Monthly Archives: September 2009

Don’t Wish Your Life Away…

Posted on by

0

“Don’t wish your life away.”

87 days until Christmas!

87 days until Christmas!

That’s what my mom would say when I was a child who couldn’t wait for school to be out for the summer or for Christmas Day to arrive.  What child doesn’t want it to be Christmas morning every morning?

I don’t know when I stopped, but I’m not in the habit of wishing time away anymore.

Do I look forward to holidays and vacations? You bet. Do I find myself dreaming about what it’ll be like to meet my baby girl? Absolutely.

So what’s different now? 

I actually enjoy the waiting. I find myself embracing the days leading up to life’s big moments.  Now half of the fun is the anticipation.

What will we spend our days doing while vacationing at the beach next summer? What surprise does my husband have planned this year for Christmas morning? What friends will I get to see and catch up with at my upcoming baby shower?

In the days leading up to any big event, I let my mind wander to that day. I imagine the conversations we’ll have as we walk along the beach.  The perfect gift from my husband that I’ll unwrap Christmas morning. The way my little girl’s cry will sound. The look on my husband’s face when he holds her for the first time.

For me, dreaming about these things - waiting in anticipation - is one of life’s simplest pleasures. It helps me embrace the big days – the memory makers – when they finally do arrive. I soak in each moment so when I look back, my memories are just as vivid as the images I envisioned while looking ahead.

Some things about growing up just plain stink.  I think this thing…this letting yourself enjoy each hour of each day instead of wishing away the ordinary ones…I think it’s a great part of growing up.

“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 8:15

None of us know how many hours we have left…I’m going to make this next hour a good one!  How about you?

Organizing for Your Brain Type

Posted on by

0

I recently read a book called Organizing for Your Brain Type: Finding Your Own Solution to Managing Time, Paper, and Stuff  by Lanna Nakone, M.A.

The book changed my life.

Okay, so maybe the results weren’t quite that dramatic, but the information in the book completely changed my way of thinking about organization!

If you’re like me, you spend more time coming up with an organizational system than you do implementing it. Then, after a week or so, everything goes back to the same (or worse) as before.

Nakone shares some intriguing statistics:

  • The average office employee spends up to 1.5 hours a day looking for things (that’s six weeks a year!).
  • Most pieces of paper are moved nine times before acted upon.
  • The average 3-bedroom home has 350,000 things in it.
  • And my favorite…80% of things filed are never looked at again.

What I love most about Nakone’s approach to organizing is that she acknowledges that all brains do not operate in the same way! (Which is  obvious to anyone who has ever had interaction with another human being at some point in their life.)

When you understand which of the four “thinking styles” your brain uses, it’s easier to learn how to organize in a way that suits you and your life. The results? Less time is wasted trying to come up with a new system every time you’ve had it with your clutter! 

Based on the “Benziger Thinking Style Assessment,” you can discover which of the four basic organizing styles will work best for you….from Nakone’s Web site:

Maintaining Style – This style reflects a pragmatic, perhaps traditional approach. “A place for everything and everything in its place.”

Harmonizing Style – An interest in people, past experiences and possessions is what embodies this method. “I appreciate my memorabilia and enjoy having my stuff near by.”

Innovating Style – One who is visual as well as creative is innovative: “I prefer to see everything in front of me and know where everything is. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind.”

Prioritizing Style – Objective and analytical is one who prioritizes: “I prefer to delegate and not maintain various organizing tasks.”

Have you been struggling to organize because you’ve been trying to conform to a style not natural to you?

I was. I discovered I’m a member of the “Innovating Style” club.  I think big and love to start exciting new projects.  It’s not long, though, before I’m bored with the details. It’s the planning and envisioning that excites me, not the doing….

That explains my habit of starting things and not finishing them. I spend more time creating lists than checking things off of them. Just ask my husband.

Nakone suggests that those of us who fall into this category of thinking organize things loosely, not with specific, detailed labels and filing systems. 

What a relief! My “bills paid” file doesn’t have to be organized by bill type. A general ”bills paid” file works just as well! When applied across all areas of my life, the time (not to mention stress and negative self talk) I’ve saved has been tremendous!

Discover your style then come let me know what it is!  Feeling really inspired? Check out Organizing for Your Brain Type from your local library!