Do you have Shoemaker’s Children Syndrome?
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Organizing guru Peter Walsh had an embarrassing moment a few years back, when he found a ten-year old bottle of Worcestershire Sauce in his kitchen cupboard. As he said on his Facebook page, “My shame is so great that I officially resign as an organizer!!!” Although it was good for a laugh, it was also a pretty good example of what I call “Shoemaker’s Children Syndrome.”
This expression comes from the old adage, “The cobbler’s children go unshod,” which means that the cobbler (or shoemaker, in more modern language), is too busy making shoes for his customers to make them for his own family. It’s a problem that afflicts all of us from time to time.
Take me, for example. One of the downfalls of a having a steady flow of client projects is that I rarely have a chunk of free time big enough to implement my ideas for this site, the GHVA Group website, or JanetBarclay.com. To keep things moving, I work on smaller tasks that I can complete without interfering with my other commitments.
Just recently, I’ve rearranged the top menu here to make it easier for you to find the type of information you need. I’ve also updated the footer to better highlight what I offer outside of this blog. As I like to say, a website is always a work in progress, so I’ll be making further tweaks in the days to come. If there’s something that would make this site even better for you, please let me know.
Even though you’re a professional organizer, I’m sure there’s something in your life that’s not as organized as you’d like it to be – whether it’s a particular room in your home, the books you want to read, or your blogging calendar. There’s no shame in that, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do something about it. Practice what you preach: break that project into manageable tasks, and get help with those you don’t know how to do, don’t have time to do, or don’t want to do.
You’ll be glad you did!
What part of your life isn’t as organized as you’d like? What are you going to do to change it?
You don’t have to do it all alone.
Technology doesn’t have to keep you from moving forward with your website. If you’d like ongoing support from someone who’ll care about your site as if it were her own, let’s talk!
Photo © Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar / CC-BY-SA-3.0
You’ve hit a nerve here, Janet! Every so often I realize my office is approaching chaos and have to organize it before I can think clearly again. I don’t really know how it gets to this state–must be those office gremlins who sneak in at night…
Then there are the books. Subconsciously I must think that I’ll absorb the content by osmosis! I’ve stopped going into bookstores because I can’t leave without purchasing.
There’s my confession.
Thanks for your openness, Moreen. I think we all go through it and even though it doesn’t solve the problem, it always feels better to know we’re not alone!
I get it! I am in the same boat. Last year, with the purchase of a house across the country and the move of my daughter into medical school, I had a lot on my plate, and I didn’t spend as much time on my blogs as I usually do. I just did the bare minimum. This year, I focused on catching up on updates and setting up things I hadn’t gotten to last year. I enjoy doing these updates, that is why I offer it as a service to my clients in the U.S. as well, but it does take time and my clients come first. To stay on top of things, I find it helpful to add recurring tasks to my calendar every quarter, reminding me of tasks I need to do. It takes things off my mind and reminds me when I need them. The trick is to be strategic about when these tasks need to be done. For example, if you are writing shopping posts, doing them in September and October can be helpful before the busy holiday season, so as to get some traction on them before other bloggers.
Thanks for sharing your own experience as well as some specific examples.
I also find it helpful to set recurring tasks for this type of thing. Even if I mark them as low priority and have to postpone them, it alerts me when it’s time to start thinking about them again.
Oh, yes! I get this. I hadn’t heard the Peter Walsh story before. That’s awesome. And truly, it also highlights something else that organizers are human, too.
Most things in my life are organized, but there’s always room for improvement or tweaking. And it’s possible I have an ‘expired’ something in my pantry or fridge, too. While I look at expiration dates when I pick up a bottle or box of something, some of the items I use less frequently get forgotten about. That’s easy enough to change.
But aside from getting to things, there’s also the idea of prioritizing what’s truly important. And sometimes taking a walk along the river, working with my clients, or talking with a loved one comes before organizing my entire life. I’m OK with having good enough systems and tweaking them when needed.
One of the problems I have with expired items is that time is just going too fast these days! I check the date on something that I think has been in the fridge for a few months, and find it’s been over a year! That’s why I tend to avoid recipes that require me buying an ingredient I don’t usually use.
And you’re so right about priorities! I’m resistant to early walks because I’m keen to make a dint on my work, but whenever I go, the benefits of the fresh air, exercise, and companionship of my walking buddy far offset the small dint in my productivity.
This is a real thing. When business is booming, we want to ride the wave, so set aside our own personal goals. In a funny way, COVID was helpful to me in this way. Suddenly I had more time, especially in the beginning before all the virtual organizing got worked out. I finally got to some tasks that I had set aside.
Another thing that helps light a fire under some projects is an external deadline. For instance, when I worked with you to revamp my website, having deadlines from you kept me on track. A similar thing happens with my physical space when I’m hosting an event. I keep my house pretty organized, but there are some improvement projects that I tend to let go when it’s “just me” in the house. My daughter’s upcoming wedding inspired my husband and me to tackle a few of those projects, and I’m glad we got on those early so now we can focus on the wedding details themselves.
When lockdown started, I was worried that I would lose a lot of business because most of my clients wouldn’t be able to get out and make money, but the opposite happened. All of a sudden they had time to work on changes to their websites or start side projects, and I was busier for the next two or three years than I’ve ever been before or since. During that time those deadlines were essential! It’s a shame it took a global pandemic to give people the time they needed to work on their businesses.
I grew up with a variation on this expression: the cobbler’s children have no shoes. It’s the same thing, except when I first learned that there was a type of pie called “cobbler,” I was very confused. 😉
My tangible possessions are very organized; I don’t think there’s anything expired in my pantry (mostly because I don’t really cook!) but I definitely have clothes that I could get rid of. The advantage (and disadvantage) of having a large walk-in closet is that I don’t have any pressing need to downsize anything it it. I’m always paring down my papers or other possessions to keep the clutter at bay, but I have lots of clothes dating back eons, and since most things fit (leaving aside whether they flatter), I tend to keep them organized (in categorical and color order) when I’d be better off downsizing them. With luck, I’ll have too many clients in the coming months to spend working on my closet, but if not, your post is a good reminder to get cracking!
Thanks for the chuckle!
I can absolutely relate to your attitude towards your clothes. I’ve always been of the mind that if I have room to store something in an organized manner, it’s not clutter, but lately I’ve found myself wanting some of that space for other things, so I’m gradually letting go. It’s easier than I thought!
Yeah….I have a couple of rooms that fluctuate in their levels of clutter and are currently below my standards. I frequently ask myself: “What advice would I give a client with this problem?” Aka, “What Would Hazel Do?” LOL!
WWHD – I love it!