Organize 365® Podcast

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

In this episode, I introduce you to Natasha B., the daughter of immigrant parents. Oh how covid changed so many things for so many of us. Natasha had her own business and lived with her mom. Natasha was ecstatic to learn she’d have two weeks off to tackle some projects she always wished she had time for. But soon their income was affected and ironically, they moved in with her father, step mom, and their 7 month old baby in Florida. She likes to refer to them as “the original modern family!” Natasha took her skills she’d learned after finding Organize 365® and started to organize her dad’s kitchen and house, too. It was a struggle at first, but now they appreciate the method to her madness. Her parents saw how much she loved organizing, so her mom invested in the Sunday Basket® for her. She did at least set it up, but didn’t use it for 2 years. Now she’s in almost all of Lisa’s programs! 

Natasha found out she had developed Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2019. Listen in as we discuss the necessity of planning and creating habits to feel in control of a disease that makes you feel like you have no control. At any moment, Natasha can be at the mercy of her energy. When she’s having a flare up, she’s in a lot of pain and it causes low energy. But what she finds is that with help from the Sunday Basket and the ‘spoon theory’, she can prioritize tasks per day according to her energy. Organization is now part of Natasha’s health management - it gives her more time, more energy, and more peace. Up until her diagnosis, Natasha was a competitive ballet dancer. Now she’s almost in her 30’s and already in her second career of running a dance studio. She’s now sharing her love of dance in a different way. And her doctors encourage her to keep dancing! 

She has created a podcast that she plans to air someday. It will be titled “We Dance Too” and would love it to be a layer of her business to help her reach out and partner with other businesses focused on Rheumatoid Arthritis. She wants to share what she has learned about organization that others with her disease could utilize, too. Natasha dreams a lot, so who knows what that third career may look like! She now has the confidence to say no to some things and not feel guilty about it. We discussed not permanently closing the door on opportunities that present themselves now. Just look at them as “not right now” and file away in a pink slash pocket. 

Natasha wishes that she would’ve known sooner that organization is a learnable skill. But her advice to others is, “Everyone who starts The Productive Home Solution® should just listen to the steps and do one at a time. And follow the energy.” 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. 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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: Transformation_with_Natasha_B.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

At 40 I knew it was “time to start my company.” But what company should I start? I started simple and have grown with demand. Everyone is working all the time and no one has time to plan. You also don’t have the time NOT TO. You still have to put in the hours - so you can spend the time working on current projects, or reflecting on what you were doing. It’s still work. 

The thing is, no company or no one employee will do this perfectly, and no one actually has the time - you have to just do it. My hunch is that this quarterly planning is going to become the norm due to the internet and business changing so rapidly. Gone are the days of having a 10 year plan, because the change in life alone will make predictability difficult. Not bad to have a 5 or ten year plan, just know there will be lots of course corrections. The Singularity theory says that there will be a time where all knowledge will be known from everywhere instantly. This is where we are headed, people. 

Cue the Rabbit Trail

I took a detour down a rabbit trail in this episode! This rabbit trail began with my recent studies of the Industrial Revolution. It dawned on me that railroads offered transportation, thus lending itself to more communication. Much in the same way when cars were invented. Farmers could get their products much further and visit their families and other farmers because the car could travel further than the standard horse. See, transportation and communication. And now, due largely in part to the pandemic, the internet is the new railroad. The communication and transportation highway. It’s all online, everything. 

The Workbox Planning Day is a continual progression of regular reflection, opportunity selection, and course correction:

  • Continued regular reflection; Ask yourself 
    • How has the world changed in the last three years? 
    • Where is my/the business now? 
    • Where is it going?
    • Are we going in the same direction? 
    • How are people buying?
    • Are we still relevant? 
  • Opportunity selection
    • What projects do you want to get to the finish line in this quarter? No more than 5; but ideally 3. 
  • Course correction
    • I gave the example of our new website. We hadn’t planned on it but it was necessary to keep the business going. 
    • Once the issue was identified, we course corrected 

Takeaway…

Your biggest benefit and your biggest expense in business is the people. 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: 554-UPDATED_Planning_Work_Responsibilities_for_the_Rest_of_the_Year_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

In this episode, I introduce you to September G. who is an ambitious entrepreneur. We talked about her routines pre and post pandemic, and the moment she just couldn’t take it any longer. The pandemic was the opposite of a Golden Window for September! She couldn’t take that they had settled into old habits during the pandemic. When her husband asked if they were on the verge of a divorce due to September’s unsettled behavior and the meltdown she had, she said that is when they banded together and invested in the Sunday Basket® and their marriage. She has been able to make the invisible work visible, so others can accomplish the same tasks in her absence since she travels often. It gave them a chance to renegotiate and reorder responsibilities.

