Organization Blow Up!

Get Organized???

One word:  FAILURE.



Yeah.  This week hasn't gone very well.  As in, at all.



I've been late to half the places I've gone, I haven't worked out a SINLGE time since last Monday.  Not yesterday, 7 days before yesterday.  My room's a disaster and so's my car.  I'm trying to figure out what exactly happened, because last week I felt like I was really getting into this.



The only excuse I can come up with is that I'm disgustingly sick.  Coughing, sneezing, sore throat, painful breathing... the whole shabang.  I can't really use that for much of an excuse, though, since it's only been that bad for the last couple days.



Anyway, I've been pretty mad at myself for doing such a bad job; for not following through.  At the same time, I've just been completely avoiding any thought of organization.  That's what I do, you know.  If I'm behind on something, or not working on a job I should be, I tend to completely push it out of my mind, because that way I don't feel overwhelmed or guilty.    It's the most awful way to deal with a problem.  It's weak, really. 



These are all the things running through my mind this last week, but today I came upon a comforting and startlingly true thought.   It's okay!  Changing my ways, and making a big lifestyle change, such as getting organized, is a really big project.  It's hard for me, and to be honest, I was a little nervous about starting this thing.  I still am.  So, I miss a week.  So what?  I'm still motivated, I still want to 'clean up' my ways, and I will.  I just took a week off. 



I'll be alright.



Here's the deal though, I'm not even going to try to do anything 'til I feel better.  This sickness, and a certain snowstorm outside, is keeping me in the house for a couple days.  I'll accept that.  It gives me more time for thinkin' and research, anyway.



Keep checking in.  I'm hopeful I'll have my act together soon.  :)

A Few Organizing Ideas

Reigning in My Thoughts!

So many things have gone through my mind this week.  I've tried to write most of them down, but when I want to look them over later, I can't seem to find the myriad of pieces of scrap paper strewn around the house.  So, I started something new.  I put little legal pads all over.  I have 4 telephone bases around my house.  So I put one by each of them.  I also have one on my night stand, in the console of my car, and in my purse.  So, pretty much wherever I am, I have some paper available.  I started that at the end of last week, but that posed a brand new problem. WHERE IS A PEN?!?!  I have millions around my house, I know I do.  So where do they all go?? 

I've solved that problem thanks to a woman named Carol Barnier.  She is the author of If I'm diapering a Watermelon, Then Where'd I Leave the Baby?.  It's a book geared toward the "Highly Distractible Mom".  While I'm not a mom, I would definitely say I'm highly distractible, and I've found a few really helpful things in her book.  One thing she mentions is her 'tethering' method.  She loses things like scissors, staplers, calculators, tweezers, and hairbrushes.  So, she ties them to whatever surface she uses them at.  The tweezers are tied to her bathroom mirror, the calculator is tied to the surface she uses to work on bills, etc, etc. 

So, I've taken her idea and tied pens to my legal pads using a little piece of string.  This has been a miracle so far!  Then, when I'm ready to look over my ideas of the week, I go around and rip off the first page of notes, and staple them all together.  I'm putting these stacks of paper in a pile on my dresser.  Actually, I'm putting the stacks on top of clothes, on top of dishes on top of jewelry on top of my dresser.  But that's a project for another week.

A Packed Schedule

This week I've added another big thing to my schedule.  I've joined a drama group called Stage Right Players.  We're doing a play called Flowers for Algernon.  This is going to take up at least 7 more hours per week, including drive time.  My mother and I have also started working out 5 days a week.  AND I've agreed to make dinner for the family every Wednesday.  I thought I must be completely off my rocker to start 3 new projects when I can hardly keep up with what I'm doing already, but then this little voice told me that maybe it's a good thing.  Maybe it can force me to get my act together.  Kind of like, when you can't seem to get your house clean, you invite company over, and make yourself get it done.

Major Time Management

Whether that is true or not, I'm definitely gonna have to crack down on my time management.  So, I've adopted a calendar.  I keep it with me and write down every appointment, obligation, and thing that I have to remember.  Every night before bed, I check it and see what I have to do in the morning.  That way I don't wake up at 7:30 and realize my chiropractor appointment was at 7:15.  That happens to me a lot.

Now, I'm just working on being consistent with the things I've started.  And I'm still trying to get all the junk out of my car. Some days, it only comes down to Laziness Vs. Diligence. 

It's a lot of work, but this little blog-friend of mine is holding me accountable.  

Alright, I'm off to workout...twice.  I didn't do it yesterday.  Go figure.

Project Organize!

I Need Organization Help!

Most days, when I look around, it seems that everybody's got their life together.  They're organized, efficient, and on time.  Their rooms are clean, their work is on-track and their ducks in a row.  Basically, the polar opposite of me.  I am the most disorganized person I know with the possible exception of my mother.  I'm always arriving late, my work is constantly being turned in either last-second, or after the last second, and my room looks like New Orleans after Katrina.

Every once in a while I see small glimmers of hope.  I'll show up to an appointment 5 minutes early, or have my work done a day before the deadline, but these occurrances are few and far between.

A Disorganized Mind, Too.

One thing I enjoy is writing.  I love it, but I never seem to fit it in when I'd like to.  Sometimes I'll be working and an idea will pop into my head; something I think is really interesting.  I always forget though, and never get to form the thought fully, and then it slips away for good.


It has got to stop.  I need to get on track, and start making the most of my time and talents.  I'm wasting the things I've been given, and I'm going to change that, starting today.

A Plan to Get Organized

So I've decided something.  I need something else to hold me accountable.  I'm going to use this blog as a tool to keep me on track, and organized.  I'm going to use it to make sure I don't let those ideas of mine slip away.   So here's the deal:  At least every Wednesday, I'm going to write a post.  I'll tell the adventures of being unorganized and scatter-brained.  I'll show the details of my quest to become more put-together, and prove that even while I'm not, crazy people can have good ideas, too.

Keep checking in! There will definitely be a new post up Wednesday, if not before then. 

I can't wait to get started on this adventure of mine!