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I drove down to Office Max with my boyfriend and a large brown paper bag advertising 15% off for everything that cant fit. I generally enjoy browsing the aisles of the office supply store, but that day, I had a mission. (1) white poster board, (7) fine-tip colored permanent markers, and (1300) sparkle stickers later, I had created my very own “Goal Calendar”

My goal calendar

This is all part of my project this quarter to become more organized. As evidenced from the clutter of my desk, I am your proverbial messy roommate. Sometimes it’s quaint, and my roommates don’t mind; but sometimes it becomes a problem – like when my boyfriend dropped me off at my dorm on his way up north to a party in San Francisco so I could finish my oceans of homework. When I reached the front door, I realized the keys were inside my room – and I ended up accompanying him to the party after a 30 minute detour. (It ended up well though, because the party had the most exquisite variety of cheeses to offer.) I’m sure my roommates also aren’t too pleased whenever I call and say… can you come back to the dorm, I’m locked out. I’ve always been absent-minded, but I was never motivated enough to do something about it until my quaint traits started to interfere with and frustrate other people’s lives.

General Clutter of my desk

I first identified my goals:

1. Floss every night. I never got into this habit as a kid and my dentist tells me it shows.
2. Get enough sleep (and don’t fall asleep in class). I hate falling asleep during class, because it’s disrespectful to the teacher and also because it’s a waste of my time. I also hate plodding through my day tired.
3. Write. I enjoy writing in this blog, because it helps me to organize and express my thoughts. However, I tend to fall into spurs and lulls; sometimes writing every day, other times neglecting my writing for months at a time.
4. Don’t forget keys. A simple one, but tangible and will make a big impact.
5. Don’t be late to anything. Part of my desire to become more accountable. I grew up pretty much always running late to things. In college I learned firsthand that being late shows disrespect – I hated when others were late on me

Next, I created a method to track my progress.

The goal calendar assigns one start color to each goal and contains one cell for each day of the remainder of the quarter. Each row represents one week, starting from Sat to Fri. The rows are numbered on the left with their academic week numbers (four through six). For each day, I apply the appropriate stars if the goal was completed. By the time I reach the end of one row, I can celebrate on Saturday if all the goals were completed for the week. My boyfriend has offered my reward for completing the week as taking me out to dinner.

The goal calendar works so far, because:

• it’s right in front of my desk, so I see it everyday
• it looks so pretty I just want to make sure it gets used. (colors!)
• putting stickers on the calendar is fun
• investing the 30 minutes to make it furthers my dedication to the overall project
• the rewards are enticing

Finally, I implemented ways to help me carry out the specific goals.

I haven’t fully figured out how yet, but so far I’ve made significant progress on the “forgetting keys” goal.

1. Before we leave anywhere, either my boyfriend or I will remember to ask each about the key. Two people remembering will have a higher probability than one alone.
2. When I enter my room, I will hang my keys on a thumbtack next to the door. It helps that the lights are right there too, so if I have to turn them on then I will immediately remember to hang the keys.
3. If the keys are not there, a cleverly placed note reminds me right as I leave the room.

Unrelated to my goals, but in line with the general process of becoming organized, I created a board of weekly assignments. It’s permanent marker on white board, and lists the recurring assignments I have every week. Once I complete it, I can cross it off with dry-erase. At the end of the week, I simply erase and the assignment list remains – fresh as ever. (Don’t worry, when I need to erase the permanent marker, I can simply write over it with dry erase and wipe of the permanent marker – a useful trick I learned in teaching high school debate.)

my assignment board

I’m not sure how effective these methods will be, since I only implemented them recently, but I will provide an update a few weeks into the project. For now, I’m just looking forward to placing a blue sticker on Monday Jan 25th for the “write” goal.