Organize 365 Podcast

In this podcast series, I will be sharing how my habits, routines, and the different ways I think about time. This week I'll be sharing my morning routines. I always learn more from listening to real-life stories of how other women are "getting it done." Thanks for letting me share mine with you! It's time to dive into the workweek. Before I go any further, I just want to remind you that here at Organize 365®, we view your "work" as "whatever you spend the majority of your Monday - Friday doing during the day." Why is it important to define our workday as "work"?! It was so powerful for me to redefine "work" for myself and view my seasons of parenting, homeschooling, and being the family medical liaison as "work" because then I could embrace and apply better routines & productive habits to my day. I share one week of my morning routines recorded in November in this week's podcast. While recording this week, I realized that I actually have two different morning routines. Listen in as I share how I "bucket" my morning routine to line up with the kind of work I'll be doing each day of the week. As a bonus, I added on to this podcast episode my morning routine when my kids were in high school. Hands down, one of the best habits I embraced for my mental health was establishing daily routines. Why? Because it gave my "never-ending to do list days" structure and broke my day into buckets of time. We all need structure, routines, and transitions in our days. This podcast series is not for you to compare yours and my schedules, but to open your thoughts to explore the possibilities of what could be in your everyday life. My morning routine has continued to change and evolve over the years and will continue to do so in the future. Do you have a morning routine? Is it time to add or take something away from your morning routine?

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I normally 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 get Organized! This month, I have a special treat for you! Normally, you get to hear the transformational story of ONE member of our community. This month, I want to share some of the very special breakthroughs of women just like you as they attended Embrace 2021. You can learn more about the 2022 Embrace experience on our website. In 2022, we have both virtual and in-person options. Save the date of June 25 & 26, 2022!!!

In this podcast series, I will be sharing how my habits, routines, and the different ways I think about time. This week I'll be sharing my Sunday Routine. I always learn more from listening to real-life stories of how other women are "getting it done." Thanks for letting me share mine with you! As I shared in the last podcast episode, Saturdays are fundays around here, which means Sunday afternoons are my domestic workday. We started watching church from home sometime in late 2018/early 2019, and Greg's mother has been coming to our house on Sundays for the past few years. My Sundays are now spent entirely at home. I decided for this season to add all housework tasks in and around my Sunday Basket® time on Sundays from 12-4. I fit my housework into a four-hour time block. Each weekend, I give my home and family a four-hour block of time. Some weeks I am running to check all the to-dos off my list, and other weeks I am looking into my Sunday Basket® to find projects to fill that time. I have always found that getting my machines and people started first, before I dive into the work only I can do, has improved my productivity. I do the same thing on Sundays during this work time. I go through my emails and make decisions. I review my meeting agendas for the week. I get myself organized. I clear out papers, plan my outfits, and update my calendar so that I have time to get my most important work done. In my 20s, 30s, and 40s, four hours would not have been enough time for all of this. This podcast series is not for you to compare your schedule with mine, but to open your thoughts and explore the possibilities of what your everyday life could look like. How much time do you need to spend on housework each weekend? Which day or days will you do so, and for how long?

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I normally 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 get Organized! This month, I have a special treat for you! Normally, you get to hear the transformational story of ONE member of our community. This month, I want to share some of the very special breakthroughs of women just like you as they attended Embrace 2021. You can learn more about the 2022 Embrace experience on our website. In 2022, we have both virtual and in-person options. Save the date of June 25 & 26, 2022!!!

