Prioritizing With Perspective

Recently I've been gifted with an amazing amount of orders in my Etsy site. Which I love! But I've also been given the gift of a Thursday morning Christian Artist's group, a wonderful family and friends, and most recently....AMAZING new art stamps. OK so the last one doesn't seem to fit with the others but the stamps have just been taunting me. "Come use me- Come play...." To which I respond, "Sooon, after I finish my orders, the chapters I'm supposed to read by tomorrow, the craft project I'm putting together for my mom's group, and life. "

This morning I met with my artist's group and we talked together about focus. It's something I struggle with constantly. I need to be focused on a project in order to finish it. I also need to be able to give my husband and son the attention they need. The orders for the shop- I need to focus on those because this is my beloved business. So how do I do it? How do you do it? How do you give the necessary amount of focus to all the important things in your life?

Currently, I prioritize. But I'm not sure that's the best way to manage it all. I don't know about you, but my priorities get out of whack pretty easily. Right now the orders are getting the most of the time and attention I can spare from my family. Then, other "commitments" I've made are prioritized according to due date. Finally, any reading I have to do. Self-development comes last. It's squeezed into the very beginning or the end of the day and frankly that seems to cut my husband out all together. So I'm not happy with this. But I think we all do it. One thing I've learned over the years though, is the importance of keeping perspective. In the proper perspective my health and development would move to the top. Because we would all agree that it's way more important to give our car an oil change than a car wash. Right? Maintenance is necessary for us as well. If we spend all of our time pushing ourselves and take no time to pause to catch our breath and grab a coffee then we soon find ourselves running on fumes.

This morning in my artist's meeting I was able to look objectively at my week and asked to consider the things I had done. Just taking that brief time to reflect (and drink coffee) was completely inspiring. I spent the rest of the day recharging. I went to the craft store and library with my son. I looked through some craft books I've had waiting for me forever, and I started to play. I used my amazing new art stamps to create a project, I started to work on a birdhouse photo holder that I think will be amazing, and I spent an hour playing "kitty" with my four year old son. Giving him some of the one on one attention he needs during the day. It was a great day! Now, instead of spending the night perusing Etsy and Flickr or working on some orders, I am going to go upstairs and pick out some windows and doors I like with my husband. Of course, I'm going to bend a bit of wire as I look( multi-tasking); but we can't get rid of all our bad habits in one day- right? :)