Photo credit: Khaki

I was looking back through my journal and noticed a string of “I’m in great spirits today!” and “I feel awesome!” All those exclamation points made me wonder: Why was I in such a good mood? Was it random caffeine mania, or was there a pattern? And what was happening on the days that didn’t warrant exuberant punctuation?

Yep, there’s a pattern. Turns out I feel best when I’m making stuff, and I’m guessing you do too.

You might not realize it, but if you’re doing the same things over and over, you’re getting bored, cranky, or depressed. Even if those things are worthwhile (daily tasks or responsibilities), they’re not new and you didn’t make them.

Nothing gives you a quicker hit of joy and satisfaction than creating, and this is true if you consider yourself an artist or not. Whether it’s a poem or postcard collage or mittens, make something and feel instantly better.

Your homework:

1. Pick one thing you like to make.

2. Get the ingredients or tools you need to make that thing.

3. Block out an hour this week – put it on the calendar – and start making it. If it’s something that takes longer than an hour, like mittens, plug in a small chunk of time every day until it’s done.

4. Notice how great you feel. Journal entries with exclamation points optional.

5. Rinse and repeat.

What do you like to make? Let us know in the comments!

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

Photo credit: Anusorn P Nachol

Health and fitness are regular topics here, because you can’t have a life on the high wire without them. (My love of Doritos and Skittles notwithstanding.)

This week I’ve got two terrific (free!) health and fitness resources. (I’ve got nothing to do with either company, I just think they’re sensible, useful, and fun.)

The first is Slimkicker (“Level Up Your Body”), which is both a website and free app. It’s a hybrid game/social network (you get points and can share your progress with others), plus it educates on nutrition and portion control, good health habits, and includes tools such as a fitness tracker. Love this.

Then there’s LiveFit Revolution, “a free-of-charge fitness and nutrition program for people truly committed to a healthier lifestyle.” It’s a program with simple workouts (you need to buy a kettle bell, but I think that’s it), a nutrition plan, and support from a community of like-minded folks. LiveFit is a nonprofit organization, meaning they really are in it just to help, and I love the all-for-one attitude. Check it out.

Homework: Pick one thing you can do this week to improve your health. (I recently gave up red meat, which was easy since I’m more of a chicken-and-fish girl.) What did you pick? Let us know in the comments.

P.S. For the next little while I’ll probably only post once a week, since I’m creating two brand new offerings: a free webinar (launching this month), and an online course launching this summer. I can’t wait to share them with you!

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

photo credit: Khaki

I’ll admit I stole this from Julia Cameron of The Artist’s Way fame. (Didn’t Bonnie or Clyde say theft is the sincerest form of flattery? Ha.)

Cameron suggested we do this weekly, which makes sense, but she had 20 things on her list, which didn’t. I couldn’t think of 20 things, which either means a) my life is so great I should have my own TV network, or b) I was cranky that day and should have probably just gone back to bed.

Regardless, it’s a great exercise. Cameron explains that the list brings clarity, and clarity seems to bring the next missing piece to getting that wish.

Woo-woo alert: it’s true. There’s something hugely powerful about writing down the wish, that it somehow (brain energy? magic wish-granting fairies?) pushes you one step closer to making it happen.

I’ve done this for a long time in a less structured form (weekly rambling journal posts), and can vouch that it works. I’ve wished my way into everything from living in New York, to getting an MFA in creative writing, to finding the world’s best boyfriend. Dreams put into writing become real.

Homework: Get out your notepad or journal and make that weekly wish list. And feel free to share what’s on it in the comments!

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

Today I’m posting about my favorite place in the U.S. (The Smithsonian seems to think so, too). My guest post “Taos Is For Writers” is up over at Milli Thornton’s fabulous travel site, Milliver’s Travels. Check it out!

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

Photo by Horton Group

Last fall I went through a major depression where I wasn’t sleeping or eating much, and it left me no energy for my regular workouts (45 minutes on the StairMaster, 4x/week). Once the depression lifted I was in bad physical shape but wanted to workout again, so I did the StairMaster 30 minutes, 3x/week, thinking that was a good start. Which it was.

The problem: I stuck with that long after I should have gone back to my 45-minute workouts, and I not only regained all the weight I’d lost during the depression (a good thing), added an extra chunk for (not) good measure because I wasn’t getting enough exercise.

I needed more. But suddenly adding 50% to my regular workout (an extra 15 minutes) was too much.

So I added five minutes, which was easy. I barely noticed it, just one extra song on the iPod. I stuck with that for a couple weeks, and when that felt pretty good I added another five. Then another five a couple weeks later and, Ta da! I was back to my 45-minute workout.

The best part? Not only did I feel stronger and fitter, the pounds started coming off. Yay!

Note: You obviously can’t add time to your workouts forever. You’ll know when to level off, as long as you don’t justify a mediocre workout because it’s easier. (“I added the five minutes! Let’s get a sundae!”) The key is to push yourself, but gradually. Rushing the process will only cause burnout.

