Coming Out of the Closet with the Kon Mari Method of Tidying

On a recent podcast episode (1/8/17) (episode 41) I wrote about my experience with the Kon Mari method of tidying up. I promised photos of my experience. Here are the photos and links of the process:

Clearing Out Floor Space

This is a picture of the pile of things that I needed to pick up off the floor and move outside my room, in order to make room on the floor inside the room where my closet is located. I dealt with this pile at the end after I had completed my Kon Mari process through the clothes and restocked my closet with what clothes remained. most of what you see here was discarded.

Everything Out of the Closet

Everything Piled on the Floor

These next few pictures are a shocking look at how the pile of clothing looked once I pulled everything out of my closet. As you can see, I had to stock many things on my counter as well during this process. The open books on the counter are my notes about the Kon Mari process that I was to follow.

Smaller Pile After Sorting?

This picture shows how large the pile remained after I had completed my sorting process. The laundry basket in the background is where I placed my T-shirts, with the misguided plan of hanging on to them. As my podcast episode relates, I discarded almost all of those T-shirts after one month, and I explain how that came about.

Sweeping Up to the Right

Finished Closet

This is an amazing transformation, yes? The left picture shows how my closet looked after I finished the Kon Mari process on my clothes. The picture on the right shows my symphony clothes (black) tucked in the back of the right side of the closet. I have since moved them to the left side of the closet.

Winter Running Clothes

The picture on the left shows a different closet that houses my dresser at the moment, although my husband and I have tentative plans to move the dresser out of the closet to a different location. The long-sleeved shirts pictured here are my winter running clothes. I have discarded many of the hangars now and kept the specialty hangars because they look so nice.

The Other Side of the Closet

The picture on the right shows the other side of my dresser closet. This side houses my winter coat, jacket, and sweater, and my short-sleeved running shirts. I did not discard many of my running clothes or winter coats.

My dresser drawers were great fun! I enjoyed folding my clothes find great joy in admiring my handiwork each time I open a drawer. I have improved my clothes folding skills since I took this picture, and my drawers look even better!

See the little packages of folded items? See how nice my running clothes look? It takes me seconds to get ready to go for a run.

I have a lot more socks than I realized. And I found some socks that were still in there original packaging, which is definitely a no-no to Marie Kondo.

 These last two drawers are even better organized now. Because of the vertical storage idea, I can find what i need in seconds. And an added plus is that my drawers all shut completely closed now. No more drawers slightly ajar with clothes spilling over the edges. All neat and tidy!







The entire process did not take as long as I expected. I allowed myself an entire weekend, but I took part of one day. I was worried at first that I might backslide, but I placed my faith in Marie Kondo's promise that I would not. And, I have since discovered that instead of backsliding, I have continued to discard and sort other areas of my life. In fact, every time my hand touches something now, I intone out loud whether the item sparks joy or not and sort accordingly. My trash and recycle cans overflow with the evidence!

If you are interested in a video of the pile, somewhere in the middle of my Kon Mari experience, click the links below for short video explanations of my process:

Please comment below if you have your own Kon Mari experience to share. I will tackle my book project next. As you can see from the photos below, I have my work cut out for me!

If you are interested in Marie Kondo's books, click on the links here, or you can find these books (and others) in the Teach Suzuki Resources Store, located at the top in the right sidebar of the blog:

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

The above book links are affiliate links (Amazon), which means that I may receive a small benefit at no additional cost to you. As always, you never need to purchase anything, but if you are in the market to do so, consider using the provided affiliate links in order to support the time and efforts of writing and producing the Teach Suzuki blog and podcast.

GTD for the Music Studio Teacher, step 3: Organize!

I am in the middle of a series about GTD and how it might work for a music studio teacher. Here are the previous articles if you care to read those:

GTD for Music Studio Teacher: Introduction

GTD Step 1: Gather & Capture

GTD Step 2: Clarify

My GTD Tools and Resources

If you have followed along with the previous articles, you now have a lot of stuff piled up around you, and you have a great deal more clarity about what there is to do. You might have gotten excited about a trip to the office supply store or a visit to amazon to look through some bullet journal possibilities. Some of you needed a filing cabinet or an inbox. Some of you might be more visual, like me, and need a set of clear plastic drawers so that we can see everything we put away. Binders with sheet protectors are good too.

