Episode 8: The Organization System That… Actually Works!

The next morning I woke up with one mission:
To get organized.
(That’s what I said. That’s what I believed. That’s what I tried.
The result… well, we’ll see.)

I grabbed my school bag — YES, this time I didn’t forget it — and went to school determined.
Ms. Niki walked into the classroom holding a box.
A nice box.
A box that said on top: “Iris’ Organization System.”

Me:
— “What? I have a system? Since when?”
Ms. Niki:
— “Since today.”

She opened the box, and inside there were:

• colorful post-its
• tiny star stickers
• three markers (obviously bright ones)
• a small notebook that said “Chaos Under Control”
• and one tiny black envelope

I looked excited and slightly terrified:
— “What’s the envelope?”
Ms. Niki:
— “The secret ingredient. We’ll get to it later.”

THAT'S WHEN I UNDERSTOOD.
Today I would learn how to organize my chaos.
Or at least make it look organized.

Mission 1: The Color Code

Ms. Niki explained:
— “Each color means something. Pink for ideas, yellow for tasks, blue for things you forget often.”
She looked at me.
Looked again.
— “So you’ll need a lot of blue ones!”
She laughed. I laughed.

AND THEN…
I wrote 10 blue post-its.
In 3 minutes.

Mission 2: The 'Chaos Under Control' Notebook

This was the most interesting part.
She told me:
— “You won’t write simple lists. You’ll create small missions.”
The first mission in the notebook said:
“Find 3 things that help you focus.”

I wrote:
1. Doodling a little something on the side.
2. Changing seats every now and then.
3. Having someone encourage me when I lose motivation.

Ms. Niki read them and said:
— “Perfect. We’ll use these.”
Then she placed the black envelope in front of me.
I opened it.
Inside, there was a tiny note that read:
“Chaos isn’t your enemy. It’s a tool. It just needs instructions.”

I read it at least three times.
I don’t know why, but… I felt stronger.
Like someone had just given me permission to be… me.

Mission 3: The First Test

Then Ms. Niki said:
— “Now we’ll organize your first school day using this system. You have 10 minutes.”
10 minutes?
For someone like me, that’s either a HUGE amount of time or nothing at all.
There’s no in-between.

I played music in my head (yes, I have internal soundtrack mode), grabbed the colors, and started:

• Pink post-it: “Remember to draw after class!”
• Blue post-it: “MY KEYS. DO NOT FORGET.”
• Yellow: “Math – don’t lose the exercise!”

In 10 minutes… my desk looked like a rainbow had exploded.
But everything was in order.
EVERYTHING made sense.
EVERYTHING worked for me.

Ms. Niki smiled proudly:
— “This, Iris, is your system. And it works.”
And then I heard the familiar “chirp” at the window.
The blackbird. It tilted its head as if saying:
“Well done, little chaotic sorceress.”

For the first time ever…
I felt like my chaos wasn’t chasing me.
I was leading it.