Ladies, meet a dear friend of mine: Rhiannon Bosse. Rhi is an encouragement speaker at Making Things Happen many times over, and a PowerSheets® user for many years. She inspires me daily, but one thing I particularly admire about her is how she strikes the fine balance between little-by-little steps and big, bold leaps forward into her unique version of a cultivated life. Rhi has a strong vision for where she wants to be when she's 80 and, with her PowerSheets in hand, she's living it out right now.
I hope her wise words are an encouragement to you as we move into the second half of 2019
—I know they have been for me!
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
When I'm not planning and designing weddings though, I can be found making beautiful things out of flowers, exercising my love of writing on my lifestyle blog, or creating handmade cold process soap in my West Michigan home studio. I love being creative (give me a project, I'll rock it!), loving people well (I'm known to execute pretty awesome surprises), and exploring that place where those two passions collide.
Why do you use PowerSheets?
I use PowerSheets for the accountability. It's one thing to think and talk about a goal or a dream. But to write something down and stare at it in front of you creates a kind of accountability that's hard to ignore! I also love the momentum that PowerSheets create and help build in me. As a recovering perfectionist, I often feel like I come up short on accomplishing anything
—until I look back at previous month's Tending Lists and realize I've actually been WILDY productive, successful, and fulfilled!
Tell us about one or two of your goals this year. How have you or do you plan to break them down on the way to completion?
Last year, my overarching goal was the be the joyful conductor of our lifegiving home. And that I did in a bevy of wonderful ways!
So, piggybacking off of that, and wanting to create an anthem for 2019, I decided to be in pursuit of peace within my blessed life: to seek peace in all I do. Some ways I've been getting after this? Limited social media use to help combat comparison or discontent, investing in a life coach to help process things better, marital counseling with my husband in light of both our parents recently going through divorces, and reading a lot of books to help refresh my perspectives/practices on mental health, parenting, work, and pleasure.
So, piggybacking off of that, and wanting to create an anthem for 2019, I decided to be in pursuit of peace within my blessed life: to seek peace in all I do. Some ways I've been getting after this? Limited social media use to help combat comparison or discontent, investing in a life coach to help process things better, marital counseling with my husband in light of both our parents recently going through divorces, and reading a lot of books to help refresh my perspectives/practices on mental health, parenting, work, and pleasure.
Where do you want to be when you're 80?
I'd like to be in Seaside, Florida on a porch swing with a book in my hand and the salty air blowing through my long gray hair. To my left will be my husband, probably not with a book in his hand (but he'll have gray hair, too). Coming in and out of the house will be our adult children and our grandchildren, giggling as they trek sand and toys everywhere. In the oven will be chocolate chip cookies baking. There will be vanilla ice cream in the freezer ready to make homemade sandwiches. Life will be slow and savored.
If you'e ever been to Seaside, you know a lot of the homes there are named. We're still on the fence about what we'll call ours, but I'm leaning towards "How Sweet It Is."
If you'e ever been to Seaside, you know a lot of the homes there are named. We're still on the fence about what we'll call ours, but I'm leaning towards "How Sweet It Is."
Why do you want to make what matters happen?
What have PowerSheets helped you accomplish in the first part of this year?
I can't say enough about the accountability PowerSheets provide! I don't use all of the features of PowerSheets because I'm a pretty goal-focused person in general, but when it comes to some of the things I might otherwise avoid (cleaning out the garage finally so we can have a clutter-free space) or procrastinate on (updating baby books so our kids will have this piece of their legacy preserved), Powersheets are very valuable. Last year my PowerSheets were particularly helpful with achieving a couple big goals: building the lifestyle facet of my business and growing our family! This year they've helped me navigate diversifying my business and leaning into some passive revenue opportunities.
How do you incorporate your Tending List into your life?
My monthly tending tasks, however, are where the good stuff is for me! I try to reference that section at least every other day so I am continually reminded of what I'm working toward that month. I also try to always keep my PowerSheets flipped open to the current month page, with a pencil near by, so it's impossible to ignore my goals. I've been known to cart around my PowerSheets from my office desk to the kitchen counter, to the bedroom and even into the car. Even just seeing them is powerful!
Do you have any "PowerSheets hacks" you'd like to share with our community?
I've started marking my calendar and setting my phone with a reminder to do my Powersheets prep the last Thursday of every month. I don't work Fridays unless we have an event scheduled, so to honor those days I have to make sure I get my prep done the last work day before a new month starts.
I also fill in my PowerSheets with my, my husband's, and our family's calendars all in front of me, since everything is so closely connected. For our family calendar, we use a big whiteboard calendar (from Target) that's stuck to the kitchen wall with Command Strips. Everyone's commitments, meetings, and appointments go on there, but we also leave a space for each month's highlights and adventures. Having this element of excitement as part of the goal setting process (which can sometimes feel tedious!) really helps.
I also fill in my PowerSheets with my, my husband's, and our family's calendars all in front of me, since everything is so closely connected. For our family calendar, we use a big whiteboard calendar (from Target) that's stuck to the kitchen wall with Command Strips. Everyone's commitments, meetings, and appointments go on there, but we also leave a space for each month's highlights and adventures. Having this element of excitement as part of the goal setting process (which can sometimes feel tedious!) really helps.
What are your 3-5 daily essentials - the things that, if done, would make even a busy day a success? What tips do you have to make sure they happen?
1. A heart full of gratitude and low expectations. I'm in a season where I'm living out what I've prayed for but structure is hard to come by, so gratitude and flexibility are key.
2. Being kind to myself. One of my 2019 goals was to love myself better, so this means taking vitamins, eating right, moving my body, and being cognizant of my wellness.
3. Music on Alexa. We LOVE music in our home! 1930's music, Eminem, the Disney channel, Usher, the Jaws theme song! Haha we're a pretty crazy bunch over here!
3. Music on Alexa. We LOVE music in our home! 1930's music, Eminem, the Disney channel, Usher, the Jaws theme song! Haha we're a pretty crazy bunch over here!
We can't do it all and do it all well. How do you deal with feelings of comparison when confronted with things you've chosen to say no to?
For example, my goal with social media in 2019 is to be online only once a week. This is not only to focus more on my kids, self, marriage, and work, but also to avoid feeling like I need new things, a better business, more this, more that. I've recognized that I'm simply wired to always strive for more so instead of trying to 'fix' myself and learn to want less X (money, things, free time, followers, chocolate cookies, whatever) I've tried to refocus that desirable energy elsewhere - to invest in the things, people, and opportunities that truly matter to me. Because those are usually tangible, in real life, and not on my phone screen.
And I always come back to that vision of gray-hair Rhi sitting on How Sweet It Is' porch one day. Will that Rhi be stuck in Instagram desiring X while her grandkids shout out that the cookies are done baking? I sure hope not.
Thank you so much, Rhi! We love you! You can follow along with her (once a week!) here, and get your own set of PowerSheets right here!
Emily Thomas
This is His Year: our first-of-its-kind workbook to let your faith inform the goals you set for the New Year.
Set, plan, and track progress toward the goals that matter most, big or small, the things you’ve always wanted to do—with PowerSheets!