DIY Christmas Gift Idea–2012 Planner

Christmas is nearly here and most of us have a few people left to buy gifts for. How about the My Life Matters 2012 planner with a cover you’ve made yourself? You can help her begin the new year by focusing on what is important to her in life, plus make it a thoughtful, personalized gift by decorating a binder or other cover to show her life matters to you.

Here is more about the 2012 edition, which is a download you print yourself on your own paper (there are also printing tips here.

Bobette on Careers From The Kitchen Table

As you may know, I was recently interviewed by Raven Blair Davis on the Houston CBS radio show Careers From the Kitchen Table. If you missed it, now is your chance to listen in–we’ve uploaded the audio from the interview.

The MP3 is here. We had a bad line for the first part of the interview, but we fixed the problem during the first commercial break, so hang in there and the audio becomes clearer after four or five minutes. Also, the Website she mentions at the beginning is actually WebsiteMarketingPlan.com.

http://www.womansplanner.com/data/CFKTInterview.mp3

My Life Matters Woman’s Planner Wins Living Now Book Award

St. Louis MO–Lifestyle Inspirations LLC, publisher of the My Life Matters Planner for Women, announced the planner has been chosen as one of the best new planners, journals, or calendars in the Living Now Book Awards.

“The Living Now Book Awards recognize the year’s best books, planners, and journals that help readers help themselves.” said Awards Director Jim Barnes. “These are important tools for gaining knowledge about life-improvement goals, and are a must read for helping us achieve those goals.”

Barnes goes on to explain that people are sensing the need to slow down and to find balance in and live healthier lives. “Winners in the Journal / Planner / Calendar category are especially useful to those who want to live that more rounded lifestyle.” My Life Matters won bronze in that category.

“Women have a need to address a wide range of issues in their lives, some far beyond organization and scheduling. We set out to fill that need with an all-in-one planner and are grateful for the recognition.” stated company Co-Owner Bobette Kyle.

About the My Life Matters Planner for Women

The planner is published and created by Lifestyle Inspirations LLC Co-Owners Bobette Kyle, Cecilia George, and Laura Thake, who run the small company from their homes.

The My Life Matters planner helps women focus on what is important to them, with sections for time management, diet & nutrition, goal setting, fitness, medical health, and personal finances. The planner is available in six-month editions, including July-December 2011, which retails for $26.95. The planner is spiral-bound, 9″ by 11 1/2″, with a large built in pocket for papers. It comes with a set of portable inserts (My Well Woman Health Information and My Contacts) and a self-adhesive 4″ x 6″ photo pocket. The Website is located at: www.WomansPlanner.com.

Contact Information

Laura Thake
314-910-9002
laura@WomansPlanner.com

Lifestyle Inspirations LLC
9051 Watson Road, Box 318
Saint Louis MO 63126

Ongoing Strength of Achievements–Cecilia’s Story

“They say that once you run a marathon you can do just about anything. When I first committed to doing this marathon, I had no idea if I would be successful. I charted in my planner that it was my goal to finish. When I came through the finish line after running 4 hours and 17 minutes straight, I felt an overwhelming feeling of relief and pride. It’s has been so rewarding to see my progress in my planner.” –Cecilia George, Lifestyle Inspirations LLC Co-owner

The obvious benefit of accomplishment is the sense of achievement when you reach your goal. There are others as well:

• Cecilia says she gains strength even now from going back and reading her accomplishments.
• We all have times when we feel inadequate; reminding yourself of what you achieved in the past also reminds you of the person you really are.
• Whether you finish exactly what you set out to do or not, your life is enriched by the experience. You have learned something new, met others who help move your life forward, or simply become more comfortable as you. All are worthy triumphs.

There is no better time than now to reach for your dreams. Set pen to paper now and plan for it! (Shameless plug: Cecilia, Laura, and I made sure there is ample room for goal setting, tracking your progress, and reflection in our My Life Matters Personal Planner for Women.)

Staying on track with training using My Life Matters planner: Cecilia’s Story

When we last left Cecilia, she had just told us about the months leading up to running the marathon; it was difficult at times, but she drew strength from her purpose. Laura and I saw her diligently planning and tracking her training routine as well. Cecilia explains:

“As the training process increased, so did my reliance on our planner.  I tracked daily what I was doing physically, and what I was eating. The food pyramid was very important, especially the days of long runs. Keeping track of my protein and carbohydrate intake was crucial.”

While most of us are not training for a marathon, we all have fitness and nutritional needs. Cecilia tracked the miles she ran and how many carbs and proteins she ate each day in the My Health and Well-Being section. I use the same pages for food diaries and different types of workouts (my example is here).

No matter what our fitness and weight levels, we can benefit from healthier diet and exercise habits.  If you have been putting off making those habits a part of your daily routines, now is the ideal time. Here’s more information about My Life Matters.

On Great Day St. Louis

Set your DVRs! The My Life Matters Planner for Women will be on KMOV TV’s Great Day St. Louis Friday, January 21st. Practical Mommy of My Mommy Manual will present her favorite organization tools to new show host Virginia Kerr. For those of you outside the St. Louis viewing area, we will post the interview soon.

Focusing Your Energy On Progress

So many of us focus our attention on what isn’t going right, then have no energy left for progress. Today is about how to focus attention on getting things done and not burn your energy away by feeling overwhelmed.

