I just spent an entire month telling you about all the ways I organize all the things. My Apps, my lists, my bags and my home. So you might find it surprising that I recently spent a three day weekend at home without a list. Not a single whisper of a list did I make. Before you start screaming hypocrite, let me explain.

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All of the organizational accessories I use are tools to help me achieve my goals and priorities—things that are important to me. I call them ALL THE THINGS in a very tongue=in-cheek manner because it feels like I want to do everything. Maybe I do, but that’s not the point. Just before my three day weekend, I had an opportunity arise for a project that would not only be good for my career, but a joy to work on. The opportunity required some very specific sample pages that I needed to write pronto. All The Things had to be set aside for something more urgent. I suppose I could have made a list of the other things I had to do that weekend, like a niece’s birthday party, but just making the list would take valuable time and besides, none of the other things, (excepting the sweet girl’s b-day party), were as important in that moment as those sample pages. So the lists went out the window. I still accomplished a lot that weekend… I scrubbed the shower, wrapped gifts and vacuumed the upholstery, but those were things I did to take a break from the big very important thing.

There has been a backlash against the word balance in woman’s life because it has often been used as an impossible bar that no woman can reach. But the word itself is good… balance to me means perspective. As long as I keep it in perspective, organization is a tool to help me live the life I want to live, not my life.

That’s worth repeating—my lists, my apps, my bags, etc., are the means to an end, they aren’t the end or the main goal. They simply help me achieve my main objectives which are basically the goals most people have—healthy relationships, healthy body, work I love, artistic expression, a warm and comfortable home that reflects who I am, altruism, and growth as a human being.

In other words, All The Things.

 

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles and freedigitalphotos.net