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  • Jayme was a self proclaimed organized hoarder. Sheā€™s always been a naturally organized person. In 2017, she hit rock bottom knowing she just had too much. It wasnā€™t until the windows were replaced in her house. You see when you have new windows installed, you have to move everything away from the windows so the installers have enough room. For about two weeks, all that stuff was in the middle of her room. THAT was chaos, but it shined a light on the fact that all the mess or hoarding at home was causing Jayme mental chaos. This is when Jayme found Organize 365Ā® and cleaned up her personal space, her home.

    Cleaning Up Mental Chaos at Work

    Jayme was used to pouring herself into work as a principal Monday through Friday and cleaned house on Saturdays. Jayme would stay as late as she needed to on Friday nights just to have peace of mind that she was prepared to walk back into school on Monday. If we are honest with ourselves, as educators, the one planning period you get is not ample planning time. When you plan as a teacher, you are able to deal with any distractions during instructional time. Jayme found the Education Friday WorkboxĀ® (now the Teacher Friday WorkboxĀ®) and was able to get organized at work. The Friday WorkboxĀ® allows her to plan and feel prepared, and thatā€™s what she wants for her staff. She wants them to continue having a passion for teaching and not feeling burnt out.

    Cleaning Up Mental Chaos at Home

    This cleaning up of mental chaos is why Jayme was so excited to share the Education Friday WorkboxĀ® with her teachers. If she could just show them how to get organized in the classroom, they would see the benefit of having home organized, too. At Organize 365Ā®, we want to bring light to the invisible work you are doing and have a better plan to tackle it. It took Jayme about 18 months to get her home ā€œdoneā€ and longer for work. Jayme encourages her staff to know it will take time. A first grader canā€™t read a book and write a full report, but after a few years of learning and doing, in 3rd grade maybe they can. And I never mix words about this, it will take time. Jayme finds herself still listening to the older podcasts and learning. She recognizes that the information lands differently now when she hears it based on her progress. She still hears new things she can add to what sheā€™s already used to doing.

    You have learned a lot about Jayme and next Jayme is going to help us understand the structure of schools and responsibilities of staff in the state of Indiana, specifically Greendale Middle School in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Teacher Friday WorkboxĀ®

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • This is the next installment of the phases of life series. Weā€™re now in the phase of development called Emerging Adulthood. In my PhD studies, Iā€™m trying to figure out the role that the developmental phases of life play in how we learn and do housework over the life cycle. Iā€™ve always been interested in human growth and development. After 18, the amount of literature and research drops off quickly. The key distinguisher of this phase of life versus others is this feeling of being ā€œin between.ā€ Things happen legally at certain ages (18, 21), but other things are assumed to be inherently known or done. This isnā€™t a US thing, it is a developed country thing. In Asia, until you are married your parents take care of you. In Italy, you live at home with no obligation that you would do the housework until youā€™re about 30. People are living at home longer now, and not owning homes until they are older.

    I remember being in my 20ā€™s. I went to a 4-year college, got married a year after graduation, and adopted my babies in my late 20ā€™s. So I was a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) with 2 kids by the time I was 30. I tell my kids that your 20ā€™s are for trying things. Different jobs, schools, food, places to live - get experience so you know what you want to do by the time youā€™re in your 30ā€™s. What does it mean to adult? By the time we are 30, we should be responsible for our finances, housework, where we are living, the job we want, and relationships. Finding friends in your 20ā€™s is hard!

    What is our capacity? Time and money wise - the amounts kind of melt together. You start having to pay for the ā€œnot funā€ things in life - insurance, rent, utilities, etc. Things you never realize are part of adulthood. Then thereā€™s how we use the physical spaces in our home during this phase. Most of the spaces will be smaller, but will still have zones. Our mini apartment (bedroom), a dorm room, an apartment or condo. Iā€™m already extending my parenting horizon to 25, mostly because I have children with ADHD. Itā€™s difficult for these new adults in this phase, but itā€™s hard for us parents too. Weā€™re not done. Not that we are ever truly done - but the active parenting to a certain degree is done.

    As your 20 year olds start to take on more responsibilities of adulthood, there are some that are more easily acquired and there are some that take longer and have more limitations. As the parents of adults, I am paying for and providing these things for our children, but Iā€™m looking at it as we are property owners. Will this work all the way until they are 30? Then Iā€™m doing it.

    Organize 365Ā® has the Launch Program for 16-25 year olds. Inside of Launch, there are lessons for turning your bedroom into a mini apartment and understanding the zones, a starter Sunday BasketĀ®, and a binder with parts of the Medical, Financial, and Household Reference Binders for renters. Clothing, food, and entertainment are the biggest areas where you will fully embrace adulting.

    What scaffolding or support do we need? Understanding. This is a phase, there are pluses and minuses. It can be challenging. Having a way to communicate what true adult responsibilities are and what that looks like when you are successful is difficult. Itā€™s much better when the person in their 20ā€™s can figure out what they want to know and then ask the parents. This is the phase of life when you realize the fact that you have to clean your bedroom for the rest of your life!

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Parabolas Illustration

    Launch Program

    Kids Program

    ADHD Bundle

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

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  • I hope you all remember Jayme from the Teacher Pilot that I shared with you in previous episodes. Jayme found the Organize 365Ā® systems effective for home and then implemented them at work. Jayme was open to the idea of using her school as a pilot to see how the Teacher WorkboxĀ® could impact an entire building. In this series, weā€™ll discuss everything from the idea to implementation and to the feedback.

    Meet Jayme: Principal at Greendale Middle School in Lawrenceburg, Indiana

    First off, I want you to know exactly who Jayme is and her background. The funniest request we have received is that people want to know Jaymeā€™s thoughts. Never mind that I too was a teacher and founded this organizational system. Just kidding! But I was surprised by it nonetheless. Jayme shared that she always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She remembers playing school even as a child. As I learned more about Jayme, I was surprised how much we had in common when it came to our childhood aspirations. It was also reinforced through this episode that teachers are cut from the same cloth; that of passion for teaching and hearts of service.

