Organizational IEP

It's been a little over three months--roughly the whole summer--and I've been working my way through two of Julie Morgenstern's self-help books: "Organizing from the Inside Out," and "Time Management From the Inside Out."'

I have a whole notebook devoted to organization and time management notes and journaling. It's this woman's equivalent of an IEP (Individualized Education Plan, all students with identified "special needs" are supposed to have one).

That's not a bad thing. In fact, I'm proud of myself. I wrote in this journal last night:
8/21/07
I feel super good about almost being done with the organization of my home office space and materials. It...having a clear system really hasn't changed what I think is most important, but it's made my thinking clearer, and I feel...so much more confident about being able to reach my goals. Before doing this work I honestly felt that I couldn't achieve most things that were important to me. By getting organized, at least now I'm beginning to have a sense of the work I have ahead of me. Though it's a lot, it feels good to be on the verge of getting a workable, TRUTHFUL plan together. And maybe it has changed the way I think about my work. Instead of defining my work days by what is MOST late or what will help me deal less with big projects I've procrastinated on, I feel like I've started to develop a hierarchy for the different aspects of my work life. That in itself gives me a sense of moving forward--instead of being depressed about how much I haven't done/how much I have to do.

I realize that blogging should be a part of at least one of the areas of my life that I've identified as important to me through reading Morgenstern's books. Interestingly enough, I have three blog identities--so I guess I need to explicitly acknowledge that I like expressing myself in this way. But what definese each of my blog spaces? I'd perhaps characterize LouLou as the cynical, self-deprecating, "let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may while secretly hoping to be a better person," bitch (for the most part).
In another blog, I try much harder to nurture the positive, spiritual side of myself (especially since the title of the blog references my grandmother), and I hope that it will be a space for me to honor (and not cut down) that part of myself that wants to write creatively.
My third blog houses my "professional identity." Curiously, there's not a whole lot in it. As an academic woman who is riding the precipice of receiving a critical third year review, it just seems dangerous to assert ideas too strongly. So my posts in that space tend to be fairly general musings that are vaguely connected to my work. I wonder what would happen if these three people got together for some tequila shots....