How do you juggle everything?

I eat breakfast with an old friend periodically, and in our conversation she looked into my eyes and said, how do you handle it all? You seem so organized and you seem to have every detail of your life in order. Inside my head, I wanted to say you got to be kidding. One pack of my house and you’ll know real quickly that any sense of organization falls apart.

Looks can be very deceiving, I think. In this age of curated photos on Instagram and carefully crafted stories and post on Facebook, we forgot that real life happens. The house needs to be cleaned, the laundry piled up, even the litter box cries for attention. Those are the areas that not everyone sees. The truth is, I think, even the most organized person is not as organized as we think they are.

Lots of enemies stop us from our potential to be on task and keeping everything in order. Sometimes it’s just lack of enough time to get it all done or in other cases, it might be lack of energy after a busy day that pulled in 10 directions. So how do you handle trying to get organized? Here’s my short list:

• Make a list: There’s something psychologically motivational with Checking off items on the list as they are completed. It’s so satisfying to see that list of tasks dwindle.
• Plan specific time for specific tasks. As a kid, I thought that my mom was odd because every Monday was laundry day, and every Friday was vacuuming and dusting. Her plans were there and the house always stayed clean and inviting.
• 15 minute sweeps: go through a room for 15 minutes- declitter, dust, vacuum. You would be amazed how much you can accomplish in a short time.
• Give yourself grace: life happens. And the best laid plans get derailed because something else happened. Accept it and move on.

I’m sure there are lots more I could say. But when my friend looked me in the eyes and said how do you do it I told her this: I don’t. And I allow myself to accept that fact. Something always seems to fall apart, cry for attention or get neglected. That is the sad truth of life. But it’s the attitude that makes the difference. Pick a good one.