3 Keys Thursday: 3 Strategies for Chipping Away at those Piles

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Yesterday, I shared my back-to-school piles woes. I am happy to report that, slowly but surely, they are disappearing in favor of that most wonderful of all organizational rewards.

Clear space.

No, I didn't cancel classes or abdicate all household responsibilities (though I must admit that the latter is tempting). I'm just endeavoring to reduce the piles, little by little, using three key strategies.

• Pick up one thing and put it away.  I can do this as I pass by a pile on my dining room table, or any time I leave a room in which I have piles. The item can be as small as rubber band or as large as a stack of file folders. The idea is to reduce the pile, one thing at a time. This only works, however, if I don't continue to add to the piles in between which, needless to say, only lengthens the process.

• Pick up as I go. This is tremendously challenging for an I need to see it person with a drop and run organizational style. Those of us who drop and run have come to associate the dropping of the pile of things with the end of the task; learning to retrain ourselves and master the habit of picking up as we go along can help prevent the dreaded piles in the first place. Or, in the case of those of us with an I need to see it personal style, we can at least learn to limit the piles to the things we truly need to see, like a list or the things we need to take with us when we leave the house. The first step? Putting away anything we're finished with, like pens and pencils, extra file folders, or anything else that's just taking up space.

• Don't put it down, put it away! Once the piles have formed, this ship has sailed, but getting on board this plan can prevent the pile from forming in the first place. And, once the piles are in place (out of place?), sticking to this habit can keep us from contributing to the clutter.

I love seeing progress, especially when I'm busy, and these rules help me to regain a sense of control when things are busy and it seems as though my good habits have slipped away. The more organized I get, the less I tolerate clutter, so the more motivated I am to keep after the piles that have found their way onto my surfaces.

And, as we well know, it's a process.  

Styles: Friend or Foe?

athree23 via Pixabay

Right now, I'm transitioning into the school year. It's the first week of school so, by some standards, I've already transitioned. But, as any teacher knows, it takes the first few weeks to get back into the swing of things.

This is one of the times when I most appreciate my tried-and-true, style-based systems. Engrossed as I am in planning and printing, I've allowed piles to form on heretofore clear surfaces (which is definitely not part of the plan). I know, though, that the missing ingredient here is not organization, but time.

When time is short, our styles elbow their way to the forefront, reminding our fledgling habits who's calling the shots. But, if we have style-based systems in place, we can placate our styles and redirect them by using the plans we've set up with them in mind.

If you're thinking this sounds a little like pacifying small children or, worse yet, herding cats, you're not far off. For many of us, our styles have been running the show for so long with few expectations or limitations that it's very, very easy to fall into old habits. This is especially true when time is short or we're transitioning from one season to another. Now, as I transition from summer to fall, even a casual observer would easily label me I need to see it/drop and run just from the state of my desk, dining room table and family room table. All the new ideas that are blooming and bursting are great; the fact that they litter multiple flat surfaces is not.

But I've been here before. I've learned that as long as I don't lose sight of the big picture, I can take my styles in hand and gently restore order. This week is less chaotic than last week and so, each day, I'm eliminating one hot spot and slowly but surely restoring clear space. Every small victory (today it was the bench in the mudroom) motivates me to keep going until the flat surfaces in my home no longer bear testimony to my tangled web of past, present and future course activities.

GraphicMama-team via Pixabay

And, these days, because I have systems in place that hold my clamoring styles in high regard, reclaiming the spaces is faster and easier than it used to be. These days, the items in the piles have homes and are therefore easily put away in a way that makes sense to me and is, therefore, easy to maintain.

Our styles are, indeed, double-edged swords. They can convince us that we are organizationally hopeless, doomed to living out of piles and retrieving smushed papers from small spaces. Or, they can form the foundation of a system that works.

Because, after all, all our styles really want is a little respect.

