“focus” #8: ORGANIZE (and #9 & #10)

Since I now have another necklace to remind me to “focus,” I realized I haven’t done my focus reports lately. So here goes:

Yes, in August my focus was on the same thing I focused on for month #6, because really, if I spent a whole year to focus on this one thing (organization) I still wouldn’t get it mastered.

It’s big.

And it’s extra big for someone like me who is not exactly the epitome of an organizational queen. And who has been able to somehow get by by the skin of her teeth by flying by the seat of her pants all her life.

The problem with flying by the seat of my pants is that I can never really sit down and fully put my mind into something, or more importantly someONE, because at any given moment my mind is in approximately 23 different places. Thoughts like “Did I make those dentist appointments?” “Oh man, I forgot to put the chicken in the marinade,” “So-and-so could use some extra attention,” and “I need to call the repairman for that thing that has bugged me for a year” swirl around in my mind and I can’t really focus on what I’m doing in that moment.

Growing up we had a “family scripture.” It was in Doctrine & Covenants section 88, verse 119. It says:

“Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.”

I think it’s interesting because although I think we are pretty good at having a house of most of those things mentioned, that first word comes first for a reason. That first word has always called to me: Organize. I love for things to be organized. I’m just not that great at getting them that way.

I don’t want to be running around anymore forgetting things and worried about what I don’t even remember what I forgot while I’m at the park with my kids or trying to tuck them in bed at night or talking on the phone with a friend.

Oh, I’m good at staying at one task at times, but it’s at the expense of letting all the other balls drop while I’m doing that one thing. And as a mother, I really have to keep those balls in the air.

That’s where Mind Organization for Moms comes in.

I did it to a certain point and then got stuck for a while, and then finally enough was enough, and I have my file folders marked up and ready to go.

So far it’s working. I still have a bunch of tweaking to do, but I’m on the right track.

Thank you, thank you, April, for helping my mind to get organized enough that I can start to focus better on the precious things that are right in front of me.

At the very end of that month I came across this scripture in my reading:

“And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.” (Mosiah 4:27).

Love it.

But yes, I do realize that we are not in month TEN, not eight.

For month #9 I focused on “correspondence.” I sorted through thousands of e-mails and wrote some letters to people I love. It felt so good. (Now if I can just get to Facebook…)

And this month my focus is “BE ON TIME.”

So far the only progress I’ve made is that I’ve got problems. But, hey, awareness is the first step, right?

I don’t know what I’ll do when 2010 is over…I think I may have to keep going on this “focus” thing…