Sorted

I'm on a mission lately - a mission to get a lot of things sorted out. I don't know if it's a caffiene high or just the drive to get it all right, but I've been hard at it - if not physically, then mentally - for the last few days. A week ago I felt like I didn't have enough fingers to keep tabs on everything, that it was all spiralling out of control. Today I do. More than - I'm powering through stuff that's been put off or neglected at a rate!

The thing is this. I function better if I'm organized. If I'm surrounded by chaos I sink into helplessness. Call me a control freak if you will (albeit a closet one), but I need to have direction and a plan, to have things sorted or in the process of being sorted in order to get through the day optimally.

Yes, I like the odd (good) surprise, but I do better when I know what's up next and where I'm headed. Which of course turns me into a bit of a nit-picking ahead-planner, at least in my mind. I tend to examine all the angles well ahead of something actually taking place, and often plan everything around the "best of" scenario I come up with. Whether it actually happens or not.

There's also the need I feel to be ready for whatever life throws my direction - not to have to scramble through loose ends at the last moment when instead singluar focus is required.

So today I'm getting sorted. Everything's going into its place. The background work is being done to set up success on so many levels. The to-do list is diminishing (though also being added to). I'm tackling head-on some sticky issues that can no longer wait. So far, so very good.

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On a related note, I've been at my current employer for just over 9 months now. My previous office was all mine - and I literally moved in. My photos and pictures on the walls, my stuff filling the drawers and filing cabinet and cupboard, my vase with my flowers from home on the desk. It took a carload to move out when I left.

Here, it looks like I've just arrived. There's a custom-made Olivia The Landy calendar up (small size), a small photo of the son and another of Favourite Man, my water bottle and a mouse pad - but that's all the personalization that's taken place. Occasionally my own mug is next to the water bottle at coffee-time. My desktop wallpaper gets a daily change. But instead of a desk strewn with papers, stacking files, paperclip holders etc, all I have is the notebook and pen out. I'm still functioning on merely that one pen and one notebook as far as stationery goes. Matter of fact, this is only the second pen I've used in 9 months - the first one was what I happened to have on me, as there was nothing available when I arrived.

My drawers are empty of all but the essentials - only currently-in-use paperwork, one set of headphones brought from home (rarely used), a box of tissues, a small stack of paper that's cut up to note-taking size from old photocopies. When I arrive each morning my bag and laptop carrier go into the (otherwise empty) cupboard.

I don't know why I haven't "moved in" and customized my corner (although I have a theory or two), but I do know this - it makes it a lot easier to keep things organized!