Shining your sink

My first day trying to get work done after a relaxing week off over Christmas and New Year's was awful. I had no motivation. I felt like a mule I practically had to beat to get moving. I could not afford to have day two go the same way.


So, I brushed off the old storyboarding techniques and mentally rehearsed how the next day would go--with my being at my desk focused, ready to work, psyched to do a great job by 8:00 a.m., having already done my prayers first thing in the morning, eaten a good breakfast and read the paper.


One key though to having a great day is how the night before goes. I'm so grateful to the Flylady for some simple routines she teaches that make a huge difference in how your day will go. She insists that you shine your sink before you go to bed and that you lay our your clothes for the next day.


Well, late in the evening of day one, I looked at a stack of dirty dishes in the sink and remembered what the Flylady would say. So, I washed them, shined the sink. Then, I thought I should also wash the lettuce for my husband's lunch, too. Used the time to continue my positive preview of coming attractions. Did that. Laid out my clothes for the next day.


Boom! The next day was highly productive. Mentally rehearsing, writing down some goals, works every time.


When I haven't done it, I find it hard to get moving. And I sag when I look at the little tasks I have to do and they start to mount up, adding to even more of a sense of discouragement. More sagging. But when I've storyboarded, even a sort of "half-storyboard" like I did the other day, then somehow I have zest. I enjoy straightening some pillows as a walk by, finding ways to be efficient and knock off little things.

Be careful what you wish for, you may get it

One of the most fun parts of storyboarding is envisioning how much you are going to love whatever it is you are storyboarding. The technique works really well in helping us get motivation and zest to tackle whatever it is we've been procrastinating about.

Some people advise that you envision the great mansion you'd like to live in, the dream car, the money you hope to have. I personally am wary of this, unless one knows one is doing it for fun, but doesn't become overly invested in the envisioned results. I'm wary of too much focus on riches, things, material success because sometimes, this focus can seem a bit like an attempt at magical conjuring. Literature and Scripture are full of stories that warn us against this kind of conjuring. We don't want to "let an evil genie out of the lamp".

A friend sent me one of those email forwards that I usually find irritating. I'm not going to paste this one in here because there was lots about the tone of it that I didn't like, but the message has stuck with me.

It starts with this: Open up to Psalm 106:14-15 and notice, "GOD granted their request but sent leaness to their souls."

I believe that visualization and goal-setting work to bring us closer and closer to achieving our goals. They are techniques, and, as such, value-neutral. They tend to work whether you have good goals or bad goals, and whether the pictures you envision are negative or positive. Hitler had a vision for Germany. He had goals. That's why I hope that when we think of the overall movie of our life, we think about character-building, what the Bible calls "treasures in heaven" rather than earthly success or riches, because these treasures, which bring inward joy and contentment, are far more valuable in the long term than any amount of riches without that inward joy.

The other thing about storyboarding a good character is that tragedies in life, setbacks, outer circumstances, cannot rob you of it.

Storyboarding for motivation

I don't know whether it was the changing weather that threatened rain, the discombobulation of some renovations at home, or what, but I was finding it really hard to get myself motivated to do anything over the last few days.

My muscles felt stiff, I decided to stop my exercise routine for a few days, and I felt like my body and my attitude was like a stubborn old mule. I could also feel some negative thoughts trying to gain a foothold in my mind and I felt a little blue and discouraged in addition to the lethargy.

When I feel like that, it's easy for me to stop believing in storyboarding because when I'm depressed it feels like I'm always going to be depressed.

One thing that helped was getting together with a good friend I haven't seen for a while. We went for a brisk walk, caught up on each other's news, then we sat together in my living room and prayed together, something we hadn't done together in a long time. What a lift that was. Sometimes we need to allow others to help us out of the doldrums, whether it's through a walk, through prayers, through spending time together.

Then, last night, I storyboarded today. I didn't schedule the day too closely, just wrote down a number of goals like a "to do" list, then I concentrated on envisioning my morning starting with prayer--and continuing with prayer while I made my husband's breakfast and packed his lunch. I pictured how it would go in a positive way and lo and behold, when the clock radio came on, I popped up, got dressed and came downstairs to pray first thing and loved it, just as I'd imagined.

It worked. I feel like I'm back on track and ready to tackle my to do list and I wonder why I ever put this off.

Time for creativity, for play

One of the beauties of storyboarding is its flexibility. I'm preparing some talks now for a conference in Edmonton in September, and I've just been asked to speak to a group of writers on storyboarding in Toronto in November.