    School came pretty easy to Jayme with a floating B. She loved math, history, science, and to read. But to spell? That is a different story to this day! Before she even completed college, she was happy to keep her Fridays open so she could sub. She knew there would always be work on Fridays. Soon she met her husband Joe and decided to move to Indiana with Joe so they could live happily ever after together.

    ā€œIā€™m not a workaholic, Iā€™m passionate about teaching.ā€

    Jayme completed her degree in 1998 in elementary education and middle school certifications for social studies and science. She graduated to teach elementary, but ended up in middle school. She worked in the classroom for about 7 years until she got the desire to counsel the students. She went for her Masters for counseling and finished while she was pregnant with her first child, Pierce. Most of her experience has been with middle grades 6-8 in science and as a guidance counselor. Starting in 2000, Jayme was a school counselor for 4-Ā½ years. This is when she decided she needed another Masters for being a Principal and added another child to her life, Kennedy. Jayme shared she has always had a long commute, but appreciates the time to digest what is currently going on in life and work. With all this driving, education advancement, and growing - you could easily call her a workaholic but she prefers to identify it as her passion. But where does that passion go for some educators? We want to help educators retain that passion and put systems in place to prevent burnout.

    When the Principal Gets Organized

    Now that she had her Admin Masters, Jayme could be an assistant principal which allowed her to help students and teachers alike. In 2013, she became an assistant principal only to take over being a principal 1-1/2 years later when her friend and boss had to step down. Jayme thought, ā€œIā€™m basically already doing her job because she had to miss a lot of work.ā€ Jaymeā€™s eyes were opened as to all the actual responsibilities once she was doing the role of principal for real. Jayme likes to delegate tasks with her assistant principal based on strengths.

    Jayme was all too excited to share with her staff what had been working to keep her organized and kept burnout at bay.

    I canā€™t wait to share with you how this pilot played out!!

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • The first in this series of podcasts is the childhood phase (0-18 years). We are going to walk through the entire life cycle of a human and look at a few specific questions. 1. What is our purpose during this phase of life? 2. What is our capacity, time and money wise? 3. How are we using the physical spaces in our home during this time? 4. What scaffolding or support do we need to make this phase of life easier and more productive?

    What is the purpose or job of a child inside the household? There are two - the first is to develop and grow from a child to an adult, and the second is to learn and attend school. Thatā€™s it. Some children will be able to add on a third, which is to be a productive, proactive person in the household by doing chores and helping. But some children will not and I think we need to normalize this. Because I always knew that developing from a child to an adult and attending school were the top two jobs of this phase of life, I didnā€™t add on the third category of household chores for my kids. I did add on bedroom chores, but not household chores.

    What is the capacity of the child from zero to 18 inside of the house? Birth is when you have a lot more time than you do money. As a child moves from zero to 18, the amount of time and care they need will reduce and the amount of money they are able to generate will start to increase by the time they are 18. Itā€™s a huge two decade phase of life. Children in this phase go from being a baby that canā€™t even hold a bottle to someone that can drive a car, has a job, goes out and gets their own food or makes their own dinner. The amount of physical, mental, emotional, social change that happens in childhood is huge.

    How do children use the physical spaces in our homes? Their stuff is everywhere. The amount of stuff doesnā€™t change, but the types of things do. Theyā€™re mostly in our communal spaces; the kitchen, family room, main bathroom, and laundry room if theyā€™re old enough. Theyā€™re in their bedrooms or playrooms, sometimes in the basement or bonus rooms. As they get older, they start to get rid of more toys and be in their bedrooms most of the time. Then they can create zones - bookshelves, cube systems, a desk for schoolwork, etc.

    What scaffolding or support do we need to make this phase of life easier and more productive? Kids need to learn how to clear their mind and organize their bedroom, and they need to learn how to plan for the week ahead and be productive. Hereā€™s how I teach that in Organize 365Ā®. First, there are lessons for parents on how to teach the skill of organizing to your kids. How to organize everything related to babies, clothing, and everything else. Then kids ages 6-15 go though the course to learn about their mini apartments and all the zones they have. You have to organize a bedroom before you can clean it. I teach them what are zones in your bedroom and how to understand there are different areas of your bedroom that have different responsibilities. Lessons on clothing, sharing bedrooms, schoolwork, creating activity bags, organizing passion projects, and school memories or paperwork. Then you have a childā€™s backpack. Their backpacks are the equivalent to our Sunday BasketĀ®. They go through their backpacks, make sure they have everything they need for Monday, pack their activity bags, and then write down their week on paper. In the Kids Program there is a sheet where they can fill out all their activities and events in the Before School, School Day, After School, and Evening categories.

    Next week we are going to talk about emerging adulthood, which is 18-29.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Parabolas Illustration

    Kids Program

    Lisa School Binder

    School Memory Binder

    Launch Program

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this new podcast series Iā€™m going to talk about organization in each phase of life, but first I want to talk about phases of life. There is childhood (0-18), a new theory called emerging adulthood (18-29), middle adulthood and late adulthood. There is so much to these phases of life and layered on top of these is the capacity and the time limitation of variables as it relates to that phase of life. I picture this like two arches that mirror each other and intersect at two points.

    We all know that childhood is pretty well established and studied. Then thereā€™s the new theory called emerging adulthood where youā€™re in between childhood and full adulthood. Then thereā€™s the years around 70-82 where I made up this idea of ā€œreverse emerging adulthoodā€ because you have all this experience, but youā€™re at an in-between stage again where you are no longer an active contributing member of society.

