The Secret to Being Organized

So today I had an epiphany.  It's an epiphany that's been gradually dawning on me for a while, but today it hit me fully.

To make a very long story short, in the past six months I've gone from being a research assistant to a research/web/admin assistant to web/admin coordinator to web/finance coordinator to being the head finance and admin staffer.  It really has been a shift brought on by sheer necessity for organization.  

The real irony of it is that since I was a little girl, I was resolved to never have an administrative position.  Mostly because I hated talking on the phone and didn't want to deal with stuff like bills and ordering supplies and answering phones (the last of which, fortunately, is not part of my job).  

But besides that, I've never considered myself to be an organized person.  I can't stick with day timers or other scheduling devices, I'm not good with logistics, I enjoy a little procrastination now and then,and my filing systems tend to be "all my papers are here in one place but not really in any particular order, so let's shuffle through them."

Yet I'm discovering that in the work world, I'm considered to be a very organized person.

This makes me laugh.

Hence, the epiphany: what separates an organized person from a disorganized person?  A disorganized person loses and forgets things.  But anyone can do that, no matter how fancy and thorough the filing system.

The real secret to "organization" is this: 

(1) If it can be done in less than five minutes, do it now.

(2)  If it's already been done, mark it as done and put it away out of sight.

(3) If it hasn't been done, keep it right where it most annoys you to have things build up.

And that right there is the only reason I am considered to be an organized person.

Month 1: Running

So for the first month, I chose running.  This is mainly because I used to love running and I still do when I actually  get out to run.  This is also because Josh's work offers extra vacation time to people who set "health and wellness" goals and meet them each quarter, and he put down that he would run.  So I am his accountability partner.

The rules I set are very important for me, because I am OCD when it comes to even numbers.  Last fall,  I was running consistently.  But the problem was that if the timer said that I had been running for 30 minutes and needed to stop, I would invariably have run some awkward distance like 2.46 miles and would decide to run another 4/10s of a mile to make it an even 2.5.  The problem was that when I had run 2.5 miles, I would have been running for some awkward time like 33.7 minutes and then I would have to run another couple minutes so it would be 35....but then I would have gone 2.8 miles and if I could only get up to 3 miles....

Pretty soon, I would have been running for an hour and by the time I had stretched and showered, it would have taken me two hours and so when I started working full-time, that simply wasn't practical.  Good-bye running.

So you see why having a strict time limit is important.  Awkward numbers, prepare to be ignored.

New Goals/Challenge!

So, in 3.5 months, Josh will start grad school and I will magically find myself with my evenings free.  Tonight he was off with his brother and I was thinking about how common that will be once school starts, and how I'll need a hobby to keep myself not only busy, but also growing.  I don't want to fall into the Youtube and Facebook trap!

So starting now, I've decided that each month, I'm going to undertake a project.  It may be just meeting a certain goal (like being able to beat Josh at his own strategy game) or learning a new skill (like learning how to crochet), but either way, I want to pick up a new experience.  This should serve a couple purposes:

1)  It should offer me a little insight into a different world, and Ill probably pick up a few lessons along the way.
2)  Since I don't have a hobby right now, I may find one that I absolutely love.
3)  Since 30 days is supposedly the time it takes to develop a new habit, I may find that some new, good habits are formed.
4)  Since I plan to switch out between physical goals (like running or picking tennis back up) and mental goals (like memory goals, reading through certain books, or trying my hand at writing), it should help me stay both physically and mentally healthy.

I'm cheating a little bit this month, since April is almost half-over (wow, what a pessimist I am...I mean half-begun).   My goal won't be over until the end of May, and it will be running a 5k in 30 minutes or less.

Oh yeah...and there are a couple rules, too.  Each month I will have to:

• Spend no less than 15 minutes each day on it, except for Sundays (because I believe Sabbaths are important and help avoid burn-out)
• Spend no more than 30 minutes each day, because I AM married and work a full-time job.  
• Update the blog for the start and finish of each project, at least.  Mostly for accountability purposes.
• Be realistic.  

Right now, I have a few things that I want to try.  These include cooking through a cookbook, learning how to knit or crochet, biking to the town of our workplace and back (Josh has told me I can get a bike for my birthday :), reading a book in Spanish, etc.  But I'm also open to suggestions.  Please, throw out ideas for monthly projects!*

I'm pretty excited about this.  Ever since I finished my "when-I-was-in-school-I-didn't-read-this-assigned-book-but-now-I'm-reading-it-so-I-don't-feel-guilty" list, I've needed something more substantial to spend my time on.  And maybe this will show me what I really truly love to do as a hobby.  :)

*Please keep in mind that (1) I work full-time and am pretty serious about the 1/2 hour a day rule and (2) I'm looking for tuition-friendly hobbies.