A Page From My Journal

My husband has now been out of work for an entire year.

This unexpected situation has prompted me to reflect deeply, asking myself,

“What am I learning from this past year while Dave has been without a job?”

The insights gained have been profound and transformative, and I feel compelled to share a few of them with you.

POWER OF PERSPECTIVE:

Even when the day-to-day feels like it’s “not working,” the bigger picture shows that it IS WORKING! Zooming out and noticing the larger picture has been a pleasant surprise for me. Making me see things working even better than I could have imagined.

CLARITY IN DESIRES:

Defining what you want is crucial to recognizing it when you get it. (And in many cases, realizing that what we seek, we already possess)

HOPE vs. FEAR:

The unexpected can be scary. I can believe that it’s going to be horrible, awful, and devastating. Or I can believe that it will work out for the greater good. Neither is true (yet), so the latter opens doors and helps me focus on hope and creating trust.

UNTAPPED POTENTIAL:

This period has been an eye-opener for me, to the myriad of talents and skills we all possess, waiting to be explored and utilized. This has been a time to uncover more skills, talents, and desires. AND just because you can do something (and be good at it) doesn’t mean it’s your path.

IMPACT BEYOND BUSINESS:

I learned I could significantly impact my family financially, but I want my most significant influence and impact to be of an understanding, supportive, available, loving mother and wife. This has adjusted how I run my business and think about money.

DIVINE ENCOUNTERS:

God puts people in our path, even if it’s just for a very short time. We are taught, guided, and helped in many ways with each experience.

TRUSTING THE UNKNOWN:

It’s okay not to know the how or what’s next. As a planner at heart, accepting uncertainty and placing my trust in God has been a challenging yet rewarding journey.

EMBRACE:

The Lord is in charge! After saying my prayers and listing my asks, I’ve learned to end with “or something better”. This allows God to bless me with what I truly need.

These insights have impacted me, and I hope they offer comfort, inspiration, and strength where you may need it right now.

As strong women, entrepreneurs, mothers, partners, and daughters, we are resilient women capable of adapting and thriving despite adversity.

Five Simple Things to Know to Save You Time and Mental Energy

These are the FIVE simple things you need to know to save time and energy and get results FASTER!

Numbers 5 and 6 might be my favorites! ⁠
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The best five things you NEED TO KNOW to save time and mental energy and get results faster ARE… drum roll, please! ⁠
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Your top 5 priorities! ⁠
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That’s it! ⁠
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But why are priorities so POWERFUL? ⁠
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  1. When your priorities are clear, you know what to say yes to and what to say no to. ⁠
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  2. When your priorities aren’t defined, you think everything is important, which leaves you saying yes to the things that don’t complement your priorities, contributing to you being over-scheduled and not getting the important things completed. ⁠
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  3. Priorities help you set clear, intentional boundaries. When your priorities are defined, setting boundaries becomes easier. Whether it’s work hours, family time, or church commitments, knowing what’s essential allows you to stick to your boundaries, ensuring you’re giving your best (and your time) where it matters most.⁠
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  4. When you don’t live by and schedule from your priorities, you are letting yourself down by not doing to the necessary actions to create the life/results you want. ⁠
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  5. When you DO live by and schedule from your priorities, you don’t let anyone else down by
    • having to reschedule meetings,⁠
    • dropping the ball on tasks you said you would do⁠
    • being late because you were overscheduled & ran out of time.⁠

  6. Knowing your priorities makes your words more impeccable and trustworthy (to yourself and others)!⁠

Having A Hard Time Staying Motivated

When I taught special education, the IEP team would come up with a set of criteria to consider the goal mastered.

That criteria usually sounded like this.

“Between now and July 30th, Ceri will, when given change of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters be able to count the change correctly up to one dollar with 90% accuracy in three out of four attempts.”

If you’re having a hard time staying motivated toward a goal, there’s a good chance I know what you’re NOT DOING!

Keep reading, this is IMPORTANT!!