Today marks the start of a podcast series I have wanted to produce for years! I love sharing the "behind the scenes" of my daily life on Instagram. For a long time, I have been thinking about how I could share my day-to-day life on the podcast. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing how my habits, routines, and the different ways I think about time. I did not get to these mindsets and behaviors overnight. It was a transformation that happened over a decade. I want to share the information that would have helped me make these changes faster and more effectively. Now, I do not "have all the answers." I am on the journey of life, just like you, working to have more control over how and where I spend my time and energy. The easiest way to understand where someone's time and energy goes is to hear their story. So, I'll be sharing my days in lots of detail. I ask that you just consider these as possibilities and inspiration. Dream a little bit and explore how you might make some changes to your everyday life. Saturdays Let's start with my Saturday routine. Saturday is a "free day" in the Woodruff household. On Saturdays, everyone picks their meals, sleeps as late as they want, and chooses their entertainment. It is a great way to transition from the hustle and bustle of our Monday - Friday into the more relaxed pace of the weekend. Saturday is my new Sunday. Until we made this transition as a family, Saturdays were full of chores and work. Now that I work full-time in an office, I can't even imagine having the energy to stay in full-on work mode on my Saturdays at home. Many of you make Sundays your "free day." Either way, I think the important thing is that each person in the house gets to have a day, or a part of a day, to "do their thing." Do you have a day to rest and enjoy your passion projects? I am not sure I could have had this kind of a day in my 20s, 30s, and 40s, but I wish I had at least considered the option. One of my passion projects is taking care of my family and our shared home. Listen in as I take you along on my "domestic day" and the rewards I choose when my time and energy run out. I don't get it all done either! But, I do rest and rejuvenate when I hit my limits.

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I normally 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 get Organized! This month, I have a special treat for you! Normally, you get to hear the transformational story of ONE member of our community. This month, I want to share some of the very special breakthroughs of women just like you as they attended Embrace 2021. You can learn more about the 2022 Embrace experience on our website. In 2022, we have both virtual and in-person options. Save the date of June 25 & 26, 2022!!!

There are 4 main categories of reasons why people decide to get organized. In this episode, I walk you through the main reasons to help you find YOUR why. Unpacking your why will help you stay motivated and keep your eye on the prize when you get stuck in the day-to-day of your organizing. Which of these four reasons for getting organized resonates most with you? I got caught up in the hype of New Year's resolution or the Marie Kondo Netflix series. I'm tired of feeling behind and reactionary. I'm looking for my home to be a restful haven. I want to break a family cycle of disorganization. Every reason has its trouble spots to overcome. If you jumped in spontaneously, the beginning is fun and easy, but then you find an area that requires more thought or doesn't fit the model, and you get stuck. Dig into another reason to continue organizing. If you're reactionary, there will be a period of time in which you feel like you're going backward. If you didn't have a model of organization growing up, it's probably going to take a little longer to learn the skill of organization. Be sure to take (and print) pictures of your progress too! It's hard to see your progress when you're so close to your home. Taking a step back and comparing before and after photos will help you see the progress. I don't want to see you give up! Figure out your why and hang onto it when you feel discouraged. What will getting organized allow you to do or be? 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!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I have an extra special treat for you! By popular request, today's transformation is featuring Lorie and her dad JB. So many of you have enjoyed watching Lorie help her 92-year-old dad declutter his home and get started with his Sunday Basket® habit. They are both great storytellers and have so many life lessons to share. I hope you enjoy their story as much as I do! Lorie has been a previous guest when she shared her own Wednesday Transformation and she also shared how she adapted to teaching from home during the pandemic. 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution/ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized! PS - Be sure to share YOUR unique way of using #myextra5 and tag your post on Instagram so we can share your wins!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Charlotte S. She shares her very unique journey. She has worked as an international disaster relief nurse and lived both overseas and in the US. Her family size and shape have changed dramatically over the years. Listen as she goes from overcrowded and overstressed to having more time and an empty nest. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution/ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats

Happy New Year's Eve! It's hard to believe, but ten years ago, I started along this journey to create and share Organize 365®. I share the details of this story in my memoir Organization is a Learnable Skill. I was in a place where my world was spinning out of control, I had quit my job. I could never have in my wildest dreams imagined that so many good things would happen. A podcast, physical Sunday Basket® system, and published books were not even in the realm of possibility in my future. But, I had written down my biggest possible goal for Organize 365®. I have all of my dreams recorded in my special pink notebook. I went back and looked at it. That year I took to focus on my home and family changed my life. I changed my mindset from overwhelmed and reactive, to productive and proactive. I knew that my zone of genius was organizing. I set some goals for growing my business, but I have pivoted and exceeded my wildest dreams! Sometimes it's hard to dream forward ten years. Instead, take a little bit of time and look backward ten years. What have you accomplished in the last decade? What life experiences have you added to your journey? Who are you today that you weren't ten years ago? Over the last few months, Organize 365® has been making a lot of changes. We are planning to be settled into our new normal by January 2022. We are working to make the transformational journey easier to start (and to finish) for everyone! We have been busy bees at the office getting everything decluttered and organized to better support your journey. You can learn more about: The Complete Sunday Basket® System The Productive Home Solution™ (formerly known as All Access) The Kids Program The Friday Workbox™ Organization is an inside job. But, it is also a learnable skill. It's not as simple as tying your shoes. It's more like learning a foreign language. It typically takes about 365 days. You can start anytime you want. The sooner you start, the faster you will transform your life. Join us! I look forward to helping you get organized! Thank you for being on this journey with me! Thank you for listening, downloading, sharing, and rating the podcast. We are going to celebrate ten years next week, and I cannot wait!

