{beautifully organized} How to turn a morning routine into a daily confidence boost

If you’ve ever met me, it’s pretty easy to figure out that I’m seriously, seriously type A. I keep lists of my lists, and my calendar and Asana lists are a thing of beauty. I’m always the one who knows who-what-when-where-why and probably how. I’ve never scheduled a vacation down to the minute, but it’s tempting.

Well, I’m also a packrat, which actually works out really well — it gives me things to organize. 😉 It also means I end up with tons of little mementos and scraps of paper floating around. Every once in a while I’ll create scrapbooks that use some of those little snippets, but there are still plenty hanging around, so I finally decided to combine my art with my organization.

The result was a set of small collages on a set of manila folders I look at every morning anyhow — my Getting Things Done tickler. You don’t need a lecture on organization, so I won’t bore you too much with the GTD system, but the tickler file is a folder you look at every day that contains papers, invitations, tickets, and other things that would otherwise get stuck to your fridge or taped to your computer monitor. I have two sets: one for the days of the month and one for the months of the year. And after losing a few expensive concert tickets, I’m a believer.

These folders are literally just plain old manila folders with the months scrawled across the top. Nothing fancy at all. Oh, and the daily one is one of those sets of numbered manila-folder-paper pages you can buy at office supply stores. Every morning I flip to the next one in line and check to see if there’s anything in it, and at the end of the month I open the next months’ big folder and stick anything in there into the appropriate daily slot. Once you work it into your daily routine, you don’t lose timely things any more and it’s amazing. Here’s a nice little overview on the GTD site, too.

A rose cut from a magazine; a Seth Godin quote; a pretty business card from Liz Lamoreux.

Anyhow, lecture over. The point is that there were all these blank sheets of manila paper around, and I had all these little bits of paper. Now I have a set of ongoing collages that brighten each morning and give me something to think about and encourage me through the day. It’s pretty great.

Some of the collages turned out beautifully. Some not so much. That’s okay — I can start all over next year if I want.

Photo by unknown photog; a Seth Godin quote; scrapbooking stickers.

Photo by me; scrapbooking stickers; yes, I had a set of Seth Godin business cards at one point.

Photo by me; scrapbooking stickers; my man Seth.

Photo by me; scrapbooking stickers.

Photo by me; scrapbooking stickers; my man Seth.

Cutouts from magazines.

Body positive stickers by Aimee Fleck; I believe the photos are from calendars by Raceytay.

Photo by me; scrapbooking stickers.

Monthly tickler folders with some greeting cards I picked up from the Japanese garden in Portland, Oregon a few years ago.

Another monthly folder with a pretty card from my mom.

xoxo,

Lindley