Organizing and "Brain Dumping"

I am one of those girls who loves organization. I like getting things done in an orderly fashion and sometimes I go WAY overboard with things because I want everything to be perfectly organized either by color, size, shape, category, etc. You wouldn't believe how many blog entries I have edited over and over again either because of spacing issues, grammar, or whatever else bugged me at the moment! I constantly have a to-do list swirling inside my head. Many times, I get overwhelmed with all the thoughts that are constantly swirling and being analyzed inside my brain. Surprisingly, though, I am not a girl who regularly keeps an actual to-do list. I mean, each day I have a mental to-do list, but I don't always write things down (which many times I live to regret!). However, since I began teaching Kindergarten, I have started making lists of things I need to do or bring in for the next day. Of course, I have a daily lesson plan and horror of horrors if I fail to complete every activity in that lesson plan with the children that day! Actually, I've had every day planned out for the entire school year since the beginning. I just got into that planning mode and couldn't stop myself! However, I have discovered that organization and planning is both a blessing and a curse. Its a blessing because I get things done, but it also can be a curse because if something happens that day that wasn't in my plans, it COMPLETELY throws me off balance.

For Christmas, I got a List Maker:

Inside there is a "to-do" list, a "don't forget!" list and a weekly planner. I thought it was a really neat idea, but I have gotten so used to just having mental to-do lists and check lists, that I wasn't sure I would know how to use it! However, last night, Pastor preached a message on smart goal setting and how to have good success with the specific goals you have made for the new year. One of the things he talked about was having a "brain dump". I found that phrase rather humorous because I had never heard of it referred to that way, but basically it means brain-storming or writing out a list of things you have to do in order to accomplish that goal. Right now, one of my goals for this year is to organize my room. I enjoy organizing, but when it comes to my room, I slack off way too many times. I guess by the time I get home from school, I am so brain dead that I have no motivation to organize whatsoever! However, I decided to take a section at a time in my room. The first section which really needs a lot of help is my Early Childhood Education corner. If you look at this picture, you will see that at one time, this area was rather organized. In fact, to some of you, it might still appear organized because you see those 6 white containers! However, let me reassure you that this is not the case. :) This corner needs some big time help. In college, my ECE professors trained me to become a pack rat. This doesn't necessarily come by nature, but after awhile, I started to collect lots of junk!

So this morning, I did a bit of a "brain dump" in my new list maker, and I decided that my goal would be to tackle this area of my room this week. My next goal is to find a home for those 50 new books!! I am hoping that by clearing out a lot of this stuff, I will eventually find a place! But that's for another time and another blog entry! :)

I will keep you posted with pictures as I go through this rather intimidating organization project. Who knows what lurks in that corner of my room!