Listen in as we discuss the vital role the Sunday Basket® and The Friday Workbox® plays in both her businesses and her home life. She and her husband actually go through their Sunday Basket® on Fridays, and then he knows what his checklist is for the week. She runs a coffee shop with her children, and the Friday Workbox® helps them get things done more efficiently. It systematizes what’s happening and when, they get more done, work faster, and management is much more proactive. It works so effectively that she has peace of mind that things will not fall through the cracks. I hypothesized that maybe the boys are ok with doing the Friday Workbox® on their own because they saw their dad model this behavior. Even when we don’t realize it, our children are watching us.

We need to get ready to cheer September on because in March and April of 2024, she embarks on the Southern Tier Bike Ride from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL. September explained the ride and that it is a 2-month commitment. She is confident that Gerety Education Team, the coffee shop, and her household will be taken care of due to the systems and organization that September, her family, and her remote team have put into place thanks to Organize 365®. She has freedom from stress knowing that things won’t fall through the cracks. 

September’s advice is, “Just buy all the stuff.” Let Lisa do all the thinking for you and you just fill in the blanks or do the things. Forget struggling to DIY it!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. 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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: Transformation_with_September_G.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The Barbie Movie 

Have I mentioned I like to plan? It’s like a never ending mental puzzle. I’ve become really skilled at manipulating my time like Lego bricks; I move it around, expand it, replan it in my brain before taking action. This got me thinking: “How can I explain Planning Day to someone who’s never heard of Organize 365®?” It made me think of a few silly examples, like the Barbie movie. Did you see it? OR did you see a lot of other people talk about seeing it and start thinking maybe I should go see it too?!  This is what happens - the more we hear about something, the more we think there must be value in what everyone else is doing. Just like my Culver’s onion rings I talk about all the time, or Madam Secretary being my role model. You see others in the community finding such value in it and I want you to experience the same results with Planning Day. 

So much of this is mindset. I talked about this in my last podcast series, the difference between being organized and productive is your mindset. Planning Day is a day to think about the next 4 months, and planning your household 3 times a year is very purposeful. 

The Flow - Positive, Productive, Proactive

I’ve coined the products and services that Organize 365® offers the flow. Greg says to me quite often, “Lisa, can you please just go with the flow?” The podcasts, blitzes, The Productive Home Solution™, clubs, Instagram - it’s all curated as a positive, productive, proactive flow! When you are in the flow - you will become very productive due to the cadence and “stair step” process of the Organize 365® products. Whether you have kids or not, it’s a flow we have all become conditioned by due to the American education schedule. We all know that we get rejuvenated in summer, then we buckle down from after Labor Day until mid November. We then get organized in January, and ride the wave through spring break until summer arrives again. Organize 365® recognizes this cyclical pattern and has created a flow that compliments it! Our homes are a business - and we need the Organize 365® products and programs to run that business! 

What Planning Day Does:

  • Gives you the big picture of where you are going
    • Plan the next 4 months and learn how to “purposefully procrastinate” 
    • You will have bigger time horizons. Look at this 4 month chunk and then you don’t have to spend anymore time planning or reacting. The idea is to have thought of most things and then have more time to address something unexpected or overlooked.
  • Helps you to make better decisions
    • Spend your money, time, and energy better.
    • Establish new habits to the point where they are no longer reactionary. You just know the next step or how to approach the situation.
    • After 4-6 weeks you will have more mental capacity. All those other goals and dreams you have? Plan them accordingly and you’ll know exactly when you’ll meet or complete each one! 

What’s Included in Planning Day (first one is included when you purchase of The Productive Home Solution™):

  • 4 hour Zoom Webinar
      • Brain Dump - personal, financial, household, family
      • Where you are right now - Golden Windows, top 3 priorities, etc. 
      • Timed breaks 3-10 min (wherever they fit in) 
      • Year at a glance
      • 168 hour time circles - see where your time goes and plan where you want to spend it going forward.
      • Establish routines for morning, afternoon, and evening
      • Analyze how you spend your time on weekdays vs. weekends
      • Plan ideal weeks going forward
      • Set goals for the next 120 days, and break down those goals into each month
  • Replay for 25 Days; to ensure you get started
    • If it was available forever you would not have any urgency to get started
    • You can watch or listen multiple times. If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, take a break, sleep on it, and come back to it the next day (or later). The workbook won’t be fully complete or perfect. Remember the only wrong way to do this is to not start.  
  • Workbook (with extra pages so you actually use it! You’ll know why I say this once you listen)
  • Community
    • While there is no live chat (which is nice because then you don’t miss out on anything in replay mode), there is always the community. Many conversations take place during the breaks and after, of course, as everyone continues to take steps towards organization and productivity.  