    The time and capacity continuum is frustrating for me because when I have time, I didnā€™t have the knowledge and capacity to act on it. And then when I donā€™t have the time, I have all the knowledge. A great example of this is menopause. The average age of menopause is 50 years old and that hasnā€™t changed in the last 2,000 years. However, the age that puberty happens has changed. So the mid-life ā€œdipā€ most people experience corresponds with menopause. Ironically, when a person is in the generative phase of life and pauses to focus on their needs and desires, usually between 45 and 55, society labels this as a midlife crisis. However, it isnā€™t a crisis at all. Itā€™s a natural rebalancing of energy and production in the middle of a long adult life cycle.

    If I have to find academic support for everything I do or want to do in the future, itā€™s going to take forever for us to really understand how households function throughout a lifespan, let alone how to organize them. So thatā€™s why I wanted to first have this conversation about how I view a lifespan. I view it as inverse arches of time and capacity, and the golden windows where they cross over.

    In this next series, what can you expect? Iā€™m looking to unpack what our purpose is, what our capacity is, how we use physical space in our homes during certain phases of life, and what support we need to make this phase of life easier or less invisible. Basically Iā€™m trying to figure out, what is the phase of life map of household organization? So if you were to map out household organization across the whole life phase, what would that look like?

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Jump Start - Personal

    Jump Start - Kitchen

    The Kitchen Productivity & Profitability Blitz

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • I have these big ideas, big questions, big observations that I think about when Iā€™m driving, going to bed, in the showerā€¦how different related concepts are viewed in different environments and how they actually are all talking about the same thing; weā€™re just using different words to describe them. So in this episode and the next, I want you to give me a little bit of latitude to verbally process with you where I am thinking we are in our understanding of how weā€™re functioning inside of our families, especially as the head of household and the administration of whatā€™s going on at home. In this episode I want to really talk about the weight of the mental load inside households. Iā€™m going to hit this from a couple different angles. Iā€™m going to talk about what Iā€™ve been learning about in my PhD, different things Iā€™ve been reading, different things Iā€™ve observed. Iā€™m going to start by talking about cognitive load.

    In cognitive psychology, cognitive load refers to the amount of working memory resources used. Heavy cognitive load can have negative effects on task completion, and it is important to note that the experience of cognitive load is not the same in everyone. There is not a lot of literature I have found related to how all of these cognitive processes that we talk about in school or work affect us at home (please send me any links you have!). Working memory remembers tasks, processes information, creates a plan, and makes decisions. We do that at home from the time we open our eyes in the morning until the time we close them for a nap or to go to bed. Even when we go to bed, weā€™re still trying to remember things, process information, make a plan and make decisions for the next day.

    The cognitive load at home is discussed in academia in relation to housework, especially the fact that women are doing more. It doesnā€™t matter what gender or ethnicity you look at, women are definitely doing more. When I think about our role at home as household managers and the cognitive role at home, thereā€™s no end to our day. Thereā€™s no quitting time. Thereā€™s no ending time. Then you layer on top of that the fact there are just a bazillion trillion, little teeny tiny tasks that you have to do at home. And hereā€™s the thing: they are all INVISIBLE. I think the fact that the work is invisible adds to the cognitive load in a couple of ways. One, because we gaslight ourselves into thinking maybe weā€™re not doing as much as weā€™re actually doing because we canā€™t see what we actually did. And two is that you know no one else can really see what weā€™re doing and therefore we donā€™t get the ā€œatta boysā€ and gold stars and ā€œthank you very muchā€ that you would normally get if you were in corporate America or in school.

    Iā€™m starting to double down on the fact that the uniqueness of the Sunday BasketĀ® and why I think it works so well is the fact that you write things down on paper. I designed it to literally work for any kind of learner. My hypothesis is that it is the recorded thought on paper that is the science part. It gets the thought out of your head - it moves it from working memory and externalizes it. Also the fact that it is written by your hand is key - when you write by hand, the information gets encoded deeper into your brain. So is it the fact that you write that note on paper versus typing it into a phone helping you to retrieve a memory? I am retrieving a memory and writing it down, the physical act of writing is encoding it deeper into my memory. It pulls it out of my working memory onto the paper and then allows it to leave my working memory so now that is clear and ready for whatever I want to think about next. That idea or thing I needed to remember then becomes triage for later urgency, I no longer have to think or remember whatever that was. So then, does this repeated interaction with this task that needs to be done deepen the memory trace of this experience and the recall?

    Welcome to the Sunday BasketĀ® - the physical representation of over 10,000 womenā€™s cognitive loads! The actual physical weight of the cognitive load of household management. For funsies, those of you who have a Sunday BasketĀ® - I would love for you to go and weigh your Sunday BasketĀ®. You are holding a very heavy cognitive load comprised of your finances, meal planning, bills that need to be paid, the mail, cleaning schedule, projects that are in process, requests of your time, so many little pieces of information that are literally weighing you down.

    Iā€™m here to say, ā€œatta boyā€, youā€™re doing a great job. Hereā€™s your gold star. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking care of your family and your community and your household. Thank you for being financially responsible and cleaning up your messes and making your bed and doing your laundry. The invisible work that youā€™re doing IS HAPPENING. Hopefully somehow through collaboration, we will be able to scientifically support what is actually happening cognitively for the homeowner in all of the roles and responsibilities that they are doing that are invisible to themselves and those they live with, making it visible so we can have a conversation, so we can eliminate as much as possible so you can do what you were uniquely created to do with your time, which is not more dishes and laundry.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Kitchen Productivity & Profitability Blitz

    Jump Start - Personal

    Jump Start - Kitchen

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • This week I want to talk about lists. Why I donā€™t have to do lists, cleaning lists, work lists, etc. I just all the sudden realized I didnā€™t have them and had to figure out, where did they go? When did I get rid of them? How long have I been living without lists? Where was my security blanket? It just seems like the more productive you are, donā€™t you need more lists? Shouldnā€™t your lists have lists?

