An orderly beginning... HA!! This is the third time around for order week and each time, as well as at various points between weeks, I have thought "You know you can really do this Kath." The "this" being get myself organized. I feel like I should have the motivation because I really like it when things are organized. When I envision "perfect scenarios" about cooking a meal, planning a craft project with my girl (who I've decided to call "girl" or "J" going forward in this blog) or pretty much anything, my scenarios always have me easily and quickly grabbing the needed items and easily returning things back to their rightful spots.
In reality, I spend about 20-30 extra minutes EVERY TIME I begin anything hunting around the house for needed items. If I want to leave the house it is even worse. Twenty minutes can be lost easily as I try to find J's sun hat, outfit matching shoes, or sun glasses even if we had them the last time we went out one hour earlier!
At my last corporate-ish job I took a course called Mission Control where I learned how to effectively manage all the loose information, stuff, thoughts, calendar items with which I was surrounded. It worked beautifully and as my work environment lived and spoke mission control practices it was easy to be diligent about following through. Being a full time mom is very different then that corporate gig but in my heart I know my home and I would really benefit if I applied the same principles in managing our day to day life. Mission Control isn't an organization system per say but one of its results is a more organized life. This week I will spend some time revisiting the mission control principles and I'll see what happens.
This week's "Bliss Initiatives" are color coded in purple for quick identification. They are concrete things that you too can try, if you want to play along with me. However, because as Earl Nightingale says, "you become what you think about," even if you only follow along, and never take on any of the bliss initiatives, I expect some positive results. I will be exploring and encouraging ORDER this way:
- Study - I will be reviewing my Mission Control materials and implementing what works. I will also be finishing Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project and reviewing "The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized * Manage Your Time * Eliminate Clutter and Experience Order * Keep Your Family First"
by Karen Ehman.
- Field work - I will be picking two things to clean up around my house - my pantry and my garage. If you are playing along pick a drawer or closet that is particularly troublesome for you and spend 15 minutes a day until the entire thing is the way you would like it to be. If you are ambitious move on to another item when you are complete. 15 minutes isn't a lot of time and you will be surprised by what you can do in that amount of time. Make a game of it and really stop at the end of the 15 minutes and you will likely find yourself eager to get back and finish. The key is to do it everyday. I will be starting with my pantry and then moving on to the garage!
- Bliss work - This one is good for everyone no matter how organized you already are or aspire to be. Each day I will be giving at least one thing away. Less is more and we have way too much stuff. It is a great feeling when one frees themselves from the burden of their stuff and then to know that someone else could benefit makes the whole process highly addictive! If you like how this feels you may even want to consider the 29 day Giving Challenge.
Cami Walker, founder of the wonderful 29 day Giving Challenge said this about giving things away "I want to notice what happens in my life if I focus my energy on giving ... What space will it create in my life for new and unexpected things to occur? What shifts will I see in my thinking and behavior as a result? What impact will my gifts have on others? These are just a few of the questions I'm curious about. Who knows what will unfold?
Nothing is planned. I don't know what I'll give away each day. I just begin the day and when I feel moved to give something, I do. This really goes against my control freak nature, but taking contrary action is sometimes needed to create change. Part of me initially wanted to plot out the... days and line up the things I'm giving in my hallway so I have the illusion of knowing what to expect. But collapsing into that old, manipulative way of being would defeat the purpose of the experiment."
- Put wanted items in the calendar - This is the let each part of your business have its time part of my definition. I am really good about scheduling all of J's doctor appointments but when it comes to my own appointments I constantly put things off. This week in a bold week of bloggy accountability I am promising to schedule a dentist and doctor appointment for myself. How about you? Any appointments you have been avoiding? This is the week to get them scheduled!
OK. That is more then enough for this week!
Next Post: Hard core bloggy accountability!
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I borrowed the Happiness Project, and I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm usually a very organized person - the only thing is that there is nearly not enough time in the day to do all that I want to do. LOL So I think I need to re-evaluate my organizational skills a bit. :) Looking forward to your review. Theresa
ReplyDeleteI'm working on organization too, big surprise, I've been working on it for thelast three months. P is going to be crawling in a month though, so I really really need to get everything finished unpacked and vacumable before she eats everything. Because she will... I just signed up for Fly Lady, dunno if it will help or not.
ReplyDeleteMy every day struggle! I finished one room all the way to the closet this weekend (but I was motivated for an arts/crafts/writing room!). Love the giveaway - really good idea!
ReplyDeleteThat 29 Days of Giving Challenge is really quite interesting! I'm going to go back and read more about it later when I have more time, but so far, it seems pretty cool and I can totally see how it could make a huge impact! I am rather organized at work, but my studio at home is a creative chaos! I need to do better at keeping it picked up. It is fairly well organized, just not well kept, you know?
ReplyDeleteoh man, sometimes i hate leaving the house for the simple reason that by the time i leave, i need to go back home in 20 minutes for nap time. booo. i need to work on the whole organization thing. thanks for the post!
ReplyDelete