It is a new year, and I am ready to gear up for my yearly home maintenance at Organized Home's New Year Grand Plan Challenge. I am highly motivated thanks to the eighteen weeks of focus offered by House & Holiday Plan based on CEO (Cynthia Townley Ewer)'s book Houseworks. I have used this plan for the past couple of years, and when they say practice makes perfect, I feel that I was much better equipped to keep up this time around and had a very calm and enjoyable holiday season including hosting/co-hosting two large and a few small family or friend get-togethers. I have also spent the last week of 2012 on a challenge to get the house Clean By 2013. With the help of my Twisters (Twitter Sisters) I entered the new year with a clean slate; literally clean floors, drawers and more.
I have been doing some form of the Grand Plan for a couple of decades now. It was originally developed by a fellow SHE, Katie Leckey, on the SHE message boards in the days when computer networking was message boards and list serves. The plan was a sequel to her Holiday Grand Plan. The SHE boards were my life line a few decades back, just as my FLYfriends and Twisters (Twitter sisters) are today.
So I started reflecting yesterday during a reorganization of my storage closet, where I store tubs of Christmas decor and other seasonal items, as to why I have so much more energy to get things done and follow through with my routines. I didn't make any resolutions this year, nor did I set any new goals. I think that having made neither might be a first for me. Tweeting with my online community is a big part of why I feel motivated. They have really inspired me on good days and shared challenges on bad days. I have also built the habit of focusing on one area to improve on each week and also continue maintaining my routines (well the basic ones anyway), and have done a much better job delegating the things that I just hate doing. I still am responsible for toilets being swished and swiped, as everyone here seems to hate that routine. Of course I now do it without thinking about it. Amazing how a mindset can change over time.
So I am rolling on, and the nice thing about momentum is that it takes a lot to stop me once I start rolling. I just need to make sure that I don't get off the track of what I want in life. My goals that I set for myself in the past are still in full force today. I guess that is a benefit of gaining years of experience in getting and staying organized, attempting to live life to the fullest, and remembering that people are far more important than any things can ever be. Getting control of my home was the first step for me in gaining control of my life, or at least making sure I control what I have the power to do for myself, my family, friends and neighbors. I still have moments, or even days, from time to time when I feel stressed, off-beat or simply in need of a swift kick in the tush. I also have times when I get side-tracked. I did tell you I was a SHE, right? The important thing is that I just look towards living better and being the person that can deal with whatever comes my way.
I challenge you to reevaluate or choose your goals and pick a plan, be it following FLYLady's focus areas or jumping in for The New Year Grand Plan Challenge. Find an online or real-life network of fellow SHE's to share your ups and downs and that will help keep you accountable, inspired and encouraged. If you are not sure where to start, you can do a Twitter search; #FLYLady, or on Facebook "like" FLYLady or Organized Home to begin a search for a network.
What plan do you use to Get Organized? Where do you get your support and inspiration? Having these as a part of my life has made all the difference in helping me to become more organized.
