Don’t Decide–Do!
How Hiring a Personal Organizer Caused a Breakthrough in My Immobility, and Uncorked the Bottle of Having Everything in My Life Be Awesome
Today’s Punch Ingredients: Mad Men, thirtysomething, Improv class and Risky Business
One thing I deal with in my life is a certain amount of disorganization. It turns out I have an extremely high tolerance for things not working.
There was a scene in an episode of thirtysomething–I wish I remembered precisely, but Gary’s mother comes to visit to meet Emma, Gary and Susannah’s new baby. There was something about having to jiggle the door handle a particular way in order for the key to open the apartment door. And a remark was made about how there was a trick to everything in Gary’s life–everything was jury-rigged.
I could relate then, and I relate now.
Everything with me has an explanation; nothing quite works the way it’s supposed to, and the reason I can’t fix it is because of some other thing that isn’t quite working the way it’s supposed to, and everything is connected.
As an entrepreneur, that doesn’t cut it, does it?
Nope. So what I’ve been doing, piece by piece, is routing through everything in my life and getting it handled. Not fun, as each thing truly is connected to something else, and just when it looks like something is almost fixed, that thing that was right behind it keeps the job from getting done. Then I have to fix that.
And as is life’s way, other things are breaking as well. I dropped my iPhone the other night and cracked the glass. Things like that. I promise you, I will see this through, and absolutely nothing in my life will need to be jimmied–everything will work as it is designed to work.
One of the each-thing-leads-to-the-next chains goes like this:
I don’t have a proper home office set-up, and my seating situation is not great. Since going full-time with CopyPunch, I’ve developed a great deal of pain in my upper back, neck and shoulders. I need a different set-up. But there is so much clutter in my apartment–I really need to clean that up first before I can make the office space. And of course, I don’t have time for that, plus I’m in pain, and falling behind because of the pain, so again, even less time. Oh and also, my wifi isn’t working right–I keep getting bounced. So I can’t move over to where an office would go until I get that fixed, and that will take dealing with the cable company and I need to carve several hours out of a day for that because you know how that gets.
Ugh, I can’t even stand listening to it, and these are my circumstances. And that is just one chain–there are many in my life. You can see the trap–and why, in RobertaWorld, it seems easier just to remember to jiggle the door handle before you turn the key. All the door handles.
But I’m not living in RobertaWorld. I’m now living in the Land of CopyPunch.
Now, I can’t do this alone. As entrepreneurs, we know this–we must rely on our communities, and on all the resources around us. I’m not working for myself because I’m a hermit–I love people; talking with them, getting their stories, going out and speaking. Just so happens that working alone (or practically alone–certainly remotely) is the way to get this thing to fly.
Finally connecting to “I can’t do this alone,” I decide to hire a Personal Organizer.
I would like to point out the one word in that sentence that is problematic– “decide.”
A decision is not an action. My goodness, I learned that in Improv 101. Nothing is more boring than watching actors decide to do things, or talk about doing things–it’s only interesting to watch them do things. BECAUSE OTHERWISE NOTHING HAPPENS.
I know of one girl; I’ve met her several times at networking events. She’s terrific; I adore her–I’m just not sure if she is a fit for me. I keep thinking about it. I ask around a bit. Weeks go by. Meantime I am in pain every single day, and it’s getting worse. Harder and harder to get any work done. I am miserable.
Two weeks ago I attend a networking event, and this girl is there. And I just pounce. I must must must have you organize my home/office, when can you come?!!!
I cannot tell you the difference she’s made. She’s coming back for Part II this week.
What I learned is, CHOOSING IS SO MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE THAN CONSIDERING!
Was she the best possible organizer for me? You know what? I’m going with yes. And you know why? Because she came to my home and made my life better.
I was about 80% sure about her. How long might I have waited to find someone I was 100% sure about? If there’s one thing I’ve learned, in all my years–sometimes, you gotta say, what the fuck. Make your move.
A big ol’ thanks to Kristi Barron at Wicked Organized. Hire her!
For the record, Kristi is terrific. Her energy is just right–stimulating but not frenetic. I liked where she started–people tend to go for the big visual impact, putting things into piles so the whole space will look vastly transformed. Problem is, you’re leaving me with a bunch of piles I still need to handle. And it’s a bit of a cheat–like a major haircut and color change on a TV makeover–cheap drama, so you get a wow no matter what. Kristi actually went for the small stuff–breaking up the piles and papers. The place did not look amazing when she was done. But it was enormously improved, and the improvements will last. She also–and this is in line with what she claims–truly sees what works for you, and works with it. She doesn’t try to make you change. (Best TMI example–she sought out a cute container for my tweezers and nail files, as opposed to moving them out of the living room altogether.)
(As an aside, while my site is peppered with Mad Men references, thirtysomething is one of the great loves of my life. I quote it, or poorly reference it as I just did, easily 3-4 times a month. I should just pony up and get the DVDs. Only if I did, I don’t think I’d ever leave the house.)
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