Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Forget Perfect
My husband and I have been taking advantage of being at home all the time to work on being more in sync when we deal with our children. But last night, we slipped.
It’s okay. One bad call doesn’t make us bad parents. These are our children: I’m not going to just throw in the towel and say, “I can’t do this. I’m bad at it.” (Okay, I may have said that, but only a few dozen times.) We’re just getting back on the horse and trying to do better today. That’s how you get better at anything.
Even if you’re an amazing parent, or you don’t have any children, if you’re reading this, you probably are trying to get better at being organized. Maybe you’ve been working on opening you mail every day, but one night you forgot. Or you’ve been working on doing a “Last Sweep” to straighten up the common areas before bed, and last night you went conked out early. Since no one else is working on doing a last sweep (they’re focused on Red Dead Redemption) you woke up to a disaster.
It’s all okay. Don’t beat yourself up. Simply pick up where you left off and keep going.
I read something this morning that seems relevant to our current crisis, my parenting struggles and possibly your organizing challenges: “In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make on definitive act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write.”
She’s talking about writing, but it works for any habit you’re trying to develop. Just take one small action in the right direction. In this time of chaos and uncertainty, small wins feel good. My husband and I may not have made any money in a few months, but we’ve been really consistent about taking our kids’ phones at bedtime. Quarantine is a perfect time to work on developing small habits, like opening the mail, or deleting emails.
It won’t be perfect; it won’t be seamless. But little by little, you’ll get better—and you’ll feel the satisfaction of knowing that despite all the chaos in the world, you are master of at least one little piece of your universe.