Controlling Chaos

By Cyndi Seidler

We have so many things to do. We’re overloaded with work activities and projects. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day or week to keep up with all the growing number of tasks falling on our plate. Don’t fret — there’s hope for this predicament.

I often suggest that we maintain the perspective that we can only do so much and that we need to just prioritize the most important actions which must be accomplished on a given day. It is, however, extremely difficult to focus and get anything done in a chaotic environment, so the first thing to embark upon is to put order into it.

This may not seem like a pleasant task, but believe me, once you have a clear space in which to operate in, you’ll do much better in handling the overload and demands of work. For one reason, when there is chaos of clutter everywhere around us, we can’t help but feel cluttered and overwhelmed with work. Organize all the chaos and you’ll find yourself in a whole new state of mind.

When your area is organized with a place for everything and everything in its place, it can then be controlled with efficient work flow systems to maintain the flow of work. A communication "In" basket, for instance, controls the paper that flows into our area. When we have a designated time in which to handle that paper each day, we have a system that helps control chaos.

Managing people and tracking projects can also feel chaotic when we don’t have certain systems in place to control what’s going on with them. The use of production boards and/or logs can make quite a difference to track compliance, make follow-ups, and stay on top of activities.

The same applies to controlling the household and children. With systems, we can effectively control chores, errands, and any other number of things. Home management is simply, managing the home by controlling what goes on around and in it.

When there is control, chaos doesn’t exist. It only seems to manifest itself when there is lack of control in the environment. And, the words control and manage are synonymous. Interesting relationship, yes?

For any area that feels chaotic, it can be organized with systems to control it. It’s just a matter of determining what method will help handle the thing that is causing the chaos in the first place. Try this out on one area that is causing you to feel overwhelmed.

Try this:  Discover what creates the chaos and establish a system that handles the flow of one thing to another.

Copyright © 1997 Cyndi Seidler.  All Rights Reserved.

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