A Vintage 3 Keys Thursday: Back to School

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

The school district in which I live started school this week, which means parents here are already drowning in those first week of school papers and announcements. While a countertop or table is a good place for your family drop spot, you'll want to create style-appropriate storage for the things you'll want to hang onto for reference--school calendars, lunch menus, field trip information, etc.

While your styles should dictate what this long-term reference spot should look like, function should lead this charge. Because most of the information that goes into this reference spot will be rendered obsolete in a short time, what matters most is ease of access.

Here are a few things to consider as you create this sanity-saving system.

Who's the primary user of this system? If you are, then your styles trump everyone else's. Like binders? Use one. Prefer accordion folders, a fancy clipboard or a family bulletin board? Go for it.
Be careful, though -- this also makes you the disseminator of information. If you want others to contribute to and access this storage, you may need to make it friendly to other styles as well. Want to have it both ways? Create a system that works for you and a drop spot that works for everyone else.

How will you manage the flow of papers? Are you a keeper or a tosser? Not you personally, but your style. If you write information down, then toss the form or flyer, you won't need much paper storage, but if you keep the original as a reminder until its date has passed, you'll need to make provisions for filing or posting the paper. Function is key, but let your styles be your guide.

Where will you put it? This goes back to who's using the system. If you're a Type A organizer, you probably have a nice file drawer somewhere with all of this information tucked inside and labeled, but if you're an I need to see it or I know I put it somewhere person, the words "drawer" and "inside" just made you cringe. If you want your family members to look up their own information, your system will look different than it will if you want to be the information clearinghouse.

No judging here--I can identify with the information clearinghouse model. If I know where things are at all times, they don't get lost. Be honest with yourself about how you want this to work, not how you think it should work. If you're most comfortable being the keeper of the originals, then use that part of your style to make yourself the back-up--an external hard drive of sorts. Encourage your family members to create their own parallel systems, with you as their safety net. This can be a great way to help kids build organizational systems of their own.

ArtsyBee via Pixabay

If your child's school has gone paperless, the solution is even simpler. Bookmark key locations on  your phone or computer or, if you prefer, designate a home for a cheat sheet where you can write all this down. You can use a white board, a single sheet of paper (on a clipboard or bulletin board, perhaps) or, especially if you have kids in different schools, a tabbed notebook.

One last note. This is not the time to create the be-all, end-all stylishly perfect system. If you've done it before and it works, you're all set. If you haven't and are just getting started, it will evolve over time. Either way, all of this information will be in and out in a year or less, so don't spend a lot of time creating a system that should serve you.

Welcome back to school year fun!

Syllabus Creation Week -- Crossover Post B

Today, I'm doing something I haven't done in a while -- a crossover post. And I thought it would be fun to do it with a twist.

Each week, I post blogs on three different sites -- CatholicMom.com and my two sites -- here and The Porch Swing Chronicles. While my focus here is organizing, time management and related topics, my focus over on the Porch Swing is writing, family, teaching and related topics.

Despite having two blog sites, I have one life and the same life events and occurrences spark different post ideas. Some are right for this blog, others for The Porch Swing Chronicles.

So, today, I thought it would be fun to take the same first sentence and use it to write a post for each site. There are a few other sentences in common, too, but the end result will be two different posts. 

I hope you enjoy my experiment. Feel free to click over to The Porch Swing Chronicles to see another side of the same story.

This week, I am writing syllabi Although it seems like a last-minute thing (classes start next week), it's actually the culmination of the brainstorming I've been doing this summer -- new ideas, revised assignments...

...and a dash of procrastination.

For a while, I was doing a great job, making progress by chunking my time and dedicating blocks of time to both class prep and writing projects. I thought I'd cleared the procrastination hurdle by chipping away at things slowly but, this week, back-to-school prep has collided with my daughter's last week home for the summer. Progress has slowed to something between a crawl and a herky-jerky dance as productivity gives way to adventures with my daughter -- a week of shopping and appointments and whatever else materializes.