    So my new to-do list is my Sunday BasketĀ®. Many of the things that our brain reminds us to do or that end up in our Sunday BasketĀ® don't need to be done now, or in the near future, or in some cases, ever. But our brain wants to let us know about it as a possibilityā€¦ of a potential way of spending our time if we'd like to sometime in the future, maybe.

    What Iā€™ve moved into after so many years of checklists is establishing better routines, better cadences of natural structures inside my house, inside my day, inside my work. Looking at my morning, afternoon and evening routines. There are six routines that I have Monday through Friday, and then my household management and household cleaning day. There are no organizing emergencies.

    Having good, strong routines for the essentials and then wide open spaces for whatever you WANT to do. Letā€™s play more! Are your lists really serving you anymore? Are they helping you? Are they reducing your stress and anxiety or making it worse? For me, the answer has been the Sunday BasketĀ® at home, the Friday WorkboxĀ® at work, planning days every 3 or 4 months for home and work, and the Organize 365Ā® Blitzes.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Kitchen Productivity & Profitability Blitz

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Jump Start - Personal

    Jump Start - Kitchen

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Friday WorkboxĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • My fellow Americansā€¦I bring you this state of the family economy due to what my household is experiencing and the relief I want to offer you! Have you also noticed the increased prices of the following? I asked the Organize 365Ā® community and this is what you all said:

    ā€¢Groceries ā€¢Home Owners (especially in southern and coastal towns)

    ā€¢Electricity ā€¢Property Taxes

    ā€¢Rent ā€¢Healthcare

    ā€¢Tipping ā€¢Streaming Services/Entertainment

    ā€¢Service Providers

    Wait, Iā€™ve been here beforeā€¦

    In December I realized the hustle was back and I started to feel like something else was ā€œbrewingā€ but hadnā€™t quite put my finger on it. Towards the end of January when I didnā€™t see financial relief at the end of the tunnel, I knew what it was. We are all feeling inflation, and quite honestly, ā€œshrinkflation.ā€ I have experienced this 4 times in the past.

    ā€¢2004-2005 - I remember those 110 doctor appointments, which I have approximated at 3 hours each. The bills that were racked up due to those doctor visits. And all of the invisible work I put into my family as a result of those doctor appointments, from caring for my children to science experiments called dinner.

    ā€¢2008-2009 - My father was in poor health, and when he passed away, it was my sister and I who were left to take care of his affairs since my parents had divorced a few years prior. I was the executor and on top of kids medical needs, the direct sales company I worked under filing bankruptcy, a recession, and just life! There was a lot of invisible work being accomplished by me of which no one else was aware.

    ā€¢ 2011-2012 - The year I decided that if it was to be, it was up to me! I started Organize 365Ā® in an effort to get my life under control and help others to do the same. I just love the American spirit, immigrant risk takers with passion, and how we can all pursue what we want in the way we want to because you all know traditional is not what you would call my business sense.

    ā€¢ 2020ā€¦Need I say more? This was a time of immense fear and uncertainty. We were home so we organized. Now that we are not home as much, itā€™s even more important that we stop, plan, implement. Stop doing 800 thousand million trillion things. Get off the treadmill to nowhere.

    Your home is THE business that powers the American economy!

    The pandemic pointed out how important small businesses are and today the American home as a business is flexing its muscle. We power America from 123 Main St. And we are really feeling it in the grocery stores. I noticed the ways I have solved this issue in the past are not effective this time around due to my family needs. I stopped (how did I solve this in the past?), planned (took a look at my family and our needs), and now I want to implement it with the Organize 365Ā® community.

    Kitchen Productivity & Profitability Blitz - March 4-8th

    -Family surveys (the all skate)

    -Get clear on breakfast preferences, snacks, and the restaurants you operate daily

    -Stop wasting money at the grocery store - make your business (your home) profitable and productive

    Bonus: Great conversations, including how to get 5 ā€œwins,ā€ sparked from the comments after this Instagram Live.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Kitchen Productivity & Profitability Blitz

    [email protected]

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter


    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media

  • Last week I talked about Saturday time versus Sunday time, having housework time versus having household management time. Hereā€™s another layer: big projects, small projects, big tasks and small tasks. When Iā€™m stressed, I tend to check off as many small tasks as possible - things that donā€™t require a lot of mental bandwidth. Itā€™s basically decluttering, and that energy makes you feel lighter so you can move into organizing. Then thereā€™s big project energy. You can feel the difference between these. The problem is when you have a whole bunch of little tasks to do, but you have big project energyā€¦or you have a big project energy, but not a big chunk of time.

    For organizing, sometimes you will want quick wins and youā€™re organizing with little 15 minute tasks. Sometimes you will want really big two or three hour sessions, or maybe something that takes the entire weekend. When youā€™re first learning to organize the Organize 365Ā® way, there are two schools of thought. You do short, 15-minute activitiesā€¦or you empty out the entire closet and get it all organized in one day. As you move along, these 15-minute quick wins that you learn to do just get expanded into longer and longer organizing sessions.

    Itā€™s all about the kind of energy you have for organizing, what kind of energy you have for projects. That is going to wax and wane throughout the weeks, months, and years. This ties back into Golden Windows. Golden Windows are seasons where the organizing energy is high for everyone. The organizing energy for February is finances. Organizing your finances, crafts, or photos. That is what most people will naturally organize this time of year.

    Your job right now is to keep going. 15 minutes a day. Just do a 15-minute organizing activity a day while your energy is low and then you just wait. Itā€™s going to happen. Be ready to either task stack a whole bunch of 15-minute sessions in a row, or tackle something really big that youā€™ve been putting off that you didnā€™t know when you were going to do it. The more you understand how time is used at home and for what purpose time is used at home, the better you will be able to do it. Saturday time is not the same as Sunday time. Small task energy is not the same as big project energy.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Jump Start - Personal

    Jump Start - Kitchen

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Today starts another three part series, and in this series weā€™re going to be talking about time, tasks, task stacking, and how to really think about our time at home differently. Todayā€™s episode is about the difference between Saturday time and Sunday time. Iā€™m going to take us all back to our childhood, because I think in childhood we understood the difference between Saturday and Sunday time. So on Saturdays, you cleaned your room (even if that meant just being able to see the floor and the laundry was put away) and then you went out to play. On Sundays, you cleaned out your backpack and got ready for the next school week - check all your folders, finish your homework, give all papers to your parents that they need to see, and so on.

