Where to Start? What Task to Accomplish?

I've been on a quest to upload and fix all the old photos passed down through my family, organize them and add them to my family tree on Ancestry.com. I've always liked keeping records and tracking down old stories, and right now this helps me get through the days. 

The thing is, once you start looking at the photos, you start to wonder about them--their characters, their hurts and loves, their talents....well, it is so like writing fiction. You can't stop at just the photo--you want the whole story.

I found a photo I've rarely seen that belonged to my dad. It's a photo of his army buddy and I only vaguely remember my dad mentioning him, or maybe my mom said something about him. (Mom was living with my Dad's folks in Tennessee while Dad was in basics in South Carolina.) 

I don't know what happened to this guy and I'm not even sure of his name. I remember Mom saying that Dad wanted to name me, and eventually my brother, Alan Lavell Warren, in honor of this guy, but I was a girl and my brother got Ricky Alan. (I'm not sure why Alan.) These questions never occurred to me when Mom and Dad were still here. Makes me want to write down some of my own things in case my boys ever wonder...there I go, on another tangent.

This is the photo of my Dad's army buddy, no name.

This is the photo from the Basics yearbook that my dad had whom I think is this guy because he's the only Lavell in the entire book. His name was Lavell B. Garmon. What do you think? Same guy?

I've also been tracking down my husband's ancestors and they're VERY interesting. These are the things which fuel my muse. I love the stories. What sort of things fuel your muse? My problem is I can easily go down rabbit trails and not stick to my original intent. I need blinders on. I'm now working on how to balance all of my objectives and accomplish all of my goals with these things.

Next will be setting my year's goals and looking at a 5-year-plan--just in case I last that long. How about you? How do you overcome your distractions and focus on your goals?

How do you decide which goals to pursue?

Above in my header I want to point out the blessing. My friend, Mary Lynn, makes blog headers for me and this one is special--she wrote this blessing for me. She is a talented lady and I am blessed just knowing her. I pray this blessing, too, for all the readers here. 

The Strong Life Test for Women

I took this test put out by Marcus Buckingham and then bought the book(Thomas Nelson) While reading the book, it became apparent to me that maybe I had not answered the questions according to how I REALLY would act, so I retook the test. I really thought about these questions and just how I would react or choose. This time I came up with a totally different outcome. So, wanting to make sure the test outcome was valid for me, I took it days later (so I wouldn't remember the previous answers.) This time my results were the same as the second time. Going back to read the book again, these results seemed to make me relax. I saw that it was more in line with the moments in my life when I felt strong.

Here are my results. What were your results? (Women only at this time.)

YOUR
LEAD ROLE
TEACHER

You begin by asking:
'What can she learn from this?'
Your focus is instinctively toward the other person. Not her feelings, necessarily, but her understanding, her performance, her skills.
Your best quality:
Your faith in the others’ potential
Always:
Tailor your style to each student
Be careful you:
Don’t come to believe that everyone is capable of everything
Your smartest career move:
Any job where you’re paid to facilitate the success of others.


Your
Supporting Role
Creator

You begin by asking:
'What do I understand?'

You aren’t immune to the feelings and perspectives of others, but your starting point is your own insight, your own understanding.

Your best quality:
Your ability to find patterns invisible to others

Always:
Find time to be by yourself

Be careful you:
Don’t think so long, you never do anything

Your smartest career move:
Any job where you’re paid to produce new content.

What made me realize this was more accurate was the "Be careful" parts to both. I can think tooooo long. I also think ANYONE can have potential and it sometimes takes me thinking too long to realize that there are a lot of things which must line up in a person for them to learn something.

Now, what were your test results? Do you think it was accurate? If you think it might be off, then try answering the questions again and see what happens. Wait a couple weeks and then retake the test.

And while I really like what this book has to say, I wish that it gave me more practical tips on how to get into my strengths and what I should be doing to make my life strong NOW.

Break 'Em All!