This is an intentional choice -- the time with my daughter, not the lack of progress -- and one that's definitely good for my heart, if not my productivity. By this time next week, she'll be back at school and, while I'm happy she'll be five hours away instead of an ocean away, the quiet house and empty calendar pages will be bittersweet, so I'm storing up mother-daughter time like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter.

Time management is not the only thing that has taken a hit. The acquisitions for her larger-than-usual dorm space and the things she needs to pack, combined with the time crunch that's an unavoidable side effect of the back-to-school busyness, have yielded piles in places I've done a reasonably good job of keeping clear all summer long.

This does not provide a sense of peace to counteract my sense of being overwhelmed (said the woman typing her Wednesday blog post at 10:44 p.m.)

But this is life. My characters aren't going anywhere. I've made enough progress on class prep that I can realign some goals if necessary in order to free up time to spend with one of the people whose company I enjoy more than anything (even chocolate). Best of all, most of the time, I can even be unflappable mom instead of frazzled mom.

Most of the time.

No matter how organized we are or how well we manage our time, life will always intervene. Changes in routine, schedule and life itself will cast our best-laid plans aside with the ferocity of a toddler whose toy no longer pleases him. My mind has grasped the concept that my organizational and time management skills will ebb and flow with the vicissitudes of life, and that I need to be flexible. And, if my heart is slow to catch up, it's at least smart enough to know what my priorities are.

So adventuring I will go.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys to Organizing with Kids

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Last night, I was the last one in my house to go to bed, as usual. (There's no need to feel sorry for me -- I'm a night owl who treasures the quiet time when everyone else is asleep). As I walked through the kitchen before heading upstairs, I saw a pile of my daughter's things, ready to be loaded into the car for her trip up to campus. I'd walked around the pile (with mild annoyance, I might add) several times already but, in the quiet house, its significance hit me.

She's going back to school.

This year's trip back is, admittedly, one of the least emotional. We've done this before and, this time, she'll be in the United States. We're easing in, with a trip to bring most of her stuff up one weekend and actual departure for the semester the next.

And the prep is easier than ever. At 21, she has set up a dorm room four times already -- three times at the start of fall semester and once at the start of a semester abroad. She knows what she needs, she knows how to pack it and she knows how she wants things done. My job is to support her, not nag her, and do what she asks me to do, taking the subordinate position in this organization game.

If you're the parent of younger children, you might think this day will never come -- that you'll be consigned to picking up plastic toys, empty snack wrappers and wayward backpacks -- or reminding your kids to do so -- forever.

Often, when kids struggle to organize, it's for the same reasons that adults do -- the tools aren't working, aren't a good fit for them or they haven't developed the habit of consistency. When we help our children to build on organizational habits that are easy for them (putting the same toy in the same place every time they're finished with it) and that come naturally for them (personal and organizational styles), we lead them in the direction of being self-sufficient.

If we want our kids to become self-sufficient organizers, we need to not only teach them good habits (like assigning consistent homes to their things), but also to start with their organizational successes and build from there. If we fail to do this, we may win the battle (a temporarily tidy house), but lose the war (raising kids who know how to pick up after themselves without us following along behind them). If we respect our children's styles, placing ourselves in the subordinate position by acting as organizational facilitators instead of organizational dictators, we build their skills and their faith in themselves in a side-by-side process.

Here are three key things we can give our kids when it comes to organizing. 

• Give them ownership. We may think we have the perfect tools, containers or answers for them, but only they know if they'll really use it. And if they won't use it, we'll only end up back where we started...and a little poorer. Help them figure out their styles (but don't label them -- ask them where they think they fit instead) and offer suggestions, but let them have the final say. I can promise you it won't work every time, but getting organized is a learning process. We sometimes learn as much from what doesn't work as we do from what does. 

