Operation Organization

I am a pretty organized person. Not a neat freak for sure. Organized, yes. But to be organized I must have a plan. This semester, because of my desire to get to gym/pool regularly, in addition to being successful in nursing school, I now have a plan for arriving at all my destinations with what I need.

You see, I'm more of a night person. So I really should not wait until 5:30/6:00 in the morning to pack my gym and school bags or to decide what to eat for breakfast, lunch and snack. My schedule is full and requires me to go from one activity to the next without stopping by the house to pick up something.

So I have made "pack lists" for each day

Lists include whatever I need for Lecture, Clinical-prep, Clinical, Aquatic class/Cardio, whatever I need to shower etc at the gym or stay at my parent's house...and what I need to pack in terms of food (lunch, snack).  After a week or more of editing/modifying lists, I will shrink lists to a 4 x 6 size and then laminate them for repeated use. Gotta love self-laminating products!

I've done really well so far to show up at school or clinical with what I need - setting everything aside the night before... but add in another activity before/after and I just can't expect my brain to remember it all. Nothing like showering at the gym and realizing you forgot to pack underwear! Or showing up to workout and realizing you've forgotten your iPod (I've already done this twice).

At first I was just going to go with lists taped up somewhere, but then had novel idea of having baskets to throw stuff in (even a week early). I really did not want piles, so it made more sense to have a portable collecting station. Well, baskets were going to be too expensive, so I settled for Sterlite containers (which will be used LONG after nursing school). They were on sale (thank you, back to school) and a fun Caribbean blue.

I'm not sure yet where these will live day to day. Right now they are downstairs in my kitchen/den area, but thinking maybe they'd be better in the dining room (out of the walkway).

Perhaps I'll get better at remembering and I won't need the lists so much. But I have a feeling that as the semester wears on, I will probably be glad for anything that can help my poor brain get through the day.