Step 3: Organize!

So what is the third GTD step? Organize! It is time to put your stuff where it belongs. It is time to come up with action reminders that show up on the right lists so you know what you should do, when you should do it, and where you should do it.

It is at this step that you will begin to make a few more deep discoveries about yourself as you begin to sort through things. Are you someone who needs to put things out of sight, like I am? I need visual reminders, but if I do not put things away in general, then I clutter. And if you are one of those people who claims that you "know where everything is" in that giant stack that you affectionately call your "inbox," then let me encourage you to give this method a try. I used to believe that I could find everything in my stacks of clutter, and in general, I really did kind of know in which stack I had put various things. Let me clarify that statement. At least I knew where to go hunt and look for a missing something. I had a rough idea where I might have last seen something.

Since adopting the GTD method, I have a much simpler time. Instead of using my mind to hold that location information, I now have my mind free of that "clutter" and open to more creative pursuits. Once I figured out the system that worked for me, I was just fine. You can be too.

What Exactly Does it Mean to "Organize"?

To organize is to know where you put things and what "buckets" you set up to keep things in. When you organize, you make decisions about how and where you will put things, with an eye on the future and how you might need to retrieve the information. Let us take a closer look at what this means.

Let us start with what kinds of things will you need to organize. We need to organize our projects, which are those things that will require more than one step. We need a place that lists what our next actions will be. We need reminders of things we need to do, perhaps by context, such as phone calls, errands, or things to discuss with certain people. We need lists of things that other people need to supply us, such as a waiting for list, which is something to remind us that we are due some piece of information from someone else or we have delegated something and need to check in to see how things are going. Then there are the calendar items.

How Does This Step Work?

So how does all this work with a music studio situation? First, I keep my appointments and other schedule-related items in my calendar. My article about tools and resources discussed my need for both a digital and analog system. My schedule changes a lot and is different from week to week. I need the power of using both these types of systems: analog because it is easier for me to see what needs to be done in a day or week, and digital because of the need to communicate information with others via the internet.

Many people have notebooks that list the various projects that they are working on, and they maintain an index in the front of all their projects. For example, this notebook could contain pages of current projects for a music studio teacher, such as:

• group classes project list, which could include subcategories for things like lesson plan development, supplies, or scheduling
• studio maintenance list, which could include cleaning schedules or tasks, items to be repaired, issues related to the landlord, or revising studio policies
• financial items list, such as tasks related to record keeping cleanup, sending out tuition reminders, sending emails, depositing checks
• a people's list, which could be a page devoted to one student or family in which you list things that you need to discuss with that student or parent when you see them next
• errands list, such as trips to the accountant, office supply store, or bank
• phone calls list, such as a call to the piano tuner, calls about lesson reminders or rescheduling, or calls related to parent conferences
• waiting for list, such as a list of information from a parent to include in a recital program, tuition payments that are overdue, or studio library books that have been checked out

These lists are merely suggestions. The beauty of GTD is that the system will be your own and designed to accommodate your needs.

What Tool do I Need?

What you need to do this GTD step is a simple tool. There are many tools out there, but I recommend that you experiment until you find the tool or set of tools and resources that you will stick with. I also encourage you to find something simple that you will be able to do quickly and easily no matter how busy or burned out you become. You need to develop a system that will be fun to use and easy to access when it comes to reminders or reviewing all the projects you have in the works.

As I have written before, I have used several "list manager" tools, and I discuss these in my tools and resources article. However, I have recently begun using a bullet journal because I have found that it makes a great tool for organizing GTD projects. I maintain my calendar, and I make notes about things that have specific due dates. My stumbling block with digital task managers is that I take longer sometimes to enter projects and other information into my digital list manager systems, whereas I may take a few seconds to jot a short note, reminder, or memo to myself in my bullet journal.

Bullet Journal Index

I find that my bullet journal works ideally for these sorts of things. I have an index at the beginning of the journal so that I can reference my ideas and thoughts. If I have a task that is really a project in disguise, then I start a new "collection" on a page in the bullet journal, put that page number on the index at the beginning of the journal, and then I develop the various steps that I need to accomplish to complete the project. Because I review my bullet journal frequently (did I tell you that my bullet journal is beautiful to look at because of the spashes of color?), I see when things need to be expanded, finished, or added to a list of actions for the day.

