Organization: The Key To Victory?
…Okay, I’m sure it’s not THE key to victory, but it’s probably one of the keys on the proverbial keychain. You know, one of those keys whose purpose is a mystery to you. Does it unlock the basement? The back door? Or was it just some random key that you found on the sidewalk and decided to keep for no apparent reason? Organization can be a downright pain, especially when you already have a busy lifestyle. Personally, I work a full-time job, raise a four-year-old daughter, and struggle to make my writing dreams come true in my “free” time. Organization seemed like a nice dream, but was it possible to find the time to turn that dream into a reality?
Like it or not, I realized that I would have to get organized in order to enhance my lifestyle and overall performance. The more books I read, the more people I spoke with, only seemed to solidify this belief. In my mind, getting organized was the key to unlocking one of the doors in my life’s path- the element that would soothe some of the chaos in my life and enable me to meet any challenge with adequate preparation.
So, realizing this was the easy part. Putting my thoughts into action… well, that was a bit harder. Admittedly, I’m still working on my organizational skills. My wifey’s been helping me, since she’s also resolved to buckle down and get more organized this year. Together we’ve made plans for our apartment- how to utilize the space that we have, where to put certain files and documents, and so on. We’re even trying to get our daughter involved, although the extent of her organization is remembering to take her shoes off at the door and hang her jacket up on her new coat hook. Still, it’s something.
I’m the sort of person who likes to see quick results. I just like to know that I’m on the right path, that my actions are paying off. So I’ll also admit that I felt discouraged not too long ago. It seemed that we never had enough time to sit down and really attend to the physical aspect of organization. Tonight, I took a good look around the apartment and I realized something: we’ve been making progress all along. Granted, not everything is where it needs to be, but our environment is slowly taking shape and things are falling into place. Definitely an encouraging sign!
So, with all of this in mind, I thought I’d share a few of the organization tips and strategies that we’ve been using around the homestead:
1. DON’T OVERWHELM YOURSELF. This is surprisingly easy to do. You start out with one plan in mind; one thing leads to another and pretty soon you’re trying to juggle twenty different tasks. Keep it simple! One of the best ideas I’ve tried is to plan a bunch of short projects. You know, little things that you can accomplish relatively quickly. These projects are ideal for weeknights, when you’re probably going to be tired from work and children (if you have ‘em). As an example, I decided to organize our closet tonight. The task took about 15 minutes, tops. Did work leave me exhausted? You bet- but this project was so simple that it didn’t even faze me. I just dove in and accomplished my goal. If you can plan a bunch of “little projects” around your household, I can guarantee that you’ll be surprised at how quickly the results add up.
2. GET EVERYONE INVOLVED. Why suffer alone- misery loves company, right? Okay, okay, so organizing and cleaning don’t have to be chores… if you’re into that sort of thing. Still, your family should be willing to roll up their sleeves and pitch in with the cleaning and organizing. Even your children can get involved; age doesn’t matter. Just assign each child an age-appropriate task. Try to make a game of it, too- kids love a good competition. Our daughter likes “racing” to see who can finish a certain task in the shortest amount of time. She also loves being rewarded, either with a treat or with praise. Obviously, I don’t have her moving furniture around; she usually cleans her room and wipes down anything at her level. We’ve also tried to teach her some basic organization skills, mostly by showing her where to put her toys, books, clothing, and so on. Look, the point is- the more people that are involved, the less time that all of this will take. Just tackle it with an optimistic attitude and it won’t be that bad. Promise!
3. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Yes, some people love to organize their clothing drawers based on sizes, shapes, and colors. I’m not one of them. I just want to keep things grouped together in a (fairly) logical fashion. Lately, we’ve tried to be more anal about documents in this household; we want to be assured that we can locate pertinent medical and personal information, if needed. Speaking of which, it’s a good idea to make copies of important documents. You may want to invest in a fire-proof, locked storage box. They’re not as expensive as you’d think. At least then you can rest assured that your information will be relatively safe in the event of an emergency. I’m also in favor of storing copies of these documents at another location. You could do this at a bank, or even by just leaving some of these papers at a relative’s house. At any rate, don’t go crazy and try to over-complicate everything. Just accomplish the basics before you take the next step. In other words, get all of your DVDs in one place before you get crazy and decide to alphabetize them.
What a long post! Well, hopefully this information will be helpful to some of you. As proof of the fact that I was not always very organized, I’ll leave y’all with a picture of my college dorm room, circa senior year. Enjoy!