Let’s break down what I’ve learned about goal setting from my time as a special education teacher to understand what you’re NOT DOING!
  • Make the criteria very specific. I didn’t just say count change. I said, “When given a change of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters… count the change correctly up to one dollar.” Sometimes the goal would be set to count only pennies and nickels and up to 50 cents. Even the goal of learning to count change needs to be specific to know what has been mastered and when.
  • Determine ahead of time what mastery will be. Because we are human, there are going to be mistakes, That’s why I wrote goals that said, “with 90% accuracy in three out of four attempts.” With money, I often set the criteria for 100% accuracy in 3 out of 4 attempts, but things like answering reading comprehension questions might have been 80% accuracy in 4 out of 4 attempts. This means the criteria for mastering reading comprehension at a specific grade level is consistently scoring 80% over time (4 out of 4 attempts).
  • Set the time frame for what you will learn (do) and when you will learn (do) it. “Between now and July 30th” Ceri will…”

And here’s the TRICK to the time frame.

Let the time frame be your guide, be your motivator, something to help you know if you’re making progress, not the final word or deflator.

If a child had not mastered the goal by the time set, we didn’t give up on or abandon the goal. We kept working on it until it was mastered. If a child had not mastered the goal in a certain time frame, progress was still made. The child had learned things to help them, and if they keep working at it, eventually they become the master.

Let the time frame keep you focused, but stay focused on the PROGRESS, not the time frame!

I don’t teach you this to make goal-setting feel EVEN MORE complicated.

I tell you this to help you feel more CONFIDENT and motivated in your goals.

It’s so helpful to know exactly what you need to do and how often, in what amount of time, and with what accuracy to master a goal.

We’d master and stay motivated to many more goals if we took the time to make them very specific and create room for being human.

What if your goals sounded more like this?

Between now and March 30, 2024, I will post 3 out of 7 days on Instagram with 90% accuracy.

That means you shoot to post 3 times each week and over the time set (between now and March 30,) you have 10% wiggle room for your humanness.

Whatever your goals sound like, take a look at them and ask…

Is the criteria of what you will do very specific? Not just close “more” consults or post “more” on social media.

Have you determined what you will consider mastery? 100%, 80% 3 out of 4 times… it’s up to you, but know ahead of time what it will be.

Have you set a time frame for when you will reach this goal and allow that time frame to help you stay on track towards your learning/progress, rather than defeat you?

Strengthen These Two Things

Are you feeling overwhelmed and stuck juggling the demands of motherhood and your burning desire to grow your successful business?

You’re not alone.

Every successful woman you admire once stood where you are now.

All the entrepreneurs I work with faced this same challenge at one point because I specialize in helping women like you strengthen the two most crucial aspects needed to create the success and impact you desire without sacrificing motherhood or the values you hold dear.

What do you need to strengthen?

NUMBER ONE

Believe in Your Success: believe that success is possible for you with the time and abilities that you have. God didn’t place a desire on your heart without blessing you with the skills and capabilities to make it happen.

Think of that ambitious woman you know who has achieved the balance you seek. She’s not just a figment of imagination but a real testament that with the right mindset and strengthened self-belief you can do it too.
Let her story inspire you to believe in your success, too.

NUMBER TWO

Mastering Time Management: Knowing how to use your time effectively is pivotal. Knowing WHAT to spend your time is just as pivotal!
I help women use their time to support the actions they must take to create the success they desire.

This is different for everyone, and there’s no one-size-fits-all to YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT!

Imagine if you had a clear plan aligned perfectly with your goals each day, leaving you feeling accomplished and closer to your dreams.

I know what you are thinking,

“But I have kids, and so many unexpected things pop up; how can I have a clear plan?”

Don’t worry, I coach on strategies to help you prioritize tasks, eliminate time-wasters, have time for the unexpected, and ensure that every action you take moves you closer to success.

Every successful woman you admire once stood where you are now.

They had doubts, fears, and numerous responsibilities, but they strengthened their belief and applied effective strategies to use their time and their mind to support their dreams.

I’ve witnessed transformation after transformation of women like you who create more success in less time while strengthening their motherhood and relationships.

A Page From My Journal

“The first week of 2023 started with my husband losing his job, and it ended with him still not finding one despite diligent efforts. 

2023 challenged so many thoughts, assumptions, and expectations I had in the past. Ideas and actions I assumed “should” be true were no longer.

2023 felt challenging, complex, confusing, and stifling.  

… The words stand down, halt, pause, surrender… kept creeping into my “word of the year” thoughts.

