If you fell for this line, you are not alone. There have been plenty of times when I’ve clicked on these types of job descriptions or believed something that was almost impossible. Guess what? It was impossible!

Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

One thing I’ve learned in life is that shortcuts do NOT pay off.  As a matter of fact it irritates me so much when people think they can automatically get something when they put NOTHING into it. I understand that sometimes people get lucky, but for the most part luck favors the prepared. Get rich schemes DON’T work. Maybe at the beginning when you enter into one of these schemes, it can seem promising but before you know it you are paying more than you earn. Diet pills, DON’T work. Sure you can loose weight, but the root issue of the problem is still there and diet pills can not take those issues  away. The fact that you don’t want to work hard and don’t want to eat healthy will go on unchanged, until you decide to make that change. Cheating does NOT pay off. How many of us cheated throughout school just to get an A on a test? We may have fooled our teachers into giving us a certain grade, but we actually cheated ourselves out of a learning opportunity, especially if we were paying for the class. Lying DOES NOT work. You will get caught. Lying to someone, to yourself, by omission, or whatever all limit growth in your life. OK, so you messed up, confess and grow from your mistake, we all make them.

One of my best friends is a really hard worker and I really admire her patience and diligence. I’ve seen her study for the PMP test for an entire year and successfully pass on her first try. I’ve seen her study for the GMAT for two years and was accepted into a top tier school and spent the week helping her celebrate her graduation and bomb new job!

Ari and I celebrating at The Library of Congress. Great excuse for me to straighten my hair

My beautiful dates

Jet lagged and cold but still smiling for the camera!

Graduation Day! You can't take us NO where

Strong smart women. Now we all have a Master Degree, on to our next venture!

OK, so the humidity ate up my hair and spat it out to look like this....

We fly across country or anywhere to support each other..with my brother Beans

We screamed our lungs out for our Ari

Cali Swag

God tells us in Proverbs 13:4 that if we are lazy, we won’t receive our blessings. To gain something you have to give something. That something you give could be time, love, forgiveness, energy, tithes, and there is plenty more to give. The only thing that is too good to be true that you can actually have for free is God’s love.

love,
the christianista

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” Matthews 6:34

I used to be a little envious of people who were super multi-taskers, wishing I could effortlessly accomplish the most in the least amount of time too. I’m over it now. I joke with my friends all of the time telling them that I’m a marvelous mono-tasker. It may be funny, but it’s true. I’m not saying that I can’t do two things at a time, but I do my best when I’m only doing one thing. I like things to be simple where I can focus all of my thoughts and energy. I used to be one of those people who wanted to do everything, and in the end did nothing. I remember one of my to-do list looking something like this: read bible, stretch, cook breakfast, go to gym, work, go to gym, pick up cleaners, go to Target, read for 45 minutes, cook dinner, write article, prepare lunch for tomorrow, clean up, write in blog. Believe it or not, I did everything on the list, but the work I did was not of quality. I cooked – but left dirty dishes, read- but didn’t comprehend, and didn’t work hard at the gym. Now when I make a long to-do list, I do one thing off of the list daily. I usually accomplish more when I simply focus on one thing.

In today’s “right now” society we are made to think that there is something wrong with us if we can’t do more than 4 things at once. God is not telling us to procrastinate and not be productive, because he is definitely telling us to take action. However, God is also saying in Matthews 6:34 to focus and do what we can do now and entrust the rest to Him. It’s that simple.

Let’s be productive today!

love,
the christianista

What is flow:

Finding Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a book that attempts to explain how to live in exceptional moments against the dull background of life. You are in your flow moment when you are doing something challenging that you love and time doesn’t seem to matter. Unlike happiness, flow is complete mental and physical involvement. Flow are exceptional moments with mental focus that encourages action. When you are in your flow, you have a clear vision and focus of your goals.

Where does flow happen:

Flow can happen while you’re dancing, working, running, and hanging out with friends just to name a few. An example of a flow activity would be a game of connect four. Two players who know how to play the game, who know the goal of the game  can concentrate very clearly on reaching their end goal. These players have no question of what is to be done and how. During the entire game, the two players are in this concentration bubble with a concise end goal in sight, and that goal is to win.