If you and I were at a family holiday gathering together this week, the podcast today is the conversation I would start. I have always been inquisitive. Asking big questions and researching new interests is something I have always done. I see it in my husband, Greg, and our kids too. Whenever we wonder about something, we grab our phones and start to Google. It's a great thing really, the ability to question and get answers to your questions right away. Access to information has become a great equalizer and I find more and more of my friends have caught the questioning and researching bug that I have always had. The last two years have brought an unprecedented amount of change in every single area of our lives, and it is the pace of that change that is hard to comprehend. I do not have a big revelation, actionable plan, or solution to share. These are partly mindset shifts, and some observations, thoughts, and musings. Listen in and have a mental conversation with me this weekend. YOU are the person I would most like to talk to at the party.

What do you think of when you think of productivity? Remember last week when I said that when I am organized I feel like I can make forward progress on my goals and projects. For me productivity means doing MORE usually in LESS time or with less resistance. If you break down the 3 steps to getting organized: Decluttering = Removing. Organizing = Rearranging. Increasing Productivity = Moving forward faster. Let's look specifically at Increasing Productivity. Productivity comes from thinking and planning. Every minute you spend planning SAVES 4-5 minutes in executing your plan. Planning = TIME SAVED. While it may be hard to find time to plan your day, your meals or your vacation, you KNOW that when you do - everything goes easier and faster. Once again I have one caution... to be most effective, you need to have decluttered and organized the area you want to increase productivity in. These steps do need to be done in order. 5 Steps to Increased Productivity. Use the organized system. Plan. Refine and reorder. Evaluate / maintain. Execute. Get your FREE printable of the 3 stages of decluttering here!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Sarah H. She is a physician and a single mom. She shares how she has worked to become more proactive even during an unpredictable phase of life. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution/ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats

Get your FREE printable of the 3 stages of decluttering here! FINALLY! Don't you just want to jump right to the step where you get to go buy cute matching containers when you are organizing a space? ME TOO! BUT every time I do that... it influences what I keep and how I store things instead of my THINGS influencing those decisions. (In the podcast I share how I figured that out as a professional organizer.) First, let's talk about what being organized means. For me it means: Everything has a place. I know where to find things. I do not spend time LOOKING for things. I FEEL organized and put together. I can have friends over and feel great. My house looks good - not perfect - but good. I feel confident in my abilities. I don't have too little or too much. I have choices of how to spend my time. I am able to make forward progress on my goals and projects. Before I dive into the 5 steps to organizing I want to give you one caution... You will not get it 100% right the first time. Yep, no matter what you are organizing, your goal is to get 80-90% better. The last 10% comes in step 3. Which I will cover next week. Ok, so you know how you will feel and are not going for perfection, let's dive in! 5 Steps to Organizing Get a big picture plan for the space. Combine like items. Match your items to the space. Buy organizers. Clean and finish. Organizing feels amazing! But after a while... you realize something is missing. The last 10% is Step 3 of organizing — Increased Productivity. Links to things mentioned in the podcast: Try one FREE week of the 100 Day Home Organization Program - now available inside The Productive Home Solution.