After a year such as 2023, feeling stunted and stagnant, I wanted a word for 2024 that evoked positive emotion inside me. I wanted to honor the “standstill” I was receiving but capture it in a word that stirred my soul. A word that would allow me to look forward to 2024.  

I began pondering and praying, and it softly came this morning.

Embrace
  • Embrace God’s timing and His plan
  • Embrace growth and opportunities as they find me
  • Embrace happiness and miracles
  • Embrace boundaries and desires
  • Embrace what is
  • Embrace change
  • Embrace myself

Embrace feels like something I am eager to do this year.”

… “I didn’t set a business goal this year, which surprises me.”

I am excited to embrace the change and 

Set the GOAL to:

“Take care of myself and others in my sphere of influence so that collectively, we can abundantly live a balanced life and leave the impact we were created for.”

With that GOAL as my focus, my priorities (spirituality, relationships, health, and business) will grow precisely in the way that is needed this year, and I am ready to embrace it.

Goal Setting Questions

As we dive into the new year, many of the ambitious women I work with are thinking about setting and achieving new goals!

What I’ve noticed working with women entrepreneurs is that it’s very easy to complicate the process with really, good intentions.

Elaborate plans, several action steps, and detailed strategies don’t often empower us as we hope but rather leave us overwhelmed and, ultimately, farther from our goal.

Let’s simplify 2024!

Instead of getting bogged down with an intricate plan that becomes more daunting than the goal itself, let’s take a step back.

ONE: Set your goal – be clear and concise, and know the result you will create when you achieve that goal.

TWO: Uncomplicate your goal-setting process by answering just two transformative questions:

1. What is one simple thing I can start doing to help me achieve my goal? 

This question prompts action. It encourages you to identify new habits, skills, or activities that propel you forward. It’s about adding something to your daily routine that aligns directly with your desired results.

2. What is one simple thing I can I stop doing to help me reach my goal? 

Equally important, this question is about elimination. It’s recognizing the obstacles or time-wasters in your life that hinder progress. Many think goals are about doing more but doing less of the time-wasters that hinder progress might be even more important.

By focusing on these two questions, you streamline the result-creation process. You make goal setting a simple and responsive experience, adjusting as you learn what works best for you.

This approach is adaptable to any personal, professional goal, or something in between. So, as you ponder your 2024 goals, keep these questions in mind and enjoy reaching your goals more simply!

Here’s to setting goals that inspire and motivate, not overwhelm.

Feel This Busy Time of Year

Ready to create the feelings of Christmas this year?  Even during this crazy, busy time of year, it’s really a lot easier than you might think. 

Ponder the question below. ⁠

What three feelings do you want to make a priority this season? ⁠

Notice, I didn’t say what three THINGS you are going to do to feel the Spirit of the season, rather…⁠

What three feelings do you want to make a priority this Christmas season? ⁠
  • Do you want to feel generous?⁠
  • Do you want to feel joy? ⁠
  • Perhaps peaceful, slower, or present.⁠
  • Do you want to feel fun, available, grateful, or feel loved? ⁠

Take a moment to think of three ways you want to feel this season. ⁠

When you create your to-do list, let your desired feelings guide what you do and what you don’t do this season. ⁠

When you are confronted with a task, an ask (request) or an idea, even a long-standing tradition, stop and ask, ⁠

“Will saying yes to this task, ask, or idea complements how I want to feel this season or compete with how I want to feel?⁠”

If it’s not going to bring in the feeling of Christmas for you, consider not doing the tasks, asks, ideas, or even traditions.⁠

“This season brings to all of us a measure of happiness that corresponds to the degree to which we have turned our minds, feelings, and actions” to the most important reason (to us) for the season. ⁠

I know just how precious time is, so I deeply I thank you for spending a little of your time with me each week. 
Merry Christmas!  

Value Your Time

When working with women who feel like
  • they don’t have enough time
  • are always too busy and overwhelmed
  • feeling behind and failing
  • frustrated with the results they aren’t getting,

they tell me the reason why is about  “all the wrong things” they are doing with their time. ⁠

But that’s not why they are feeling overwhelmed!

Instead of wasting YOUR time blaming yourself for how you’re spending your time, I want to help you do something more effective with your time (and your thoughts about yourself)!

Here’s how!

Define your top 5 priorities and begin to spend your time doing things that complement them rather than compete with them. ⁠

That’s it!  Use your time (more often) in the way you genuinely value!  