How do you find your flow

Below is a list of ways to find your flow from Zen Habits:

2. Find something that is challenging – If you’re like me,  you will probably not give your undivided attention to something that is too easy and instead multitask.

3.Minimize distractions – Turn your phone and computer off. Let people know that you are busy and not to disturb you.

4. Prepare yourself – Make sure you have everything you need so you don’t have to break your concentration.

5. Isolate yourself – This goes along with eliminating distractions. Sometimes distractions can be your boyfriend, friend, mom, and even your  pet.

6. Let go– Let go of your expectations and excuses,  just do it!

7. Set a timer/deadline – Give yourself a set time so you have something to work towards. I find that I work better under pressure, so having a set time pushes me.

Phillipians 4:13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

love,
the christianista

So I am obsessed with finding news ways to be productive, organized, and just overall personal growth. I can not think clearly if there is clutter or mess, so I make a day once a week to de-clutter my space. I don’t have a specific day every week because its very necessary for me to keep a flexible schedule. This week I’m choosing Monday. I found a list from one of my favorite websites with tips to stay productive. I choose my top 10 favorites to try on Monday:

- Stay focused on what you are doing: This is very important to me. So many times I think so ahead in the future part because of ADHD and part because I’m a natural dreamer. Whatever the case may be, I have to always remind myself to be present in the moment.

- Do something else every 30 to 40 minutes to refresh your mind and body: During my graduate studies I learned that an adult can only focus on something for no longer than 45 minutes.

- Find what others have done in related fields and learn: I find time everyday to read and/or listen to podcast in my chosen field

- Be Passionate about what you are doing: This is something that is so natural to me, but I still like to focus on it.

-Give yourself credit for what you do: The hardest point for me. I seem to focus on what I need wrong so that I can grow from it. I never see the good things I do because there is ALWAYS room for improvement.

-Check your email not more than twice a day: Ummmm…. will be working on this starting on Monday

Share your produtive tips.

love,
the christianista

“I can still make it!”, is usually what I say when I see this sign. However, I am usually running and about 30 meters from the actual street. It happens every time. When I come to think of it, it applies to a lot of things in my life. I could look at this in three different ways.

1. I always find a way to get to where I am going, no matter how impervious it is. In this situation, crosswalks were no impediment.

2. I need to get to places sooner so that I don’t have to rush. In this situation, I could have left my house earlier so my walk could have been less brisk.

3. I need to have patience and wait. In this situation, I could have waited until the light changed again.

I thought about this this morning after I wildly ran through the streets of the city. I was trying to catch my company’s shuttle so that I didn’t have to wait 15 minutes to catch the next one. I slowly trudged up the monstrous hills of San Francisco and sped clumbsily down bracing myself for a fall. I thought how careless this was of me. At every crosswalk no matter what the countdown was, I panted to myself, “I can’t make it!” And I did, but at what cost?  Just because I didn’t want to wait for the next shuttle? Just because I wanted to do one more thing before I left my house? Just because I was determined to get on the 7:47 AM shuttle and no one was going to stop me? After all of that, I had to flag down the shuttle driver because in the end, I didn’t get to the stop on time. Thankfully, he gratiously stopped for me. The run to the shuttle with all of my belongings and the  hill workout left me breathless and with time to think about how this translates to my life.

Mark 1:35 shares Jesus work ethic as he went to preach in Galilee
“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

I want to pattern myself after this so that I am up early enough to not rush, and more importantly, make time in the morning to pray before I start my day.

love,
the christianista

So I’ve been using mint.com which is a free online personal budget software. I wanted to try it out before I wrote about it and have been using it for about 2 months now and it seems legit.

You have access to all of your accounts including car payments, checking, loans, and other money accounts at one log in. Of course since all of your personal information is accessible under one account, it is very important to use a password that you don’t use anywhere else.

If you are using mint.com, let me know how it is working for you.

love,
the christianista

This a cool tool I found that lets you know what % you should spend on everything from toiletries to rent. I live in a very expensive place so the 30% of my monthly income on rent does not work. However, you can adjust the percentages to make it work for you. It is very simple. Just put in your monthly bring home and VOILA…..