*Descends into manic giggles early on in the post*
Organised?
*Uncontrollable maniacal laughter*
I’d love to think my life is organised, but currently it’s as far from it as it possibly could be. I’ve just finished what I once would have considered mission impossible: writing a novel in three months while my twins are only at preschool part-time. It’s not a surprise to find I’ve come away from the event slightly bewildered and confused.
I’ve spent the week following being entirely unproductive. Not for lack of stuff to do. More an overwhelming amount of realising I don’t know where to start. It’s very hard to balance time when you don’t have much to spare and it won’t be long until I’ll be back to writing, leaving me with even less time. So, knowing I’m going to be a bit pressed, I decided I’d revert back to a system I used to use at university. It involved a notepad and highlighters and a weekly TTD list.
This time, I’ve evolved the system. I typed up a master TTD list with ten sub-categories (yes, my life is that busy) and has started off with seventy-ones things that I need to do. I’m sure there are things I’ve forgotten, but I’ll add them when I remember. I’ve then prioritised those in pretty colours (red, orange, yellow and green) so I know what needs to be sorted out first.
I’m then transferring all of the items in red onto a TTD list for the week. This is so I’m concentrating on the important things and not getting distracted. This week, I have enough on that list to keep me going, but as the weeks go on I hope to cross off some of the orange things to do.
The idea is, that at the end of each week, I can update my lists. I’ll cross off the items completed, add any new tasks, and for every four weeks that a task is on there, it’ll go up a priority level so that there’s not things remaining on the list for ever more. Then from the main list, I’ll create another new list for the week ahead. It means I can tackle major tasks one step at a time. Rather than feeling like I’m not getting anywhere, even if I’ve completed one thing towards that overall task, it’s a step forward.
This won’t stop me being the person that never sends birthday cards on time (or ever). Or stop me from leaving things to the very last minute. Or stop me from occasionally making cups of tea with two tea bags. But in the very least, it’ll help stop me feeling quite so overwhelmed when faced with so many things to do, that I get lost on knowing where to start.
So, the title of this list is a little misleading. A bit like every click-bait piece of media that exists on social media. There are no epiphanies here because I’m very much on a learning curve. I don’t know the secret, but if anyone does, please let me know…
Especially because there’s a strong chance this will only carry on for three weeks and I’ll be back to wearing tops back to front and neglecting to headcount the twins.
*returns to laughing excessively*
The Romaniacs 
Utterly amazed, Catherine that you’ve written a book whilst the twins are at pre-school. If you can juggle that you can juggle anything! Off to dig out some highlighters!!!! : )
I’m amazed you can do anything at all with twins. The best method I’ve found for organising myself is “Getting Things Done” or GTD. It was developed by David Allen. There is, of course, a book, but you can probably find out quite a bit just by googling. I thought I was reasonably organised before I started to adopt it, but I’m improving all the time. The important thing is to write down what needs to be done as soon as you think about it in a place where you know to look for it later.
I second April’s comment about David Allen. There is indeed a book and it’s brilliant although I’m not always dedicated enough to follow his rather elaborate system. I’ve had more wins with Mark Forster’s somewhat easier one from How to Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to Play. I love your colour coded spreadsheet – may have to adopt that!