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Schedule Results, Not Tasks

If you’re going to bed each night feeling like you didn’t get “enough” done even though you worked tirelessly; try this one tip to get more done and FEEL more accomplished each day.

Change the way you schedule your tasks!

Does your schedule look something like this? ⁠

  1. Get the house cleaned⁠
  2. Work on my business ⁠
  3. Make phone calls⁠
  4. Finish Christmas ⁠
Want to get more done, feel organized, and FEEL MORE ACCOMPLISHED at the end of each day? Write down the results you want, not the task in its entirety!  ⁠

GO FROM THAT TO THIS!  

  1. Not get the house cleaned: sweep and mop the kitchen and vacuum the downstairs⁠.  Write the exact things you’re going to do.  
  2. Not working on my business: writing three emails, coaching two private clients, and finishing proofreading the webinar series emails.  Knowing what you’re going to do will help keep you more focused.  ⁠
  3. Not make phone calls: call Mom and ask about the Christmas party, change ortho appointment, and call the pharmacy to renew meds. Nothing motivates you to want to do more than getting to check, check, check off all those boxes.   ⁠
  4. Not finish Christmas: put all the bows on the Christmas presents, place them under the tree, and create the menu for Christmas dinner. Know what you’re aiming for so you can determine if you hit your targets. 

There’s nothing like having a list of results and getting them done to help you feel more accomplished at the end of each day, stay motivated, 

AND GET MORE DONE!

When you say clean the house, and at the end of the day, it’s not clean because of children and your family living in it, you’re going to feel defeated.

When you say work on your business, but your business work options never end, you never feel like you did “enough” that day.

Scheduling your time for the results, not the tasks is how you create that feeling at the end of each day that you did, in fact, accomplish what you set out to do!  

Accomplishing more of what you DEFINED keeps you motivated to keep at it!  

First Half

Disclaimer: Even if you’re not a runner or have zero interest in running EVER, this email is still very much for you!

This week, I was working with a client who was hesitant about her goal, her first 5K.

I could tell she had “expectations” for how her experience “should” look.

Did she think…

  • training had to look a certain way, or it wasn’t “good enough?”
  • she had to get a specific time for her first race, or it wasn’t worth telling anyone about?
  • that by signing up, it meant she had to RUN the entire thing?
Completing my first half marathon weighing over 220 pounds, I had a lot to share with her, and it might be helpful for you too! 

As you read, consider your next goal, business project/idea, or motherhood challenge you want to go after. 

Do you have it in mind? If not, think about it! 

Do you think it has to look a certain way to “count?”

When I went to pick up my race packet and received my 

t-shirt, I was made aware that I was the only size XL shirt on the roster, and that was for both the men’s and women’s races. I certainly didn’t look (or weigh) the way most 1/2 marathon runners look, but does that negate my success?

Do you think, if it’s not done by a specific time it’s any less of an accomplishment?

I had one main goal for my first race.

Finish the Race

When we think a goal, project, or challenge has to be completed/solved/obtained by a particular time, that “made-up time frame” often stops us from even starting. 

Ditch the time frame and dedicate yourself to moving forward a little bit more each day. 

Do you think you have to have it all figured out or have the best idea, perfect certification, a big network, or fancy equipment to be successful? 

I didn’t look like your typical 1/2 marathon runner, but I also didn’t have a water supply around my waist, no fancy fuel packs, no watch to time my pace, I ran alone, and I wore hand-me-down running shoes. 

All those “strikes” against me, and I still 

completed the goal.

Remember that goal, business idea, or motherhood challenge that you thought of at the beginning of this email? 

What if you dropped the expectations of what it is supposed to look like and just started?  

Drop the excuses keeping you from going after your next big thing!  

It didn’t matter what I weighed or didn’t have because I was running my OWN race, I set my expectations, and my timeline, and I reached my goals by taking baby steps MY WAY!!  

Those principles are exactly how I grew my six-figure business in less than 18 months while teaching full-time school and parenting my three daughters!
Run your own dang race in life, business, and motherhood!

Run it on your terms, with your OWN goals, fostering your strengths, without excuses, and in a way that makes you proud. 

If you reach your goals, and you’re not proud of how you got there, did you really reach it?