• Give them encouragement. Hard as it may be if you're parent for whom organizing comes easily, try not to judge. Most kids know that cramming all their papers into a small space, collecting every rock and crayon or dropping their shoes in the middle of the floor isn't the ideal organizational system. Gently redirect (if you can) and figure out a home and a system that works for both of you. Ask your child where he or she would put things...or, if possible, locate a container in the spot where he or she naturally drops stuff. Notice when something gets put where it belongs, returns home uncrushed and unfolded or can be found when it's needed. You don't have to throw a party. A smile will do. Maybe even an acknowledgment or a hug, if that works for both of you.

freepik.com

• Give them a timer. When you're a kid, fifteen minutes on the playground goes by in 30 seconds and fifteen minutes spent organizing takes an hour and a half. Agree on a stopping point -- whether it's in minutes, items put away, or a bite-sized task completed -- and then stick to it. Believe it or not, the kid who's allowed to stop when the timer goes off just might keep going. For some of us, getting started is the hardest part. If they're allowed to stop before they get frustrated, it'll be easier to get them to start the next time.

For you fabulous Type A parents who organize as easily as you breathe, this is going to be a challenge. Baby steps are growth, but it takes an awful lot of them to cover much ground. Start small, involving your child in tasks where success is easy to see -- a backpack, a drawer, a bookshelf -- and work from there. Better that you successfully organize one shelf and walk away happy than tackle an entire bedroom and end up yelling at each other. No level of organization is worth sacrificing your relationship with your child.

One last thing. When you've put your child in charge, don't go back and re-do what he or she has done. Nothing wrecks confidence faster, not to mention inspiring a complete lack of cooperation the next time around. For your sake as well as your child's, assist when asked, then walk away. 

Remember, you're in this for the long haul. Kids are finding their way in so many areas, and organizational skills rarely make the top of their list. Slow, steady, consistent progress and an understanding of their styles can help them to not only look neater, but understand themselves better as well.

And that is a gift that's perhaps even nicer than a Lego-free living room floor.

Taking STYLE Back to School

Pixabay

It’s here. For better or for worse, it’s that time of year.

Back to school. 

If getting your kids ready to go back to school feels like a headache-inducing endeavor, maybe you just need a little STYLE.

Start with successes. Set aside that supply list and talk with your kids about what worked last year. This can include anything from the actual supplies they used to the routine your family followed. Once you’ve identified your family’s successes, use them as building blocks to create more successes in the coming months.

Take small steps. Did that discussion about what worked turn up a few things that didn’t? Consider making small adjustments to make things run more smoothly or, perhaps implementing one small change per child. Too many kids with too many opinions? Look for common denominators or let everyone cast a vote. And, yes, parental vetoes are allowed, but keep in mind that when your kids have at least partial ownership, they’re more likely to comply.

Yes, it has a home. Together with your kids, determine where everything will go when they get home from school each day, where necessary items will be placed each night before bed and where recurring items (musical instruments, library books) will be stored. Try to take styles into account if you can (i.e. make sure your I need to see itkiddo doesn’t choose an out-of-sight spot for those library books) and consider arranging a celebration at the end of that long first week if everyone complies with the plan.

Let it go. If there’s room for flexibility, try to avoid buying supplies that haven’t worked in the past. If the supply list is non-negotiable, see if you can accommodate your child’s styles in small ways, such as outfitting a binder with fail-safe tools (including a three-hole punch and a clip at the front) or purchasing a see-through pocket folder for your I know I put it somewhereorganizer. While you’re at it, let go of any routines, storage solutions, or homework plans that made you (or your child) wish there was no such thing as school.

Easy upkeep. This is your goal – or, more accurately, your child’s – and accomplishing it may mean taking stock periodically to see if the ideas that sounded great in August are still working in October. Involving your kids in the plan from the beginning makes it easier to tweak the plan as necessary and work toward handing off responsibility as the school year goes on.

And that celebration at the end of the first week? That’s as much for you as it is for them. Creating a successful school year and creating a successful organizational plan have at least one thing in common.

