Well-Ordered Chaos » punctuality

Perfectionism, time management, and postive self-talk

Addy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:50:10 +0000

I was on my way out the door today when I happened to check my text messages. I’m glad I did; I was alerted to the fact that the Vietnam Veteran’s Association was coming by to pick up the donation pile from my entryway.

I had set myself an e-mail reminder for yesterday morning, reminding me that this was upcoming. I read it and told myself, oh yeah, I need to remember that. I had set myself an SMS reminder for 11 pm last night, reminding me that this was coming. I didn’t hear it because I was charging my phone.

So this morning, trying to make a streetcar that was due in less than ten minutes, I had to haul several boxes outside and label them for the VVA.

The thing is, I’ve achieved a general level of organization such that this was no big deal. I grabbed some paper from the office, a sharpie and some tape from the mail center in the kitchen, got the boxes outside and labeled, and I even (if barely) made my transit connection.

Why, then, was I cursing myself out as I boarded the streetcar? Beating myself up for my chaotic ways is just such an ingrained habit, I start in on myself without realizing it. Besides, it’s not like I would have been the only person, EVER, in THE ENTIRE HISTORY of the VVA pick-up service, to forget to set out a donation.

I did good today. Even though my system failed me, I was able to compensate because of the strides I’ve made over the past few years. I don’t need to expect perfection from myself. “Good enough” is plenty good enough.

I can USUALLY find my keys…

Addy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:13:26 +0000

My cat decided to keep me awake all night last night. I’m a light sleeper, which means she knows she can stomp on me, meow in my ear, lick my eyelids, and touch her cold wet nose to my face, and I will wake up and pay attention to her (even if it’s just to try to get her to settle down). She ignores my partner because she knows he’s a light sleeper.

It’s kind of like this:

We all know that lack of sleep makes ADD symptoms worse. So this morning, I’m looking for my keys. Now, my keys have never been one of the items I can’t keep track of. If I’m wearing a jacket, I put them in my front right jacket pocket. If I’m not wearing a jacket, they’re in the front right pocket of my jeans.

This morning, I couldn’t find them anywhere. I checked my jacket pockets. I patted myself down. I ran all over the house looking in unlikely places. I patted myself down again. No keys.

After my second circuit of the house, I actually bothered to put my hand into my jeans pocket … and there they are.

It’s my cat’s fault.

I Hate Disruptions

Addy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:28:51 +0000

When I was a sophomore in high school, we used to joke about our American History teacher’s compulsive habits. If you moved the stapler, the three hole punch, or the pencil sharpener even slightly out of alignment, he would immediately notice and put them back. For awhile we tried moving them around to mess with him, because these kinds of things are hilarious when you’re fifteen, but he just inevitably and without comment replaced the objects exactly as they had been.

The game quickly ceased to be amusing, and anyway the teacher proved himself to be a pretty cool guy. Eventually I got to know him well enough to remark that he must be an incredibly organized person.

“Oh, not at all,” he said, looking surprised. “You should see my house. The reason why I need everything in its place is because I’m so disorganized.”

At the time, I found it hard to believe that a fellow chaos demon could possibly be organized, at all, ever, in any way. These days, it makes a little more sense. For instance, today my partner asked me to pick up a library book for him. I felt myself getting stressed and irritated and cursey. Dammit, I thought, the library closes at 5:30, and that mean’s I’ll need to leave for my art lesson early, and that will just screw everything up…

Because I get ready to leave for my lesson at 3:30. This allows me time to pack any supplies I need to bring, change into paint clothes, find my shoes and keys, get out the door, and make the 15 minute drive to my student’s house, and be ready to start the lesson at 4. As long as I start getting ready to go at 3:30, I’m fine. Tuesday afternoons. 3:30. That’s it.

If I have to run another errand before my lesson, I need to leave even earlier. How much earlier? I have no idea. When I manage to be punctual, it’s because I’ve figured out the hard time at which I need to start getting ready to leave. This takes a tremendous amount of mental effort, and once I’ve expended that effort, I can’t tamper with it or it the whole system dissolves.

So, today, I tried to get to the library, but in spite of my best efforts I couldn’t start getting ready until 3:30. I didn’t make it to the library, so I’ll have to run a separate library errand tomorrow, which of course is another disruption.

To disrupt my day even further, my partner’s birthday is this weekend, so after my lesson I had to go to the mall, which I hate, to get his present … and as long as I was there, I really needed new bras, because I’ve lost weight and the crappy ones I got at TJ Maxx don’t fit right and I haven’t been fitted properly in years … so I went to Nordstrom, which I’ve heard has expert bra fitters. And it does. But that was another couple of hours, and my whole evening was shot.

Did I mention that I hate the mall?