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Kerensa P. She lives with her spouse and young daughter. She shares her story of how a medical binder helped in her infertility journey and helped her to grow her family. She also shares how much she has benefited from working with a Sunday Basket® Certified Organizer. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution/ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

5 Steps to Decluttering Eliminate all trash, food and broken items. Sell or consign anything of value you want to sell. Bag up any donatable items and deliver them to the donation center. (Including consignment items they wouldn't take) Collect everything that goes in another room and locate it in that room. Make a list of any spaces that need organizers, or items that need to be replaced. Decluttering feels good, but not finished. Step 2 of organizing needs to follow quickly to bring order into your newly emptied space. Try the 100 Day Home Organization Challenge free at https://organize365.com/try100/ Get your FREE printable of the 3 stages of decluttering here!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with AJ C. She lives with her spouse, two kids, and a pandemic puppy. AJ shares how she has made progress in her storage room, kids rooms, and how she has increased her capacity to handle more projects with less stress. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution/ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US. It's a time my family uses to catch up with family and friends. Thanksgiving kicks off the busy memory making, holiday filled end of the year. Today, I want to share how thankful I am that I have been able to connect with you through this podcast for the last seven years. Even more mind-boggling, Organize 365® will turn ten years old in January 2022. Now that we are nearly a decade in, I am thinking about what Organize 365® will look like in another ten years. What do we want to take along as we move forward? What do we want to refine? The podcast is not going anywhere. The Organize 365® team is here to help you with your life transformation, and we want to be sure the podcasts we share align with helping you to achieve your goal. I am deeply exploring the question: Are the quantity and quality of the podcasts we share actually helping you transform? So much of our foundational teaching about the skills of organizing are buried back in the beginning of the podcast. The skills of organization are built on decluttering, organizing, and increasing productivity. I want to really create some foundational podcasts that you can listen to on Fridays. They are concepts from older podcasts, but they will be refreshed for our new normal. There are a limited number of skills you need to learn to be able to get organized. Once you learn, then you need to apply the skills to actually create change! I am super excited about these curated podcasts we are putting together. I am looking forward to seeing their impact. What have you been running hard and holding your breath to get through over the last eighteen months? Where do you need to refine your own life to make it more sustainable going forward?

Monique Horb is back, and today is the day!!! Our community app is now live and available for download!!! Our old app with access to some of your dashboard has been removed from the App Store and Google Play Store, but we have a brand new online community ready for you. Today, we are launching our Organize 365® online community app. This will function similarly to Facebook, but it is private and less distracting. We have simplified everything to make this app more productive. There is nothing there to take you away from your organizational interactions. When you are in the app, you can enjoy the other members and a supportive community, but the distractions have been eliminated. You will have as much community as you desire, but you will also be able to stay focused on your own transformation and make progress along your own organizational journey. The app is directly connected to our website, so all of your specialized online communities will open automatically when you log in. We have been working behind the scenes for months to get ready to host this community. We built this specifically for you. We want to have one place where it is easy for you to find what you need, and where it is easier for us to get you news, information, updates, and encouragement. This new community will save you time, help you be more productive, and give you encouragement. We have organized the community app to match your organizational journey. There are only six groups in the app. News & Updates - will have all the current news about Blitzes, Masterclasses, and whatever Lisa dreams up The Sunday Basket® Club - everything from the Facebook group has moved here including the weekly Sunday Basket® Club live and the replays 100 Day Program - motivation, encouragement, and interaction for completing the 100 Day Home Organization Program tasks All Access Program - content related to the extra step of All Access including the Tuesday Binder tips, photos, planning day, and the new All Access Podcast by Lisa Friday Workbox™ Club - all the support and encouragement you need for maximizing your Friday Workbox™ including the Friday Workbox™ sessions and replays Certified Organizer Group - community support and interaction for all of our Sunday Basket® Certified Organizers, our The Paper Solution® Certified Organizers, and Friday Workbox™ Certified Organizers We hope that you jump in, make connections with the rest of the Organize 365® community, and continue to move along your journey! We are still learning about the amazing ways we can support and encourage you using this technology - please give us grace as we continue to increase the value for you. Things we do know the new app offers - badges to show what groups people belong to (including the Dream Team and Certified Organizers), direct messaging capabilities, and direct access to many of the printables. We are so excited about having a new community app. We would love for you to download it and come check it out! Please download the official mobile app through the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. You can also access the community on your desktop. When you create your account, please use the email address that is associated with your Organize 365® dashboard access. Once logged in, check out "Start Here" to learn about this new platform. Have questions? Please click here for app FAQs

