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.