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Posts from the ‘Workshop’ Category

Dec 11

Daily Dose 52: Diminishing Returns

If a little is good, more must be better. If a little plant food generates bursts of colorful blooms, wouldn’t more make even more blooms even bigger? If I can get so much done in a concentrated ten minute cleaning session, think what I could do in an hour. Yes, think about it. The results might surprise you. At what point does too much plant food begin to burn the roots, decreasing the size and health of the blooms? Take pictures after a ten minute session and an one hour session. Is there a noticeable difference in final outcome? Not likely. The increased effort probably went to less visible projects (think washing walls: lots of intense labor, but very little increase in the “tidy look” department). Welcome to the world of diminishing returns. Read more

Dec 10

Daily Dose 51: Evaluations

Evaluating what we do as home executives is a best practice. We are accountable to the Lord, and the home is still very much a private institution. We don’t clock in and out (well, we do clock in, but are never clocked out), we don’t submit quarterly reports to anyone, and we don’t document how we spent our day. Read more

Dec 8

Daily Dose 49: FAQs for Writing Systems

What are the basic rules for a writing system?

Start Early. Start Simple. Be Professional. Be Permanent. Get a paper punch. Create elegant solutions, don’t acquire elegant gadgets.

Simple because you won’t consistently use an unwieldy system. Professional because you might lose, or need to redo notes and plans if a stop gap solution drifts into permanence. More importantly, your information will be in a more ready-to-share form. Permanent, because you want any weeding through plans to be intentional, not accidental. You need a paper punch to make it simple to add other printed materials to your notebook. . .maybe even as early as tomorrow. Read more

Dec 7

Daily Dose 48: Accounting System

I love paper, office supply stores and planner catalogs. I love the slip of quality paper; the slick, smooth scribing fine paper makes possible. But I also know the key to a writing system is not how elegant it is, but how it is used. Any account book: a 30-cent back-to-school spiral notebook, a 300-dollar planner system with calf leather case, a legal pad, even a sheet of paper, can be helpful for a home executive, but none comes with a guarantee, because using makes the difference. Read more

Dec 6

Daily Dose 47: Experiments

Loud crying. . . make that screaming. . . was coming from outside. It sounded serious, but inexplicable. Quiet hours were just about finished and no one had appeared as yet from their bedrooms.

No. That was definitely one of my children crying outside. Hurrying (as close as I get to panic in anything having to do with my children) outside and around the corner of the house, I met one of the boys holding his head. One glance showed a goose egg, dark purple and immense, right in the center of the forehead. Two glances showed an open second story window. I was looking at a failed experiment. Read more

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