In the current podcast series, I am sharing my conversations with members of the Dream Team while we are in the messy middle of some of our current transitions. In this four part series we will be unpacking the most commonly asked FAQs for different parts of the Organize 365® transformational journey. I want to keep you updated on changes and improvements as we declutter and organize before our 10th Anniversary in January 2022. We are not eliminating anything, or raising our prices on any existing products. We are simply doing some decluttering, organizing, and increasing productivity. This week, I am sharing my conversation with Monique Horb. Monique is the Organize 365® Director of Business Development. We have spent most of the last year taking the Friday Workboxes to 110%. We have upgraded our Friday Workboxes into two overarching categories - Business and Education. We look at work differently here at Organize 365®. For us, work includes anything you do for the majority of your hours from Monday to Friday. We want to help you organize the different kinds of work that you do so that you can get more life and spend time in your unique purpose. Friday Workbox FAQ What is the Friday Workbox™ and why might I want one? At home, we are used to thinking about having paper. However, at work, it feels like we are always on a computer. The Business Friday Workbox™ is a physical representation of your work inside of a box. Our brain is not digital.This system will hold all of your ideas and actionable to-do in a single place where you can quantitatively see it. Printing your emails and other digitials items helps you and others see the quantity of work you are handling. What is the difference between a Sunday Basket® and a Friday Workbox™? The physical components are the exact same physical tools as the Sunday Basket®. But, it goes deep because business is more complex and nuanced. For most of us, our brains make connections better when we are not in front of digital screens. The Sunday Basket® is for anything related to your home, and the Friday Workbox™ is for anything related to work. Both help to eliminate your to-do list, and hold your ideas for future possibilities. Both help you to prioritize how you will spend your time and energy over the upcoming week. I understand how the Friday Workbox ™ can hold ideas, but what other things go in there? As a leader of a company, it is easy to spend a lot of time talking about ideas. If you have a more traditional job, the systematic approach of the Friday Workbox™ will still work for you. It works for anyone in any kind of business.Every job has four core components. Once you identify the components that relate to your job, you can optimize them and make your approach more productive. What colors are used in the Friday Workbox™? Pink - anything that is only done by youPurple - your assignment or job descriptionBlue - the team that helps you get your work done (direct reports and supervisors)Green - financial OR administrative and repetitive tasks If I get a Friday Workbox™, how long will it take to work? What do I have to do for this to be useful? This is not a one and done system. The Sunday Basket® takes four to six weeks to build the habit. The Workbox takes a bit longer to set up and build the habit. We ask you to give it a full quarter of the year; give it a full 13 weeks. You keep talking about planning. I don't feel like I have the time or authority to stop my work and plan for my next quarter. How does your planning system work? When I think about my planning, I realize that I am a teacher, and teachers always spend so much time planning. I've always been a salaried employee, not an hourly one. When I tried to limit my hours in the past, I had to plan a lot to be a really good teacher. As the owner of Organize 365®, I am spending at least 20 hours a week thinking and planning. The more prepared I am, the faster and easier the work is for the rest of the team.For you, start with five minutes after each meeting. Go through what you have been asked to do, and add it to your actionable to-do list. See how much your productivity improved. Next, add on five minutes before meetings and review the notes from the previous meeting, write down any questions you have for the meeting, and then do your five minute post review. I know that a Friday Workbox ™ is the place to store the actionable to-dos and the Friday Workbox ™ Planner is the place to plan. What makes the Organize 365® planner different from others? I was an unusual child and I have had a planner since the fourth grade. I love planners. Most planners sold are really more of a date book or calendar; they record dates. Our planners have actual education for how to plan your time. The front of the planner has pages to guide you in thinking about your goals in all four kinds of work. I then guide you through an audit of how you actually spent your time. Then, we realign your time decisions so you can create what y

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Holan S. Holan lives with her husband and young son. She is a rebel dealing with family medical emergencies, and shares how she has been successful despite not following directions for the 100 Day Program. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Jessica E. Jessica has a very unique living situation. She has her son at home, her husband works out of the country, and her mom lives with them part -time. As a full time college instructor who will soon be moving overseas, she shares all about how now that she is organized she has more free time and more increased capacity to meet her goals. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365® The Sunday Basket® ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

