Creating a System
I’m not generally one for self-help books, but I’ve been in an organizing/decluttering mood lately — nesting! — so, in addition to once more regularly checking the Organized Home message boards, I decided to check Getting Things Done out of the library. I think I like his system, and though almost all his examples are for corporate business people, it’s readily applicable to homemakers as well, I think. He does a good job of explaining the principle and allowing for freedom of application depending on particular circumstances, which is key for any system to actually work.
I am one who enjoys having a system; who enjoys developing, planning, and beginning new systems; and who, after 2-3 months of ignoring whatever previous system was in place, loses peace of mind and sense of control. Generally, each new cycle of system-creation brings improvements to the system, so the loss of it may bring as much benefit as insanity. I make no foolhardy resolution to keep unto perpetuity to this new system I am currently working out; I simply seek the most workable solution for my current situation and hope that it will bring one or two new good habits that will stick even after the system fails.
Now is probably not the best time for me to establish a system in the first place; after all, we hope to move in a few months, I’m on the brink of the “miserable and useless” stage of pregnancy, and after that passes I will have a new little one and be recovering from delivery. Yet now is when I have the desire to get organized. So, I’ll start working out the quirks of implementation, tweaking it as I go, and wait for full implementation (such as establishing workstations and in-boxes) until after we’ve moved or in some way resolved our housing plans.
