How to be Organized in 2009: Day 12 – Family

The 12 Days of New Year’s Resolutions

This is Day 12 of The 12 Days of New Year’s Resolutions for Better Personal Organization

I’ve spent the past 12 days posting ideas for new year’s resolutions you might like to choose for yourself. Each day focused on a different life area.

Remember: go for progress, not perfection.

Following is an edited extract from the introduction to Module 12: My Family in Get Organized Wizard for Smart Women. 

Day 12: Organize your Family

Family can be a source of intimacy, companionship, happiness and support. We can enjoy sharing good times with loved ones, building a bond with our partner, nurturing our children and sharing closeness and memories with our siblings.

But family can also be the bane of our lives. Tension, rivalries, unresolved marital conflict, ancient feuds, troubled children, aging parents, even lingering childhood pettiness in grown siblings can all leave us in dread of ‘family time’.

These organizing suggestions aren’t designed to offer family therapy, but they may help you improve some parts of your family life.

Supporting your spouse/partner

• Work challenges
  Explore ways you want to support your partner in various work areas – including career development, work/family balance, work relationships, skills development and other work issues.
• Personal challenges
  Consider personal areas in which you’d like to support your partner. These might include your partner’s relationship with the kids, family activities, health or medical issues, personal growth, and spiritual growth.

Helping and coaching your kids

It’s easy to be reactive to the daily challenges kids bring your way – whether school concerns or personal issues. You can take a more proactive approach by consciously planning and organizing your support and coaching goals for each child.

• School challenges
  Consider how you want to help your child with school. Areas might include school progress, teacher relationships, peer relationships, sporting activities, and extra-curricular activities, as well as any special care you think helpful.
• Personal challenges
  Think about how you want to help your child outside of school. Areas might include home relationships, family activities, health or medical issues, developing hobbies and interests, nurturing talents and abilities, as well as any special care you think helpful.

Difficult conversations with other family members

• Parents
  Do you need to plan actions or conversations relating to retirement, health or medical issues, living arrangements, powers of attorney and other contingencies, or financial issues?
• Siblings
  Do you need to plan actions or conversations relating to family issues, family gatherings, parent issues, resolving/forgiving past conflicts, or spending more time together?

 

Question: What area of Family will you work on in 2009?

Note for users of My Family Wizard and Get Organized Wizard for Smart Women

Your Wizard contains guided worksheets for each one of these items, plus others, as well as additional prompts, ideas and suggestions to help you organize each one.

Series wrap-up

That concludes The 12 Days of New Year’s Resolutions for Better Personal Organization!

Have you found this series helpful? I’d love to know what you’ve organized for the year – simply click ‘Comment’ at the very top of this post or scroll down to the bottom. (Depending on how you’re viewing this post, one of those options will be available for you.) Thank you for sharing!

Picture adapted from image by Aldon.

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