I am following up the long Christmas and New Year’s holidays with a visit from my niece who will be with us for a week.  It was at first challenging to think of how I’d find time to spend with her, since I’ve returned to working, but I said yes to her visit anyway.  I’m pleased to experience how this has s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d the holidays, which can normally zoom by too quickly.  Beth even gave me time to work, such as taking my dog, Tula, and joining in a doggie play date with the neighborhood kids.

In what ways can you get the pleasurable holidays to s-t-r-e-t-c-h?

This time of year can challenge your patience, as it seems the streets and freeways are more crowded, shopping centers and grocery stores overflow with people, and there are longer lines to wait in.  A few words to the wise in how to remain calm and to prioritize your activities and travel:

1.  Write down and organize what you need to buy and where to get it and group your shopping together to make two or three store trips, versus a dozen.  Notice where the stores are located and go to the furthest out places and work backwards closer to home.  Avoid backtracking or time wasted by taking your store list with you, getting what you need, and leaving.  If you enjoy shopping, make sure you have scheduled the time to take it slow and easy.

2.  Consider if you can travel safely at off times whenever possible.  That may mean you have to hit the hay earlier for some sleep before leaving, or you may miss an hour or two of sleep, but you’ll also save energy not having to fight the traffic with everyone else who leaves at the usual morning or night hours. (more…)

Despite your best intentions, there are times when things others handle on your behalf take longer than you are told they will take originally, than you expect is reasonable, or because mistakes were made that have to be corrected.

Here’s a few solutions for dealing with these frustrating times that I’ve found works:

1.  Always give others a longer time to complete big projects, (I recently experienced this with a transition to a new computer).  Start the project only when you have the time to give it time.  That way even if the project completion takes longer than you expect, it won’t be as long as it would have been if you had given it a shorter completion date.

2.  Give yourself the energy fudge room to handle a growing or expansive project.  If you have so many deals going on that one is pulling dramatically for your atttention, it can seem overwhelming, when having the expectation that it could take longer, you’ll be more prepared to ready yourself for the task. (more…)

Being resourceful according to Merriam-Webster is:  “Having the ability to find clever ways to overcome difficulties.”  Is that you?  

The following are some questions to help you know your preferred learning styles and most successful approach to prepare you to access resources to solve a problem or improve a situation, especially one that is challenging.

1.  Do you work best alone or with the help of a partner or team? 
2.  Do you have a clear understanding of the task or project you need to research or find resources to support? 
3.  Is talking to or interviewing others a place you like to start?  (or do you get too swayed by the opinions of others?) 
4.  Is reading books, listening to CD’s, or watching video programs helpful?  (or is narrowing them down difficult?)
5.  Would you find utilizing other research experts helpful, such as working with your librarian, coach, therapist, priest?
6.  Can you search online quickly and relatively easy? (or do you get distracted and waste too much time?)
7.  Are you able to apply reflective thinking to your project without overthinking it, to distill the info you need?
8.  Are you best at the front-end, back-end or throughout the duration of a project?  
9.   How do you handle difficult situations (tune out, over-work, feel challenged to resolve it, excited, get angry, etc.?)
10. Are you able to focus and pace yourself so you don’t overspend personal resources (time, money, energy, peace)?
11. Has anyone ever told you how helpful or useful you are and if so, what did you do and how were you helpful?
12. Can you recall times in which you’ve applied a unique idea or approach to a challenging situation or problem?
13. Do you enjoy being able to come up with a positive, productive solution?
14. Do you feel comfortable exploring new terrains and competent to search out the answers needed?
15. Do you have a general attitude that everything can be worked out or solved to a satisfactory result?

Trust your working style.  Seek out positive support to encourage you to translate your resourcefulness to your desired results.

After putting all your ideas out, you can then decide which ones you’ll keep and which ones you’ll eliminate in finalizing a goal.  While this may seem like a timely process, it assures that all your great ideas are captured, regardless of how silly or how seemingly impossible they may be, towards helping you accomplish your objective.

It’s always best to work on a large paper or even a dart board, as seen here on the left, (since this can be a fun process too).  You want to be sure you aren’t restricting your ideas with too small of a writing or working space. 

Get all of your ideas out – both those that are strongly or mildly interesting and even the crazy ones.  With even the wild and crazy ideas, there can be kernals of something useful and powerful to include.  So don’t be too quick to discard these kinds of ideas.   Then see where there are similarities, where your experience, skills and strengths most occur, and with which ideas you’d have the time, energy and resources for.  In other words, begin the narrowing and focusing process after you’ve got all your ideas out. 

Best not to jump into action on any of these ideas until you’ve done the shuffling process of discarding the true misfit ideas and see the patterns emerge on what you really want to pursue.  Now with less ideas you can move into the R&D phase and do examination of these ideas or goals in more detail, to determine the best one to pursue.