This summer, Stuart and I decided it was time to learn how to use spinnakers, those puffy colorful sails you see in front of a sailboat heading downwind. This is a challenge! Do it wrong, and the spinnaker will quickly get tangled up in some kind of maddeningly twisty way. But when you do it right, the spinnaker sails are just pretty and fun.
Well, I am happy to say that we have become reasonably competent spinnaker sailors – and, of course, we used Life Balance to steer the course.
What about you? What has Life Balance helped you accomplish this year? Did you finally learn to play the flute? Did you spend more time with your friends? Did you remodel the guest room? Was there a triumph at work?
Tell us your story by Dec. 1, 2009 and you could win a $50 iTunes Gift Certificate.
We love to hear your stories when you get in touch with us throughout the year. So as 2009 draws to a close, we want to help you celebrate the goals Life Balance helped you achieve this year.
Take a moment to shine. Before you start thinking about all the ways you want to improve in 2010, reflect on your accomplishments. Then tell us about them.
Send us the best of your success stories in no more than 400 words. Shorter is fine! We will choose the three best stories to receive a $50 iTunes Gift Certificate to be sent to you via email.
We also will showcase your successes on our web site and in promotional materials in early 2010. Please also include a fun photo of you working on your project if you have one! That would be terrific!
Here are some questions to help get your ideas rolling.
- What was the goal or project that you set out to do?
- Who participated in the project, was it a group, business, family of solo effort?
- How did the project start, change, and unfold over time?
- Where did the project take place? Did you have to complete tasks in more than one location to accomplish your goal?
- When did you complete the project and how did you celebrate when it was done?
- Why was the project significant, what did it mean to you?
- How did it provide your life with balance?
- What value did completing the project bring to your life as a whole?
Here's how Stuart and I used Life Balance to learn to do spinnakers.
The project was very simple to set up in Life Balance. We set up one task, "Go sailing" which we set to happen routinely every three days with a lead time of 8 hours. We used a routine task because the schedule varied, and the activity was dependent on weather. The key to reaching our goal was to show up to our sailing school lessons consistently, and to have fun practicing even when things would go spectacularly wrong. We did our work earlier in the morning to make time available in evenings.
Once we knew what we were doing with the spins, it was easier to pick up the tempo. The finale for the season, and the point when we knew we had actually reached our goal, was that we got to race as crew with a seasoned skipper in a real One Design sailing race with about a dozen other boats. We didn't need to do anything complicated or extraordinary to reach our goal. The wind does what it does. You work with what you are given. Every time we got the spinnaker flying we felt like cheering!
And here is another example from recent email of the kind of thing that just makes us smile. It's delightful to hear about how members of our community have been putting Life Balance to good use:
“Life Balance helped me get on track with my goal of starting a business. It helped me make progress on that important project, while managing the other demands in my life: child rearing, home life and a full time job. Without Life Balance, my dream might still be just that (and I'd be wondering why I am a grouchy mess).”
To submit your story with your coolest accomplishment of 2009, send email to support@llamagraphics.com, with the subject "Reaching goals! + (my cool goal)"
We look forward to hearing from YOU!
Best wishes,
—The Llamas
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