How does this picture make you feel? Jittery? Stressed? Relieved that it isn't you?
I hope it isn't indicative of what your days look like, but if it is, then I think now would be a good time to change that.
Do you have a plan for your day or does it just run amok? Have you considered trying to plan out your day? You probably have thought about organizing your cabinets or your closet, why not your day?
It really is the same concept isn't it? You get rid of the items you don't need from your cabinets and your closet and then you take all of the stuff you've kept and you organize it so it doesn't fall out when you open the door.
Let's apply the same logic to your day. When you open your eyes, get out of bed and walk through your bedroom door, you really don't want things "falling" on you, do you? You'd like to walk into your day knowing that it is going to be as organized as it can be. You've removed the things that take up space, like time wasters and things you don't really need to be involved in, and you've organized what you have left to do.
Now, if something should come into your day and upset it, then it will be easy to put yourself back on track and pick up where you left off. That is the thing I like best about having my day planned out. No day is ever really going to go exactly like you planned it, but when it does go awry, you can re-balance yourself, figure out where you should be in your day and get back on track.
Having a plan for your day doesn't mean having every minute scheduled and being stuck in that rigid plan. It means having a nice outline for how things should go, when they should happen and who should be doing them. It's like the backbone for your day, not the straightjacket.
If you've thought in the past that you could never work with having your day all planned out, I'd like you to think differently about that; at least for a little while. I'd like to have you spend some time thinking about this plan as an organizational tool. Something that can set your feet going in the right direction each day and then put them back on track when they need it.
Over the course of the next few weeks, let's walk this path of organization together. Each Monday I'll give you some areas to think about and then help get you started on the next chapter in my book, "A Plan for Joy in the Home: A Workbook on Organizing Your Day for Homeschooling Mothers". Hopefully it will be the impetus you need to get yourself, and your day, more organized. For now, just work on getting started.
This lovely drawing is under copyright. Please respect that and do not copy it or use it elsewhere.
