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Backward organizing

I'm a planner. I research, read, learn, schedule, check, double-check, and then begin. I usually get to that last step and cross my fingers and hope that nothing pops up that I'm not prepared for. I'm also self-aware enough to know that I'm visual and I do much better when I write things out on paper long-hand and not rely on a screen, whether phone or computer.


We've got some work to do on our house to get it ready for market. There's not a ton, but in order to get things done by the time that we want to list, we've got to get moving on these things soon. The kicker is that I will be gone for the majority of our prep time, and we've got Christmas and New Year's, school breaks and on-vacation contractors, to plan around.

When it came time to plan this schedule, I froze. I couldn't get my head around who needed to be put where--I almost chucked my phone because I was so frustrated. A deep breath, a cup of chai, some paper and a pen and things began to take shape.

First I listed out the broad projects to get done followed by a running calendar of days. A little blue highlighter to mark winter break, and a little pink highlighter to mark when I am away, and now we have our schedule.


These will be my working documents as I make my calls and final selections for contractors over the next week. Most of the contractors have indicated that they're slammed until Christmas--their clients are trying to get things done before families descend on Christmas. I think that they're relieved to hear that I'm not looking to begin anything until after Jan 2nd.


The best part is that I'm excited to let our realtor know that we will have the house ready by our picture deadline. It's going to look great!


working backwards calendar and list of to-dos

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