Experiment #5

Experiment #5 in E-Squared is about the Force providing accurate and unlimited guidance. All I needed to do was ask for guidance on a yes-no question and expect an unambiguous answer within 48 hours.

Pretty simple, right? Not necessarily.

It took me a day or so to come up with a question. I finally asked in desperation and exasperation if I would ever be organized. It's a question and it has a yes-no answer. Or a maybe ... or  sometimes … answer. It was all I could think of. It would have to do.

About 24 hours later, no books or articles on organizing had fallen into my lap, nor did offers of such books show up in my in-box. Well … nothing besides the usual FlyLady and Martha Stewart emails, and if they were going to magically make me organized, I’d be … well … Martha Stewart by now.

I started looking for books on organizing. The Lord helps those who help themselves, right? So it’s not really cheating … is it? Helping the Force along?

I was looking for a free book. Or a great deal for a book. What I settled on was How to Get Organized without Resorting to Arson, by Liz Franklin. It wasn’t free, and it wasn’t particularly low cost. But it was available for Kindle, so I could purchase it and download it immediately. It turned out to be a wonderful book, as Liz has a great sense of humor and takes into account different personality styles. If an organizing expert were to walk into my workplace today (or any day – today is Saturday, after all) and tell us all how to do things, most of us would be completely lost. Liz shows us how to do things that match our own way of thinking.

I was able to start right away with making some changes. Not too much at once, and only at work (so far). I started on a smaller desk, and couldn’t do the U-shaped surround Liz recommends. I have subsequently changed desks, though, and the new desk is L-shaped, and then there’s a bookshelf unit that pretty much forms the U around me. Now I just need to get things set up the way they need to be to get the paperwork to flow. Getting things in on time is a big challenge for me (and almost everyone else), so I’m looking forward to continuing to organize my space.

And going back to Experiment #4 for a moment: it took a couple more weeks to get totally fed up with my iPhone 4S. I got an email from a major electronics store, offering the iPhone 4C for just $99 and get $50 back. I checked with my carrier and was eligible for an early upgrade. I went to the store to see what kind of deal I really could get. The $99 phone was too good to be true with 6 months to go on my current contract (I know, right?). But since I was eligible for an early upgrade, I could get the phone at full price. But wait – my iPhone 4S had a good trade-in value (they didn’t care about the battery drainage problem, just that there were no scratches and that the buttons worked fine), and the store was still going to give me the $50 back, so I ended up getting the phone for less than $100 (plus tax – ugh!). Of course, after buying a case and screen protector and extra charger, it cost me more than $100, but I would have bought those items anyway.

So … I guess that proves …. something. Perhaps that I can manifest a product out of air.