Organized

Last week two people called me an organized person which made my day - and my husband frown. I guess this is like telling the smart girl she is pretty or the other way round. It all depends on how you perceive yourself and what feedback you get from other people. 

I remember doing well in "organizational savvy" when working for Starbucks. It was one of the elements (see the complete list at the end of this post) of the yearly performance appraisal that I actually implemented in the Swiss and Austrian market. I remember doing quite well in the other competences as well back then. 

Becoming a mom and homemaker kind of changed it all. Forget about scheduling your day - because dirty diapers, empty wipe boxes and unexpected hunger attacks happen. Usually right before heading out. And even if a nap never takes more than an hour - on the day you need to see the pediatrician at 3pm you can be sure you need to wake up your baby.

Not proud of it - but this is what it looks like (on a good day)

I think of myself as a creative, yet messy person. I need space to spread out my stuff. At work and at home. Folders, laundry, unfinished crafts projects, "to do piles" because what is in sight reminds you that you are not done. I always wondered about the empty desk people. And I think I envy them. It's just not working for me. It takes discipline and doesn't allow spur of the moment activities and fun. But from time to time I try. In January 2013! Oh, wait, I also made a major effort in January 2012, too:

Emptied out my closet

Finally put together my license plate collection

Recently I came across a platform called Seleso. They purchase your old music CDs, DVDs and books. All you need to do is scanning the bar codes directly onto their website. Sounded like a plan. I had cleaned out my CDs from the "skyscraper racks" a couple of years ago because I needed the racks to put on a rope for the advent calendar baggies. 

One person's CD racks are another person's advent calendar poles

Since then the CDs have been sitting in plastic boxes which served as "counters" to put on more stuff. Well, today this all was going to end. I am going to post them on the internet!

Anyway. Colin engaged in "cooking" some color coded letter soup in the meantime. He made blue soup, red soup, even rainbow soup and garnished it with the correspondent M&M stuffed character:

Looks like my son is super organized!

Now is an organized person someone whose house is clean and tidy? With fancy towel holders aka wine racks? With "making bread from scratch" and "growing own cherry tomatoes" on their to do list?

What did a Martha Stewart wannabe do before Pinterest?

Or is it about getting through the daily grind, making appointments and paying bills on time, having healthy food in the fridge and clean clothes in the closet at all times? Juggling home, office and charity work without dropping the ball?
Is frozen pizza OK? Clean clothes from the basket, directly out of the dryer?

My mother used to be a kindergarten teacher. She experienced only child moms being late and forgetting to bring snacks or raincoats all the time. And moms taking care of three or four children plus a dog - being organized because they needed to be. Hmmmm.

So I googled "what is an organized person?" And got 8 habits of organized people
It sounds so easy. But my house tells a different story.

If something seems to be too hard, people tell you to take one step at a time. This is what I am going to do. Tackling one of the eight points per week and report back here about my progress. Is anybody joining in? I will award the most impressive "getting organized person"!



As promised, here is the list of competencies needed for a job with the coffee company:

Core Competencies :

Customer Focus
• Delivers legendary service that meets and exceeds all customers' expectations
Data Driven
• Sticks to the principle that all of the data that can be used are accurate, genuine, integrated and valid
Ethics and Integrity
• Adheres to Starbucks values, beliefs and principles during good and bad times
Composure
• Remains calm, maintains perspective and responds in a professional manner when faced with tough situations
Personal Learning
• Takes personal responsibility for the continuous learning of new knowledge, skills and experiences
Dealing with Ambiguity
• Able to successfully function during times of uncertainty and changing priorities
Decision-Making
• Makes timely and quality decisions based on a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience and judgment
Interpersonal Savvy
• Builds effective relationships with all people; up, down and sideways, inside and outside of Starbucks

Leadership Competencies :

Setting Direction
• Establishes and communicates a compelling and inspired vision, creates competitive winning strategies and plans, ensures department strategies are aligned with company strategies
Leadership Courage
• Willing to take a managed risk to drive the business forward
Creating the Environment
• Develops a positive, respectful, productive and professional work environment
Building and Maintaining Relationships
• Establishes positive connections with others so as to facilitate the attainment of business results
Developing for the Future
• Continuously develops the competencies of both self and others
Organizational Savvy
• Understands and effectively leverages the organization to accomplish business and unit goals
Achieving Measurable Results
• Consistently exceeds goals, dedicated to exceeding the expectation of internal and external customers