You know that old saying if you don't aim at anything, you won't hit anything? (Something like that.) I really understand this as I used to compete in trapshooting. Making analogies between shooting and writing became so easy for me.

Let me tell you just a little about trapshooting. In trapshooting it is tricky because a clay target is thrown out of a traphouse by this machine that only has so many angles, but you never know which way it will come out. You stand on one of five stations, and each time you change stations, the picture changes. There are things like wind, heat (that gun can get hot!) and distance to contend with your shot.

A shooter looks down the sight of her shotgun, and even the recoil can mess with your shot. (Especially if it hits you in the face and you begin to "flinch" when you shoot. Kind of like getting bad reviews or rejections.)You get someone beside you or even behind you saying or doing something annoying, and that can also play with your shot (and play with your mind.)

So many things. You pull the gun in tight, place your face against the stock, and look into an area above your gun. You call for the target, and expect to see it rise up above your gun. Once it comes into your sight ("touching" the end of your gun in the sight) you pull the trigger. If you are behind the target, it's a miss. ("Loss!") If it has gotten out too far before you pull the trigger, you miss. Sometimes you shoot too quick. Sometimes you shoot too slow. (Just like reading the market!)

Over the years everything I do seems to come down to what I learned in shooting. I found I could apply the lessons I learned from my coach, Kay Ohye (an amazing mens' champion) to most of my life. I could hear his voice in my head as I would shoot. ("Don't get too quick! Patience!"--My biggest problem was shooting too fast.) No matter how I shot on one trap, I had hope when I moved to the next station. The point was to move on. You didn't quit just because you missed every target on the first station. (Five shots, but if you hit the rest of them, you get a 95!)You didn't let down and relax just because you hit 99 straight shots and just had "one more." (There are a 100 shots/targets total--4 traps/25 shots per trap/5 shots per station.)

So over the course of writing this blog, I'll probably refer to trapshooting now. If you just "throw" the end of your gun toward the target, you will not hit your target. Focus. Focus on the target. This is the word I wrote down in my "goals" folder I started.

Think about what kinds of goals you have. Here's a template I use. You might want to try it.

Words for the Year: Crystal: Look/Focus/Act


Spiritual Goals:

* Read the English Standard Version of the Bible
* Continue study with the Messianic Jews on the Torah
* Pray specifically for someone other than my immediate family or self each day.

Personal Goals:
(I've actually met some of these so far this year, so I'm adjusting these.)

Overall Professional Goals:



Professional Goals for the Year:

(This is me in Savannah, GA competing in a Southern regional shoot.)

Those of us in shooting have a saying to encourage our fellow shooters--"Break 'em all!"

Let me know some of your goals and I'd love to hear what your current "word" is that will help you with your goals.

Room with a View

Much like the last 50 years, I don't know what happened last week! I'm behind on everything. Part of my problem was weather. We've had about 12 inches of snow,ice and today is very cold. Brrcheevies. No sunshine. I'm in a blue mood and feeling old. What can I do to motivate myself and cheer myself up? Don't know yet.

I live in the middle of nowhere and we have a satellite dish for our internet. It was moving slower than Christmas this past week! So, to get back on track, I have to announce winners of the books and coffee on When I Was Just a Kid, but I took a test about what color I should paint my room. Not that I'm going to paint my room, but it was mainly to see what I am like and what I like. I have to say, this is one of my favorite colors. And not only that, this is exactly what I need for the new year(what the color inspires.) Maybe I need to really paint my office yellow! I would like that a lot. Maybe if I just put up a lot of sunflowers and daisies and yellow accents? It's a thought.

What do you need to happen for your new year? What are your goals and dreams? I am thinking about this now.

You Should Paint Your Room Yellow

Bright and bold, yellow is truly the color of inspiration. Your yellow room will drive you to think clearly, develop new ideas, and be organized. Yellow is also energizing and very powerful. So don't expect to rest in there!

What Color Should You Paint Your Room?