3 Key Concepts for the I Love to Be Busy Personal Style

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Two summers ago, I wrote a series of posts dedicated to strategies that work for each of the styles. As part of this summer's goal-setting series, I've decided to revisit and update those posts, especially since summer is one of the times that many of us take advantage of the longer days to tackle projects like organizing. For each post, I'll link back to the original post first (and sometimes I'll even steal from it), then provide some insights for organizing, list-making and goal-setting.

I'll begin with the personal styles: I need to see it, I love stuff and I love to be busy and move on to the organizational styles (drop and run, cram and jam and I know I put it somewhere).

Up first: I love to be busy. Click here to read the original post.

Time management is usually a strength for those with the I love to be busy personal style -- it's the thing that enables them to do so many things. Unfortunately, when time is tight, organization can be more challenging.

• Organizing: Divide and conquer. As I said in my original post, I love to be busy folks often benefit from having separate storage for separate activities. For kids, this might mean separate bags for school, sports and music lessons; for adults this might mean leisure reading goes in one bag, each hobby has a storage space of its own and each committee or commitment has, at a minimum, its own notebook. Depending on their organizational style, the I love to be busy  among us might also like compartmentalized storage that allows them to see at a glance what's missing from any given container. Separating supplies by activity also prevents unrelated items from getting mixed together. 

• List-making: Together, but separate. I love to be busy folks often benefit from a notebook system. This allows them to separate lists by subject, day or activity, but still keep them all in one place, minimizing the possibility that important reminders get lost or misplaced. Inexpensive pocket-sized notebooks work well for this and can be customized to meet the needs of the list-maker; simply use sticky tabs to create sections.

• Goal-setting: Small bites. Because they're involved in so much, it's all too easy for I love to be busy folks to overdo it on the goal-setting. Even just one goal per activity can quickly create an overwhelming list. If you're an I love to be busy person, it's important to consciously limit the number and size of the goals you set. A big project or goal in one place may mean you can only set small, short-term goals in several others. Dare to dream, but make sure the reality is something you can accomplish in small steps because life is sure to intervene.

If you're an I love to be busy person, what are the key ideas you swear by? Share in the comments below!

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