Bullet Journal Weekly Spread

I have also suggested that a notebook binder be used and individual projects added to the binder with a separate page for each project. You can index these pages in the front of the binder or place individual steps to be accomplished on a particular day on a special "actions list" for the day. I find the bullet journal easier to carry around, which is why I have been so excited about it. If I had one office location, maybe it would be a different story. Right now I have three working areas: university, private teaching studio, and my home work area. So a notebook would not be feasible for me; the bullet journal is portable.

Integrating GTD With a Bullet Journal

I recently watched two videos by Boho Berry that might help this area:

1. She maintains a separate journal notebook system for her GTD projects, and her video shows how she integrates her GTD lists with her bullet journal. You can watch that video here.
2. She uses color coding for her tasks and her time. She color codes her list of things to do and uses a particular color to indicate what area of her life these various tasks will fall into. She will use a particular color to block off areas of time for certain areas of her life or work that she does. For example, she might use purple for certain tasks related to certain areas of her business. During those blocks of color, she will do tasks that she has designated with that same color. You can find that video here.

As you can see, there are many possible ways to structure your organization system. Start small. Keep it simple. Be creative. Be sure to leave a comment here or on the Teach Suzuki Facebook posts page about your favorite tools and systems for organizing your stuff.

If you are interested in the David Allen book, click here. This is an affiliate link, which means that there is no additional cost to you. I already own the book and highly recommend it, and if you are also in the market for this book, I ask that you consider using this link. Doing so will give a benefit to the blog and help me continue to podcast and write.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing! (or GTD'ing)

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

GTD for the Music Studio Teacher, step 2 -- Clarify

My Clarification Questions

In my previous articles, I introduced the GTD concept and discussed the first step -- capturing and gathering. If you have not read those articles, click here for the introductory article explaining what the GTD Methodology is and how it would benefit a music studio teacher. The article about the first step in GTD -- Capturing and Gathering -- can be found here.

Today I will discuss the second big step of the GTD "Five" and demonstrate how this step can benefit a music studio teacher. This is the "clarify" step.

What is Clarification?

In the clarify step, we look closely at all the stuff we gathered and captured, and we decide what each item means and what we should do about it. If you have a cluster of sticky notes and lists of things to do, as well as reminders strewn about in your planner or bullet journal, then you may be suffering a blockage in this second step of clarifying what it is you have and what you need to do with it.

Many folks mistakenly believe that they have adequately dealt with something once they have written it down somewhere. They write down things like "recital program" or "group class theme" and think that they have done all that is necessary to capture these items on the "to do" list. They may also mistakenly believe that their clutter problem is that they are procrastinating or are just too busy to deal with all the things that clamor for their attention.

Yes, that may all be true, but there may be a more important reason underlying all of this turmoil, and that is that you have not clarified what you have written down. For example, there is an art form to writing things down, and both of the two examples I gave above do not fit the criteria. "Recital program" and "group class theme" seem like good things to write down, but they fall far short of indicating what the final outcome really is and what you need to do next to get there.

Outcome Thinking (Thinking for Success)

I developed my own little system to handle this processing step. I followed David Allen's former GTD flowchart and the newest one, and I found that I could simplify some of the steps to fit my situation as a music studio teacher. First I realized that I had difficulty making myself decide what "done" looked like. I would pick up something and think about it for a few seconds and come up with things to do, but I had not mastered the art of "outcome thinking." That came later after much trial and error, as I contemplated why I gathered and captured well in step one but seemed to have such a big logjam at step 2 and clarifying.

Instead of spending more time dealing with my piles of gathered stuff, I thought about my thinking. As a teacher, I completely understand the need to know what goes on in a student's head during instruction. So, I began talking aloud and figuring out what my thinking was. I discovered that I was doing some sloppy thinking about clarification, and in fact, my type of thinking was not doing very much to clean up or deal with the pile of things I had gathered and collected before me.

