How in the world are we going to find ‘Joy’ in doing the ‘Nine Habits Each Day Every Day?’ These habits aren’t just any habits you choose. They are the nine habits featured in my ‘Dance Till You FLY! mw (c) 2013 System influenced by The FlyLady. They are as follows and are intended to be done in the order they follow.
1. Get Dressed To Shoes. How can one find joy in that? How about when the UPS man shows up at your door or your child is sick at school and you need to go right away.
2. Swish and Swipe. How many times are you in the bathroom a day? Why not just get into the habit of swishing and swiping during the time you are getting dressed to shoes? Make the tools easily available. By doing them daily, there is no scrub, scrub, scrub to get things clean. Instead it is just swish and swipe. If someone comes over for a visit and has coffee, odds are the bathroom will be used. There is where you find your joy! It’s company clean!
3. What’s For Dinner? If you plan your meals you will have a good idea. Why not know what it is and when you are done swishing and swiping, go to the freezer and get the meat that you are going to be using and thaw it out in the fridge? I can find joy in that. The decision has been made and I will know what is for dinner so I can move on to the next habit.
4. A Load Of Laundry. So many of us are still in the mindset if the laundry basket isn’t overflowing what’s the rush? Did you know that it is a fact that you wear 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time? Wouldn’t it be a joy to have the outfit clean that you want to wear for a specific meeting?
5. Declutter Each Day. How can anyone find joy in this? Well, I have learned to. First of all we need to broaden the definition of clutter. There are many forms. Some are as easy as an envelope that can be decluttered after you open it to read what is in there. Of course many of us have items that are emotional and that is where we struggle and for some reason is the clutter we naturally want to focus on. Again, 80% of your clutter is non emotional things 20% of the time. When we realize this, there is joy to be found. It is either bagged up for garbage or bagged up for donation. Either way, it is easily bagged up so what are you waiting for? Find joy in this! When do you do it? When the washing machine is going! Get off the computer and declutter some things until you find joy.
6. Make Dinner Early. What I mean by this is try to have some of the preparation done in late afternoon so when it comes to putting the meal together it will take no time at all and 80% of the preparations tools used can be washed, dried and put away 20% of the time. The spoon you use to make it with may also be the serving spoon so no need to wash and put away. Just rinse it off and put it on a ladel until it is time to eat dinner. If we have a protein snack at around 4 pm and a glass of water, our energy is replenished to finish the rest of our day. Take a break around this time. You have more than have of your habits done for the day. Then when it is time to get dinner started, start out with a sink full of hot soapy water. This is your starting point. Wash the items that won’t be used for the sit down dinner. Dry them and put them away. All that will be left to wash are the dishes you are eating on and if you get up scrape them off and rinse to put in dishwasher or in sink to wash, it is simple because you have cleaned up as you cooked. Get the family involved. Make each of them responsible for scraping their plates and rinsing them off to put in the dishwasher. Right away is the easy way.
7. Shine Your Sink. Shining your sink is MEANT to be shined at the end of the day. Why? So you can find joy waking up to a shiny sink in the morning. Once dinner is done, shine your sink and the kitchen is closed.
8. Lay Out Your Clothes. There is something about knowing and having your clothes ready to put on the next morning to make the rest of the morning flow. Could it be joy? Always have three outfits lined up at a time. It will make it so much easier for you.
9. Get Your Launch Pad Ready. I don’t care if you are a SAHM or don’t work. More than likely you will have some type of project that you are planning to do. Find the items and place them on your launch pad. If it is making brownies for school. Pull out all the ingredients and place them on your launch pad. You will find joy that you didn’t forget to bake them and embarrass your child.
This is the time of year where everyone spreads Joy. There are songs, ‘Joy To The World’, ‘Have A Jolly Jolly Christmas!’ It is close to the word Joy. Be joyful for all that you have and joyful for what you can offer someone. Recently a young mother was to be starting a new job. She needed a pair of pants. She went to a thrift store of some kind and was struggling as to how she was to pay for them in order to work. Some angel overheard her say this to the clerk. When the young mother went to check out knowing the money she was going to have to spend was supposed to be towards a meal for her family of two children. An angel stepped in and said I can help you with this and keep the change to spend on your children. I find there to be lots of joy in this! Why? Because this young mother is practicing her ‘Nine Habits Each Day Every Day’ and could be easily approached. She wasn’t dressed in pajama bottoms out shopping. She had clean clothes and was neatly dressed with her two children in tow. The angel was willing to help because there was an ‘aura’ about the young mother. The angel just knew that she would also find Joy in giving! Look for Joy in everyday habits you do to keep you and your home running smoothly. Joy will be all around you if you do!