    As adults, your bedroom turns into the entire house. Saturday becomes your housework day. Saturday work is very visible. Vacuum, clean the house, do the laundry and dishes, grocery shop, clean out the refrigeratorā€¦the list never ends. Sunday is for household management. Sunday work is invisible. This is where you go through your Sunday BasketĀ® - open your mail, pay your bills, plan your schedule for the week, decide when youā€™ll run errandsā€¦you get the idea.

    Both days are important, but both days are different in the amount of visibility other people have about whether or not you have done your work. They have completely different energies to them. My goal is to always make visible the invisible work youā€™re doing so that we can do LESS OF IT. I want you to stop always working. Thereā€™s always, always going to be more to do. When are you able to say itā€™s done?

    When you become disciplined at having bigger time blocks for even your housework, you will find those little pockets of time where you could go for a walk, take a longer shower, find a way to start using those for yourself and your wellness - not to get one more thing checked off a list. Challenge yourself to do a time study and try to see if you can get your housework and your household management done in less time next weekend and instead give yourself some free time. Start to prioritize when your free time is going to be and what it will be used for. Start looking at your time like little buckets or Lego bricks, how can you manipulate them based on your energy?

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Jump Start - Personal

    Jump Start - Kitchen

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

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  • First of allā€¦donā€™t panic! Itā€™s just a small, 6-week break. You know, every once in a while you need to get reorganized and pause something so you have more bandwidth to address another project. Thatā€™s all weā€™re doing! In the meantime, Iā€™d love to record an episode with you about your transformation with Organize 365Ā®! Just go to the website >Podcast >Wednesday Podcast >Apply to be our guestā€¦itā€™s that simple!

    But when I come back, the episodes will be a mini series with Jayme from Greendale Middle School who participated in the teacher pilot. This way when new educational faculty want to learn more about the program, they can listen to this mini series instead of having to sift through 9 years of episodes.

    Adult Circle Time

    Second of all, have I got something big for you! Iā€™ve been mulling over this idea that as adults we need circle time. You know, think about the weather, whatā€™s for lunch, and activities we have coming upā€¦but for adults. I still have that kindergarten teacher brain. And I really think as adults we could all benefit from a little heads up as to the organizing energy of the week/month, golden windows that are coming up so we can be prepared to get a specific project accomplished, plan for holidays so they donā€™t just pop up on us, and offerings from us here at Organize 365Ā®! I mean if you think about it, the schools do this for us, right? They let us know all the things that are coming up and then you as the parent plan ahead how you want to participate in each activity/event. Do you have time, money, and availability? Then you know what to expect. Thatā€™s all this is - a little circle time that will be every Thursday evening so you can make a proactive plan. I hope youā€™ll join me!

    Itā€™ll be everywhere your eyeballs would be

    Thatā€™s right! At 7pm in all the places: your email inbox, the app, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook! The video newsletter will be published and you will get adult circle time to make better informed decisions about your upcoming week! If you have unsubscribed from the newsletter - I hope youā€™ll reconsider because this will be the one and only communication to go out each week and itā€™ll be jam packed with helpful information!! There will be a printable PDF for you to get organized, plan, and be more productive.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Wednesday Podcast Guest

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Last week, I shared with you our first Jump Start initiative which is your personal organization, where I would counsel anyone to start getting themselves organized after theyā€™ve implemented the Sunday BasketĀ®. However, some of you are not going to want to start in your personal spaces for various reasons. One, maybe they are already organized. Two, it doesnā€™t matter how much it would help you if you were organizing yourself - you are drowning so much that you must start in family spaces. Or three, you need your organizing journey to be more visible and not invisible to get a spouseā€™s approval or buy in for you to continue.

    Our second Jump Start option, you could do in place of personal organizing or do after. You could do these in reverse order; it doesnā€™t matter. Weā€™ve pulled the lessons from The Productive Home SolutionĀ® into a Jump Start Kitchen Organization Program and walk you through how to get your kitchen all the way organized in six weeks or less. Typically, you get surface level organized and then move on, because everything else seems so much more disorganized than the kitchen. These Jump Start programs encourage you to get all the way organized - either in your personal or in your kitchen spaces. And all the way organized is pretty detailed.

    When you get all the way organized in your kitchen, youā€™re going to start with figuring out what your zones should be, and what phase of life you are currently in. I want you to pretend that you are moving into this house for the first time. Think about if you were moving in right now, how you would organize this kitchen without looking at anything thatā€™s in any cabinet. Your kitchen is really like a whole house. It does so many things, and every cabinet is like a tiny room that has a purpose for the phase and stage of life you are in. The size of your kitchen doesnā€™t matter as much as the functionality. Instead of wishing that you had something that you donā€™t, take what you have and make it as functional as possible. Then if you ever do move or you have the opportunity to make improvements to your house, youā€™ll know exactly what you want to put in there.

    Secondly, when you organize your kitchen, there are so many of the lessons that will carry over into other parts of your house. For example, when you learn how to organize a drawer step by step, you will know how to organize ANY drawer in your house. The next thing is establishing stations. Organizing stations are dependent on the phase of life you are in, as well. If you have kids, you can create a lunch packing station. Do you host a lot of dinners? Make a dinner station. Drink stations, snack stations, the list goes on! What can you add to this kitchen that will give you some extra space? What can you take away that you only need seasonally? Whoever is the primary cook should be the one to establish the organization in the kitchen.

