Organization: The Answer to my Uninspired and Totally wired

Uninspired and totally wired.

As opposite as these two adjectives sound, they go hand in hand for me. Wired on me looks like someone who is totally exhausted but can’t sleep or calm herself down. I run around like a crazy person, check off a whole bunch of boxes on my To-Do list, am very productive, but I easily become detached from my body in this state. Gradually, my temper gets shorter, I find myself eating emotions, and I want to cry over silly things. Like when my toothpaste doesn’t come out of the tube evenly on my toothbrush. See! Super silly things that don’t require tears and are totally irrational!

Anyone relate? Do you, in the absence of inspiration, lean toward the temptation of “productivity”, so you don’t have to dive deeper into your motivation or maybe why you’re ignoring the big things in favor of prioritizing the small stuff?

You would think with my age that I would be better at keeping myself in check so I don’t turn into the beautiful picture I just shared above. Well, it’s been a journey. I don’t intentionally overbook myself and turn into a manic overachieving robot that has no soul! It can happen, and with seven kids, it can happen easier than you’d think!

Enter my organized, office supply-loving self. Organization and the “stuff” of organization helps me dive deeper into important stuff and avoid being avoidant. It also helps me from saying yes to the wrong things and becoming overwhelmed.  

Because life with my seven kids and my training schedule is highly detailed, I have to be organized. While this takes a lot of planning and vigilance to execute, my go-to answer is my color-coded calendar.

There are so many great calendar systems out there. Whether you’re more of paper and pen person or a high-tech person, the color-coded system can work great! Breaking down your month into weeks and then into days with a system for the family or types of commitments will give you a powerful visual to organize your life. It can also, and in my case, immediately highlight if something is missing or if I need to add in more types of time to my schedule.

I’m so go-go-go all the time that I often see missing time for my own self-renewal. I often have to consciously book time in my calendar for myself. I encourage you to do the same! Call it Inspiration, Intention, Me Time, Downtime, or a Self Playdate. Just do it and guard it like you guard your child’s piano lesson or soccer practice. This time allows you to rock the other times in your life and is just as important as other things that are going on. I call it the cost of being human. If you want me to be a super mom, worker, partner, for example, it requires “x” number of hours of being, not doing.   

If you’re a paper and pen person, you can review the calendar and print out or copy extra copies to tape up somewhere obvious for all to see. If you’re a tech and device person, you can color code and have everyone in your home subscribe to the calendar to get on the same page. In both cases, everyone engaged feels the rhythm and priorities of life.

When you see what’s important and how the days and weeks are organized, you immediately shift your attention where it needs to go!

Happy planning and color-coding!