Thursday Then & Now: Location by Style

Now: It's always fun for me to go back and look at old posts to see what has changed. In most cases, my taste might have changed a bit (a favorite tool then has been replaced by something I like better, for example), but my advice has not. 

As we contemplate spring (and perhaps spring cleaning), it seems like a good time to re-visit this 2016 post about finding the right homes for our things, in accordance with our styles. Often, our styles have been organizational obstacles for so long that we forget that every style has a flip side -- our own unique way of looking at things that, when honored, leads us to systems that work because they make sense to us.

Then:

Those with an I love stuff personal style are good at putting things together, sometimes in unconventional ways. Often collectors, folks with this style already understand the importance of storing similar items together, but may also come up with creative combinations that make storage fun. 

Those with an I need to see it personal style are good at putting things where they can see them, and therefore, find them. Building systems on visual cues (like labels and color coding) can help folks with this style to make the transition from putting things down to putting them away so that they worry less about out of sight meaning out of mind.

Those with an I love to be busy personal style are good at categorizing. Keeping track of the supplies for their many activities gives them lots of practice at deciding which groups of items should go where, and often includes designating separate containers for each activity, a system that allows them to grab and go.

 

Those with a cram and jam organizational style are good at simplifying; if it's all in one spot, it's easy to find. Learning to separate their belongings into containers by category allows them to expand their storage and protect their belongings.

Those with a drop and run organizational style are good at backtracking to find things. Retracing their steps (which they do often) may lead them to determine locations that make sense, based on where they naturally drop things, allowing them to build a system based on their natural habits. 

Those with an I know I put it somewhere organizational style are good at putting things away, making them great at finding homes for things. Learning to make those homes logical, rather than haphazard, is the key to their location success.

Then AND Now: Every once in a while, we need to be reminded that even if our homes don't embody the "a place for everything, and everything in its place" philosophy, we're moving in the right direction. Finding consistent, logical homes for our things is possible when we remember to view our styles as strengths, and plan our systems accordingly.

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys to Not Letting the Important Stuff Fall Through the Cracks

I was in the shower yesterday morning when it occurred to me that it would have been nice to send my dad a St. Patrick’s Day card. Since I had this thought on St. Patrick’s Day, it was clearly too late to do anything about my wonderful idea. Add to this the fact that last month, I missed my sister’s birthday because I quite literally did not know what day it was, and that I very nearly missed my writers' group meeting this month, and I'm beginning to see a pattern emerge. 

And it isn't pretty.

I could blame these things on the pandemic but, the truth is that slowly, over time, some of the things I used to be really good at I’ve become not-so-good at. I was dismissing these things as anomalies but my sister‘s birthday was my wake-up call. I’ve written before about losing things in the flip of the calendar page, but the terrible feeling that accompanied being a day late for an important occasion triggered me to start thinking about making a change.

When it comes to organization, stuff management is only part of the battle. Managing our time so that we make room in our lives for all the important things also matters. Here are three steps I'm planning to take to make sure I've got a better handle on key dates.

Do the prep work. I used to sit down every year and dutifully write all the birthdays into my calendar but, somewhere along the way (probably once Facebook started reminding me of people's birthdays), I stopped doing that. Initially, it wasn't a problem because my youthful brain (and the occasional nudge from my mother) meant that I didn't miss any important occasions. In the absence of both of these, however, I need to go back to the habit that worked so well.

Stay true to style. For some, it's a birthday book that lists all the important dates; for others, a big, family calendar in the kitchen that lists everything. For me, the best place for reminders is my personal planner, which I check on a weekly basis in order to create a weekly cheat sheet. If it's in the planner, it makes the cheat sheet. If it's not, it's a crap shoot.

Build in a reminder. I've decided I also need to scan each month for "cardworthy occasions" and make a note of them. That way, I'm prepared for not only the day-of e-mail, phone call and/or Facebook post, but I also have a card in hand and in the mail on time. Right now, in light of my recent brain blips, that seems like a tall order, but taking a moment to make that list and check it each week will, I hope, send me in the right direction.

I can’t salvage this year, no matter how much I want to, but I can salvage next year and maybe even next week, especially if I build the steps I need to take into my existing systems. So today, I'll put my calendar in a place where I can see it so I can make time tonight to put some important names into their respective calendar squares. 

It's a process, and there's still plenty of time for me to finish the year more thoughtfully than I started it.

Finding Balance

Myriams-Fotos via Pixabay

Everywhere we turn, someone is there to remind us of some one year anniversary of the pandemic. Each of us has our own personal date -- that day when everything changed (mine is March 13). But, having lived it myself (along with all of you, albeit from a respectable social distance), I'm tired of hearing about it, so that's not what I want to focus on. Instead, I want to ask you this, as spring 2021 approaches:

Have you found your footing yet?

I ask this in light of the pandemic because, for me, the steady downhill slide that began the stutter-step stumble into (finally) some semblance of balance was kicked off by suddenly taking my face-to-face classes online. I was luckier than many because I had just completed a mini-course in online teaching in January 2020. This meant that I had some guidelines, but I was in no way prepared to offer a fully formed online educational experience. The line between work and home blurred the minute both were happening in the same place, faded with merciless speed, and was swiftly erased by an almost 24-7 dedication to teaching, grading, planning and supporting my emotionally whiplashed students.

I'm not a hero, and that's not what this post is about. This is what everyone did. We had no choice.

