What have YOU been up to for the last year?

Because I love to improve things, I have no shame for my love of self-help books, programs, contests, challenges, therapists, and wristbands. Why NOT make it better?

I've tried a lot of approaches over the last 12 months, but I think the best program is one that is being offered for free, starting next week.

Your life could be the cat's meow!

Anna Kunnecke's Queen Sweep program is meant to give women (really, it's mostly women, and the word "Queen" might not be to enticing for men) a handle on the little household things that can suck you dry. There's a "broom" (geddit, for sweeping?) each week, a conference call with coaching, a forum for participants to discuss ideas and breakthroughs. Anna is a Martha Beck coach, which if you know your coaching, is a pretty big deal. And she's adorable as well. I really identify with her blog, and remember feeling last year when I first started reading it that we had a lot in common (overly sensitive, prone to using ALL CAPS, love peonies, etc.).

I know this program has a lot of research invested in it, plus time, and real support. She knows this as well, and the Master Class costs commensurately for the experience. Although I am somehow the lucky duck that won the master class and a year-long society for free, there's a certain amount of accountability that comes with paying for improvement. I don't usually mess around with that amount of money, I can actually recommend that you might want to. (And let me remind you that the intro course is FREE!)

Changes I have experienced: I rewrote my life story with myself as the hero (literally. Twice. I just finished the 3rd iteration.)  I am actually paying my bills in an organized fashion, which hasn't happened since I got married (21 years ago!) because it was too scary and I didn't want to look. I have a little compass (holistic to-do list) that I write weekly and I get so much more done, and it's based on a 5-year plan. I remember to be kind with myself and plan joy during the week. And I don't know if I just got lucky, but the group of women involved are smart and creative and hilarious and supportive.

So, yes, if you also find Anna's blog hilarious and insightful, I think you might enjoy this program too. Don't think it's just a series of reading assignments though. You really have to think about things, and maybe write a little, share with the other Queens and keep a space clear to let the new ideas in.

The 6 week course is FREE, and starts soon. Sign up! 

Life hacker has collected all the tools, done very little hacking

Have you tried tapping? Apple cider vinegar? The one perfect exercise, which according to some click-bait health site, is squats? The abs challenge? Oh, everyone else is doing green juice and planks, silly me.

Topiary cats are all the rage. 

I've just been realizing that in my zeal to collect all the tools, I'm not really using any of them. Or, maybe I'm just using them ineffectively, and maybe even for the wrong job. Squats will not reform my pathetic finances, even though I had a pretty fantastic ass for a month or so there. But
apple cider vinegar did kind of attract some clicks to this blog, for some (Dr. Oz tag!) reason. 

But it's so hard to focus on just one project! And so many of these "hacks" are about removing parts of your life (perhaps they're for literally hacking, like a machete!) that are maybe a little awkward, but not exactly unsightly. I think that I'm a little more motivated by adding things. (Today's cockamamie idea: sew my own wardrobe using Built By Wendy book. Still considering this one....)

I have been doing the Anna Kunnecke's Queen Sweep for a little more than 2 months though. And I'm really impressed by it. She offered it for free, and I am the lucky girl that won even more free Mastery session. I love her outlook and approach on these things (time, money, beauty, - the important stuff). Another sign that it was destiny - she loves peonies. I love peonies, which if you are typing really fast, comes out people! And that means something, right? Even though free things can be taken for granted, I am not wasting THIS opportunity.

So I was kind of shocked to realize that some of my tools are contradictory. You can't use a hammer and drill at the same time, you know? Anna was able to talk me down from the toolbox, and convinced me that I could pick which tool I liked, using my own criteria (most beautiful and badass? fun and useful?) AND IT WOULD BE FINE TO NOT USE ALL THE TOOLS AT ONCE.

Wow wow wow wow.

For example, of all the home de-cluttering programs that I am aware of, I get to pick the one I think is the most useful and badass? (That would be most of UFYH, by the way.) I can still check out new ideas, but I don't need to keep them?

The answer is yes. Always the best answer.