Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Taking My Own Advice
It’s getting pretty exciting around here: My book comes out in less than a week, and I’m scheduling book signings, launch events and interview requests. Yikes! The other night, I found myself undone by the state of my younger son’s desk drawers. Mind you, this is the neatest of my three children, but only the fact that it was bedtime kept me from dropping everything and pulling a “perfect daughter” on his drawers. Somehow, I resisted.
I’m heeding the advice in my book: I’m going to be organized enough, not perfectly organized and certainly not perfect.
One of the main ways I help clients is by teaching them to identify the necessary from the ideal. It’s necessary to know where my checkbook and social security card are; it would be ideal if my son always knew where to find his iPod charger. But we don’t live in an ideal world. Moreover, I have organized his drawers in the past and he has watched and helped me do it. Now, he’s 11, so if he wants to organize them, he can.
Days have passed and I am proud to say that I still haven’t touched his drawers. While I could never stand my desk drawers to be that messy, and if my kitchen drawers were that chaotic, I’d never be able to cook, the truth is that his drawers have his stuff, and frankly, they’re his business.
I have faith that when he heads to college in seven years (but who’s counting?), he’s going to be able to keep track of his iPod charger.