around here with Mother’s Day, finishing strong, and the latest readings.

Avoiding Mother’s Day Disappointment

Many people might not even realize this is even an issue, but I am here to tell you first hand, it is. For some moms, it may be about the gift or what the family plans for the day. For others, it might be a painful reminder of past hurts. No matter what, the thing that leads to the greatest disappointment on Mother’s Day is expectations. For me, no doubt, getting homemade gifts are sweet and I treasure them, but for this mom, I only desire one thing on 2 days every year –peace and quiet. I live in a loud, chaotic house.  It is enough to drive this introvert insane. Seriously. But here is the deal, believing that two days out of the year (Mother’s Day and my birthday) that suddenly the  flow of my household is going to miraculously change is not only insane but so counter-productive to the day.  Perhaps the most productive thing we can do this Mother’s Day is simply to not have any expectations. I  don’t mean this in a negative way. And I personally I find that when I approach the day like this the day seems to go so much smoother. So to all the mom’s out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

Finishing Strong

I have a pet peeve. People who habitually don’t finish what they start. It drives me insane. Even when I have a great reason not to finish something, it still drives me crazy about myself! But almost equally annoying are people who don’t finish strong. People who turn in their two-week notice and then spend the next two weeks. There are also those who commit to doing a project and then quit before finishing.  And then there are those who just give up and do things about half-way as they near the end.  I’m not perfect, and there are many times I would like to quit, but when I commit to something, I do whatever I can to see it through to the end. I get it, it isn’t always easy. I started watching a Netflix series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and in one of the first episodes she says you can do anything until the count of ten, but sometimes you have to keep counting to ten over and over.  It cracked me up, but honestly, there is so much truth in that statement. I think we give up too easily sometimes. Instead, I challenge you to finish just as strong as you started. Here are a few tips to help you finish strong

• Make a plan and stick to it.
• Set goals and celebrate them.
• When you want to quit, just count to ten.

Reading

I have come across some great articles this week. First, I discovered I might be a digital packrat. Although in my defense, I don’t keep browser tabs open indefinitely, just until I am done with them.  I am trying out One Tab, the google extension mentioned in the article. I guess I will see how it goes. For fun, I also took a quiz to see What Kind of Career Girl I Am.  I can’t help it, I am a sucker for a fun quiz.I got “strong leader” if you take the quiz let me know what you get. In books right now, I am finishing up Interrupted by Jen  Hatmaker and this book is simply amazing and I loved how it is confirming so many things I have been feeling for the last few years. I also set up a Goodreads account this week.  I thought I already had one that I abandoned years ago, but apparently not. I love that you can import all of your amazon.com purchases, but it made me realize how many books I have on my Kindle that I have never read.  If I read a book a day for a year I still wouldn’t be done. Right now I am reading a cute little chick-lit book called Cool Beans by Erynn Mangum. It would make a great little weekend or beach read from what I have read so far. This reminds me, years ago I read a tip that if you are reading a book and you aren’t into it by the time you have read 6% of the book then you should stop reading it and move on to something else.  While that was specifically meant for the Kindle I believe if you aren’t into a book by the end of the first chapter of a paper book you should probably stop as well.  What are you currently reading? Have you visited my Card Catalog yet? I’m trying to add to it every week.

Until next weekend.

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