Happy New Year!
My New Year Resolution list is short, since I usually fail anyway:
1) To be a more active in-person friend. I love my home and my routine, and as I get older I’m more and more reluctant to go out. But I miss my friends.
2) Learn to juggle. A carryover from 2013.
3) Bring my body up to code. Keep regular dental appointments, eat better, move more.
4) Stay organized.
I’m doing MUCH better with organization. For example, I pulled open my top desk drawer last month to look for rubber bands. It looked like this:
A lovely sight!
One of my coworkers said “Oh my gosh that drawer is so organized!”
I had to laugh. It’s VERY organized. My desk at work is super organized (and I’d almost say optimized) so I can bang out the work. It might look jumbly, but that’s mostly because of my carnival of stuff on the cube walls.
So I ended up explaining my complicated relationship with organization, which is took me many years to perfect.
I’m a lazy person. I hate cleaning. I hate tidying. Left to my own devices, I’m sloppy and disorganized and forgetful.
Because I am so disorganized by nature, I NEED to be extremely organized or else within 2 weeks I’d look like I’d belong on the cubicle version of Hoarders. This is true at home, too. The Unf*ck your Habitat tumblr and app has been a great help to me; teaching me to break down housework tasks into 20 minute chunks. Cleaning up as I go helped me during the big cookie crush of 2013. It took me 10 years to figure that one out.
By the way, if you’re on a job interview and get asked your greatest weakness and your greatest strength, this is my (true!) answer that you may steal and use. This interview answer is gold.
“I’d say that organization is both greatest strength AND my greatest weakness. To put it another way, BECAUSE I’m naturally a little disorganized, I work twice as hard to become organized as I can. I keep lists, I make reminders, I develop a clear and efficient file structure, both on my computer and with actual folders for printed items. I know firsthand that clutter causes problems in the workplace.”
If I still cared about ad revenue and building an audience, I’d say “How are you staying organized in 2014? Share your tips below!” Instead, I’ll wish you luck on your New Year Resolutions. 🙂
