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 The world from a short person's POV - not Australia or New Zealand. |
Random thoughts, pointed comments, and whatever else crosses my mind 
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| Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. Carol Burnett We live in a fast-paced, changing world that often presents challenges to all of us who try to live an organized life. While we try to keep control of the externals, there are times when no matter how hard we try, we can only get so far. Some external obstacle is blocking our attempts to accomplish our goals and live a satisfying life. A major obstacle can be an unrealistic workload . If you have gone back to work from being a stay-at-home parent or started a new business or experienced downsizing at your place of work, you are probably experiencing this phenomenon. To get an accurate picture of how realistic or unrealistic your workload could be, track how you spend your time for a week or two. Try using a notebook to list all the task you do and how long it takes to do them in one column. Then in another column lists the task you needed to do, but couldn't get to. This log can reveal where you didn't make the best use of your time or maybe there is too much work and not enough hours in the week to accomplish all that is expected of you. What to do about this depends on the situation. Are you a "time waster"? Do you tell yourself that you can't get started on a task until you are in the mood or the creative spirit strikes you or you know you will have an hour or more uninterrupted time to work on the project? Do you get easily distracted from one important task and find yourself wandering off to do something else? Here are some helpful suggestions: Make sure you have clearly defined goals related to the task at hand. Include a time frame for completing the task. Now, in the mood or not, do one thing involved in completing this task. It can be as simple as making sure you have all the supplies needed or that you have gathered the necessary resource materials. If you are not in the mood to write, read a poem or short story or review someone's writing. Identify what easily distracts you. Do other people coming in and out of your area distract you? Why not ask them to find another area or find a quiet space of your own. Don't turn on the TV or radio if it causes your mind to wander. Use headphones to cancel out noise. Tell others that you are working on a deadline and need time to finish your project. You can break tasks down into small bites if you don't have all the time you need to finish something. It is amazing how much cleaning or organizing you can do in 15 min. increments. A routine can really help here. If your house gets cluttered during the day, take a 10 min. walk through at the end of the day. Use baskets to sort items that do not belong in each room. Enlist family members to return items to their proper home. Make it a game or a challenge with rewards. But make sure that first everything does have a place to call home. Make it a habit to empty dishwasher every morning and fill it every night (don't forget to push start). Keep sweeper handy for quick pick-ups. Make a list of weekly chores and assign a time for them to be done. Enlist family members to help. Even small children can contribute and everyone reaps the benefit of more time with mom/dad. Another challenge can be a time of transition.Every time we go through a major change, we experience a breakdown in our organizational system. It is inevitable because we are dealing with a new set of realities. I took a stress test a number of years ago and discovered that even positive life changes are considered stressful. How many of these transitions have you experienced in the last year or so? Common transitions include moving, marriage, children in or out of house, retirement, illness, loss of a loved one, job search/career change, entering or leaving school. When going through a transition, it may be best to wait until you have a clearer picture of your new priorities and needs before starting to organize. If you can't tolerate chaos well, set up temporary routines and systems that can help you feel in control while establishing new goals and priorities. Then, what do you do if your partner is uncooperative or just has a different approach to life? It is so frustrating to live or work with someone who prefers a more disorganized way of keeping their space or living their life. It could be that you haven't explained why and how you need certain areas in your life to function. Encourage the other person to experience the benefits of a more organized schedule, desk, closet or garage. Show them how they can find what they need quicker and with less hassle. Help them see that they can actually get more done in less time if they keep up with projects and activities that are important to them. Help them create systems that work for them. It is just more efficient and less time consuming to handle paper coming into the house in an organized way. (More on this later.) Sometimes family situations can put stumbling blocks in your way. Life is unpredictable; you don't always have control of events, especially those connected to others around you. For example, my life is relatively predictable, organized but when events compound issues for others, I find myself scrambling to regain equilibrium. I am having to segregate emotions from logic to be supportive of others without becoming drained. I am re-focusing on what is important to me and establishing a time to work on writing and remodeling the house/yard. I have determined where I am most helpful to others and then leaving the rest up to others. We'll get into more detail on organizing strategies as we go along. |
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Fire dancers!!! Wow! What fun! You really are in Paradise! So happy you for you! 
But I wish I loved it. That would be SO HANDY! So, I've been working on positive self-talk regarding cleaning. I smile when I say these things and I say them out loud if I'm alone or in my head if I'm not. I say things like, "I love to clean. Cleaning is fun. Cleaning makes me happy. I enjoy a tidy space." Blah, blah, blah...
Sure, it's dumb, but if it works, it doesn't matter. 
). 
I'm the prime example of someone who needed her own advice over 40 years ago. 