Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Who Organises the Organiser?


Someone has asked me an interesting question today.

"Who Organises the Organiser?", I laughed when this question was email to me in the context of how much I achieve in my time.

As for the answer, I am really not sure. Allot comes back to the people I have around me that keep me accountable and motivated to achieve the things I set out the achieve.

I have said before I am not naturally organised, and I often struggle to keep my own busy home and family organised. When I was feeling particularly snowed under once, I called on Saskia Clements. This women is an amazing "Coach". I had Saskia come to my home and walked around with me while I moaned about the things I did not like about my own home. We sat together and then came up with simple strategies I could take on board to feel happier in my own home. These were not huge issues, but they niggled me all the same, and having an impartial brain to bounce this off was fantastic.

With the committee work I do, I get energy from the others on that committee. I feel a sense of achievement when we can work together to reach a common goal. I am presently the only Founding Member of AAPO on the committee. The motivation for that comes from the pride I see in the work done by previous founding and Committee members. It is OK to have a sense of pride and ownership for things. So I chose to stay on the AAPO committee in honor of the hard work done leading up to this where AAPO is now.

Some wonder if I know how to say "NO", well yes I sure do and I regularly do. For everything I get asked to do and be involved in I have a process I go through before making commitments. I say NO quiet frequently to requests of me from colleagues, friends and family. People now know that I will not make a commitment I cannot keep, and understand if I do say NO, theyre not afraid to ask me as they know they will get an honest reply. Before I decide I am selfish, I need to know how it will add value to my life and time, and then how it will help others. I guess I am inherently selfish, but to be organised I need to be.

Prioritising is also a key, and I will also delegate where I see it as being appropriate and beneficial.

My family keep me well grounded as to what really matters, and they remind me occasionally. My husband once told me, I am not a hard enough worker to be a real success. I think what he meant was I am not a workaholic, but this certainly does not mean I cannot be a huge success. So like a red rag to a bull I saw this as a challenge. When I pay for his next windsurfing holiday in Maui, he may just eat his words, LOL.

So who does organise this organiser, well I do!!! I also call on my "life assets" to assist me along the way as I need it. I am not afraid to ask for help or delegate 0or even take a day off if I see fit. I love tacky TV shows and even make time for that in my day, as it is OK to have small vices. So long as they do not dominate and begin to have an impact on achieving my goals, we have recently banned TV before 8pm in our home, this is working well for me and helping me achieve more in my time.

I guess the key is that I am OK with having a break, asking for help, sharing my plans and success's and also saying NO when it is necessary. I have slip ups and I have areas that could use a bit more organising, but I know I have resources to call on when I need them, when I am ready to have my own organising session, which is every 3-6months to keep me on track.

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