Let’s face it, there are some situations in life that cause us stress that we just don’t need. The bad kind of stress…the kind that holds us back. Not the good type of stress, the kind that propels us forward. Two things that came to mind for us. The first was meals and how we overlook some simple meal planning techniques that lead to fueling us to take on the day ahead. Another was the “excess baggage” we carry through life.

So, let’s take a look at simple meal planning and paring down some excess in our lives to see where we can makes some changes, and hopefully, improvements! Read more…

After Dan talked about doing a Personal Review in Episode 037 it got me thinking about doing one of my own.   As I was doing this self-reflection, I discovered a couple of things I was doing that were causing undue stress in our lives:

1) My waiting until the last minute to get dressed when we were going out or had to meet someone for dinner causing us to be a couple or so minutes late.

2) Not having our dinners very well planned out.  

So, I decided to work on those two areas: being early and having a meal plan …which is what I decided to talk about for this episode.

The number one key to simple meal planning is to…well…plan! Yup…as much as I wish it was the case…that dinner isn’t going to magically make itself. Here are some ways to make meal planning a little easier:

Major Take Away: Communication and Planning are key!!!!

When we travel these days, especially by plane, we do our best to limit ourselves to one carry-on bag…yet I still never seem to get through/wear everything that I brought...especially the “just in case” stuff.

Well, recently in my typical surfing around the Internet I came across an article talking about airlines charging for checked bags and was surprised how emotional people were about the subject! So, I started thinking about that and followed the mental rabbit down lots of different holes. 

A few things that went through my mind:

I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, it’s just mental conditioning. It’s like a misaligned Boy Scout “Be Prepared” syndrome. The Boy Scouts don’t teach you that you need to take everything or have everything with you. That saying refers to your own personal state of readiness to improvise, adapt and innovate.

As for delayed decisions, when it comes to packing, often things are packed just because it’s an attempt to delay their decisions on what they will need. People just end up throwing everything in their baggage at the last minute…and the decision was delayed until they’re forced to make it…at the destination.

So taking just in case and delayed decisions into consideration, hopefully all these excess baggage charges have prompted some behavior modification in your travel packing. Love these limits or hate them, they’re reality if you want to fly from Point A to Point B. If you want to bring along more, you’re going to pay.

With all this in mind and carrying the point a bit further…what about the rest of life? LIFE doesn’t have excess baggage restrictions!

So, what kind of excess baggage am I/we carrying through life and what are those costs to bring them along?

But I have to understand that there is a cost:

Major Take Away: Just because life doesn’t publicize it, don’t think it’s not charging you an excess baggage fee. Take some time to really evaluate the stuff that is holding you back, try to figure out why you’re letting it remain an obstacle, and deal with it. In military operations we dealt with obstacle by either breaching it, destroying it, or maneuvering around it.  In other words, get through it, eliminate it or avoid it. Ignoring it was never an option. And it shouldn’t be in life either!

Dan’s Thing: Updates to Google Docs to automatically search for links

Vanessa’s Thing: Appreciation for teachers and their involvement in our kids’ lives

The Google Drive/Google Docs tutorial is now FREE!  Why?  We just want to put out good content that’s helpful. You can get the tutorial by clicking the Tutorials tab.  If you feel compelled to contribute there’s a “Buy Us a Coffee” button when you click on the link! Thanks and we hope it helps.

And the Side Gig Website Guide is now open without passwords, sign-ups or anything!  Just use it and get inspired to start your own side gig!

We’re attending Michael Hyatts’ Platform Conference 3 -5 November, in Dallas TX at the Omni Dallas Hotel at Park West. This is a top-notch conference to help you build your online presence /platform.  Michael and his team have given us a discount code just for Simple Life Together listeners that you can even use on top of the special Early Bird Pricing. So if you’re interested, to register for the event or to just learn more, go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/Platform, use Coupon Code SIMPLE to save $100 off your registration!

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 Photo courtesy of CrossvillE