I’d love to have you join me in the classroom and get functionally organized so you can do what you are uniquely created to do!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: 553-_Planning_Household_Responsibilities_for_the_Rest_of_the_Year.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

In this episode Ryan L. is back, and she’s getting ready for a Golden Window! The last of her three children is getting ready to fly the coop! What will she do with all her new found time and energy? “This is for me! This is my time!” expressed Ryan. She plans to get fully organized.

Ryan is a Kolbe Consultant and we dug into that for a bit. She and I shared our Kolbe numbers, what they mean, and how you too can learn from your Kolbe numbers. Ryan stressed that all numbers are a strength; they just simply show how you do things in those 4 categories. 

Listen in as we discuss the necessity of planning and creating habits. One of her favorite “Lisa-isms” is Planned Neglect. Set the bar LOW and trust your instincts! It’s impossible to do this incorrectly. Too many times we don’t know how to get started or afraid we’ll do it wrong. The most important thing is to just get started. Ryan plans to start in her laundry room. It’s funny how you can think this is such an insignificant room until you analyze this space. This room is the “workhorse” of the house, the room where every random thing gets dropped. Check out the free week to organize your laundry room, you’ll be surprised!

Ryan feels bad that she's so excited for her Golden Window (you know…that mom guilt starts to kick in). She will be able to put time on her calendar and won’t have as many distractions so she will be able to protect that time better. Her goal is to commit 20-25 hours a week to get her home through The Productive Home Solution™ this time around. If you find yourself on the cusp of a Golden Window like Ryan is…immediately fill that new free time as if you’ve hired a Professional Organizer for your house - except you’re the expert! 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. 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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: Transformation_with_Ryan_L.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Productive people are weird. We just are. We are not going with the flow. We are where the flow comes from.

First, I suggest listening to part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this series before doing anything else.

In today’s episode we are bringing the entire process of expanding your capacity and productivity together. There’s a process to this and it all comes together today!

I have received many requests to record podcasts on how I get so much done. Where do I get the capacity? The energy? How am I so productive?

I’m obsessive about being productive and proactive because my sense of significance and purpose is burning so deep in me. I don’t want to waste my time. I am all in on having the most impact I can have on my family, my friends, the Organize 365® community, my team and the community as a whole!

But here’s the thing - this was an evolution for me. It didn’t happen overnight or in a weekend. It was a long process. I've been thinking about this series for years, but have never been able to articulate it. I had to dig deep to really pinpoint the things I was doing to get it all done. It was hard for me to remember why or how I got to this skill level.

Productivity has everything to do with how you think about your time, energy, capacity and your sense of purpose. It has nothing to do with containers, planners, or checklists.

It is your mindset that makes the biggest difference in your own productivity. You can learn how to manipulate your own energy and expand your capacity just by focusing on your personal and professional development. If you also give yourself permission to do things you don’t see other people doing - you will be well on your way. What’s the thing you want to do or learn that will help you take the next step? What’s something you want to do but haven’t for #allthereasons?

Today’s podcast is going to have you asking yourself some deep questions:

  • What’s something you can learn to keep growing or developing in order to expand your capacity?
  • What’s something you want to do that's out of your comfort zone?
  • How do you keep maximizing your capacity, then using it with purpose?
  • Are you deriving the energy from your physical space at the most optimal level?
  • Do you truly know how to plan and are you planning enough?

A productive person surrounds themselves with physical, mental and emotional space that supports their productivity and growth. Last week, I talked about juggling. I don't feel like I'm juggling, or that my life is imbalanced. This feels more like bouncing balloons up into the air and constantly keeping them from hitting the ground. Productive people have the capacity not only to keep all these balloons in the air, but to have more balloons than they would be physically able to hold all at once. What does it take to do this? Obsessive and relentless planning!

I hope you join me and get functionally organized so you can do what you are uniquely created to do!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: 552-Productive_People_Are_Weird_-_Productive_People_Part_4.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

In this episode, I introduce you to Mary B. She’s a mom of 4 and after her divorce found Organize 365®. She walked away from that divorce thinking she wasn’t good enough. When she looked around her house, her negative self talk got the better of her, telling her she wasn’t even good at keeping her house organized. Then when she noticed she’d also been gaining weight, she started to dig into why. Mary was very vulnerable and shared the mental health journey she has been on and how Organize 365® played a role in her healing. 

