My Latest Scheme to Get Organized

 It seems like a never-ending battle for me to get organized.  I'm busy.  Very busy.  See my planner?  This is just Monday - Wednesday this week.  The long list on Monday is the "To-Do Sometime This Week" list.  It worked well last week.  But this week there is just too much.  I was getting lost in reading through the list for what to do next.  I was also losing the things I had scheduled that I needed to remember at a certain time.  So I used a pink highlighter on those to make them stand out.

So I decided color coding was in order.  It made the planner more colorful, but not necessarily more helpful.

 It occurred to me that I had six divisions, or colors.  I thought of folding a paper in thirds that would stay clipped in my planner for that week.  Each folded section - back and front - could be a different category.  As I finish items I could color them in, then it would be easy to see what still needed to be done, or what I might not care if I ever did. :)  Sometimes that happens.

 So I transferred everything onto the folded paper - Orange for Errands, Yellow - cleaning, Pink - Sewing ...

 On the other side, Green - office work/reading/studying/preparation, etc, Purple - Things I needed to be on the computer to do, Blue - Phone Calls.  So far the plan seems to be working really well.  I can see what I need to do, and it's easy to see what categories need more attention.  I can also be more focused and do all of one thing at a time.  Say I'm on the computer - I can whip out a few of those tasks while I have the computer handy anyway.  The only problem I'm having is that I'm adding to-do's faster than I'm able to mark off the things that I've finished.  Go figure.  (I don't add things that I do every day - laundry, dishes, changing a million diapers, etc.)  This is just the things I'm hoping to also accomplish within the next week or so on top of my every day duties.

And by the way, even though I'm constantly looking for a better way to get organized, I will say that I feel like I'm pretty on top of it at the moment.  I enjoy being super-busy.  I find it motivating, and I get more done (lol. duh.  I have to.)  Anyway, I think I'm doing a pretty good job juggling everything, and life is interesting.  And I'm definitely NOT controlled by my schedule or plans.  I make time for what's important (ie - cuddling babies :) and reading 16 books to them so they don't have to go to bed yet, and let the rest go if I have to.  Life is good. :)

 Speaking of reading, I received a package of books today on loan from the group that keeps track of daycare training hours (STARS).  I'm always trying to add as many hours as possible (that's why I attend all the training conferences I can) and they have a lending library we can use.  We get credits in different areas for each book.  You can order up to four at a time and they ship them media rate from their office in Cheyenne.  There's no fee.  You just pay for media rate shipping on the way back.  It usually takes awhile to get them, so I went ahead and ordered them thinking I might have them late next week.  They came two days later - wow.  So, when I got them today, I had to figure out a way to get them scheduled in. :)  (I'm beginning to think I ought to do some reading on OCD.  Maybe it's me lol).

 See what I mean?  I calculated the number of chapters and how long it would take to finish each book, then added post-it notes to track my progress.  I figured I could have them done and returned in time for the due date if I just get through three chapters per day.

So that's now on my to-do list :)  By the way these books stack up to about 5 inches thick.  That bottom book is 8 1/2 x 11 and thick... and it only has 6 chapters in it.  I doubt I'll get much done other than reading over the next 12 days :)

Speaking of reading, I've just recently finished a couple other books I used to get STARS credits.  This one - Growing Up Brave - I read because our own 3 year old is afraid of so many things.  It is a good book, but  much more helpful with older children than younger.  They need to be able to make up their own Bravery Ladder tasks, and care to fix the problem.  Our son is more interested in panicking and getting away from the situation than in learning to overcome his fear.  I did learn a lot of useful things about how parents can make things worse, so hopefully we can avoid that side of it at least.

And this book - Mind in the Making is an excellent book.  It is extremely detailed though and hard to get through.  But it is definitely worth reading.  I had been working on it tiny bit by tiny bit since May.  Ugh.  But well worth the effort.

Anyway, enough rambling.  We'll see if this schedule idea sticks or not.  I think it will be helpful, and it's very motivating to do all the coloring.  I know.  I sound like a kindergartener.  But after all, I do spend my whole day playing in the daycare.  It's not an accident I chose this profession... *wink*