I had plans for Friday.
Now, if you’ve been around my kitchen table very long, you probably already know that’s usually the beginning of a story. 😂
Friday was supposed to include getting my Scout Stash email out. Nothing complicated. Just one of those things sitting on the list that I fully intended to handle after work.
Instead, somewhere along the way I discovered the link to The Porch in an email wasn’t working.
Well.
There went Friday night.
One wrong link turned into WordPress Safe Mode, private browser windows, login screens that apparently had personal issues with me, plugins, passwords, testing, closing tabs, reopening tabs, and me reaching that special stage of computer troubleshooting where you start clicking things while muttering words that probably aren’t covered under “kitchen-table hospitality.” 😂
The Scout Stash email did not get done.
But eventually, I opened the email again, clicked the link to The Porch…
And it worked.
I sat there looking at it and realized something.
I had spent most of that evening thinking about the thing I hadn’t gotten done. I almost missed the fact that I had fixed something that needed fixing.
And when I started thinking about it, that wasn’t just Friday.
That had been my whole week.
Maybe I Was Looking at the Wrong Side of the Scoreboard
Work had its share of frustration this week. There were numbers that weren’t where they needed to be and conversations about performance that weren’t exactly warm and fuzzy.
But there was also a young employee I’ve been coaching who showed real improvement after we worked with her.
One day our sales came up a little short of target. The next day, we had a much stronger day.
Neither of those things erased what still needed work. They just reminded me that “not there yet” and “not moving” are two completely different things.
Then there was Text Kitchen.
I got a STOP this week.
Now, nobody running an email or text list particularly enjoys seeing that word pop up. 😂
But you know what else came through Text Kitchen?
A sale.
An old consultant saw something that fit her, bought a Sunset Orange Big T tumbler, and went on about her business.
One person decided the texts weren’t for her anymore. Another found something useful enough to buy.
Both things can be true at the same time.
We’re Awfully Good at Moving the Finish Line
I think a lot of us do this without realizing it.
We notice what didn’t happen before we notice what did.
The laundry still sitting there gets more attention than the load we already folded. The supper we didn’t plan bothers us more than the leftovers we managed to turn into lunch. The one thing still sitting on the list somehow outweighs the six things we crossed off.
And heaven help us if we have an actual number to measure.
Sales goal. Steps. Followers. Pounds. Emails opened. Money saved. Closets cleaned. Whatever scoreboard we’ve decided matters that day.
We can get so busy looking at the distance between here and where we think we should be that we forget to turn around every now and then and look at the distance we’ve already traveled.
That doesn’t mean pretending everything is wonderful.
Some things still need work.
There are still conversations I need to have at my store. There are still pieces of Your Bowl Connection I’m figuring out. Scout Stash still needs my attention. There will undoubtedly be another WordPress problem waiting somewhere around the corner because apparently that website enjoys keeping our relationship spicy. 😂
But unfinished doesn’t mean unsuccessful.
That may be the part I needed to notice this week.
Sometimes the Win Is Smaller Than We Expected
Chaos to Cozy has never really been about getting everything perfect.
Lord knows my own life would disqualify me immediately. 😂
It’s about finding the next thing that makes life a little more manageable. Using what we already have. Making tomorrow easier where we can. Changing the plan when the original one doesn’t fit anymore. Letting a small win actually count as a win.
Sometimes that looks like supper getting on the table.
Sometimes it’s Bubba cooking enough that there’s lunch waiting for me the next day.
Sometimes it’s somebody finally getting something you’ve been trying to teach them.
Sometimes it’s one customer saying yes even while somebody else says no.
And apparently sometimes it’s sitting in front of a computer on a Friday night saying, “CLICK THE DANG LINK ONE MORE TIME,” and discovering that this time it actually works. 😂
Maybe progress doesn’t always announce itself.
Maybe sometimes we have to notice it.
A Little Something to Carry Into This Week
Before you decide last week wasn’t productive enough, organized enough, profitable enough, peaceful enough, or whatever “enough” you’ve been measuring yourself against, look again. Not for some giant victory you overlooked, either. Just look for movement ~ something that got a little easier, a problem you handled differently, something you used instead of wasted, or one little thing that’s better today than it was seven days ago. That counts, too.
Off the Apron
This week reminded me that sometimes we don’t need another big plan. We just need the next thing that makes today a little easier.
That’s really what I’ve been trying to build around here ~ practical help that can meet you where you are, whether that’s figuring out supper, using what’s already in the refrigerator, or simply making tomorrow a little easier than today.
From the Porch
So before we start another week, I’m doing something I don’t always remember to do.
I’m looking backward for just a minute.
Not to count everything I didn’t finish.
Just to notice what moved.
Maybe you’ll do the same.
There might be a win sitting there that you’ve been too busy to count.
Coffee’s ready. Pull up a chair.
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