Organizing Flexibility

                Even in organizing you must be flexible. I work in a job that things are constantly changing. Sometimes daily sometimes hourly and sometimes it is minute to minute. You may think you have a system worked out and here comes a change and you have to change with it.

                This is true when it comes to organizing. If you saw my house right now you would think and she is an organizing leader? I don’t claim to be perfect or always have it together. We must be flexible enough to say ok what is my priority today? Do you have to pay bills and everything else can wait so you have time with your family? Then do just that. Yes you can burn yourself out trying to be organized and organizing yourself. If it was a stressful day at work, traffic was terrible, or the kids are on your last nerve; it just maybe the best thing for you to give yourself a break. Will the world end if you leave a few things undone? Sometimes we must allow ourselves down time to gather our thoughts. Without a clear mind you won’t be very productive and it will cause you more stress which may lead to you giving up. So with all this being said, I give you permission even order you to take a breather and gather yourself. Trust me in this you will be thankful you did. When you allow yourself to decompress you can look at something that must be done with a clear focus and say ok if I do this than that will fall into place. When you attack things with a fogged up brain that has thoughts racing at a 100 mph you are not able to see the small simple things that make things work out easier, and most often times faster. I for many years tried to over think everything and tried to do so many things at one time that I would just frustrate myself to the point I could not focus on something as simple as putting dishes away. I learned after many trial and errors that if you focus on one thing that must get done. Do that, it is much easier to also slip in a couple of little things that can be done quickly so your mental / actual “to do list” gets way more things checked off. If you have a day that you plan to tackle several projects, take a moment and figure out the priority of the things that need to be done, and the order to do things that will make the next task easier. For example I love to move furniture around it makes me feel like I have change without buying anything new. I plan what will go where and what needs to be moved first to make room for these things. (This is also my way of cleaning in places that I would normally get over look when doing general house cleaning). So in short, plan out your plan of attack and it will save you frustration and possibly even giving up in the middle of a project. By doing this it may bring to mind other tasks that need to be accomplished to achieve your end goal.

Calendar Conundrum

                How many times have you been late for an appointment? Forgot about the doctor’s appointment until you get a reminder from the office (If you get these) and realized you had a full day and there was no way you could get off work or find someone on such short notice to watch the kids? These things happen every day to millions of people just like you and I. Some people prefer electronic calendars, some like paper calendars. Either way you do it, you need to make sure that as soon as you make an appointment or commitment that you record it. Those business cards size appointment reminders you may get can so easily get lost. My suggestion is that you take a couple of minutes once a week whatever day you choose (I do Sunday) and look at your calendar for the upcoming week to see what is coming. It will give you a fresh reminder of appointments, play dates, events, or birthdays that may have slipped your mind. This also allows you to make arrangements that you may need to make, remind you to get that dress out for an upcoming party and dust it off, or get out that dress shirt you normally don’t wear and iron it. To run to the store to get that birthday card that has to get in the mail today, or get those cookies for the class party that you volunteered for. Things get hectic at times and we all forget things. I have both paper and electronic calendars. In my job I keep up with several people’s calendars and 4 conference rooms that are often booked solid and meetings times and places are changed several times. I am asked many times a day is John in a meeting? Or is conference room A open from 2-3 today. There are times that I know off the top of my head, but most of the time I will tell the person asking hold on a moment while I look for you. There is no shame when someone asks if you are available to say “let me check my calendar”. If you have that moment open but the rest of your day is booked its ok to say “I’m booked solid” and offer a different day, time or even place. Give yourself a little wiggle room for the little things that may cause you to get behind, traffic, a phone call, a spill you have to clean up, a pair of shores you can’t find, the keys you don’t remember where you placed, the meeting that runs over. Because there are always things that pop up. Nobody can reasonably plan every single minute to go perfectly as we do not live in a perfect world. Also don’t forget to schedule some time for yourself. Whether or you simply just have a couple of minutes of down time, or take a long bath, read a book, paint or even look for a place to stay on your next vacation. It is very important to make time for yourself and give yourself forgiveness for things you over looked and wiggle room because after all we are human. 

Organizational Break: I to needed to take a break.

                It has been about 4 years since I posted a blog. In all that time I never stopped working on organization. If anything I found more things to write about and give others ideas. A lot has changed; I have started a new job. My youngest got married and is expecting her first child. My husband and I have remodeled and sold our prior home to buy a new one and move closer to work to cut down on our commute time. We have been remolding our new smaller home to make it what we want and we have much more yet to do. Funny how a few years goes by and things change so much. My newer job keeps me on my toes. I work as a receptionist for a company that is growing and expanding quickly. Where I support and work for several departments. Trust me when I say I am not just a receptionist. I juggle so very many things all at the same time if I was not a multi-tasker or as organized many major errors would occur. I ask you to stop here for just a moment and think of the many tasks that you juggle every single day…

 You too have the ability to be a multi-tasker and be organized. For example when you drive a vehicle you are organizing and multi-tasking. You are steering, controlling the speed, watching other drivers, reacting to them, as well as paying attention to where you have come from and where you are going. There are many other things some do while driving, but ultimately you are multi-tasking in an organized fashion, by what dancers know as muscle memory. When you do things over and over you get more efficient at them and they become almost second nature and you do them without having to think of what you are doing or how you need to do it. This is to show you that with a little practice you can become organized. Starting anything new is hard, and there is a lot of work to be done. As you go along things will become easier and second nature. A new way of doing things will take getting use to, but it will be well worth it. So when change comes your way and you know it will, you will be much better equipped to take it on. My hope in telling you these things are to inspire you to take a step in the direction of organizing yourself and ultimately your life.

P.S. Don’t get caught up in the "I must change everything at one time.” attitude / thought process. Take it step by step even one little change can make a difference. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Like they say “Rome wasn't built in a day”.