I am super excited to welcome you to the next Organize 365® Podcast series. I am sharing my conversations with members of the Dream Team while we are in the messy middle of some of our current transitions. In this 4 part series we will be unpacking the most commonly asked FAQs for different parts of the Organize 365® transformational journey. I want to keep you updated on changes and improvements as we declutter and organize before our 10th Anniversary in January 2022. We are not eliminating anything, or raising our prices on any existing products. We are simply doing some decluttering, organizing, and increasing productivity. This podcast is all treats -- no tricks! This week, Emily Kelly and I go back to the foundation of home organization and talk about the Sunday Basket®. Emily is our Director of Customer Success and my sister. Emily has been making phone calls to many of you and has gotten to connect with you on a personal level, just like I did during the summer book tour. We are hearing about how you found Organize 365®, where you live, and what your transformational journey looks like so far. We are taking what we learn in those conversations to make our programs even better! During our opportunity to interact with all the members of this community, the same questions came up over and over. Change is nerve-wracking, especially after the out of control experiences so many of us faced during the pandemic. As your organizing teacher, I want to give you the lesson plan for how to get started and make progress getting your home and paper organized. Today, Emily and I share the top ten questions we have been getting about the Complete Sunday Basket® System. Listen in and let me know what you learn from our discussion! Top 10 Sunday Basket® FAQ: 1. What is the Sunday Basket®? At the most basic level, it is a box that sits on your counter and acts as a place to hold all your ideas, actionable to-dos, kitchen counter papers, and mail. It is also a cadence to check those items and prioritize them for maximum efficiency throughout the week. It is your brain in a box! This clears up your brain for higher level thinking, problem solving, or even to rest. Although the "brain in a box" started as a joke, the Sunday Basket® actually does externalize your executive functioning part of your brain. Anyone can find success using this system, but it is especially effective for people diagnosed with ADHD. 2. What does the Complete Sunday Basket® System include? As a teacher, I wanted to ensure that any kind of learner could use and be successful with this system. For that reason, the training materials and support cover a variety of learning styles. The physical products include all the supplies you will need to use your Sunday Basket®: a collapsible box in your choice of color, 25 slash pockets to organize your actionable paper, and a training booklet. There is an online dashboard with training videos. And, every purchase includes access to the online community with a weekly Sunday Basket® Club - an online co-working and accountability session. As with all Organize 365® products, this includes lifetime access. 3. How long does it take to know if this system will work for me? Some people catch on quickly, and have it down in two weeks. For the majority of people, it takes four to six weeks to develop the Sunday Basket® habit. It takes some time for you to change your habits, and learn a new way of keeping track of your to-dos and making good decisions about how and when to do them. You are moving from living in a reactive mode to a proactive mode. The to-do list isn't going away; finishing your to-do list faster is not the answer. It takes your brain at least a month to trust yourself and the new system. Initially, your brain will pester you, but if you consistently use the Sunday Basket® your brain will learn to calm down and trust that the Sunday Basket® works! 4. What if Sunday at 5 pm doesn't work for me to do the Sunday Basket® Club live? Do it every week when it works for you. Watch the Sunday Basket® replay! The day and time you do your Sunday Basket® does not matter as long as you are consistent and develop the habit. Make a rule for yourself, and stick to the time that works in your life 5. I don't have enough paper to do my Sunday Basket® every week. What should I do? It's ok to adjust to what you need. If you are just getting started, still develop a routine habit of working in your Sunday Basket®. You can start with once a month or every two weeks to get in the habit, and then increase to every week. If you have been doing your Sunday Basket® for a long time, you may be more proactive and you likely have cleared out a lot of your previous backlog. It's ok to do it less frequently just don't stop entirely! You can try every other week, or the first two weeks of each month, or a different cadence. 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Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Mary G. She lives with her husband and two daughters. She shares about her journey with anxiety and helping her kids deal with their ADHD. Mary shares how getting (more) organized and learning to think proactively helped her family survive some very challenging unexpected events. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

