How wild can life be sometimes? The wild that just takes us to a point that we feel like we are climbing Mt. Everest, trying to make it out of the valley to reach the summit. The point where we can take a break for one moment and look at what we have just accomplished, what we just overcame, and where we are going next. What does your life look like right now?
How are you managing your time, your family, your career, your business, and most importantly – yourself?
The purpose of an oil refinery is to take certain raw materials and convert them into products of value. It’s most important function is to take out crude or elementary materials and process them into more usable forms. Note that crude oil is far from pure. Substances must be taken out of it so that an engine or other machinery will not break down. Once the oil is separated into useful products, it will go about the process to become shipped and marketable for the oil industry.
What does refining look like in your life, your business, your passion, or your desires?
I believe we as women in our own roles can relate to this oil refinery. Daily, we are given 24 hours to complete our tasks, run to meetings, travel to the next city, or plan that event. Your responsibility is the ability to choose your response (or as I would say response-ability). We have the power of choice to refine ourselves daily. Life may become so hectic that we feel like we are that unrefined oil, needing to weed out the unnecessary activities that are hindering us from performing and taking care of ourselves. We are precious and useful beings that are needed in this world. But to be a go-getter, we need to first learn to take care of ourselves.
Life may become so hectic that we feel like we are that unrefined oil, needing to weed out the unnecessary activities that are hindering us from performing and taking care of ourselves. We are precious and useful beings that are needed in this world. But to be a go-getter, we need to first learn to take care of ourselves.
In Steven Covey’s book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he draws out a matrix that is aimed at assisting individuals who want to manage their daily activities, while also refining themselves. Refining ourselves runs hand-in-hand with how we manage our lives. In what ways are we able to take care of ourselves without our daily activities overtaking us?
Covey first directs us to figure out those urgent-importants that will be the most pressing tasks of the week.
Then move on to decide on your not urgent-important tasks that matter, but have less of a time crunch and will end up getting done.
Your urgent-not importants are the activities that will clog up your day. These are the items we look back on at the end of the week and wonder why we put so much time and effort into them. For instance, maybe it was a poorly thought-out meeting that you committed to, which ended up soaking in all your time. These are the things that if we really stopped and asked ourselves - Is this important? - we would realize they weren’t.
Lastly, we arrive to the not urgent-not important activities.
Take time to look up. Maybe we need to step away from the computer, our phones, the TV…whatever it is, take time to rest your mind from these tedious activities. I encourage you to start each week by creating your own two-by-two matrix on a blank sheet of paper with everything you want to accomplish that week. Experiment. Play with it. Figure out what plan or process is best for YOU.
To refine ourselves is like taking care of a car. If you don’t maintain it, it will break down.
You are a woman of value. As Eryn Eddy said at the Yellow Conference this year, Work harder on yourself than your job. If you work harder on your job, you will lose yourself. What is getting in the way of refining yourself and managing your days? Once we begin to look through the lens of understanding and awareness that we have worth, the decisions in our lives will be different. You will begin to refine yourself daily, making YOU a priority, managing your life, and continuing to greatly empower those around you.
Photos by Haley George
