Get Organized Campaign

I am a list maker. People who know me well might say my need to make lists borders on obsessive-compulsive disorder, and they may be right. But, I figure anything that helps me be organized can’t be bad. I have lists of work tasks, lists of household chores and weekly grocery lists. My day planner pages are covered with “to do” lists. I even have a list somewhere of books I want to read, that is if I can find it.

Making lists allows me to do a “brain dump.” Once I get those bits of information out of my head and on to paper, then I can stop worrying about them; at least temporarily. If I don’t make a list, those bits just keep surfacing and demanding my attention—it’s tiring. By committing them to writing, I can ignore those thoughts, knowing I will deal with them in due time. This allows me to prioritize and concentrate on what I need to deal with right now.

I made only two New Year’s resolutions for 2013, but they both will require a substantial amount of effort. The first is to take off the five pounds I’ve gained since Thanksgiving. The second is my campaign to GET ORGANIZED IN 2013!

The Get Organized campaign consists of two parts; make my home office more efficient by ridding it of old files and all the stuff that I don’t need; and, create a system to schedule all those nebulous projects that I never seem to get to.  I am moving right along on the clutter purge; as to the other, I have identified five project categories: marketing, professional development, photography, financial planning and home improvement. Each category has—you guessed it—a running list of specific tasks.

My plan is to assign one category per weekday and devote part of each day to the assigned task. No doubt there will be some shuffling of assignments and procrastination, but if a task is on my “To Do” list, at least there is a better chance that some progress will be made. Wish me luck. I think I may need it.

Photo credit: Tamara Muldoon