Final Week: Final Call!

Please post one statement that captures your Quarter Two Series: Balance Better experience.

For me, I've found myself more inclined to give as a result of following the 8 Daily To Do's. When I follow the routine of including all 8 "to do's" in my daily life, my weaknesses are exposed and I can be proactive. (For example, I attended my husband's tri-annual family reunion and found myself much more willing to encourage my husband's relatives. I looked for opportunities to pray with them or sit and chat, hug and play games, rather than reading a book by the pool.)

Balance for me is minimizing my weaknesses!

I hope you've been encouraged this quarter. Quarter 3 will include 7 days of assignments each week. You will be most successful if you keep a journal. I am looking for regular feedback. Boot Camp with Becky will be more intensive than the previous 2 quarters which is strategic--if you're going to change your body, mind, soul, and spirit, you're going to have to do some work!

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week Twelve: FINAL ASSIGNMENT-- Psalm 139

If you've been reading the CYL Daily Bible, then you read Psalm 139. This psalm/prayer is such a deep reflection of a person's life who knows who and whose they are!

This week, please journal about these questions: What is my purpose in life? Am I achieving my purpose--even in this quarter/group? Am I running a good race? Do I have the understanding that my past is a part of my purpose? Have I accepted what I can and cannot do? Am I willing to live a life of excellence? Do I know what God has asked me to do and am I doing it?

Or...are you stubbornly waiting, fighting with entitlement, or buried under discouragement? Let's move forward together.

We will read Psalm 139 together to spur us on. Next week, victory stories--and we have many!

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week Eleven: Personality Traits -- Yours and Others

In my personal coaching sessions, as well as in the book, Keep The Change, I give women a personality test to uncover their strengths and weaknesses.

We, of course, all have both. But we get better and stronger as communicators at work, with family or friends when we learn to minimize our particular set of weaknesses. (And I reiterate that we call have weaknesses, so one personality trait is not better than another, just different.)

But knowing your primary personality traits, as well as the traits of those around you can VERY QUICKLY change the way you live and love.

We'll talk about the four traits I refer to as:

Sanguine--fun, happy, but forgetful.
Choleric--leader, charger, but can bowl you over (sometimes insensitive).
Melancholy--meticulous, detailed, but sometimes moody.
Phlegmatic--peaceful, easy-going, but sometimes a procrastinator.

We can change ladies!

Talk to you Wednesday (from somewhere in NYC)!

Becky

Week Ten: Half Way Mark or Almost Done!

Can you believe it? For those of us who are part of the YEAR LONG "Little Changes" Group and have spent the last six months together, we are at the 1/2 way mark. For those who have joined for only one quarter, we are almost finished with our 12 week focus to "Balance Better" using the 8 Daily To-Do's and the premise of change found in my book, Keep The Change:

"Change begins with awareness, it is empowered with admission, achieved with a daily written action plan, and sustained with accountability."

With this in mind, I felt that we need to take a "check up" with any/all who will be on the live call on Wednesday and hear a good report! So bring your "peak" -- the one change that is noticeable, achieved, and sustained over the past weeks or months. I love great reports and because I know you are watching, listening, and counting on me, I have seen some great changes in my own life!

I will bring a short devotional to end our call with the challenge, as always, that it is not too late to change nor is it every time to give up!

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week Nine: Establish Accountability

I almost feel as if I sound like a broken record BUT I am committed to the concept that change--true and lasting change--is best achieved, more easily attained, and ultimately sustained when we are accountable to others.

Accountability includes: support groups, sponsors, mentors, coaches, counselors, spouses who are willing, prayer partners, or even automated ringer/reminders! (A recent Stanford University study revealed surprising results on the power of even subtle accountability -- see my Little Changes Big Results blog this week for more information.)

Who is your accountability partner for (1) weight management--everything from healthy eating to exercise, (2) spiritual growth--including the mastery of daily time alone with God, (3) the taming of your temperament--anger, anxiety, etc., and/or (4) the fulfillment of the dreams God has put in your heart? It might be one person for/in each area or the same person for all, but the power of accountability is to ASSURE you that you are being honest with yourself, achieving your stated goals (rather than sabotaging them), and encouraging you as you reach small victories and pursue the end goal.

Please, please, please brainstorm this week WHO the people are in your life who walk with you to the finish line!?

I consider myself one of those people, but the more direct contact you have with your accountability partner (phone calls to responding to blog assignments) increases your ability to achieve your goals in a timely manner.

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week Eight: Month at a Glance

Playback Dial-in Number: 1-218-486-8703
Playback Access Code: 801097

Be sure to use this telephone number and access code, and not the previous Dial-in Number and access codes associated with the conference call itself.

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week Eight: One Month At A Glance

We have spent a great deal of time assessing our interior lives, but we can't forget that maintaining balance in all areas of our lives is our end goal this quarter.

After coaching numerous women this week, I realize that most of us are entering a transition time as we float into the summer.

Let's consider that Memorial Day Weekend is the 'turn of the CALENDAR page" that signals that we are entering into summer with an opportunity, if not a mandate, to live by a new rhythm. Whether we have kids or family reunions, change of job status (from part-time to full-time or full-time to part-time), I want to ask you (and me) to lay out a JUNE calendar that reflects our time and travel commitments. (Note: this will also allow you to plan ahead for eating right and exercising regularly.)

Make notes on this month-at-a-glance calendar that will prompt you to grocery shop, pack for travel, protect your quiet time, go the gym or exercise, visit the sick, volunteer, attend church for special events, or attend weddings, etc. Find a calendar (free, online, or one you normally use) and lay out the month--30 days of a plan that brings peace to your mind and heart, energy to your body, food for your soul, and fun with your family and friends.

Let's do it by the week's end--okay?

Be encouraged,

Becky