It’s a process.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys for Managing Time and To-Dos

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

For me, turning the calendar page to August inspires mixed feelings. My birthday is in August, but the fall semester begins in August, too, making it essential that "class prep" makes its way onto my to-do list. Class prep isn't bad -- in fact, pre-semester prep often gets me excited for the semester -- but more time for class prep means less time to write (or, more likely, read).

Always a bummer.

No matter the month, each of us faces time management challenges. I don't think I've ever met an adult who said, "Oh, man, I wish there were fewer hours in each day!" So, in honor of August and time management challenges everywhere, here are three keys to tackling that to-do list with maximum impact.

Don't put it there in the first place. One of the best decisions I ever made was to declare 2018 the Year of No. I didn't turn everything down flat, mind you; I just made it a point to remember that I don't have to say yes to everything. Making it a point to say no when I was overbooked, overwhelmed or just not interested meant evaluating my choices more carefully. Did I miraculously clear up huge blocks of time? I did not. But, more and more, the things that made it onto my to-do list were things I actually wanted to do. Sure, there are errands and nuisance items, but the time-consuming big things on the list are things I want to spend my time on.

geralt via Pixabay

Keep your priorities in mind. So, what do we do when everything on the list is something that matters? We take it on a day-by-day (or, some days, hour-by-hour or minute-by-minute) basis. Sometimes, efficiency, meeting deadlines and checking things off our lists will be the priorities. Other times, watching a movie with your spouse, reading a bedtime story to your child or having a late-night chat with your teenager will be the priority. When in doubt, zoom out and take in the big picture. A week from now, a month from now, ten years from now, which choice will lead you to look back and smile? Which will make you grateful about how you chose to spend your time? This isn't meant to induce guilt or be a trick question. Sometimes, doing the stuff we have to do is the priority so we can make time for the things that really matter -- like clearing the decks at work before a family vacation.

Find a way in. Just because it's on the list doesn't mean you have to complete it to the bitter end in one shot. Some tasks and projects lend themselves to baby steps and short sessions. Every year, I plan to chip away at my class prep a little at a time and, this year, I've been somewhat successful. Okay, it's only been three days (I declared last Monday the official beginning of back-to-school season), but my plan of bite-sized prep periods is working. Since I"m already in the habit of using writing sprints (an hour of dedicated writing time each day) to help me make progress on the monumental task that is writing a book, I've decided to try prep sprints. If I get to the middle of the month and necessary back-to-school tasks aren't yet finished (the equivalent of book deadline time), I need to spend more time on my preparation. For now, an hour at a time helps me to make progress without feeling as though school is starting a whole month early.

How do you manage your to-do list? Are you disciplined enough to start at the top and work your way down? Do you prioritize items on the list, or are you a mood-driven checker offer? However you dig in, remember that progress, no matter how small, is always a good thing.

It's a process.

People or Punctuality?

Yep.

If you've been following this blog recently, you already know I was at a conference last week. When I packed for the conference, my bags were logically organized. I had the whole house to myself and hours to get my act together. There was no excuse for not being logically organized.

Fast forward a day or so. Life in a hotel room with limited possessions along for the ride can make it easy to stay organized. When it was time to go home, however, "I know I put it somewhere" -- which is not even my organizational style! -- kicked into gear.

It all began on Wednesday night. With the bounty I'd gained at the conference, I knew I needed to take my first load to the car that night instead of waiting until checkout the next day, but I still needed almost everything I'd packed for the last day at the conference. But, with additional goodies to bring home, every bag became fair game.

I started with the sturdy shopping bag that held my conference swag -- that was a bonus bag -- one I hadn't had when I arrived. I filled that with books and things I wouldn't need on Thursday, and took it to the car, where I grabbed one of the reusable shopping bags that lives in my trunk for any other excess stuff and declared an organizational victory.

Round 1.

