I'm Not As Strange As You May Have Thought!

Until about a year ago, I was one of those weird people with a huge planner that held literally my whole entire life and I carried it everywhere! Anyone who knows me probably remembers that I would sit there when I was bored and add things to my planner or my to do lists, it was kind of my obsession. When my brother left on his mission and let me use is ipod touch, I decided to go high tech and use it as my organizer and schedule. I thought that I was becoming a little too obsessive about my planning and organization, so I threw the planner away! HUGE step for me, and probably a big mistake. When my brother came home on medical leave and wanted his ipod touch back (of course), I went a week without any sort of organizer or calendar and I felt like a little lost soul. I ended up buying a planner again, but this one was "pocket size" and I could easily carry it in my purse. Needless to say, I'm not so dedicated to my little buddy and I have a lot of random lists everywhere and I'm a mess, sometimes I think I've lost my mind. For this whole entire summer, I don't think I've used the planner one bit.
My planning/organization has started to drive Joe insane. He makes fun of me because on our white board calendar, I'll write "walk" on every day and I had a room listed on every day so that I would clean it. I've stopped doing this so that he'll stop making fun of me and won't think I'm so strange. If I could pick the one thing that drives him the most insane, it would probably be that every night, before I go to bed, my apartment has to be clean. The dishes have to be done, the laundry has to be folded and put away, little random objects that we've used need to be returned to their proper homes; I will get up and do things if they're not done because I can't stop thinking about it and can't sleep. He is constantly telling me, "They'll still be there tomorrow, just leave them!" but I can't bring myself to do it!
Now the whole point of this post. Today during lunch, we had a seminar on time management, and by the end, my little heart was singing and I was dying to run home to Joe and say, "So there!!!" Three of my favorite quotes from the seminar were, "Your planning is the best use of time." "1 hour spent planning will save you hours of reacting." and "Your organization enhances effectiveness." Are you ready for why this makes me so excited!?
Your planning is the best use of time. 1 hour spent planning will save you hours of reacing. The whole entire time he was telling us all how we could use a planner to budget our time and make our lives so much easier, I kept thinking, "I used to do that, I did that all of the time, I LOVED doing that, I was practically obsessed!" I was so happy to find out that the thing everyone made fun of me for was really great time management. I also got thinking that I never felt like I was losing my mind when I did that. My brain lived in that little space. I had everything written down in one neat little area, any papers I needed to fill out or use were in a convenient little pocket in the front cover, it was all there, I was happy!
Your organization enhances effectiveness. We were told that we should never have clutter. Fear drives clutter, have you ever seen Hoarders? That show gives me a fear that helps dissolve my clutter! Anyway, I love to go to bed with an organized apartment. It might not be spotless, but things are in their place or the place that I need them to be for the next day. Not only does my organizing help my brain calm down, but it makes my life easier. If it's something that can or needs to be done today, I'm doing it today, it's getting crossed off of my to do list. Never put off 'til tomorrow what you can get done today!
I will be buying a planner again, you can count on that! And I will spend at least half an hour a day going through the whole thing and adding things in that I may have forgotten or am thinking about. I'm going to make sure my apartment is tidy at the end of every day, and I'm not going to feel guilty for it or feel like I'm crazy for it! So Joe, get ready to make fun of your wife for everything she does because you are going to start seeing the organization side of me, bigger and better than it's ever been before, and it's going to be good! Maybe I'll get my brain back enough that I'll stop accidentally whacking myself in the face with plates ;)