Getting Organised

In terms of having a separate study space, I've learned that it's all well and good to have it, but Without a sign for the children to know that when I'm there, I'm unavailable, it doesn't work. So we developed our own special sign, and in my office, I like to have my desk quite clear and devote it only to my study. When I develop piles of mostly administrative papers, then I do a lot of filing, and I keep my files quite separate to my family files. I also keep two ring binders for my journal articles and the notes on those articles, and I like to have my books right next to my desk, because not only are they then available for easy reference, they give me lots of ideas when I can see them there, when I think of a particular theory that I'd read in the past. The other thing that I have to keep separate in my house is stationery, because my kids pinch my stapler and my two-ring hole punch, so I got them their own and it solved the problem. The final things for me about being organised in a family of five in particular is keeping your energy up; it takes a lot of energy to be a parent and a student and a worker, actually to be a student at all, and so I try to eat regularly and nutritiously and preferably with my family. I also have learned to be very flexible. Sometimes my idea of being in a separate space isn't the same as my children's idea, so I keep a little "cushion time" around those blocks of time.