    I want you to spend a full three to six weeks in your kitchen because youā€™re going to add 30% more organization to your life. So if you couple this with the Jump Start Personal Organization Program - you will be living an organized life 80% of the time!

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Jump Start Programs

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

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    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Lydia M. who has two daughters, ages 4 and 9 months, is married and living in Florida. She has the capacity to run her business, invest in her family, and partake in her hobbies or simply scroll through Instagram. But it wasnā€™t always like this. Lydia was getting ready to start her bookkeeping business, DAC Balance, so she searched for podcasts to motivate and educate her. She came across the Professional Organizer Think Tank Podcast in 2006 which still exists!! When Lydia heard me say that there was a regular podcast, Lydia found it and has been a loyal listener every Friday since 2017.

    It was fascinating to learn about what Lydia does, the business sizes that she works with, and compared Organize 365Ā®ā€™s business as it pertained to her business. Simply put, sheā€™s the middle man between the data entry person at a business and a CPA. Some businesses do not need a full time ā€œcontrollerā€ so they hire Lydia to fill that gap.

    Lydia and her husband were fortunate enough to move into her great aunt and uncleā€™s home after losing her aunt. Since her auntā€™s passing was somewhat sudden, all their things were still in the home when they moved in. Lydiaā€™s family was happy to not have to purchase something for this home that was new to them but it also meant estate sales, garage sales, and multiple trips to donation centers over the next 4 years to clear it all out.

    In 2019, Lydia found out she was pregnant. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit not too much later. The idea of becoming a mom and the pandemic gave Lydia time to get organized with the 100 Day Program sheā€™d received as a gift for Christmas. Now that the house had been cleared out, it was time to declutter her stuff. This resulted in items being in the correct roomsā€¦but also meant all the stuff needed to be gone through again. I shared a little tip we competitive puzzle solvers use, and itā€™s that we go through the pieces three times to complete the puzzle. We declutter to be able to organize to be able to get optimized and the result is productivity. This is why we go through The Productive Home SolutionĀ® three times.

    Lydia went on to describe how she is resetting her home every three months-ish due to her 9 month old growing and developing. With babies, there is a 3-4 monthly cycle in and out of clothes, toys, and safety in your home. Once our children are about 5 that turns into the first half of the school year, the second half, and then summer. This is why we do the home blitzes in that same pattern. Lydia wants to set an example of planning for her girls. I brought up that meme: Choose your hardā€¦Planning is hard and not planning is hard. Lydia wants her girls to know itā€™s normal to plan for the upcoming week. She wishes someone had taught her that way earlier in life. We talked about the impact on our mental and cognitive load when we use the Sunday BasketĀ® and Friday WorkboxĀ®.

    Speaking of planning and the benefits, you think I rabbit trailed on shipping in the past two episodes? No, we really trailed off getting into what the heck I am doing with my PhD and what my coach and I discussed. Turns out I have had a good chunk of research completed towards putting together a Household Organization/Productivity Theory!

    Lydiaā€™s advice is, ā€œBuy all the things. Do the blitzes to get a sense of how it feels to be organized in a season.ā€

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ® Planning Day

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • The number one reason cited as to why people do not feel like they are more organized or they do not start getting organized is they don't know HOW to start. They don't know WHERE to start. They don't know how long it's going to take...something else always gets in the way. Today's episode is going to help give you the tools to overcome this hurdle.

    So when you're at home and you feel like you're disorganized and you have a little bit of time, how do you use it? How do you get started? That's what I've been wrestling with the last 6 months. Looking at customer service emails, listening to things on social media, watching how people are implementing the tools that Organize 365Ā® has to get you more organized, which ultimately give you more time. But - if you don't have any time, how do you get organized?

    What does it look like when your closet, bathroom, and bedroom are declared "organized"? Your closet is done when anyone could go in there, choose an outfit, and you'd put it on and walk out the door immediately. Your bathroom is done when you have everything you need for your morning, afternoon, and evening routines. No extras of anything and duplicates of everything you couldn't go a day without. Your bedroom is done when it doesn't look like you're living in your storage room. It should be intentional. When you are organized there is no negative self talk, you wake up and have a more productive day, and you are moving forward faster. You have more mental capacity at your discretion in the morning and the evening to reflect on your day. This allows you to go to bed calmer and with less stress, all small but significant benefits - just from being organized!

    Personal organization is a YOU game. You need to get your space organized first, then you will start to live an organized life 50% of the time. If you start February 15th, you will be personally organized by April 1st. How amazing would it feel to be personally organized in 6 weeks and living 50% of your life as an organized person?!

    The first Jump Start cycle begins on February 15th, and runs every 6 weeks. You will have dashboard access to the course, and be invited into a private community group in the App. You will also get weekly recordings of The Productive Home SolutionĀ® Club. More details can be found at https://organize365.com/jump-start/.

    Next week I'll give you all the details on the Kitchen + Meal Planning Jump Start Program!

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Jump Start: Personal Organization

    Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Sign up for the Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Wendy T. She's married with a 13 year old son, a 10 year old daughter, one cat and one dog. She lives in Southern Australia and owns 2 Air BNBā€™s. Talking to Wendy gave me a lot of ideas about traveling to Australia, and how to fulfill my wish list. I hope Greg joins me in 2026!

    It was interesting to learn that Wendy found Organize 365Ā® through the ADHD Podcast which brought her to the Sunday BasketĀ® Podcast and then to the main podcast. In learning about the Sunday BasketĀ®, she thought this could be the way to gain calm in her home. In 2020, Wendy was in the process of moving. She purchased the old The Productive Home SolutionĀ® and found permission to let go of things. Back then it was the IDLE ā€œprocessā€ and we laughed at the placement of the phone book mentioned. Sheā€™d experimented with Marie Kondo, but what she found different with Organize 365Ā® were the systems, processes, and schedules. It was more than just decluttering.

