Five Minute Friday-Focus

It is 5-Minute Friday with Lisa-Jo Baker tales from a Gypsy Mama.  Each week she posts a different one word topic, and you have to free write for five minutes.  It is a lot of fun, and gives me a chance to practice my writing skills.  Check it out.  You might want to join in too.  This week's topic:  FOCUS.

Begin 5 minutes......

When I first saw this topic, I thought, "Ooooh....something I can really talk about."  Focus has always been somewhat challenging for me.  I have to make a conscious effort to work towards it.  I am the type of person who really likes to have too many irons in the fire.

I will watch a movie on Amazon, or Netflix, while I read facebook, or am checking email etc.  It is very difficult for me to Skype with somebody because I find a hard time being still in front of the computer.

Usually I get a lot of ideas at once.  I tend to be an idea person.  If you have too many ideas going at once, you can lose your focus.  In the past few years, I have started trying to change that, through one little world, simplicity.

I have started simplifying my life.  That helps me maintain my focus.  Focus is important when it comes to your priorities.  All these words are tied together for me, simplicity, focus, priorities.  I want to focus on my priority, which is my family, my God-given priority at the moment.  In order to do that, I have to simplify my surroundings.

That is a huge project when you have a big family, but it is paying off in a big way.  I can tell that by simplifying what are the contents of my house, I am able to focus more on my children, in a more on-purpose way. 

So, I will continue this pursuit of focus.  I hope you do to.

End 5 minutes.......

P.S.  I just went back and read my post and this does not sound FOCUSED!  It sounds like a bunch of late-night rambling.....I guess that is what you get when you free-write sometimes.  Thank goodness for revision!



Taking A Break

Today I decided to take a break from facebook for a while. I have been wanting to for a while, but finally made the decision to break away today. My grandma always said, "You don't have to tell everybody you are going to do something. Just do it." I am obviously not taking that advice today. If you know me very well at all, you know I like to talk. Facebook provides a huge social outlet for me, of which I so desperately need sometimes, being a stay-at-home mom and all. There are so many things I want to do with my time; I have lots of interests. But recently, I just felt like I couldn't focus and couldn't get any of the things done I would like to do. Well, you have four children, you might say. Yes, my children are my priority, but a lot of my free moments were spent just reading the hundreds of posts on facebook. It can be so overwhelming, all that information coming at you at once. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that facebook is bad. I have reconnected with so many good friends and have made new friends, both of which I am very thankful. I just need a break and a chance to focus and re-focus on some other things at the moment, like my blog for example. So, now I have finally written, almost at the end of January, my first blog entry for 2011. What is something you need to focus on?