Life: In Focus

 I live in the desert. And no, I DON"T have air-conditioning (I'm just crazy  kinda used to it now) and after weeks of arid, scorching hot weather, it's always a welcome relief to see the rain clouds gathering on the horizon. Let's be clear - I DON"T like rain, generally speaking, but sometimes that change in the weather is EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED to make it through the week. Being that it is a desert, our rain "storms" generally blow through in a nasty 20-minute mess of lightning and thunder, drenching us in flood-like downpours and then leave us just as quickly, a lot of times with a gorgeous rainbow in it's wake..

  I often feel like I'm falling behind in  my own life, and when I stop to look around at others who accomplish so much while I'm struggling to just stay afloat, I find myself wondering in admiration how they are so successful at so many things?  If you have ever felt like this, let me assure you, you are not alone!

Streamline.  Yes that seems to be a common denominator through these success stories and I'm beginning to see why. Work smarter, not harder. You should still put 100% effort in, just do it efficiently instead of the hard way.

Minimize. Seriously - get rid of the junk in your trunk in your home, vehicle, workspace - wherever it tends to gather.  Ask yourself - you can't take any of that stuff with you when you're dead, so how much of it do you REALLY NEED to live?  Honestly, most of our "stuff" just bogs us down, slows  us down and/or takes us down ( literally, as in, it trips you up in the middle of the night when you're stumbling around in the dark trying to find the bathroom!).

Focus - do one thing at a time. I used to pride myself on being a multi-tasker - as a single mother for a long time, I worked full time juggling a patchwork of employment through 3 jobs while also running a home-based photography business. I felt I had earned the equivalent of a Master's degree in Multitasking. What I found however that while I managed to get a lot done ( more or less)  , nothing was done WELL. Or at least not as well as I could have done it if I had truly given it the proper attention. Learning to narrow down my focus to the things I did WELL, while delegating the less important things that I suck at didn't do as well, proved to be far more effective in my overall success.

 So without further adieu, I'm announcing that I'm going to continue changing and Simplifying My Life - starting with this blog here. The plan is to  STREAMLINE, focusing my efforts in a more efficient way, so that I can bring you all MORE PHOTOGRAPHY, and less BLAH BLAH BLAH. (did I just hear cheering??) You will notice that the top tabs have changed,  as I am focusing purely on photos, not writing.  and hopefully it will feel better ORGANIZED with smoother transitions.
I'm looking forward to this change and I hope you will too!  I also hope it will inspire you to begin simplifying and organizing areas of your own life that have begun to stress you out and cause frustration and wear you down.
What areas of your life can you think of right now that would benefit from some streamlining?