Thursday, March 02, 2006

The Organizational Cure

Every so often I find myself craving new planners and books on home organization. Not like I don't have enough of that in my home as it is. I have a huge calendar in the kitchen, the "freebie from church" hanging over my desk, and a very nice planner right here waiting for me to make the most of it. I also have a PDA, and of course there's Microsoft Outlook on this computer. There is also easily more than $100 worth of organizational books around here. Yet I am tempted to purchase more. The only thing holding me back is the certain knowledge that having all of these books, planners, and technological equipment is no guarantee that I will be more organized.

What I need is not organization but discipline. Retail Therapy in the Fashionable Containers to Keep All Your Stuff Section of Target is not going to help me. I am not going to solve any scheduling, clutter or housework problem by purchasing More Stuff. No--I'll just become a slave to My Stuff.

I think that what I need right now is to take a few minutes with my coffee and my planner, and just give myself the gift of quietly making a plan for the rest of the day. And tomorrow morning after my Morning Prayer I'm going to take a few minutes again and do the same thing. Prayer time is a good time to do this, to ask God what I should be devoting my time to on this day.

Maybe all this time I've just been looking for the answers in the wrong place.

1 comment:

Philothea Rose said...

I used to also go through organizational overhauls with planners and calendars and such. I think once I realized how much money I wasted over the years on all the stuff, my frugal nature won out over my perfectionistic desires.