My mother taught me three things in life that I have now learnt were probably the most important things ever and for 2 of them the most annoying things ever.
The first is she taught me to sew. She came from an era where people knew it was important to have a trade. Have a trade and your never without money. It was drummed into me and whilst it was very apparent I was never going to give Delia Smith a run for her money and I wasn’t tomboyish enough to build a wall the only thing left was sewing. We briefly touched on office skills but alas my attention span wasn’t up to it. So sewing it was and I sewed solidly for just about 10 years. From dresses to curtains to swags and tails ( those posh swishy looking things hotels have) to wedding dresses. Then I had enough and hardly sewed a stitch again. But I always will have a trade and if I ever need to can go back to it.
The second thing she taught me was to get up early and seize the day. Till this day I am awake at 6 most mornings but sadly though the mind is willing the body is sadly lacking. This is good though as you get an awful lot done. The third thing she taught me which was to never be bored. I was an only child and how she taught me to entertain myself I am not sure. But it does mean I am constantly thinking. Constantly reading. And like most parents got a thousand and one things on my mind. Add in that my brain clicks in at 6 am then it’s no surprise my head is rather full.
But I have found a way to help with the ‘head about to explode’ feeling and it’s also got me a bit more organised. Now I have a desk as I am self
Now I have a desk as I am self-employed but I think this can be worked into most situations. On my desk, I have an IN tray. I also have a large pad of lined paper. You know the sort that you can tear off and is an A4 size and also can be picked up really cheaply at the supermarket. I have work stuff, my blog stuff and home stuff to sort so I have gone upmarket and got the different coloured paper so that I have one for each area of my hectic life that needs sorting.
I then use a piece of paper for every single thing I need to do. Need to paint the bathroom so I put it on a piece of paper. Need to update a blog so its goes onto a piece of paper. Once I am happy I have emptied out my brain I go through each piece of paper.
If it can be done in a few minutes I do it and then throw the piece of paper away. If it needs an action like choosing the colour of the paint for the bathroom I update the note and add get paint card to my to do list. Once I have gone through everything and either done or updated each item I put it all in the in tray till next week. Then next week I go through it all again.
If something new crops up it goes onto a piece of paper and into the IN tray . If I finish something that’s in the IN tray I take the paper out as its completed.
The biggest part about this is it gets everything out of my head. It puts it into black and white which makes it actionable.
I have been doing this for a few weeks and it’s really helping. Maybe it can be adapted to your situation?
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