Quick Fix: How To Stay On Track?

We are coming to the end of the first quarter of 2011!  If you have set goals or made a New Years resolution, how are you doing with them?  Are you still on track?  Here is another easy tool to help you.  I am happy to report that although I may have squeaked in just before the stroke of midnight, I haven't "broken the chain"! 

How many times have you started a new project and never finished it? How many new improvements in your life or CTMH business were you going to make, but never had enough willpower to stick to it? How many of us have exercise machines in our houses that are just standing there and collecting dust?
Starting something new is always very exciting, but after a couple of days when a project stops being new, the excitement slowly fades. As a result we move on to a new goal, never finishing what we’ve already started. This pattern of behavior slowly transforms itself into a habit. And we all know how hard it is to break a habit, especially when your willpower is not strong enough.

Today I’ll share with you one trick that has proven to be especially effective, because it doesn’t require you to have a steel willpower.

One Small Trick That Works Even If You Feel Especially Lazy

Let me tell you one more trick you can use when you feel especially lazy. For example, you’ve decided to go jogging today, but when the time has come, you really don’t feel like getting up from the couch and doing any form of exercise. I feel like that quite often.

In this case you should tell yourself:  “I am not going to jog today. I will just get up and put my jogging shoes on”.

It is a lot easier on your willpower to do a little, easy task, than a big one. In the most cases by the time you get up from the couch, put your shoes on, and get distracted from the TV show you were watching, you will probably decide to go jogging after all.

Just make yourself do the tiniest piece of the task. Like reading just one page from the textbook, or do just one set of ab-exercises, something that would take you only a couple of minutes. The funny thing is, once you start doing it you’ll most likely finish it all.

Team News:
I am excited to announce that I will be attending Kathy Markloff's LeaderShare in Philadelphia on April 30th.  I am looking forward to visiting with the east coast team members

I am also registered for the Studio J Boot Camp!  It was a last minute decision so I had to do a Studio J marathon to submit the 20 layouts required to attend.  It was really fun and a bit addicting.  The hours just flew by.  If you haven't played with Studio J in a while, I encourage you to try it.  There have been some amazing new upgrades that really are fun and creative.  Check out Amy Ulen's tutorials - the link is on the top right side of my blog.  http://www.createwithamy.blogspot.com/ . for lots of help and hints.  I will be sure to report back on all we will learn at Boot Camp!

Artwork Corner:  Here are 4 of the Studio J Layouts I created last weekend.   I LOVE the free jpg's you get with a membership.  You can print the web version out on 8.5 x 11 paper on your home printer (landscape), cut them out and they are the perfect size for adhering to a Board Book or 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase to create a mini-album!



I layered My Stickease by right clicking and bringing elements forward or sending them back.  Added extra
mats, changed journaling wells to photo wells and lots more.  The text box tool is probably one of the
most useful tools, there is so much you can do with it! 

Here I changed the color of the B&T, something you can't do for real!  I also added extra mats

On the left page, I cropped a tag My Stickease to make a tab.

 

On this layout, I used text boxes to add the word background on the top of the right page.
 I then layered vellum over the top to make it look like 2nd generation stamping.

Shout- Outs:

I am excited to be seeing the following ladies at Karen Morris's LeaderShare in Las Vegas on March 19th!

Carol Thompson, Carolyn Gardner, Emma Hernandez, Amy Ulen, Chandra Wallace, Dana Yates, Dawn Hinckley, Karin Smith, Bobbi Markley, Karen Bittinger and Shauna Nye.

Promotions:

Congratulations to the following team members for promoting in January and February!  Awesome job of growing your teams!

Consultant Name	Previous Title	New Title
Deanna Cave	Consultant	Supervisor
Susan Brooks	Consultant	Supervisor
Sandee DePriest	Consultant	Supervisor
Laurie Varner	Supervisor	Manager
Daina Romine	Consultant	Supervisor
Elise McQuilliam	Supervisor	Manager
Stacey Wallace	Consultant	Supervisor
Debbie Lawson	Consultant	Supervisor
Jennifer Royal	Consultant	Supervisor
Kentra Carter	Consultant	Supervisor
Stephanie Pettis	Consultant	Supervisor
Cynthia Canipe	Consultant	Supervisor
Kerrie Fraser	Consultant	Supervisor
Linda Cook	Consultant	Supervisor
Cindy Gambill	Consultant	Supervisor
Judy Larsen	Consultant	Supervisor
Jodi Newcomer	Consultant	Supervisor
Jennifer Vandiver	Consultant	Supervisor
Laura Irsfeld	Supervisor	Manager
Alicia Bard	Consultant	Supervisor
Michelle McCourt	Consultant	Supervisor
Kathleen Manges	Consultant	Supervisor
Jeanne Nosbisch	Consultant	Supervisor
Beth Talken	Consultant	Supervisor
Donna Johnson	Consultant	Supervisor
Aimee Williams	Consultant	Supervisor
Donna Day	Consultant	Supervisor
Tina Lewis	Consultant	Supervisor
Sharon Hatch	Consultant	Supervisor
Lisa Merrill	Manager	Executive Manager
Stacey Ankele	Supervisor	Manager
Darlene Rosson	Consultant	Supervisor
Sandi Dykstra	Consultant	Supervisor
Heather Schon	Consultant	Supervisor
Toni Hinchcliffe	Consultant	Supervisor
Bernie Bolton	Consultant	Supervisor
Karen Osteen	Consultant	Supervisor

Quote of the Week:

"A man may fail many times but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else."

~ J. Paul Getty