Murphy-proof your semester
RAEGAN HEDLEY LIFESTYLE COLUMNIST
At the beginning of this school year, one of my instructors taught a class on organization. We went around the room and everyone shared their personal tactics for staying organized and staying on top of workloads. I admitted I stay organized by thinking two steps ahead of myself, as in “what will I likely forget tomorrow morning when I haven’t had any coffee and I’m late?” The instructor said something along the lines of “so…you’re planning for your lack of planning?”
As the smoke from that truth bomb settled, I realized that’s probably why I’m constantly sweaty — I’m always running around at the last minute trying to get myself together.
In an attempt to become more like my super-organized classmates, I tried making my lunch the night before, pick-ing out my outfits the night before and pre packing my backpack the evening before school. While this is all sound advice, for those weeks when you’ve been up till the wee hours of the morn-ing trying to finish something, these habits complete go out the window. This is where having a Murphy kit comes in. The Murphy kit is a tool commonly used in event planning. It’s essentially a collection of items for when anything —and everything — goes wrong.
I seriously can’t even tell you how many times I’ve used my Murphy kit. It has also saved me a lot of money by providing me with more affordable ways to get myself out of a jam instead of always hitting up The Mercantile.
The great news is you don’t even have to be organized to have one of these. You just have to know your own weaknesses and faults and plan for sucking at stuff.
To make a Murphy kit, get a zip-able pouch or Ziploc bag for all your stuff. You can carry some of this in your back-pack, but you’ll probably want to stow it somewhere like a desk or locker.
I’ll give you a random sampling of what’s in the Murphy kit I stow in my locker, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:
- Packages of instant oatmeal
- Tea bags
- Stain-remover
- Stapler
- Glue stick
- Lint roller
- Black blazer
- Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
- Deodorant
- Box of granola bars
- Packages of tissues
Don’t bother setting the goal to “be more organized.” You know you probably won’t stick to that. If something goes awry, at least you have a line of defence.
Now go forth, and start your semester prepared.
Raegan Hedley is a sassy millennial who aspires to
someday become a kick-ass business professional.
In the meantime, she writes on her blog at raegjules.com
and tweets way too much (@raegjules).