    Wendy used to have paper piles in each room and sheā€™d throw papers in them thinking, ā€œOh yeah, Iā€™ll deal with it later.ā€ When those paper piles started to disappear, thatā€™s when she knew Organize 365Ā® was effective in her life. Our homes donā€™t have administration offices like work, but Wendy saw her Sunday BasketĀ® as a mini administration space. She could hold things in there until they needed to be dealt with. She loves the ability to think less and follows the tried and true systems of Organize 365Ā®.

    We got on a shipping 2.0 conversation (1.0 was the Canadian shipping last episode), this time about Australia. This held Wendy back for a time. We feel selfish spending this money because it seems like itā€™s for us. The reality is that the family eats better, the Sunday BasketĀ® user is more calm, and the house runs more smoothly. We pay a lot of money for summer camps and soccer, we should spend money to maintain our homes too! After Wendy splurged on the Organize 365Ā® products and shipping them to Australia, she realized itā€™s like self care. She doesnā€™t spend money on shoes or handbags; so this is her splurge. Wendy pointed out that because shipping is so high, she appreciates the planning and implementation days to still be part of organizing life with Organize 365Ā®. Planning Day is where she learned about permission for something elseā€¦naps!

    The planning days brought us to discovering each other's calendars. Australians celebrate different holidays. Their seasons are different from ours. And their school year is different. This got me thinking about Americaā€™s natural energy/cadence to organizing and how it matches up, or didnā€™t in most cases, to Australiaā€™s. Her Golden Window is NOW! We determined Wendyā€™s weather must be like that of Arizonaā€™s. Itā€™s summer now and can get up to 40 degrees C or 104 degrees F. Itā€™s also one of the busiest times for the Air BNBā€™s with the gardens. She values her Friday WorkboxĀ® even more now with managing people. Sheā€™s not doing so much physical work, but she is managing!

    Wendyā€™s advice is, ā€œGo back to ā€˜Lisa Basicsā€™. Give yourself grace. Done is better than perfect. Keep at it - chip away. Just start! Itā€™s just a habit. If you build the habit, it just gets so much easier!ā€

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ® Planning Day

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Alright, it's time for the last organizational domino - Don't Quit! When you have mastered something, when you have persevered and you have learned something at a new level, you can easily forget what it was like to learn that skill. For many adults, we don't often have to push through any resistance in order to learn something new. When things get rough, we can choose to be comfortable instead of doing something hard or pushing through the resistance.

    Quitting is fine. You're allowed to quit. The reason why I didn't quit in 2012 in getting my home organized was because I didn't have any options left. I was turning 40, I started Organize 365Ā®, I was getting our house organized and I had become a Professional Organizer. If I couldn't get my own house organized, how was I going to keep being a Professional Organizer? It was part of my identity of who I was becoming.

    The next time I wanted to quit was with growing Organize 365Ā®. There have been a lot of things that have happened in 12 years in business that I didn't know how to do. I don't have a business degree, so I am learning how to be a business owner by being in masterminds, hiring coaches, taking courses, going to seminars and conferences. Being an entrepreneur is a never ending professional development course.

    As an adult you want to quit...or you just figure out how to do it. It's not about being afraid of the effort or the work; it's about not knowing how to do it, or what to do next. Go back to your WHY - why do you want to get organized to begin with? When you know your why, then you know your limits, strengths and weaknesses...and realize that you will need resources, help, expertise, advice and so forth in order to get further and grow more.

    Organization can be the solution to having a plan and getting your time back. I know you're probably thinking: "it's ridiculous to pay money to Organize 365Ā® to learn how to organize, when I should just know how to do this myself." Why should you know how to do something just because you've always lived in a household?

    Everything is taught to us, or modeled for us. If you weren't TAUGHT how to be organized, you have to go to class. When you get stuck - join the community, get in the app, go to the coworking time. Get with people who are like minded. Sign up for a 1:1 session with a Certified Organizer.

    Everyone is going to get stuck. I'm not going to let you quit. Keep pushing through, because on the other side is the organized life and unlocked time freedom that you're looking for.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    Sign up for the Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • In this episode, I introduce you to Francie G. Francie found herself googling for basement organization podcasts when her mother-in-law decided to downsize from her home of 46 years in November of 2022. She came across the ā€œarranging your hot mess roomsā€ episode and was hooked. For her mother-in-law's move, which turned into her move tooā€¦she invested in The Productive Home SolutionĀ®. She grasped the idea of ā€œsame with sameā€ and ease of access based on frequency of use. She then chose her own organizational adventure.

    At the same time, Francie, her husband, and two children, Thomas and Joanne, were living in a condo. Francie and her husband started their lives there 18 years ago, but knew it was not their forever home. Her mother-in-law downsizing meant they would be acquiring some furniture, memorabilia, and other items from this transition. They knew it was more than their condo could hold. They temporarily rented a storage space, but knew that money could instead go towards a mortgage for a house that was plenty big to have all their stuff in their home. This was the perfect time to start the search for their new home.

    We got to talking about our children getting older and that means their bodies get bigger too! Itā€™s like 4 adults were living in their home. They were at a point in life where a little more space would be nice. And I donā€™t think we talk enough about buying your first nice piece of furniture or your first home in your 40ā€™s. We donā€™t move into our first home and everything is perfect and brand new! Cue the The Paper SolutionĀ® Financial Binder. They needed to be more diligent with their money and she wanted peace of mind to know things would be ok.

    Francie and her husband have always been intentional with their spending despite esteemed professions. They have never owned a car, stayed in their condo till they felt they needed to move, and hired a nanny that had capabilities to drive. Francieā€™s first investment actually was the ADHD Bundle, and we might have gone down a rabbit hole about shipping internationally and how things have changed. She also explained that because of the public transportation and the nanny, she was able to work from home with both children attending different schools, uninterrupted. When the children were in school, the nanny would run errands or help with housework. If Francie needed to go anywhere, she could hop on the public transportation.