Sometimes I used a storyboard to free my schedule. To open up time where I can free myself to play, to daydream, to pray and wait on inspiration and insight. If I know I need to write a first draft, it's better for me to free my schedule of many discrete items on a to do list because that seems to activate a different side of my brain.

I am envisioning the talk in Edmonton, envisioning the people that will come, the opportunity to share with them something that doesn't come from me, but comes from the God. That means, as I prepare, I need to spend more time waiting, listening, poring over the Bible, cultivating receptivity.

Sometimes we fly around too busy, too rushed, too pressured to be able to hear what God is trying to tell us. I know that if I want to share something that is more than just my own "cleverness", I need to be still.

When it comes to creating something, if I try to force it, I can sit in front of the computer and nothing will come. If I say, okay, it's play time, then I may find myself opening up the file and having fun and the results in my work are much better.
I'll find that while I'm relaxed, ideas and insights will flow while I'm making supper or going for a walk.

Getting back on board

Over the month of July, I worked on editing my first novel for what seems like the 1,000th time. I found that my motivation to do so was almost obsessive, so instead of storyboarding, I tried to manage my obsessions by slipping in the exercise and quiet time when I could, then knowing that once I got started on the editing, I would keep going until I could no longer sit at the computer any longer. I got it done.

I've found though that being off storyboarding, my attitude is not as positive. Thus, I'm ramping up to get back on as we roll into September.

My subconscious has become used to the status quo and is fighting me. So, I'm recalling how wonderful it was to be storyboarding, how much fun it was to envision my days, how blessed it was to see myself in the light of a Scripture verse I read this morning: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (II Cor. 5:17)

When I storyboard, I affirm this newness, this wonderful sense of life and possibility that God has given me, the empowerment of His grace if I depend wholly on Him, the goodness He has in store for me if I bring my thoughts in line with His, and lift the imagination of my heart to what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. (Philippians 4:8)

I see myself storyboarding and loving the way it motivates me to do all the beneficial and wholesome things in my life as well as to do my work in a way that is "heartily unto the Lord".

Junk food, taking it easy and other holiday pleasures

It's summer time, and yesterday was Canada's equivalent of July 4th. Since I'm an American living in Canada, I'm indulging in some down time right now, and I'm off my storyboard discipline.

One of the things I did was buy some junk food and sweets, which I normally don't keep around the house. Chocolate covered almonds, a hunk of halvah (ground sesame seeds with pistachios and walnuts) and some potato chips and microwave popcorn. Not being a person of moderation, I have been steadily demolishing my little stash.

As I get older, it's interesting how much more quickly I feel the bad effects of eating this kind of food, how it creates addictive cravings, causes me to feel fatigued, making it easy for me to look forward to not having it around again.

I'm also enjoying lying around reading, watching movies, lingering at the club yesterday instead of trying to rush back.

But, I'm glad to know that I can get back on my storyboard whenever I want to, and find that productivity, that discipline and that ability to see my dreams take shape in small baby steps.

I read this passage today in Graham Greene's "The Ministry of Fear" which spoke to me about the importance of dreaming, one of the key components of storyboarding. Rowe is wracked with guilt over having killed his wife --a murder he committed out of pity for her suffering.

"He had in those days imagined himself capable of extraordinary heroisms and endurances which would make the girl he loved forget the awkward hands and the spotty chin of adolescence. Everything had seemed possible. One could laugh at day-dreams, but so long as you had the capacity to day-dream, there was a change that you might develop some of the qualities of which you dreamed. It was like the religious discipline: words however emptily repeated can in time form a habit, a kind of unnoticed sediment at the bottom of the mind--until one day to your own surprise you find yourself acting on the belief you thought you didn't believe in. Since the death of his wife Rowe had never day-dreamed; all through the trial he had never even dreamed of an acquittal. It was as if that side of the brain had been dried up: he was no longer capable of sacrifice, courage, virtue, because he no longer dreamed of them. He was aware of the loss; the world had dropped a dimension and become paper-thin. He wanted to dream, but all he could practise now was despair, and the kind of cunning which warned him to approach Mr. Rennit with circumspection." p. 81 The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene, William Heinemann Ltd. London

Good morning.

Yesterday my storyboarding went reasonably well, except I got obsessed with my editing and never did the stretching or exercise I'd planned until late at night.

Today I have started the day with morning morning prayer, and the rest of the day I'll spend with my friend Debbie.

I wish you the best in having a productive and joyous day.