Your homework:

Starting this week, add five minutes to your cardio workout (walking, swimming, elliptical, whatever you do). Stick with that for a week and see how you feel. Tired? Do the same workout one more week. If you feel fine, add another five minutes and stick with that for another week. Keep adding five minutes until you feel stretched to your limit. And make sure to reward yourself along the way, though maybe a sundae isn’t the best idea.

Share your progress in the comments!

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

Photo by Puuikibeach

Nope, Life on the High Wire hasn’t suddenly morphed into a dating website. When I say make a pass, I mean instead of taking on a big project all at once, shave off layers in passes, as if you’re peeling an onion.

And now we’re morphing into a cooking site. Stop mixing metaphors, Deonne!

Okay. I love to clean out drawers and closets, organize shelves, sort and toss or donate anything I don’t need. You know how people do spring cleaning once a year? My spring cleaning lasts through summer, fall, and winter. It’s an obsession, and I’m sure there’s a pill for it somewhere, but until then, I have extremely tidy closets. In fact, I’m so into it I may just spring-clean myself right out of everything I own and be able to live full-time in Sadie. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing.

This weekend I decided to tackle a big project I’ve been putting off: cleaning out boxes and boxes of old journals, cards, and mementos and digitizing my photos. This stuff took up a third of my shelf space in my biggest closet, and to this minimalist, that was not okay.

Great idea, but yikes, a big project with sensitive stuff! This wasn’t tossing old, holey socks, this was whittling down a physical representation of my life. Augggh! How to get started?

Here’s what I did, and how you can apply it to any big project:

1. Dragged all the boxes, notebooks, and photo albums into one pile next to the dining room table. First pass: Get all your project’s pieces in one place, whether they’re physical (e.g. boxes of photos) or digital (e.g. notes for that novel).

2. Separated the stuff into categories including photos, journals, mementos and cards, slides and negatives. Made smaller piles of those four. (I also sorted the photos by year, since I knew that would help with digitizing.) Second pass: Sort your pile into broad categories, e.g. “old toys, mementos, useful stuff like strollers and baby clothes” or “my notes, emails from others, interesting websites, PDFs I should read.”

3. Took the categories one by one and sorted out the obvious stuff I wanted to get rid of, as in lame landscape photos, or cards from people I don’t even remember. Third pass: Go through each category and toss the obvious. Anything broken or stained, or outdated information, for example.

4. Went back to each category and fine-tooth-combed it. This took awhile, but I was able to get each one down to just those things I absolutely love. And before I tossed this time, I slept on it, and quickly glanced through the “to go” piles in the morning, just to make sure there wasn’t anything I should keep. (There wasn’t.) Fourth pass: Fine-tooth-comb the sorting and tossing for each category. Let it sit overnight just to be sure.

5. Put my way tinier box of photos in my office and bought a photo scanner. Put my (now only) two boxes of journals and mementos back on the shelf in the closet. Trashed the slides and negatives. Admired my newly bare shelf space and felt a little bit lighter. (Really!) Fifth pass: Donate to the local shelter, or start writing your memoir. Congratulate yourself on a job well done.

One last note: You don’t need to do this all in one day, or even in one weekend. I like to stretch the project out a bit so I can see the piles shrinking, but like I said, I’m seeking help for this.

What big project will you tackle next? Tell us in the comments!

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

Photo via The Smithsonian

There’s no way around it: social media has become part of our lives. In it we find community, an endless knowledge base, and the ability to interact with people we’d never have been able to before. Social media is here to stay, and that’s a good thing.

Social media can also be a massive time suck. Don’t want to start that project/complete that task/do those chores? Stalk your ex on Facebook! Catch up on Ashton Kutcher’s tweets! And if that isn’t enough, there’s always the Next Big Thing in social media. (Pinterest! Google+!)

The “experts” tell us we’ll be left in the dust if we don’t get involved over there too, that it’s just the thing to rocket our business, personal life, or platform to new heights.

It’s exhausting, isn’t it?

The truth is, you should spend less time tweeting and more time working and creating. The world won’t grind to a halt. You won’t suddenly be forgotten. Trust me.

Here’s your homework:

Pick your least favorite social media outlet and let it go. You don’t need to cancel your account, just sign out for one week. See how you feel without it. If you’re still wondering what’s happening with your FB friends, tweeps, LinkedIn pals – hold out for one more week, knowing you can always go back. (My Google+ page used to pop up automatically when I opened Firefox, but I changed it. Now it’s just Facebook and Twitter.)

Take the time you would have spent online and do something creative. Write a poem. Look at a map and plot your next trip. Dream up a new business. Creation = Satisfaction. Tweeting does not.

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

Photo by Images of Money

I know we’re a few months from July 4th, but I’ve been thinking about independence anyway. (Okay, beer and snack foods seem to also be on my radar, but really, independence is the thing I’m thinking about the most.)

