Resolution of the Future – Part 1: Orderly Conduct

New Year’s Resolutions aren’t for everybody, and I get it. It’s based on an arbitrary date at a time of year that’s hard to get and stay motivated. I’m not a huge resolution guy; There have been years when I half-ass it and some when I skip it entirely.

But not this year. 

Maybe it’s the futureness of the year 2020, or the fact that it went from a solid pun for the last five years to, y’know, the present. Maybe it’s because I turn 40 this year, probably the most notorious birthday. Ooh, maybe it’s because I turn 40 in 2020 and 20 + 20 = 40. :O

Or maybe I’m just in a place where I can see a lot of goals that I could achieve with the right commitment. 

Rayne may be changing his philosophy from Go Big Or Go Home to Think Smaller, Give A Dollar, but for my resolution I’m going big! Or rather, wide. 

My 2020 resolution is three tiered, which synergize so expect crossover as I explain them. I don’t think I need a spreadsheet to explain them, but a Venn Diagram might be fun! 

What I do need, apparently, is multiple blog posts. So today is the cyan portion of my 2020 resolution: taking the mess that is my life and getting it in order!

Fulfilling Uncluttering

This blog post is probably a great example of why some people think of me as laser-focused in my organization even though others think very much the opposite. At GenCon this year, I quoted my friend and podcast co-host Perram saying I remind him of a line from X-Men, where the only disorder in Cyclops’ life is his sock drawer. Will, my friend and co-worker and the person I was telling this to, told Perram I am the most disorganized person he knows. 

Naturally they came to blows. 

My theory is that I am quite organized, digitally. It’s the physical world that I can’t manage. As someone who interacts with me online 98% of the time, Perram only knows me as the manager of our website, and the output of my work. Whereas Will sees my desk, and my home office, and any area I am responsible for organizing. It’s like Cyclops’ sock drawer, everywhere. 

So here’s the plan (because a resolution without a plan is just a wish):

Get Physical

Like how sleep is where Ralph Wiggum is a viking, online is where I’m organized. I default to the online world because it is comforting and I like how at ease my brain feels when I’m there. Before I discovered BBSes in high school, I was just as messy in the physical world, and I just assumed (and was repeatedly told) I was a disorganized person. The more time I spent online, the more I realized there was a place that I wasn’t disorganized, that I was skilled in an area I thought I was flawed. 

But back then, if I wanted to go online I needed to use the family’s one phone line and could only reach websites in my area code. Now the Internet is everywhere and always. Instead of a few moments of comfort, the Internet can be an omnipresent escape, one I use more than I should. 

So, the first part of my 2020 resolution plan is to limit my time on Facebook (or rather Friendly, an app that filters Facebook feeds to actually display in order) and Messenger. Facebook is aimless Internet usage for me, and it uses up time without being fulfilling. That’s just a bad investment. I’m training myself to be more aware of my physical surroundings whenever I get that “whelp, time to check Facebook” feeling. It turns things like tidying and dishes from a chore to a simple task, as I stay on top of it before it becomes overbearing. If I have more time than tasks, I jot ideas in a notebook or I read. 

The Reading Pile

My bedside table has a tower of comics and books. The same comics and books for months and, not joking, years. They’re the comics and books I feel would interest me but there’s some barrier of effort that I don’t take the time to get over. This year, that pile’s goes down!

As the only piece of furniture in my bedroom that’s both my responsibility and purely recreational, the fact that it’s also the only disorganized area in my bedroom (yes, my sock drawer is more organized than Cyclops’) is telling and unfortunate. This year, it’s getting decluttered, and it’s not my only decluttering goal of 2020. 

Office Space

I spent a lot of my December break working on my office, between cleaning it, setting up shelves, and buying items for setup and organization. Now, I need to spend time filling those shelves and using those organizers. My plan is to compartmentalize until every space makes sense. The broad compartments are Desk Stuff, Toy Stuff, and Storage Stuff.

Toy Stuff breaks down into GI Joe and non-GI Joe. GI Joe breaks down into ARAH dioramas, ARAH displays, Sigma 6 dioramas, Sigma 6 displays, other GI Joe displays, and GI Joe collectibles. And so on and so forth. This is the biggest item on my list because it’s both a major job and its asking me to ignore my instinct -being disorganized in a physical space- and develop a new one. Luckily my wife Tina is incredibly organized and hopefully when I’m stuck I can call on her.

Speaking of Tina…

Tomorrow I will explain my plans to clone my wife.