My Clarification Questions

I studied David Allen's flow charts and found a way to rephrase the questions to fit the sort of language and questions that I would find understandable in my personal situation. I simplified this clarification step to these questions when I picked up an item, whether it was a file folder, an item in my mail pile, or a receipt I had just removed from my wallet:

• What is this? [I write an answer]
• Do I need to do something with this?
• No, then trash it, defer it (and decide when that would be), or give it to someone else to do.
• Yes, proceed to the next step.
• [I actually circle "no" or "yes" so that I actually answer this question.]
• What is the successful outcome? In other words, what does "done" look like when I have finished with this thing in my hand?
• What is the very next step?
• Are there other steps? Make this into a project.
• Where to put this?

I actually needed to speak aloud each question listed above and give my verbal answer. In fact, I made up a sheet of these questions (as pictured above at the beginning of this article) to help me. I staple or clip one of these little sheets of questions to each item in my gathered pile, and then I write the answers to the questions on the paper. Later I transfer these notes to a different system to help me keep track of the progress on these items, but that is another future article to come. For now, I process and clarify.

If I identify more than one step to be completed in order to reach the state of being "done," then I turn the item into a "project." I set up a projects folder for the item and make sure that a lot of the steps are written down.

If you would like a copy of my processing questions form as pictured above, click here.

Remember when I said that there was an art form to writing something down in order to successfully process or clarify it? There is. It is called associating a verb to the item. When I scribbled "recital program" down on my list of things to do, I did not envision what exactly I needed to do about the recital program. Throw it in the trash? Take it to the printers? Draft it? Figure out what would go into it? And why did I scribble "group class theme" on my list? Because I wanted to send an email to my studio families about it, organize a party or special event, or brainstorm some ideas for group class lesson plans this fall?

Do you begin to understand how important it is to decide what the final successful outcome is -- what "done" will look like when you get there -- and what action you need to take next to make headway? Pick a verb. Describe the action.

For many of us, picking a verb or deciding what action to do next will be a learning process. I know because I have spent much time in that land of clarification limbo. I found the entire experience worthy of the time I spent learning how to do this correctly. It took me a while to think about verbs and actions, but I found in the end that this solved most of my log jam problems just by clarifying what I needed to do when I wrote down the to do item.

Two Minute Rule

There is one other magical rule to follow in the GTD system, and that is the two minute rule. This is the rule that says, if the next step you have identified will take two minutes or less to complete, then go ahead and do it right there and then.

The reason for this rule is that it would most likely take two minutes or longer to actually do anything else with the item, such as make a file folder or log it on a reminder projects or next actions list. Most of my students are surprised to discover just how long a time period of two minutes actually is. I routinely set a two minute timer for myself to remind me of how much I can accomplish in that short time frame: clean an appliance, take out the trash, run through my basic scale routine, briefly answer an email, send a text message, draft an outline for an upcoming article, mind map a creative project, clean up the books that students pulled from the bookshelves, or just file away the music that got stacked up during that day's lessons. There are so many things that could fit within this two minute rule.

Lessons Learned as a Music Studio Teacher

The biggest lesson I learned in this clarification process was that I failed miserably at first in outcome thinking. I procrastinated and dithered about things because I did not have clarity about what the finished project would look like. I also thought that this type of thinking would just take too long, so I avoided doing it.

What I learned from following the GTD methodology is that this type of thinking is crucial to just about everything I do and teach as a musician and teacher. I want my students to learn how to be "outcome" thinkers. I want them to be able to think about what the finished product will look like when they learn that piece to the mastery stage, and I want to guide them into uncovering the steps that my students will need to follow in order to reach that final result. I discovered, much to my surprise, that outcome thinking is exactly what I taught my students! How ironic that I failed so miserably at doing it when I dealt with my personal clutter!

A Learning Process

Many people have tried the GTD method and given up on it. I speculate about that and think that perhaps one reason is that the method does not happen overnight. There is a learning process, and what I mean by that is not that it takes a long time to learn. In fact, quite the opposite. The GTD method is quite simple and can be learned quickly in terms of knowledge.

What trips people up, I believe, is that there is a learning process for each individual. Most of us have taken a long road to get to the land of clutter and confusion, and so for us to expect to instantly or quickly arrive at a different place may not be the most realistic expectation to have. It took me many attempts and a great deal of soul searching and observation for me to realize that I was not actually completing this clarification step with any -- um -- clarity. I stuck with it. I reviewed the book and the materials several times, and finally one day, the light bulb went on over my head, and things have taken a decided turn for the better ever since.