A tendency we all have when faced with much more than we can actually do is to panic or stress out about it, which leads to getting less done. Next time this happens, instead of getting uptight, try writing a list then prioritizing.

This has two benefits: 1) it gets the clutter out of your head so you can think straighter and 2) it tells you which project or activity to focus on first. You may discover you don’t need to do as much as you thought. Many non-essential to-dos tend to go away if you don’t get to them immediately. They weren’t your to-dos at all!

A lot of us keep a planner to avoid the panicky feeling as much as possible. Staying ahead of the curve feels so much better than feeling “dumped upon.”

Shameless plug time: I use the My Life Matters Personal Planner for Women, of course . My ongoing to-do lists are on the My Days page (as you can see, “my cup runneth over” last week), food journals are on the daily pages; workouts, water, and hours slept in the daily My Health and Well Being section. I write my appointments first on the monthly calendar, then on the My Days page as each week arrives. This way, I am in a position to make progress; the critical pieces of my life’s “here and now” are always at my fingertips!

Using a Planner To Make Dreams Come True: Cecilia’s Story

Yesterday, we began the story of how one of Cecilia’s dreams has been to run a marathon and  how, in December, this dream came true. Today she explains how she used MY LIFE MATTERS to get started. As you read, remember that you can do the same for any dream…most of us are not runners, but we all have dreams:

“When you decide to run a marathon, there are training programs for different levels of running. I chose a program for runners training for a first marathon, with the goal to finish with strength versus time. This is where our planner (MY LIFE MATTERS) was instrumental in helping me stay focused on the goal while training. For over three months I followed the program with speed runs, strength training runs, marathon pace runs and long runs with one day off each week for muscle recovery.

 

1. Starting in August on the month at a glance I wrote in my training workout each day in red.
2. For the month I also wrote down My monthly goals.
3. Running and training became a daily priority. Each day of the week I wrote the miles I ran or the preparation I did.
4. On the weekend page I tallied all the miles I ran for the week.”

You can see how Cecilia began on a monthly level–setting goals and planning her activities for the month–then tracked her progress against her plan as the days and weeks passed.

You can do the same. If you haven’t already done so, get out your planner now and:

1. Set your goals for the month and writing them on the My Monthly Goals page.
2. Plan out what you are going to do each day to move toward that goal–note them on the monthly calendar.
3. Each day, flip to the day on your My Week or My Weekend page and track how you are doing.
4. At the end of each week, use the My Weekend or My Days page to reflect on how you did.

Before you know it, realizing your dreams will be only a planner page away!

How Terra is using the My Life Matters planner

It is always interesting to take a peek at how different people organize and live their lives. Often, I learn something and get ideas that can work for me. In that spirit, I will be sharing with you what we and some of our customers are using the My Life Matters ^TM planner to accomplish. Today, Terra Williams of EasyScratchOffs.com is in the spotlight. Terra is like many modern women; her multi-pronged life includes working at home, running the household, and raising children.

Bobette: Hi, Terra. Thank you for sharing how you will use the planner. I also want to thank you again for your support and input throughout development of both the 2011 My Life Matters ^TM and the 2010 Daysteps.

Let’s dive right in. What areas of life would you like to better organize?

Terra: You are welcome. I would like to schedule family time, meals, water intake, business goals, and to-dos in one planner.

Bobette: Great. I can see you’ve been thinking about different areas of your life–relationships, business, and nutrition. You probably have in mind how often you would like to track or complete each of those?

Terra: Yes. I would like to track my water intake and food diary daily–since I need to keep track of what foods trigger a reaction–plus keep an ongoing list of meal ideas because I can’t remember from one day to the next. I also want to scheduled regular one-on-one time with my children and reserve date nights with my husband. Weekly, I will be using the planner to keep track of business goals, to brainstorm ideas, and for implementation.

Bobette: There are several planner sections that can help with these. Here are some ideas for tracking and organizing:

-Daily food diary: The daily My Health and Well-Being area has a place to journal what you eat (as well as water consumption). If you would like more space, the morning/afternoon/evening section on the same page is perfect for detailed food diaries.

- Food reactions: Journal your reactions in the monthly My Life, Myself page or on the My Days page. You can also note them on the lines just above My Health and Well-Being.

– One-on-one time and dates: Schedule these on the monthly calendar, daily pages, or My Days page, wherever you choose to keep track of other appointments.

- Business Goals: Set your goals on the monthly My Goals page, use part of the My Life, Myself page to brainstorm, plan your weeks in the My Week sections, and implement by listing your ongoing to-dos on the My Days page each week.

Terra: Thanks! I can’t wait to get started.

Bobette: You are welcome.

I’d like to hear from the rest of you how you are using the My Life Matters ^TM Personal Planner for Women. Email me at:
bobette @ womansplanner.com (please remove spaces around the @ sign)

 

St. Louis Post Dispatch: My Life Matters Evolves from Daysteps Personal Planner

We continue to receive positive attention from the media (thank you, St. Louis journalists). The latest piece, here, is by Harry Jackson of the Post Dispatch. He explains a bit about how the three of us–Cecilia, Laura, and I–were 3/4ths of the ownership of our former company, Daysteps LLC, and gives an overview of the MY LIFE MATTERS Planner for Women.

 

 

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