Remabulous

the tyranny and joy of a good checklist

i am, my dad and i decided on the phone today, my father's daughter. we love a good checklist. not only because we are big doers who like to accomplish, but because we are weird enough to actually obsess over the moment of getting to strike something off that list.

i have gotten so far as to have checklists on the giant white board in my office area, one in my calendar, and one on the blackberry so i can check off on the go, although pushing a button is not as good as putting an actual line through something with a pen or marker. ah. the bliss.

but there is a downside to the checklist. it is the day of reckoning that comes right at the end of the month when i have to fess up as to how i did. i love the beginning of the month, when i wipe the whole board clean and create a new list of dreams to accomplish and move forward on. anything seems possible. but at 1:30 pm on saturday two days before the month is over, the thought of having to go to the observatory, two museums, go running, make a skirt and finish a sweater as well as writing a new vision plan for my company, things start to look a little grim.

i think the lesson is this, as it has been for me most of my life: balance. i am good at getting things done, and not so good at appreciating what i have created. i am more like a hamster wheel than a buddha. my goal for october is to have a shorter, richer to-do list, one which moves things forward, but also allows and encourages for joy in the present. more organic process and less frantic activity.

i think it will be a good month. i offer the hope that all reading here will put both "breathe" and "enjoy" on their to-do lists. then let's see how we feel and what we've done by next month's end. i suspect it might be quite a lot.

wisdom from gwen bell

gwen bell is a sassy lady and a damn fine blogger. i was lucky enough to meet her at blogher 07 because i could not stop myself from telling her at the first cocktail party that i thought she had rad style. she later saved several books i had bought from the oblivion of my leaving them behind on the bus like the clueless creature i am. this act of kindness has put her on my a+ list for all eternity.

i happened upon her latest posts today and was very happy to see a new one up, entitled "you should quit your job on monday." i loved it so much i had to share. plus i think you'll be happier if you follow what this lady is writing...

thanks gwen!

ladies fly free: don't miss this film!

those of you in the los angeles area will not want to miss a thought-provoking offering on at grauman's chinese theater this weekend. in three two hour installments, don't miss jennifer fox's series, flying: confessions of a free woman. whether you are a woman, date women, or just see them around, this film is asking questions and considering issues that need more air time.

i had the opportunity to discuss the film with jennifer recently and thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the process of making such an ambitious series as well as hearing what is next for her method of "passing the camera."

jennifer's career as a filmmaker is inspiring to learn about, from its early conception and her path of creating work that satisfies what she is passionate about, fox certainly embodies the remabulous.

lady entrepreneurs make a difference: thanks, ladies who launch!

i am signed up though ladies who launch to receive their weekly profile of a woman entrepreneur. i found this week's featured businesswoman, rebecca kousky, particularly inspiring. she is the founder of nest, a micro loan organization, which uses the funding from its online boutique to finance micro loans for women artists around the world.

i found rebecca particularly remabulous as she said that her love of fashion and social work did not combine to a pre-made job title, so she had to make up her own. thank you for sharing your story, rebecca! may more of us make up our own titles to better share our talents.

if you enjoy the article below, consider signing up for the ladies who launch newsletter. i have enjoyed it and recommend it highly...

nesting

ever since i had my organizing day with the magical cheryl perkins, i have been trying very hard to keep thing ship shape around my home. it seems that home is the focus of the moment, as carrie & danielle's wonderful "friday focus" newsletter has spent the past two fridays talking about home. their questions are inspiring, asking what a home says about its owner and giving me permission to wonder what i want my home to say about me.

between somewhat botching the assembly of a cubby unit to finish off the closet and hauling cinder blocks up from my car to make one more bookcase, it seems that what i want my home to have is both coziness and order.

those amazing style statement ladies- they have me nailed once again. creative refinement is once again clearly who i am: now that my space is more refined, i feel more creative than ever.

why not give your own home a once over. what's missing? or what is there too much of? most of all: what unhung picture or pile of mail or papers to-be-filed drains your energy whenever you pass it as you move through your home. give yourself a gift. hang up that picture and watch how much better you feel whenever you see it in its place.

sometimes it's the small things that make us feel at home. don't deny yourself there. i am reveling in the difference of one trip to home depot and a cheap shelf from target. revolutionary.

cooking the books

today, i am sitting down to take on a beast i have managed to procrastinate taming far longer than is reasonable:quickbooks.

I am a long-term user of quicken, and have fairly consistently kept a balanced checkbook. despite training in the subject, support, and a reasonably savvy ability with computers, this process is still somehow terrifying.

here are my thoughts on being your own bookkeeper:

coming out of the closet.

this used to be my closet.

oh- the shame! i wouldn't let people in. it was scary and very annoying to get dressed. then my friend cheryl, a professional organizer, came and spent the day with me.

this is my closet now:

sigh. relief. joy! i highly recommend biting the bullet and getting an organizer to come if you are drowning in stuff. i was amazed by how much we got done and by how much better my whole house feels now that my closet has become a legitimate dressing room. i feel like i have more clothes, and the thought of getting dressed is fun, rather than dreaded.

thank you, cheryl!

check her site out at: www.creating-balance.net

public speaking doesn't have to be scary. (part 2)

so, this public speaking thing is becoming a focus at the moment. if there is one thing i can say about starting my own business, it is that i have ended up doing things i would never imagine doing otherwise. like standing up in front of a group and finding myself telling them all about my fear of cocktail parties and my incessant micromanaging and fear of loss of control. oi. no this wasn't est or an encounter group. (i'm not such a fan of group therapy.) this was my first time at speaking circles. you can bet it will not be my last.

public speaking doesn't have to be scary. really.

i had to give a talk for my networking group this morning. my networking group meets at 7 a.m. every week, so it is a bit of an effort to get there, let alone put together an informative talk when it comes to be my turn to talk in the schedule. still, getting to share information about your services in front of a group is a great opportunity to get business, so for those of you who fear public speaking more than death or torture, here are some tips to make a speaking opportunity a good experience...

if the above view (image by frances berriman via flickr) makes you feel queasy, you need the following tips:

labor day and its gateway to a new decade

thirty is going well. i am happy with it- every bit as much as i had hoped. but it is hot in los angeles this week, and i only have a.c. in the bedroom, a fairly common set-up here. i have spent the weekend staggering between stores, friend's places and movie theaters that have the gift of cool air. kind friends have let me fall into their pool with some frequency and that seems to help us make it though the deadly afternoons.

so while exciting, it has been a bit hard to get anything done anywhere outside the bedroom. (hee hee) i was comforted by this quotation from seth godin that i got from my zaadz weekly good business email. it made me feel that my not having plunged forward into some new crazy adventure (in the first three days of this new decade) was not necessarily a premature indication of failure. yes, i am trying not to be so hard on myself. old habits die hard.

here's the quote. enjoy your labor day!

"My new favorite word is 'awkward.'...The reason we need to be in search of awkward is that awkward is the barrier between us and excellence, between where we are and the remarkable. If it were easy, everyone would have done it already, and it wouldn't be worth the effort."

Seth Godin