We have a big announcement for you! We wanted our amazing community to be the first to know. We are leaving Facebook! I have wanted to leave Facebook for three years. The Organize 365® mission, vision, and values includes building life in community. In the past, some people who purchased a Sunday Basket®, the 100 Day Program, or All Access were unable to participate in the community aspect of our programs. Some did not have an account, and others chose not to have one. That limitation has always bothered me. The community that goes along with the Organize 365® transformation should be available to everyone who wants to participate. We have been upgrading our technology and support for your transformation for several years already. The online community was especially difficult because it took us a long time to find the right way to create it. I wanted an app for our community that was truly independent of any other platform or company. We finally found our solution. We are creating our own custom Organize 365® community app. Now, everyone can be in community on this app specifically with other people who have invested in their transformational journey with Organize 365®. I wanted a way to host a community that was positive, productive, and purposeful. Everything in the new community app will help grow your mindset, increase your positivity, and help you organize your home to live a positive, proactive, purposeful life. Here's what it will look like: Organize 365® app for people who have purchased Organize 365® products The app is free to download, but participation is limited to those who have purchased specified products It will provide the same community groups we currently have on Facebook The Dream Team and Certified Organizers will be there to help you along your journey All Access members will have a curated, private podcast starting December 5th, available only in the app The current Organize 365® app is going away once the new app is ready The website is optimized for mobile and you have access to your dashboard directly on your smartphone Near the end of 2021, we will archive all of the Facebook groups associated with our purchased products The free Facebook groups will continue including my lives and the Blitzes We are giving you information to help you be proactive about this transition. The app is not launching today. We're hoping to have it live in the next 2-6 weeks - ideally sometime in November 2021. You will get an email inviting you to join once the app is ready. We have been working on this transition for three years already. It's the right time for us to make this happen. We are looking forward to seeing you in our new community as soon as everything is in place.

Welcome to our new Wednesday series of transformational stories from our new Friday Workbox Certified Organizers! Organize 365® recently upgraded all of the Business Friday Workbox Systems and we are so excited to share the stories of the certified organizers who helped us make these improvements! On Wednesdays, I normally 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. Today, I am sharing my conversation with Jennifer Butler. Jennifer is one of our newest Friday Workbox Certified Organizers. Jennifer brings experience as a parent of a child with a serious medical illness, and as an entrepreneur. She also has experience with autism, ADHD, and living internationally with her family. She brings all of this life experience and knowledge to her services. You can find Jennifer at House of Order, on Instagram, and Facebook. 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 with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® All AccessCCESS Friday Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats Organize 365® Certified Organizers

Four years ago, on a plane from Los Angeles to New York, I wrote out the Organize 365® mission, vision, and values. Today, we are a much larger team making a bigger impact in the world, but our values have stayed true. What is truly amazing is that these five values are not just held by the Dream Team, but these are the values that the Organize 365 community has as well. When we focus on these values, we arrive at the "after" feel of organization and productivity I shared with you last week. (Don't forget to tag us in your after photos of what you are doing now that you have increased your capacity by getting organized!) Organize 365® guides you along a transformational journey that organizes both your heart and your mind. Our values are: Power of Positivity Building Community Life in Abundance Transformational Freedom Proactive Anticipation Let me know what value you think is the strongest for you and how you are seeing it in your transformational journey!

Welcome to our new Wednesday series of transformational stories from our new Friday Workbox Certified Organizers! Organize 365® recently upgraded all of the Business Friday Workbox Systems and we are so excited to share the stories of the certified organizers who helped us make these improvements! On Wednesdays, I normally 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. Today, I am sharing my conversation with Jenn Dickel. Jenn shared about finding a Mastermind back in early 2020. She is back today to share her experience in our newest Mastermind to improve the Friday Workbox and become a Friday Workbox Certified Organizer. Jenn is a businesswoman and entrepreneur who loves to help others focus on improving their productivity. You can find Jenn at Seasonal Navigation Organizing, on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. 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 with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® All AccessCCESS Friday Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats Organize 365® Certified Organizers

