The power of living organized

As I was reaching a milestone birthday, I decided I really wanted to challenge myself. So, 28 days before my birthday I began a quest. I actually gave myself not one but two challenges. These are challenges I would not have been able to entertain prior to living organized. The first challenge was to do 50 pushups and the second challenge was to say 50 prayers/day.

The significance of 50 was related to my birthday. Yep, I turned 50! This is hardly noteworthy because people have milestone birthdays every day. To me, it was a big deal and I wanted to prove to myself that I can do anything that I put my mind to. Saying 50 prayers a day is a lot but I knew that wouldn’t be as hard as the other challenge because I pray every morning anyway. Being a Catholic I knew where to go to say 50 prayers, the Rosary. I pray daily but am not consistent with praying the Rosary. The Rosary is a beautiful way to honor the Virgin Mary. It was a practice or discipline I really wanted to grow in.

Now, the push up challenge came about because I have been telling myself for the last year that I wanted to be fit at 50. Push ups were definitely something I was not good at. I could do 1 push up at the start of this challenge. One push up, I must have been crazy for even thinking about this! To ensure my greatest chance of success, I told my husband and teenage boys. They were tremendously supportive throughout the month. After a couple of days, I made sure my daily schedule allowed for push up time. Making progress and sharing it with my family was a real incentive. By day 28, I had done 50 push ups!! I did it and really felt energized to find a new way to challenge myself. This was one fitness goal I never gave up on.

I tell this to you because prior to creating an organized life, I would not have even dreamed of either of these challenges. It was a challenge just to get through each day! When I was disorganized, everything was an issue and I didn’t feel like I had anything left to give.

One of the key factors to being a more organized person even to the point where I am today is being a better manager of my time. This was huge for me! When I realized I didn’t have to do EVERYTHING EVERY day, life got a little easier. I then had the ability to finish things I started which left me feeling better about myself. I actually had time to get in a workout and time to plan healthy meals for my family. There was so much more quality to this new way of life than the one I had been living. I realized that my poor use of time led to all of the chaos and disorganization in my life. My home was disorganized because I had no time to put things away properly and had no system. My kids were disorganized from watching me model my behavior. I think my husband kept his sanity by going to work! He never said an unkind word to me about the situation I created.

Getting a handle on my time came about by figuring out what my priorities were and then letting go of things that were not part of that. I narrowed it down to just 3 each day. This was a game changer. There was so much more time left for things I had definitely been neglecting like myself. It’s been more than six years now and I still practice this approach to my time. It is precious and there is a finite amount of it each and every day. I take a quality over quantity approach and this is the power of living organized.

Being able to accomplish any challenge I set for myself is all due to the power of living organized.

Wishing you your best organized life,

Darlene

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