    With all this change for her mother-in-law and their family, Francie started thinking she too may have ADHD. Re-establishing the systems sheā€™s learned, she realized she just has a lot of complexities in her life and no ADHD. Those complexities can suppress executive function. She laughed thinking ā€œWell, I had gestational diabetes while I was pregnant. So maybe Iā€™ll have ADHD while the kids live at home!ā€ Sheā€™s realized that Organize 365Ā® is the cure for that! Sheā€™s regaining her work/life balance and knows she can do hard things.

    Francieā€™s advice is, ā€œthe systems, routines, and schedules at home that Organize 365Ā® teaches are the external scaffolding that keeps life organized. ā€

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365Ā­Ā® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • I just want all my podcast listeners to be in the know. Now in the Shop are the two new Portable Sunday BasketĀ® color options. I really donā€™t understand the obsession with all blackā€¦so I had to throw in a new fun one too!! The School Memory Binder is back, redesigned, and you can choose a color for that too! Food for thought: each one of your children could have different colors.

    A gentle reminder that the first Paper Organizing Retreat of 2024 will be here in Cincinnati on March 2nd. You have timeā€¦but do you?? Finalize plans and I look forward to seeing you in March!

    New Portable Sunday Basket Colors

    Basic Black

    Black & Pink Stripes

    School Memory Binder is Back

    Lattice color choice of white, pink, purple, green, or blue

    Now can save school memorabilia through 12th grade

    Donā€™t Forget the next Paper Organizing Retreat is March 2nd

    Seems like a long time from now, but not really! If you need to plan who you are going with, where you will stay, and gathering all the paper you will want to organize - do that soon!.

    This is part of the Certified Organizer certification. So if it has been on your list of things you want to accomplish, then get registered and plan!

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Portable Sunday BasketĀ®

    School Memory Binder

    Paper Organizing Retreat

    https://organize365.com/newsletteroptin/

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Are you ready for organizational dominos Step 2? Step 1 was getting started - in decluttering and organizing; and understanding that organization is different than housework. It is putting systems in place that will support you and will last for more than a day or a week and give you foundation.

    Step 2 is how long will this take? I need you to give me more time. If we could do it in a weekend, I would let you know. If we could do it in a month, I would let you know. Even if it was your full time job, we couldn't do it in that short amount of time...there's just too much to do. It's going to take one to three years. I know you don't like that answer but this is not new information, and this is not a marketing scheme. If anything, it's an anti-marketing scheme.

    It takes a MINIMUM of one year to get organized. Part of why it takes a minimum of one year is because you just finished December. If you're starting brand new now in January, do you remember what all you did in the beginning of December? Thanksgiving? Halloween? There are things that you did seasonally that you don't remember right now as you're organizing in January. There is a seasonality to organizing your physical spaces.

    Year One

    During your first year of organizing, your only job is to do 15 minute tasks every single day. Keep doing those 15 minute tasks every single day in every space until it's completely organized. A completely organized space has only 2 requirements.

    1. When you walk into that space, it isn't "talking back" to you. The space isn't demanding your attention.

    2. There are no more decisions to be made. There's no more thinking about what you're doing (or need to do) in that space.

    Year Two

    By the end of your first year, you've been through all the seasons and your house will be pretty much organized. So in year two - you're going to go through your house AGAIN because now you can declutter more, add some organizational systems, make it prettier, etc. You're going to get into the cadence of reflecting on the last 4 months and then planning for the next 4 months. You're going to create better systems, better cadences, start using the Sunday BasketĀ® and The Paper SolutionĀ® Binders (if you haven't already).

    Year Three

    You are living an organized life in your home and in your work, and you identify as an organized person. Unexpected events happen in your life, but they don't become all consuming. You're better able to handle the complexity. You're going to be able to flex with the unexpected events because your house is under control, your work is under control, and you really do have work-life balance. You know the visible and invisible work that needs to be done in both, and you've set up systems in both that are supporting you so that when the unexpected happens - you're the one that can bounce right back and still maintain your goals.

    You know where all your time goes, where all your money goes, where all your intention goes, where your energy goes. You know you have capacity to do MORE. Why?

    Because YOU. ARE. ORGANIZED.

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    Sunday BasketĀ®

    Friday WorkboxĀ®

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    Organize 365Ā® Kids Program

    Sign up for the Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!

  • Organizational math.

    As a math teacher, I knew that if there were any holes in my studentā€™s learning, they would struggle with future math concepts. Math skills build upon each otherā€¦ just like organizing skills.

    There is a reason that most organizational programs start with decluttering (subtraction): you must reduce your pile before you can move on to step 2ā€¦ organizing.

    Organization adds minutes to your days (addition) and speeds up your pace as you get through the tedium of everyday household tasks.

    But, increased productivity is the holy grail we all seek. Once you know how to multiply time, there is no turning back.

    The skill of being a productive person starts with decluttering spaces, calendars, commitments, and sometimes people. Adding the weekly cadence of organizing your time, your priorities, and your actionable to-dos leaves you with a manageable action plan.

    I used to think productivity = being busy. Now I know that everyone is busy. Ironically, the people who look least busy are usually the most productive.

    Podcast episode 463: Learning the Skill of Organizing: Step 3 Increase Productivity

    Next year at this time, do you want to be more productive? More purposeful? More peaceful?

    The organizational level you are at today is a reflection of the cumulative minutes you invested in the full organizational cycle this year. Decluttering + organization = increased productivity.

    It would be my honor to walk with you through your organizational journey.

    Productivity is a fickle friend. It will not spontaneously happen. Productivity must be planned.

    It's time to make a plan!

    EPISODE RESOURCES:

    The Productive Home SolutionĀ®

    The Paper SolutionĀ®

    The Household Operations Binder

    The Sunday BasketĀ®

    Friday WorkboxĀ®

    Sign Up for the Organize 365Ā® Newsletter

    Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365Ā® when you share on social media!