Our feature this week is written by Lynn Rasmussen: mom, author, and app developer. You might be familiar with Lynn and her daughter Molly who produced the MathGirl Games series of apps. Like many creative developers, she is not one-dimensional. In this past year she ventured beyond math and into digital book publishing on platforms including Kindle and iBook. Freshly inspired from her recent app about new year resolutions, she shares her tips on how to get this year started in a productive direction.
It’s the New Year; a traditional time for letting go of the old and bringing in the new.
But who has time to think? Whenever I see the Moms With Apps banner, I envision a mom or dad in front of a screen, one-handed, pounding out the post due in an hour or that last bit of code for an app revision, all with a baby burping on his/her shirt, the oven timer beeping, and the dog whining at the back door.
In modern times, the problem is not letting go of the old. The problem is dealing with so much new!
The Problem with Resolutions
I googled around for the most popular New Year Resolutions and the top four contenders are:
- More time for family and friends
- Lose weight/Exercise more
- Save money/Pay off debt
- Change my job/Start my business
Budgets and diets don’t work. You can’t make more time, and your time to think about starting new projects is probably limited.
A Resolution That Works
If you do nothing else, resolve to clear your head and simplify your life.
Make a list of everything hanging over your head: the appointments with the vet and the dentist, the thank you notes, the empty gas tank, the obnoxious neighbors, etc. Keep it running for a couple of days and then put it away, deep into a drawer. It’s an awareness list, not a to do list.
You’ll find yourself clearing out stuff: stuff that you don’t need; stuff that collects dust; stuff that breaks. You’ll avoid bringing in more stuff. By resolving to apply the same creativity to your life that you apply to your work, you’ll set up systems for handling stuff. As your list clears, so will your head and your life.
What are your creative solutions for the New Year? If you need ideas, don’t miss out on our next App Friday, which will showcase some amazing apps for managing our households AND sanity!
