How I'm Organizing My Poor Scattered Brain

My Weekly Review

I mentioned several months ago that I had embarked on a new system to organize my life. It is called “Mind Organization for Moms” and I stumbled upon it sort of by accident, but it’s been a game changer for me. I used to wake up feeling behind and go to bed feeling behind. It was a constant game of “catch up” that was slowly making me crazy. I had so many things “in my head” that most of it was falling through the cracks. I’ve had some people ask how the system is working for me and so I thought I would post an example of how I work the system. (I have tweaked it for my own use and so while I don’t follow it to the letter, I do stick mostly to it.)

For today, I will explain one portion of it–“The Weekly Review.” This is based on the “Getting Things Done” system by David Allen and has been adapted by April Perry of “Power of Moms” for moms. https://hm156.infusionsoft.com/app/storeFront/showProductDetail?productId=34 Basically, the “Weekly Review” is the process where once a week I process all of the papers, notes, calendars, to-do lists, etc and put it into my system. (If there is interest, I could go into details about my entire system, but for today I’ll keep it simple.)

Above is my “machine.” Notice the in-box in the middle with a stack of papers (and ballet shoes:) These are all the things from the week that need to be “processed.”

I start with the first thing on the pile. My goal is to get everything either filed, recycled, or dealt with if there is an “action” item. Here are some examples:

Item: Ballet Shoes

Ok–this isn’t paper, but it WAS in my in-box…Kennedy’s ballet shoes need to be sewn. She brought them home a few days ago and I told her to put them in my in-box. Because I need her home to measure where the straps go, I put them upstairs next to my sewing box and added “sew ballet shoes” to my “Home” list on my Wanderlust app. I check that list daily so it will get done tonight.

Item: certificate for one of the boys. I just needed to file this so I went to the file cabinet, opened up to the “McKay” file and placed it in there. It took about 15 seconds.

(I apologize for the sideways photos but I was wasting WAY too long trying to fix them and I have a Costa Vida lunch date with myself that I don’t want to miss!)

Item: Invitation for an activity for Kennedy.
Action: I put the the date and info in my google calendar (2nd sideways pic) and recycled the invitation.

Item: Permission forms for above service activity
Action: I placed this in the “October” “tickler file”. Basically I have a folder for each month that has items specific to that month. Since the activity was in October, that’s where it goes. (You can place a “t” next to the item on your calendar so you remember where it is.)

Item: Letter to send to my Grandma

Action: I just needed to address this and stick it in my purse to mail on my way out the door. (If any item takes less than 2 minutes to deal with, I deal with it right then.)

Item: Kennedy’s band schedule for the year

Action: I put each of the dates in my calendar and put the paper in the “Kennedy “file on my counter top file box. (There was info on the back that may come in handy but I didn’t need to be aware of it at the moment.)

Item: Email list and notes for an “Alumni” email list I’m making for the marching band I am currently booster president of.

Action: Because this is part of a larger project (something April calls a “current project” I identified what my “next action” would be which was review the list and compare with another list I have. I listed that action item on my wunderlist “computer” to do list and placed the paper in my “Alumni” current projects folder which goes in my file box on the counter.

Item: Fundraising list
Action: This was put in my “fundraising” current projects folder but required no action at the moment as I am waiting on some info. That info went on my “waiting list” (see picture below). This is my list which are items that I’m waiting to hear back from someone before I can move forward.

Item: WW registration
Action: I needed to go on line and register my etools number so I could keep getting free access. I did that (took less than two minutes) and recycled the form.

Item: Costa Vida Survey–I really have a thing for Costa…I wanted to fill out the survey so I could get free chips and salsa today. I did that (took less than 2 minutes) and placed the receipt in my wallet next to my visa so I don’t forget to use it.

Item: Car repair receipts

Action: Filed it in the “Camry” file in the file drawer. (Incidentally, after reading Marie Kondo’s book I was pretty ruthless with paring my files down to the absolute minimum. I only have one file drawer about 2/3s full and it’s more than enough.

Eventually, I’m rewarded with this:

An empty in box! I can’t tell you how refreshing it is! This weekly review is just one part of the process. I also do a few things that are really helping:

1. Processing paper as it comes in if at all possible. I find about 75% of it can be thrown straight out or I can put it in my calendar quickly and recycle it right then.

2. Processing my emails daily–I really try to get my emails down to zero every day. That’s a whole other post though…

3. Putting EVERYTHING down on paper! This is HUGE for me! Things that I need to do get put either on my to-do lists on my app, in my calendar or written on a piece of paper that is put in my in box to be dealt with later during the weekly review. Getting everything “out of my head” has been life changing.

So—this hasn’t been the most entertaining blog post, but maybe it’s been helpful? This journey to get organized is really evolving and it’s made me a better person. At least I feel a lot more sane!

10 thoughts on “How I'm Organizing My Poor Scattered Brain”

Thank you so much for holding my hand and walking me through the entire process (with pictures!). This is very helpful…I need to actually follow that piece of paper all the way to its final resting place, not shuffle it around into another temporary pile. It really needs to go on a list/calendar to do, or into a file for future retrieval when I either need the information or I am actually doing the task, or into the location where it will be used/done, or into the recycle bin.I think this is the crucial missing piece in my processing: I don't actually get the item to the place where the task will be done or into its appropriate file. I think I need to accept the fact that with my sky-high pile, it is just going to take some major time commitment to get through the inbox and actually schedule all the actions and put the papers where they go. (I may also need some bigger storage “files” for things to live in while I work on catching up). Thank you, thank you, thank you!Audrey

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Yes Audrey! The first time I did this it took a few hours but now my weekly review is about an hour or less. That idea of seeing the paper all the way through to the end is crucial. It doesn't mean you have to do EVERYTHING with the piece of paper but you do need to put it where it can be dealt with at the appropriate time. (The permission forms were a perfect example. I could have taken the time to fill them out but I wasn't sure if she was really going, and I was afraid I would get derailed. I made a judgement call that putting it in the tickler file was adequate for today.) Also–I find that really, most things, take two minutes or less! I just was letting all those 2 minute things pile up until it became so overwhelming.Good luck! The system really does work!

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Great post Krysten, thank you for sharing how you do the weekly review and process per m.o.m. I'm working on getting my system in place, but already processing some stuff that is urgent. it will be nice to get to an empty inbox, hopefully by this weekend!

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