And I'm luckier than most. Thanks to an already blurry work-home line, sheer adrenaline, and a pseudo-break between May and August, the crushing lack of balance in my life didn't hit me until about a month ago.

At first, I was concerned about my mental health. So many people have struggled with depression and anxiety -- more than ever in the last year. Was I joining their ranks?

Luckily, my emotions weren't anything that couldn't be managed by a long-overdue rebalance. It was time to draw some boundaries. Past time, actually. Here are three things I found helpful.

Marshall your resources. I always like to start with successes. Making a list of what I wanted to spend more time doing (creative pursuits, reading, sleeping) and what I needed to spend less time doing (working nights and weekends, pushing past good enough to perfection more often than necessary) made it clear just how far over the line I'd gone and what needed to go on the road map back to my semi-happy place.

Ride the adrenaline wave, but don't forget to get off the ride. It's been a long year, and many of us have continued to try to create our own adrenaline in order to keep the pace. (Just me?) I really had begun to lose the ability to just be. When I sat still, my mind was still moving and I always felt as though I should be doing something. I needed to remind myself that down time is essential to recovery, not a sign of laziness.

Understand that life changes bring organizational changes. College kids move home. The dining room table becomes the classroom. Everyone is together all the time. All of this makes time management, not to mention stuff management so much more challenging. There are silver linings in all of these clouds, but reduced clutter is rarely one of them. Having faith that it will all come together again is a necessary mindset, and the foundation to making it so.

Life knocks us off our feet in both good ways and bad and learning how to stand our ground and weather the storm is key. This includes seeking help if we need more than a rebalance. Often, smaller life changes are nested within the large ones, and it's sometimes those little ones that erode our boundaries, one small sacrifice at a time. 

It's true for life, and it's true for organization. 

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys for Tackling Perfectionism

I'm one of those people who decides what she's giving up for Lent partway into the season. Often, it's because Lent sneaks up on me (especially in a pandemic when Ash Wednesday looks dramatically different), but it's also because I try to use the time to kick off a long-term change. Often, the change I need to make doesn't present itself on the liturgical timetable.

This year, it made itself known not quite two weeks into Lent, as I was writing a blog post. This fueled my audiobook choice on the way home from work the next day and, when I got home, I took action.

The culprit in question (perfectionism) had the ironic good grace to announce itself as a candidate for change on the first of the month, one day after I'd avoided setting monthly goals because I was too overwhelmed to add anything to my list. It was also perfectly timed with an assignment I'd given one of my classes, motivated by a Pinkcast I'd happened across while attempting to clean out my inbox.

Irony? Good timing? A random podcast? All at once, just in case I wasn't paying attention? Leave it to God to send a gift-wrapped package.

Yes, I know we're supposed to give up pleasurable things. But we're also supposed to work on being better people. And dialing back my perfectionism definitely has benefits not just for me, but for my family as well.

Which is how this post landed in a blog about organization.When it comes to organizing, perfectionism can be an obstacle. While we wait for the just-right moment and the just-right container that will yield a perfectly organized space, we make no progress. If we just baby step our way in, choose a manageable block of time, and content ourselves with a little trial and error, we not only make progress, but we feel better, too. And, when we allow others the time and space to do things in a way that works for them, rather than a way that meets our rules, the outcome is often happier all around.

So, when I got home from my roundabout way home, I opted for a Schultz Hour. Opening up the goal-setting journal I'd abandoned the night before, I wrote down all matter of perfectionism-busting tidbits, beginning with my own take on identifying the problem: 

    "Recognize that perfectionism is a problem with pervasive effects."

From there, it was a matter of deciding what to do about that. Here are three tools I'm using to dial back perfectionism.

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Quotes. I've already mentioned the well-timed realization and podcast. The quote that arrived in my inbox the day after my unproductive goal-setting session was this one: "Act as if everything depended on you. Trust as if everything depended on God." (St. Ignatius of Loyola) Reading that quote reminds me that when we engage in perfectionism, we remember the first part, but forget the second part. Doing what we can is sufficient. For the rest, we need grace.

Questions. Taking a step back can give us wisdom. Simply asking myself "Does this need to be perfect?" paves the way for me to accept good enough when good enough truly is. And, when good enough isn't good enough, adding a single word can also release some of the pressure: does this need to be perfect now? Taking time to let a project "simmer" often yields a tastier result.

Notes to self. These range from "speak kindly" to "life is messy" and "delegate: other people are capable, too" and serve the purpose of reminding me that there are other choices besides forging ahead when I'm exhausted and not at my best. My perfectionism often manifests in workaholism, which means my family gets the leftovers. Neither a good plan nor a sustainable one.

Throughout Lent (and perhaps beyond), I want to build on these three things, adding new quotes, questions, notes to self and any other worthwhile bits of wisdom in my journal so I can expand my repertoire of tools necessary for giving my thinking periodic tune-ups. I also want to help my family think healthier, so I cleaned off the whiteboard I put in our dining room last December for the purpose of recording gratitudes. This time around, I also want to add some my quotes, questions and notes, beginning with my favorite takeaway from the book I was listening to: a journey is not a straight line. Perfectionists get frustrated when life pushes us off our neatly paved path, forcing us to take detours and even dirt roads but, sometimes, that's where the best stuff is. 

Life is messy and imperfect -- no sense expecting otherwise.

AnnaLiseArt via Pixabay