Mary saw a naturopath and also saw an EMDR therapist when her anxiety and panic attacks became regular. Through EMDR therapy, she discovered trauma from the divorce hanging around, and unfortunately even more trauma from her childhood. All this trauma was stuck in her body and keeping her cortisol levels high. We discussed how no two people experience the same thing in the same way, and also about how you can move on from a traumatic event without dredging up the past to try and “solve the problem.”

Listen in as we discuss the guilt we feel as women - even when we are the ones doing most of the childcare and generating an income too! Research has supported that for each child a woman adds to their life, they gain three and a half hours of extra work while the man gains none. How much leisure time does the dad lose when a child is brought into the family? NONE. How much time does the mom lose when a child is brought into the family? Countless!! It’s time for us. You should not feel guilty about budgeting for home cleaning services then using that time you get back for yourself. Use it for your hobbies and interests - guilt free. 

It was so important to have this conversation because it seems as though we are living these isolated lives, even in such a connected world. We keep everything so private to “save face” when really it’s all falling apart behind closed doors. These conversations need to be normalized. 

Mary is not stuck anymore and has been able to conquer her paper piles. If you find yourself in a similar situation to Mary’s, you can reach out to her in the Organize 365 community app so you can have a private, candid conversation with her directly.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. 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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: Transformation_with_Mary_B.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Let’s unpack the next step in my productivity journey - PLANNING! 

First, if you haven’t listened to part 1 and part 2, I highly recommend doing so before delving into planning! Planning is the fun part, but you really need the foundational productivity mindsets discussed in the first two parts of this series.

The planning we are going to discuss in this podcast is a completely different kind of planning. This is planning from the ground up! A productive person teaches themselves how to get all the way done. 

For me, I really learned how to do this kind of planning in March 2020. This is when reality set in for me and failure was not an option. Planning became my number one priority.

The type of planning I’ve learned to do and the type of planning I teach in Planning Days for both Home and Work allows you to look at the big picture as well as what is actually possible in the season you’re in. It’s an awesome way to continue taking next steps without feeling overwhelmed or like you’re drowning!

I don’t plan for an entire year at a time. That wouldn’t work for me or my business. I break planning up for Home by my three new years - listen to this podcast to learn more about those. For work, I plan by quarter which allows me to be agile and create efficiencies for my teams and meetings throughout the year.

It doesn’t end there - setting up this system for planning and essentially planning out my planning time allows me to have multiple times throughout the year to freshen up my home and work. You know that amazing burst of energy you get at the start of the new year? The whole “new year, new me” energy? Imagine having that multiple times per year? What could that do for your productivity? That’s exactly what these planning days do for me and the Organize 365® community!

Ultimately, this podcast series on productivity is going to teach you how to juggle really well. It’s true that life is a juggling act and you need to know how to keep all the balls in the air. Listen in to hear what balls I’m juggling and how I’ve used my productivity skills to juggle better!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: 551-Planning_In_All_Areas_of_Your_Life_-_Productive_People_Part_3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

In this episode, I introduce you to Kristen M. a mom of three, a teacher, podcaster, and a teacher-prenuer.  How does she do it all? Kristen shared that it started with the Sunday Basket®.  She knew she had to get her paper under control first.  Routines are so important and without her knowing it, she had established an afternoon routine of doing 15 min of paperwork between the end of her work day and when her children would be home. Once she experienced the magic of the Sunday Basket®, she quickly layered system upon system and now is a well rounded Organize 365® member!

Listen in as we discuss the different uses for Sunday Basket®s throughout the year.  Kristen used one of her Sunday Basket®s to organize her daughter’s senior year and now her daughter will be going off to college with the Launch Program and Binder. And she will use it differently again closer to the holidays. Hear how Kristen’s children love the magic of the Sunday Basket® too, mind you one is only 8 years old!. The Sunday Basket® helps her to be more present because she is not trying to remember everything.  And she can stay aware of her children’s desires due to them contributing to the Sunday Basket® index cards.

Kristen also shared the magic of the Sunday Basket® through her eyes. Once she got the hang of it, it was so freeing. Kristen was already organized so why did she need new systems? The reality is the new systems were freeing up her working memory. Instead of trying to remember everything all of the time, now it was physically in her external brains known to us as Sunday Basket®s. She doesn’t have to remember how the school year curriculum went. She just refers to the Sunday Basket® and knows what she can change or do better for the upcoming school year.  She uses her different slash pockets to organize things for her podcast, “The Modern Math Teacher” and her teacher business within each “external brain.” She’s impressed when she looks back and can see all the impact she has been able to have due to the physical systems of her external brains, the Sunday Basket®.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. 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 365® when you share on social media!

Direct download: Transformation_with_Kristen_M.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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