Getting Organized In A Multi-Tasking World

Ladies getting organized is an ongoing process. Lord knows, I am constantly working on it! It may seem impossible with work, family, home and personal responsibilities. Some of us have added responsibilities because we are taking care of our parents. With all these responsibilities spilling over into each other how do we stay sane?!

Simple. Shared responsibility. Don’t try to do it all by yourself! This is what’s killing us. We want to do it all by ourselves. Sisters, enough with the superwoman drama. We need to organize ourselves by organizing the folks around us. We must help others shoulder some responsibility too.

Getting organized at work- Very few of us work totally by ourselves. Even if we are entrepreneurs there is usually someone who we have enlisted, either through employment or volunteer, to help us.

Corporate American is very much into teamwork and teambuilding. Once you know which team you are on and the team’s responsibilities, be assertive and take the lead in establishing goals and dividing workload. This way you will ensure that you get your fair share, and possibly get noticed by management (hmmm, not bad for someone who just wants to be able to enjoy life).

You know your unique situation, think of ways that the existing structure where you work can be reorganized so that you get a fair share.

Even if teams don't exist, think about creating your own "team". This is a group of reliable people who you can go to for help with various tasks. For instance, let's say you teach. Instead of spending hours by yourself on lesson plans get with colleagues who teach the same grade level and/or subject and you each plan a topic or theme. When you are finished you have lesson plans for say, four sets of topics/themes in the time it would take you to do one.

If you are in management, think of ways to delegate lesser responsiblities to someone under you who has demonstrated that he/she is ready for more responsibilities.

If you're an entrepeneur and on a limited budget see if you can connect with a high school or community college that offers community service learning projects to its students. These institutions usually have students who need to fulfill these requirements for credit before they graduate. More and more schools are adding this component to their graduation requirements. Check into it and see if this is a good fit for your business.

Maybe, you are fortunate enough to have a family member or friend who you can have volunteer to help you. Ask around (the reliable ones). Arrange a schedule and enjoy the productivity and- hopefully-monetary gains.

How can we get organized at home? - Getting organized in the home is often difficult because of our busy schedules. So you have to come up with a DIVIDE AND CONQUER Plan- we make a list of every task that needs to be done, divide the workload among household members and we each do (conquer) the tasks we are assigned.

Now somebody is bound to feel that they are being called on do more than anyone else. To avoid this trap, rotate responsibilities every week or every other week. Post the list in the kitchen or someplace everyone can easily see it.

Now there may be some justifiable instances where the chores can't be equally distributed. If this is the case, speak with your child/teen about why you made the decision.

They may not always agree with you but this is a good life lesson for them. We don’t always get what we want but we have to go along with it anyway until we get what we want.

Now if you are just way too busy to clean every week, a great solution is to hire someone to do the cleaning for you. This was my solution and I must say it is working out quite nicely for me. She comes once every two weeks and we have a contract that we will keep our individual areas clean in between cleanings.

Getting Organized By Making A Room A Safe Haven This is an area where we must keep clean almost all the time. This could be the living room or den, usually the room that you are in when you enter the house. When you return home after a stressful day you want to enter a place that is clean and peaceful. Keep this area decorated with some flowers or plants, and a jar of fresh popourri or freshner to keep it looking, feeling and smelling fresh. If you like you can even add a waterfall or Sounds of Nature CD timed to turn on when you arrive home for a soothing sound element.

You've got mail! Getting Organized By Sorting It Out We all know what happens with the mail. We put it down with all good intentions to back to sorting it and never get around to it. Handle mail as it comes in. This is what I do. Stand over the garbage with the mail. Bills (don't go in the garbage) go in my "bills box"; circulars, credit card offers, and other solicitations I don't want go in the recycling garbage; magazines go in the magazine basket; friendly mail in the drawer of my nightstand.

Laundry - Depending on your household size and needs you may need to do laundry more than once a week. Everyone should have a dirty clothes hamper in their room. Dirty clothes go in the hamper not on the floor. So when we take off our clothing it either goes on a hanger or in the hamper. Over the door hangers also work well.

The key to getting organized is doing little bits at a time so you don't feel like you are going crazy. There are all sorts of gadgets to help you get organized. I'm compiling my list of favorites so check back soon.

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