I’m making a conscious effort to get more organized, both in writing and my personal and business life (because they go hand in hand). I cleaned up my Evil Day Job workarea this week, recycled all the old scribbles, and put all my current notes into one folder. I’m also trying a new filing/organization system that I’ve been reading about at The Simple Dollar called Getting Things Done (the book should arrive today). I don’t know that I’ll be able to devote a huge amount of time to make this massive switch (hello, it’s Father’s Day weekend and I have not one but two family dinners to prepare food for), but I’m hoping to use baby steps to figure out what works.
Why all this sudden interest in organization? Because May and June have been freaking insane with blog posts, panels, writing, work, kids schedules, etc. I missed more than one Coyote Con panel because I simply forgot when they were. I couldn’t keep up with MayNoWriMo blog posts. For Carina guest posts, I totally forgot poor Carrie Lofty until she reminded me, and then I had nothing prepared to send to her in exchange.
With Victor on the horizon in Oct., a possible holiday novella, and Maya#2 in the folds, it’s never going to get easier.
It’s the same story at work. I have the last remnants of a massive multi-year project still lingering that Just. Won’t. End. Plus a new high-priority project with dozens of to-dos that Must. Get. Done this summer. Add to that other projects that are supposed to be “fillers”….when I have 5 or more meetings a week plus to-dos coming out of them. I can’t remember who wants what and then I scribble notes on my stack of scrap paper and later I can’t remember what it’s for or when it’s due.
Don’t even ask about when school is in session and Friday morning Princess says, “Mom, I need my xyz paper signed” and I have no idea where it is and she has to have it TODAY.
My brain is STUFFED every day with all these things I have to do, until I feel like I’m going to have a panic attack because I just can’t remember everything.
So I’ve started corraling all these little notes and to-dos into one folder (actually, I have one for writing, household, and EDJ) so at least I can find them. Now I simply have to get used to reviewing them and tackling those to-dos to prioritize and move on.
What’s the best organization tip you’ve implemented at home or work?