My Story

I like to believe that my organizational habits came from my genetics, but maybe it was just the environment I was raised in. Both of my parents are pretty organized, but not to the extent I am. I think that I combine both of their organizational strengths into one well-rounded organized individual. This blurb is hopefully to inspire you even if you didn't come from an organized home or if the organized gene skipped a generation. Don't worry, there is a point to this story. :)

The first thing I remember about my organizational habits was my "schedule" that my childhood nanny created for me when I started kindergarten. The schedule was in the form of thick cardstock with a picture and explanation of what was to happen on school days and it hung from the wall right next to my bed. I remember being mesmerized by this schedule - probably more so the pictures than anything - but I followed it and looked to it for direction when getting ready for the day.



Ok this one is totally crazy, I realize, but it's true: when I was younger my family would create chore charts, especially for the summer, and I think there was a schedule built into the chore chart, too, but I actually looked forward to doing my chores and I got really excited about the whole concept of creating a chart with my list of chores to do. Of course there were stickers involved, which probably added to the excitement.

As I got older what I looked forward to was creating my schedule for getting my homework done, working ahead on projects for school, planning out my outfits and being the social planner among my friends. When I was in grade school I never ever missed an assignment in school, nor did I turn one in late. I also noticed that in high school and certainly college when I started getting busier and busier that I was able to do better in school and that I enjoyed my time more. I think this is because I had to really balance out my schedule and fit things in and really plan ahead and maintain complete organization. That did wonders for me, apparently, especially in college. The busier I was the better my grades were (what's the psychology behind that??).

Now as an adult I in a sense have less on my plate (I realize that will change when I have kids in 873 years!) so I take this time of peace to write my blog and hopefully inspire you to become more organized.

I have a friend from college who was an overly involved student who was juggling an insane amount of classes, jobs, a fraternity and a few very time consuming student clubs/organizations and was not very organized to say the least. I'm glad he took the initiative to become more organized because he told me that over the course of a spring break one semester he read a book that was designed to help people become more organized and it was a revelation for him. Ever since then he was just about as organized as I am - it's as though the skills were there, just locked up in the back of his brain and this book held the key to open that door. I'm telling you this because even if you didn't grow up fanaticizing about making a chore chart or scheduling homework time it is still completely possible for you to become an organized individual. I know this is kind of an extreme case, but hopefully you can be inspired by him to make some changes to your life and lead a more organized life.

Again, I am just trying to promote change in your mindset to make you more aware of the possibilities and what you can do. Happy organizing!