Organization by the Book: Week One

Happy New Year, Folks!  I know it's a bit belated, but it still applies, right?  I hope everyone had a great holiday and you're all enjoying the start of a new year!

I've never really been one for New Year's resolutions, but this does seem to be the perfect time of year to start a new project.  And I've recently found myself with some extra motivation to get things organized, so I've decided to start a big organization project.

A few months ago, we picked up a book called Organize Now! by Jennifer Ford Berry.  A lot of organizing books seem to use a whole lot of extra words just to say, "Get rid of stuff."  So finding a book that does not beat you over the head with the idea that 90% of what you own is crap and you should just get rid of it and stop being so damned sentimental was quite refreshing.  Equally refreshing is the fact that the book itself is so well organized (imagine that!).

Organize Now! focuses on one area of your life each week and gives you a handy checklist of goals to try and accomplish in that week, as well as tasks to do periodically in order to stay organized.  It is, hands down, the single most practical and useful book of its kind that I have ever laid eyes on.

I've been dying to start working my way through it since we got it, but I've waited because I felt like we ought to finish unpacking things and get settled in a bit better first.  Now we've done that and the holidays are over, it's a new year, and there seems to be no better time.

So here I am.  Day 1.  This week is pretty easy.  It's all about organizing your mind, and I've already done/am doing several of the things on the list.  For instance, I generally get at least 7 hours of sleep every night.  I write out a quick To Do list every morning - if not the night before.  And I started a journal a few months ago (which I lost track of for a while and serendipitously found this afternoon).  The biggest task for me is going to be scheduling time to exercise.

Ideally, I would like to get up early enough to do some walking with Miss Kitty before she has to leave for work.  We've discovered that it's doable - it's just a matter of actually doing it and getting into the habit.

As a bit of extra motivation now and throughout the rest of this challenge, I'll be sharing my progress with you, my dear readers.  So I'll let you know next week how the whole exercising thing went, as well as getting back into the swing of journaling.  Wish me luck!

What new projects are you going to tackle this year?  Leave a comment and let me know!