maximized living

I’ve gotten behind on this, due to the site move. And due to a crazy life. How is that for irony? A crazy life has caused me to get behind on a series about living the maximized life. :-/

I have changed that however. I have re-evaluated my life and what my life purpose is and made some changes accordingly. And that’s where this post comes in.

The first step on the journey to an organized, maximized life, is to know your life purpose beyond a shadow of a doubt. Then, when things come up, you can say “No!” if they don’t fall under that purpose and you can say “Yes!” if they do.

Figuring out your life purpose

Get a pen and paper.

Do you have it?Ã‚Â Don’t go further until you have it.

Ok, ready? Answer the following questions:

~ What do you love to do?

~ What are you good at doing?

~ If you could change the world, what would it look like?

Don’t take this lightly. Really think through this. This is how it looks for me:

1.Ã‚Â I love to write and read. I love to share what I learn. I love being Mama. I love being a wife. I loveÃ‚Â mentoring younger women. I love passing on the hope I have found as an abuse/eating disorder/self injury survivor. I love to give others encouragement when they are faced with the pain of infertility and loss. I love to live a healthy lifestyle. I love to learn. I love to garden and live as natural as possible.

2. I am good at writing. I’m good at loving people. I’m good at encouraging. I am gifted in counseling and mentoring. I’m good at being real and authentic and transparent for the purpose of helping others through their pain.I’m good at asking the questions that need asking.

3.Ã‚Â An ideal world to me would be children free of abuse and neglect and parents who know how to love each other and love their children. It would be young men and women, wives and husbands, moms and dads, kids, grandparents–everyone–free to be everything God created them to be.

Putting it all Together

Do you have your three questions filled out?Ã‚Â Now, put it all together into one statement that is one to three sentences long. Here is mine (created in 2008)

I will use my thirst for knowledge and my passion for sharing what I learn,by mentoring and writing, in order to teach and encourage others to live as God crated them to be, in the lives He intended them to live.

This, is my life purpose. It extends first to my husband, as I seek to learn all I can to provide a peaceful, smoothly running home, so he can be all God intends him to be.

It extends next to my daughter.

After that to my daycare kids and the young women God brings my way. Then, those I write to, via my writing.

When things come up, I see if they match my life purpose. Writing on this site does, so therefore, I do it. Preschool does, therefore, I take the time to preschool every day. Learning does, therefore I take the time to read books daily.

Maximizing our calling

I break it down further. How can I best maximize what I am called to do?

Take writing for example. Writing does fit my life purpose. However, being a successful, make-money blogger does not.Ã‚Â And I had that confused for awhile. My goal became about getting products to review and a widely enough read blog to make money off of. Then I started this series and I remembered what my purpose is. To write in order to share what I learn, not to make money. So. . . I shut down my blog that I had spent three years building. It was sad but it was also freeing. Suddenly, I no longer had to do something I wasn’t called to do, which freed me up to focus on what I was called to do!

When I write to make money I lose the love for it. It becomes a stressor on my to-do list. Something that hovers over me nagging away until it’s done.

When I write to share what’s in my heart I can write for hours each day. It pushes me out of bed at 4:30 in the morning because it’s a call in my heart that needs to be answered.

That’s what living the maximized life is about – - living out of passion and purpose, not oughts and shoulds.

What is your life purpose? What do you need to cut out to fill that life purpose? What might you need to add in, to fulfill it?

Share with us:

Week 1 of the Maximized Lifestyle

Introduction, Part 1

The Need for the Maximized Life

Ordering Your Private World

We can’t live the maximized life until we know what the maximized life means for us. When you hear the term, what do you think?

This is what I think:

Living each day to it’s fullest potential. My days run smoothly. There is a time for every task and a place for every object. I wake up knowing my purpose and I have a plan of action to follow. There is order in my day yet enough flexibility that if things get out of kilter, I don’t flip out.

Maximized living for me, means accomplishing what I’m called to do and not wasting my time on things that don’t matter. Instead of being overwhelmed by everything, and therefore, not starting anything, I have a plan and I work my plan.

Maximized living is having a life that is just of full of relationships as it is projects and tasks. I stay in touch with people over the phone. I take the time to text when someone is on my mind. I go out of my way to write a letter. I allow myself to take a day out of the normal routine and have girlfriends over for an afternoon.

It has more essence of just being, than it does of doing. My identity comes not in finished to-do lists, wrapped up projects, and a clean house. It comes from who I am as a person. My character, my victories, my strengths, and even the weaknesses that I am working on overcoming. I know myself when I am living the maximized life.

It means I fall into bed at night and I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do – - and most importantly, I did not gyp my family of much needed love and time investment in the process.

When I’m living the maximized life I’m constantly learning new things and applying them. My mind is every growing and expanding. It never grows stale and stagnant.

With this type of life I have a strong work ethic and my hours are filled, yet, at the same time, I know the meaning of rest. I know how to work long hours in the garden and I know how to snuggle on the couch and just watch a movie with the family. I accomplish a clean house on a daily basis but I also get in the bean bag chair and cuddle with my daughter as she reads her books and I read one of mine for a little bit.

A maximized life is full of finished tasks and jobs and it is also full of doing the things that I love, like sewing, reading, and writing for fun. I don’t work all the time at the cost of my hobbies and I don’t immerse in my hobbies so much that necessary tasks are neglected.

Assignment:

In this first week, write up a statement of what Living the Maximized Life looks like to you. Perhaps it means a cleaner house with organization. Less time in front of the TV. Weight loss with regular work outs. Dates with your husband on a regular basis. Playing more with your children.

Menus. A cleaning schedule. An organizer. Journaling on a daily basis. No more half-finished projects.

What does it look like to you?

Second, list what you need to get organized. Do you need to organize:

~ Your entire house?

~ Your cleaning schedule?

~ Your meal plans and shopping?

~ Balance work with rest and hobbies?

~ A time to spend alone in meditation, prayer, and spiritual growth on a daily basis?

~ Your eating habits and exercise?

~ Finances?

~ Spending time with your children?

~ Time with your spouse?

~ Social life?

~ Volunteer work?

Write down what you want to organize.

Then, number them in order of priority.

As the weeks progress, I will be touching on each one of these areas with book excerpts and organizer inserts that I have developed to help with the process. But in the meantime, a journey starts with the first step, and your first step is to know where you want to head.

Ordering Your Private World