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What Mary Poppins Taught Me About Organization and Time Management
Whether you’re raising children or flying jumbo jets, there’s a lot you can learn about organization and time management from Mary Poppins. Mary set the gold standard for efficiency long before nannies began starring in reality TV shows. You can achieve more when you’re organized, kind, and firm. Here’s what I learned:
1. Spoon out the sugar. Like the song suggests, a little sugar makes it easier to swallow your medicine. Focus on the fun aspects of any task. You’ll enjoy strategizing when you turn a job into a game. Motivate yourself with a reward.
2. Sing and dance. Speaking of fun, music makes time fly, even when you’re doing something tedious. Design an invigorating playlist you can listen to while you clean the bathroom.
3. Start out strong. Mary likes to say, “Well begun is half done.” Create early momentum with small victories that drive you to keep trying.
4. Clean your room. How can you polish off your to-do list if you’re tripping over toys on the nursery floor? Neat surroundings encourage productivity. Clear the papers off your desk and organize your kitchen cabinets.
6. Resist hurrying. Mary wins a horse race by riding her merry-go-round steed at a steady pace, and politely asking the other jockeys to let her pass…
