Time to Define
We have now looked at why we are in constant chaos. Hopefully you have found a pattern in your life and have searched as to why you do the things you do. We have found reasons and hopefully you have also found your new mantra. The reason you want to have order in your life. Now lets define the problems that we are facing. To do this you will need a small notebook. One that you can carry with you is ideal, but whatever you have will work. This notebook is going to be your “master list”. There will be no more writing notes on little pieces of paper, backs of envelopes, or whatever else is handy. You’ll use this notebook to keep tract of all your errands, things to do, to buy, and any other notes that need your attention or action. Everything in one place.
Wait for a quiet time of the day or night when you won’t be interrupted or distracted. Sit down with your notebook and a pen. Now list 6 areas or elements in your life that need to be put into order. We are not going to straighten out your whole life in one list. Instead, focus on things like this:
“The kids never have clean clothes. What can I do to improve my laundry system?”
“The living room is always a mess because I don’t know what to do with all those magazines and newspapers that I haven’t read.”
If your having a difficult time figuring out your problem areas, close your eyes. Imagine your entire day from the moment you wake up. As soon as you hit a moment in your day that creates a problem, or you feel stressed just thinking about it, write it down. It may be something your not even aware of. Pay attention to your body and feel if it gets tense at one particular “scene” in your day. While imaging your day, do you feel tense when you get to a particular moment? Maybe when your gathering the clothes for laundry, your shoulders suddenly tense up, or your head hurts thinking about it. It may not be that you have a pile of laundry that is piled up, it may be something simple such as never having laundry detergent. Now your problem isn’t laundry, its maintaining inventory control in your home.
Remember only list 6 things. More than that and the list will overwhelm you. Now we need to Divide and Conquer! You may have simple problems on your list like “Messy closets.” That’s simple and straightforward. Its not a complex problem that will need to be broken down and simplified. But if you have listed a problem such as “getting the kids ready for school easier” than this needs to be broken down. It may involve changing your habits, revising your time schedule, or organizing the childrens clothes better. You’ll find that the more complex problems will fall into two categories.
1. Physical Areas: Rooms. If an entire room needs reorganizing, you are going to have to identify specific problems with that room.
- Stand in the entry way of the room.
- choose any corner of the room, and block out an area of Five square feet.
- Search that area for problems. Anything that gives you pause or makes you feel stress is a problem. It may be a messy coffee table, or unorganized wall unit. Write down the problem under the general problem that they are a part of. So if number 4 on your master list was Messy living room you will now list the specific problem areas.
- Continue through the room, going to the next adjacent five square feet,
- Follow this procedure until you have completed the whole room and have a complete list of individual elements you can now work on.
You have now broken your general but complex problem of a messy living room, into easy more manageable tasks. You don’t have to do the whole room in one day. You can break this up into several days if that’s easier for you.
2. Processes or systems. To break down a system into manageable parts, use the same technique you did to come up with your list of 6. So if laundry is a problem, close your eyes and imagine doing laundry from start to finish. Some of the problems you might list could be, “no detergent”, “messy laundry room”, or something so simple like “not enough laundry baskets.”
After you have made your small group of projects its time to rank them. We’ll use a system of how aggravating they are. If its a serious headache place a #1 next to the project. If it can wait a year, place a #10 next to it. Don’t try and place them in order of importance (1,2,3, 4, 5, 6). You’ll only lose sight of the what your trying to accomplish by trying to figure out if #5 or #6 on your list is more important. We are only going to rank each number. If any of your major 6 can be subdivided rank those subdivisions in the same way!
Your well on your way now! All that is left is to set a specific and regular time for organizing work. Imagine that for the next several weeks you have a fixed appointment with yourself that will be written down on your calendar. You will keep this appointment as if it were a Dr. visit. Your appointments can be every day for an hour, or every day for fifteen minutes, or twice a day for 30 minutes. Whatever is practical in terms of other responsibilities and your comfort level. Do not schedule yourself for two hours because you think you have to, or that its the right thing to do, if you know that you will never be able to commit to that much time. Give yourself an appointment you know that you can easily handle. You must be firm with yourself, and these appointments must be kept, except in the case of an emergency. Making this commitment to yourself will be one of the smartest things you have ever done. We will all be accountable for our appointments. I’ll be starting a thread to see how everyone is doing and for everyone to “punch in, and then punch out”.
In the next segment I will begin to break down different target areas. I’ll go over ideas for what to do with all the paperwork, how to organize certain rooms, etc. Also if you need ideas for creating a new schedule be sure to search the boards and the Housekeeping page. Always feel free to ask for help or advice from me. One article that is worth re reading is on time management. When you get the chance, give it a quick read.