So if you have tried GTD before and had a less than happy result, give it another go. Read the book again, as I did. Think about things. Ask a friend for help or guidance. The lessons you learn about yourself will be valuable. And the final result -- the GTD "mind like water" -- is gold! When I finally "got" how to do GTD, I began having so many creative ideas because I had so much more room in my head. I also found that I had more time to actually engage with my ideas and with others, because I was productive and unstressed about what I had to do.

If you are interested in David Allen's book, here is the link again. This is an affiliate link, which means that there is no additional cost to you. I already own the book and highly recommend it, and if you are also in the market for this book, I ask that you consider using this link. Doing so will give a benefit to the blog and help me continue to podcast and write.

Again, if you are interested in the previous articles about GTD and the Music Studio Teacher, you can find them here:

GTD for the Music Studio Teacher

GTD for the Music Studio Teacher, Part 2 -- Gather and Capture

Until next time,

Happy Practicing! (or clarifying!)

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Quick Practice Tip: Think-Throughs

Before beginning a practice session, a performance, or any other endeavor, I believe your student will have greater success if he or she makes use of the "think-through."

A think-through is a mental thinking through of the steps that you will take in order to meet your goal. Basically the think-through is your goal, or it should be. Here is an example.

Before playing through a section of Bach's Gavotte in Book 5, I asked my young student Elliott what he needed to remember while he was working through the section. Elliott indicated a few spots in the music where he wanted to be careful to play correct notes, and he also wanted to maintain his bow hold throughout the entire section. After playing the section, I asked Elliott to evaluate how he accomplished his think-through. In this case, Elliott met each of his think-through goals. We then decided to move on to the next section and repeat the think-through process, but in this section, Elliott had a different think-through. Here he was more concerned about following a particular bowing pattern and not bumping the wrong strings and making extraneous noise with his bow, as well as maintain his bow hold throughout the piece.

As a teacher, I was delighted to watch Elliott engage in this think-through process. A young boy, Elliott is more inclined to rush through his practices and play all of his music as fast as he can: (1) because it is fun to play fast, and (2) because faster means shorter practices (at least, he thinks that practices will be shorter until his mom reminds him about the metronome). When Elliott relies on the think-through system, Elliott's practices are more thoughtful, he is more present and aware of what he is doing, and he tends to pick much more reasonable tempos that allow him to complete his work successfully. As a student, I think Elliott enjoys the think-throughs because it puts him more "in charge" of what he is doing, and Elliott enjoys the feeling of being "in charge."

Next time you practice, pick a section to work on, give it a "think-through," and then evaluate your efforts at the end. I think you will be surprised at what you will accomplish and learn using this quick practice tip.

Quick Practice Tip: The Word for this Week is. . .

My quick practice tip this week is to offer you a word for the week:

O R G A N I Z E!

This is the season when a new semester starts. Now is the perfect time to set up the coming semester in a way that will induce good practice habits. How do you go about the task of organizing? I like to use the journalism questions to be sure that I have considered all the possible angles to this issue:

Who:

• Who will do the practicing?
• Which parent will practice with the child?
• Will the child be practicing independently?
• Who will be responsible for initiating the practice session?

What:

• What is to be practiced?
• What order should things be practiced?
• What is the teacher's practice assignment?
• What other things should be practiced?

Where:

• Where will the practice take place?
• Where is the best place for the student to practice?

When:

• When will the practice take place?
• When is the best time of the day to practice?
• When will practices take place during the week?

How:

• How will practice be organized?
• How will the practice plan be decided?

Why: I saved this question for last because the word introduces a complex issue.

• Why am I practicing?
• Why am I practicing this particular thing?

These last questions raise the issue of goal-setting. If we are clear about the "why" we do something, then we are more likely to stay motivated and follow through. When we are unclear about where we are headed, we tend to proceed in a more aimless, meandering fashion. We might reach our goal, but we may visit a lot of unnecessary places along the way. There may be appropriate times when we want to do this kind of practice, but in general, I think we are much more productive if we have a map of where we want to go already in place before we set out on our journey.

Start your week by organizing your thoughts, your equipment, and your practice plan.

Start today     -----     Start now