“Ooh, I don’t know about this shoulder…WOW,” said the man administering my once-monthly “massage club” massage yesterday at a place called “The Now” which is semi-ironic since all I do when I am there is stress over the future while a kind gentleman named Gerry attempts to knead out five decades of neurosis and five months of acute stress. I won’t bore you with the details (OK, just a few: Gerry thinks there’s calcification (?) in my shoulder, he thinks it’s affecting circulation to my hand, he believes it might be a posture problem, he’s suggesting I type less (lol) and if not, physical therapy/surgery/maybe a standing desk?).
Gerry is nice and his hands are mean and that is exactly what I need — pop pop pop goes my shoulder and whirr whirr whirr goes my brain and here is my $80 plus tip that I should probably be investing in index funds but instead am investing in temporary relief until such time that I can deal with the real-time fossilization of my alive bursa or whatever it is?
Here is a thing I know in my (literal) bones: I am at capacity. And a big reason I am at capacity is because I do not now — and have never known— how to organize my life. I am not an inbox zero person (at last count I was inbox 47,842). Systems intimidate or overwhelm my ill-formed pinball machine of a brain. Usually this is fine. My creative “methods” (two laptops open at at all times with 4,000 tabs across each/to-do lists on the back of the gas bill envelope/ a couple of Post-Its thrown on top as reminders of the most important tasks and IF IT IS TRULY URGENT jotting things down on my hand) get me through my life OK.
But right now? Right now I’m navigating professional chaos [chaos I’m excited about! 🤡🤡🤡PRE-ORDER AMBITION MONSTER NOW 🤡🤡🤡] in addition to all my normal jobs: the kids’ dentist/the eye doctor —oops broke my glasses again, Mom!— the summer camp payment/the thing that is hanging off my car/special geriatric cat food /the new high-school admission paperwork — Ms. Romolini, we need your child’s ORIGINAL birth certificate not this one that looks like it was photocopied from a ‘zine). Let’s just say the center on this particular life admin jalopy does not hold.
So, my question, if I am allowed to ask such a question: How do you organize your life? What (preferably easy, intuitive systems) do you use? Is it too late for me? Did I need to plan for this moment when I was 32/still had brain that wasn’t menopausally smooth? DEAR NEW SUBSTACK READERS, HELP.
PS. We had a extremely good Everything Is Fine conversation this week with genius podcaster and journalist Jane Marie. It’s all about her book about the deep scam of MLMs but also about getting older and running your own business and how to interview people (a skill Jane says she learned, in part, from Ira Glass at This American Life) and many more lovely and true things.
PPS. REMINDER: I am legally obliged under penalty of death to tell you to pre-order my book Ambition Monster everywhere I go until June. It is, I’m told, a good book.
You're gonna have to try some things and see if they work. It's not too late because this whole process evolves over time.
1. Cal Newport is awesome. He has a great system. Watch his Time Management Video on YouTube. I like how he literally BLOCKS out his time each day. I use different colored highlighters to create the blocks. I like SEEING my schedule in colored blocks. He plans his day based on his VALUES like Build Community, Stay Fit, Family time, research, etc. No need to put anything in your calendar that doesn't fit with your values.
He (like you) manages a LOT of short term and long term tasks so I think you would like him.
2. Robert Allen uses a rule that is CRUCIAL: OFFLOAD your brain on to something. Don't try to REMEMBER. WRITE. IT. DOWN. This is a huge stress reliever.
3. I keep a large index card in my planner and anything that comes up that day goes on the card. By the end of the day, the items are crossed off or moved to a better place (Grocery List, TO DO Folder, Appointments to Make, or on the calendar). I start a fresh card each day if necessary.
4. Always keep a RED FOLDER for active projects and tasks. I call mine TO DO. I work from the RED FOLDER every day. Once a thing is taken care of, it leaves the red folder to get re-filed, tossed, or entered in my planner. I have other files, too, but I only focus on the red folder on a daily basis.
5. Create a common place (basket, IN BOX) that is for your family to drop off and pick up stuff (permission slips that need to be signed, books that need to be taken back to the library, homework to be reviewed, insurance cards for the car, receipts, $5 for the class party). Check it at the end of each day. Let your kid know the deadline. If it's after 8 PM, it might not get seen.
6. Magnetic (white board-type) calendar for the fridge with dates you all need to know: Open House, dinner party, school play, etc. They also make magnetic pen holders so you can keep white board pens next to the calendar.
Let me know if you need more support.
I will be following this thread closely. This is uncanny as I am grappling with this problem for the 13,000 time. I feel like I spend more time thinking about how to get organized than most. I literally ordered a new planner last night as part of my effort to support The Productivity Industrial Complex. I am ashamed at many times I have restarted finding a new system.