That evening, I planned out my Thursday -- the sessions I wanted to attend, the one I was presenting, the lunch I'd pre-planned. On paper, it all looked good.

You know where this is going.

Thursday morning, I ran into technical difficulties (some of my own creation) in setting up for my workshop, but my teacher training kicked in, I launched Plan B and had a lot of fun. After the session, a few folks wanted to talk to me. Then someone wanted to introduce me to someone else. After several enjoyable and productive conversations, I headed back to my room to pack up the rest of my stuff and check out of the hotel.

Let's just say it wasn't as simple as I'd anticipated. Long story short, I was late to meet my lunch companions.

Great professionalism, right? Perfect way to demonstrate my stellar time management skills?

Fortunately, my lunch companions were gracious and much more unruffled than I. Though a part of me fretted that the day would continue to be a succession of mishaps, that wasn't the case at all. My day turned out to be quite nice, in fact, with some of the unexpected encounters being among the nicest.

Sometimes, our best-laid plans turn out to be the blueprint for the day. Other times, our days bear very little resemblance to the plans we laid out so carefully. All day, every day, we make decisions about which interruptions to accept and which to refuse. I have a really hard time not engaging with someone who sincerely wants to engage with me, and it gets me into trouble when it comes to keeping to a schedule. Most of the time, I'm fortunate, as I was at the conference. For better or for worse, having forgiving friends and colleagues only serves to cement a habit that's great for my relationships but bad for my punctuality.

In retrospect, the whole conference turned out to be very different than I'd envisioned. Before I left for the event, I printed out the schedule and highlighted the sessions I wanted to attend. I was prepared. Once there, I made it to some of those sessions, but missed others because I got lost in conversation, opted for an impromptu lunch with a colleague or got caught up in meandering around the vendor booths. Still, it was time well spent and I came away happy about the connections I made, and the opportunity to meet in person folks who'd previously been just names on a social media feed. I got to most of the sessions I really wanted to attend and, despite doing serious damage to my carefully laid-out agenda, benefited greatly from my experience.

Annca via Pixabay

I know that punctuality for social engagements is something I need to work on (I am rarely late for professional obligations), but I also believe that I am where I'm supposed to be. I'm not yet sure how to reconcile those two things but, in the meantime, I'm grateful for the forgiveness of friends who understand that sometimes I'm on Lisa time.

How about you? Are you more stick to the schedule or go with the flow?

3 Keys Thursday: 3 of My Favorite Travel Tools

Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

It's Thursday evening, and I've just returned from two-and-a-half days at a conference. This, of course, means I've both packed and unpacked in the last few days, which makes it a perfect Thursday to share some of my favorite travel tools.

My conference bag. Though I try to keep the stuff I lug around to a minimum, it's helpful to have some sort of bag to corral everything so I can keep my hands free for handshakes, pouring water and handing out business cards. This time around, I chose to use one of my Know Thyself  totes so I could advertise, too.

The bags that my sheets came in. These fabric, drawstring bags that held my sheets when they were new are a great way to transport shoes. I've pulled the drawstrings all the way through on a few of them, so I now just tuck the fabric under or wrap the drawstring around the top of the bag and tie it shut. I have a couple of smaller bags that pillowcases came in; those are great for jewelry and perfume.

Source: listotic.com

Pill sorters and toilet paper tubes. One of the things I love about Pinterest is that it's full of great ideas other people came up with. Pill sorters (the kind that have a compartment for each day of the week) are great for transporting earrings. If I slide the pill sorters into into the little pouch (otherwise known as the bags my pillowcases came in), the earrings stay safe even if one of the compartments pops open during travel.

And the toilet paper tubes? Drop one end of the necklace through the tube and bring it back around the outside of the tube to clasp it. This can also be tucked into one of the little pouches (or, failing that, a resealable plastic bag) to keep it from tangling. I like to decorate the tubes with Washi tape to make them look pretty.

How about you? What are your favorite travel hacks?