I’m specifically thinking about financial freedom, and how that relates to creating a life where you can spend all your time on things that matter without worrying how you’ll pay the bills.

I’m a big proponent of baby steps, small actions that add up, and in the financial realm that might be brown-bagging your lunch or canceling cable.

But if you want to take a big leap toward financial independence, you have to also tackle the big expenses, and I’m guessing your biggest one is housing. (Please don’t say it’s cocaine, because that will just make me sad.)

This might seem totally wackadoo, but the best financial move you can make for the long-term is this:

Get rid of your housing payment.

Put that keyboard down and hear me out. I don’t mean this month or next year or even in five years. I’m talking about making this the One Great Financial Goal of Your Life. You could be like Sisyphus finally pushing that boulder over the top of the mountain. Pure freedom.

If you’re young and/or renting, this concept might seem ridiculous, but I was once young and renting, and I did it. I had a hit of luck that made my timeline move a lot faster, but the basic premise is the same.

My First House

I lived in the Bay Area for 15 years, and toward the end had built a successful consulting business. I worked all the time and was making more money than I ever had, which still wasn’t a lot, but for me it was plenty. I was tired of paying rent and knew it was now or never, so I held my breath and jumped into the insane Bay Area real estate market.

I ran the numbers to see how much mortgage I could afford, which wasn’t much in that overpriced market, so I bought a tiny, cute house in a decent neighborhood in Oakland, and took out a 15-year mortgage, which meant a slightly higher monthly payment but way less interest paid over the term of the loan.

LESSON: Give yourself a budget (mine was 33% of my net income). Don’t buy the best house, buy a pretty good house. (I would have loved a stylish condo in the city, but it was out of my price range.) Suck it up and take the 15-year mortgage, not the 30-year.

I fixed up my little bungalow myself and hung on for five years as the neighborhood improved, then found a fantastic real estate agent and sold. For a lot more than I paid.

(The insane Bay Area real estate market is the part that sped up my story, but even if I didn’t live there my steps would have been the same. And I didn’t make a million bucks or anything – this isn’t that great of a story.)

LESSON: Do the work yourself, be patient, and get help from an expert.

My Second House

Then I was ready to leave the Bay Area and move to Taos (with its cheaper housing market).

What I didn’t do was take the money I’d made in Oakland and tell myself I could buy an even nicer house with a “reasonable” mortgage. Nothing extravagant, maybe a couple hundred thousand. It’s the American way, for crying out loud! It wouldn’t kill me, I’d just have to work full-time, but look at the place I could get! In fact, I’m sure I need those steam showers and extra bedrooms! I do! Because I might have a party and everyone will want to sleep over! And take a steam shower!

I looked at one big place in the mountains, with all the extras, on five acres. I drooled openly. I looked at a gorgeous smaller house in town where I could walk to the Plaza and the grocery store and my beloved Taos Inn. After putting a lot of money down I’d still have had a reasonable mortgage. Wasn’t that monthly payment worth it to have a gorgeous house with all the trimmings?

No. It wasn’t.

I ended up buying a nice, but modest, house five miles north of town. It’s got a terrible road and unreliable cell phone coverage, but I have friendly, quiet neighbors and the house is big enough. And: I don’t have a mortgage.

(Again – put the keyboard down. It can be done.)

LESSON: Stick to your budget! Go for less than you think you can afford.

Even if you’re a in a normal, non-Bay Area housing market and starting from scratch, here’s what you do:

1. Buy a house you can afford. Consider buying even less house than you can afford. Trust me, you won’t feel deprived.
2. Take out a 15-year mortgage.
3. Throw all your extra cash at the payment. Even if you put in an extra $100 every month, you can reduce those 15 years by a big chunk.
4. Make that last payment and either live there forever, mortgage-free, or sell the house and buy something else free and clear. Voilà. No housing payment.

If you’re not ready to buy yet – you’ve got other debt to pay off first, you haven’t saved enough for a down payment – this will take longer. You may need to spend some years working hard and saving up, but everything worthwhile takes time. If you already have a house, consider refinancing to a 15-year mortgage and pick up on step 3 above.

Before you complain that my story is rare, it’s not. I know many others who have done this – different situations, same result – and ended up with a fat chunk of cash every month they don’t have to spend on housing. It’s a life changer, because it gives you the freedom to pursue your passions in a way you can’t when you’re worried about paying that monthly mortgage bill. Wouldn’t that extra time and effort be worth it?

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!

I’m doing a few posts before the official blog launch on May 1, and here’s a presentation I gave about my decision to ditch traditional publishing and take my writing online. It’s called “Breaking Up With Traditional Publishing: It’s Not Me, It’s You,” and if you’re a writer and wish you had more money, freedom, and control, this is for you:

Hit the share button below if you found something useful in this post!