When the Word "Shower" Gets Added to the To Do List....

You know things can't be good when the word "shower" gets added to the To Do list. Usually things that happen on a daily basis don't need to be added to a To Do list, but somehow the word "shower" got added to my list today. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the three days I've spent overhauling my house in an attempt to make it Christmas ready far before Christmas. I do realize that I skipped an entire holiday, but I don't care.

I will have you know that my front porch is complete with both garland and lights and pumpkins. Yup, that's how I roll. : )

With the holiday season upon us, I think there is no better time than now to get our priorities in order. That means it's time for the Sunday 7. (And yes, you're taking advice about time management from a girl who put shower on her list of to dos.....don't worry about that.)

The Sunday 7 originally stemmed from a Franklin Covey time management concept that says if you want to make everything fit into your life, you have to tend to the most important things first. There is a great illustration called Big Rocks that basically says if you want to fit a bunch of rocks and sand into a jar, you have to put the bigs rocks in first and then let the sand fill in around the rocks.

The same is true for our lives. Whatever is important to us, has to come first.

Today at church, our senior pastor, Craig Groeschel, reminded me that our values determine how we spend our time.

The Sunday 7 is a way to put the things you value first on your priority list every week. It's a way to get all those big rocks into the jar so you can fill your life to the top with all the little things that will fall into place once you've taken care of the big things.

Here's how it works:

1. You come up with the 7 most important ares of your life. It can be more than 7 if it needs to be. I have a dear friend who has started what she calls The Faithful Eight. You make it work for you. My areas are the things that I value. You'll have to determine what you value the most. 
2. Once you have your core values listed, you start listing out the most important things that need to happen in the coming week in each of the areas of your life that you value. 
3. Lastly, you determine when each of those things will happen each week. Put a date and a time to it. 

And, off you go! After that, you're on your way to a more balanced and peace filled life. 

So what does your Sunday 7 look like? As always, feel free to post yours below to keep you accountable. 

Here's what mine looks like this week:

The Sunday 7: (8 this week)

1. Faith: Daily Scripture study. Prayers written in my prayer journal. Re-focus our Monday night Bible study group.

2. Family: Caroling with Addison and the kids at Keystone. Read daily to both Addy and Luke. Find a fun Thanksgiving craft for the kiddos to do on Thanksgiving day. Movie night on the couch with my hubby

3. Holiday Prep: This week the plan is to get all the food planned and ready for both Thanksgiving dinners we're attending; grocery shop; and finish the Christmas List and budget. Also, I need to order our family pics online for Christmas Cards. Finish Christmas decorations!

4.  Scentsy (aka work): Trim through my emails and Facebook messages. Send out communication to all my frontline consultants via email. 

5. Health and Fitness: Keep on track with my Weight Watchers' points (which I am loving by the way!). Cook dinner Monday and Tuesday night this week. Run 3x this week. 

6. Finances: Keep on track with our cash budget. Balance business and personal accounts. Send over final documents for tax prep. 

7. Foster Care Prep: Have guest bedroom painted. Clean out closet in guest bedroom. 

8. Down time: Read! Simple as that. Read for pleasure, and stay off Facebook (it sucks me in sometimes!). Oh, and keep the word "shower" off my To Do list this week! : ) 

What does your week look like? I'd love to hear about it.

.....day 100 of a year of writing.....