Most professional organization companies like Organize 365® want to show before and after photos. We all love to see a big change - we love makeover shows, decluttering shows, and even dating shows. Magazine pictures and Pinterest show some drool-worthy before and after photos, and many of us are striving to achieve that "after" look of perfectly aligned shelves, and color coded produce bins in the refrigerator. But, those pictures aren't reflective of real life. Those photo-worthy moments don't last when life is lived and stuff is used. The real change that comes from getting organized is hard to put into words, impossible to quantify, and can't be demonstrated on social media. The photos we can take in our homes can sometimes show a partial improvement or a sample of the transformation. When you get organized, how you feel changes dramatically! Listening to this podcast starts to shift your mindset toward living an organized and proactive life. You incrementally get better at using your time to achieve your own priorities. When you add on our courses and products, you add rocket fuel to your transformation. Getting organized enough to feel different can happen in a weekend or a month, but your home (your outer reflection) will not look perfect. It's actually not about your stuff. Before We have all had at least one season of life where our feelings were the "before" of living an organized life. When you live reactively, feeling stressed, depressed, overwhelmed, and anxious is typical. When your life is driven by someone else's agenda and the obligations others place upon you, all you can do is react. As I share in Organization is a Learnable Skill, during my most reactive times, I was afraid of letting other people down and not meeting external expectations. My emotions were just like a before picture of a disorganized kitchen. Thoughts were everywhere. I couldn't focus and I knew I was not keeping up. Even worse, I was unbelievably stressed and I wasn't meeting my own expectations. I didn't have capacity for anything more. My house, brain, and heart were all disorganized. After As I developed the Sunday Basket®, I got a grip on my life again. Taking 60-90 minutes a week to look ahead and plan, gave me much more mental capacity and less stress. As I have continued to be more proactive in my own life, I have more time for myself, for self-care, for my passions, and for building relationships. I also have more capacity to pour into Organize 365® so that I can help you get organized so that you can live out your unique purpose. As you get organized and learn to live proactively, the way you feel inside changes. You are more calm and less overwhelmed. When unexpected events occur, you can adjust what is on your calendar, defer and delete the things that are no longer important, and handle what is actually happening. Your capacity increases - in almost every area of your life. You have more time for yourself, your relationships, your passion projects, and your life. Show us your afters! We want to see your after photos. Not the cluttered and then empty kitchen counter, though that is great too! The after is you, living the life you are uniquely created to live! What is the essence of you? What do you love doing? Maybe it's being with your family, reading a great book, hiking in nature, starting a business, writing a book, spending time supporting a charity, or something we haven't even thought about yet. The more you increase your organization and proactivity, the more capacity you have for what you want to do. The possibilities are limitless. Each of us has a story that keeps expanding. So, on Saturdays, we want to see your afters on Instagram! We'll be sharing some from the Dream Team, and we want you to share with us.

For our final podcast in the Friday Workbox series, I want to teach you how I am able to get so much done, so that you can use the same tools to transform your life. I am a naturally productive person. My productivity is the result of my ability to plan. One of my gifts is my orientation to time. I have always been good at assigning an accurate amount of time to a task. As I moved from my to-do list to my Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox™, I began to schedule time to complete tasks directly on my calendar. Every week, I take time to work through my Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox™. As I do so, I pull out the tasks that must be done in the upcoming week, determine how long it will take, and schedule when I will do them. I can immediately see if there are conflicts between what I need to do and the time available so that I can prioritize and make decisions proactively. Every seven days, I make new decisions about what I will take action on. The reason a Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox™ are so effective is because all of my dreams, ideas, research materials and goals are safely captured in my boxes. I may not get to those dreams as soon as I would like, but nothing is ever forgotten. My secret sauce to productivity and success is the act of planning. I want to share with you how I use Planning Day and Workbox Planning Day with every new season as the ultimate task stacking habit. Home At home, Planning Day occurs just prior to the new cycle of the 100 Day Home Organization Program. During that week, I look at how I will use my time in the upcoming 17 weeks, set new goals, and deep review through any 2.0 slash pockets that have been on hold. Work At the end of each calendar quarter, I deep dive into my plan for my business. On the 13th week of the quarter, just before my new quarter starts, I use the last week to reconcile expenses, set new goals, update the social media agenda, and do a deep review of every business slash pocket I have created. Then, I execute that plan for the next 12 weeks. Win By being realistic about what I can complete in the upcoming quarter, I am able to actually achieve my goals and finish my projects. Anything that I will not have the time, money, motivation, or energy to address goes back into holding. Those ideas and projects are ready and waiting for their right time to shine. I know all of those slash pockets will be reviewed at the next planning day, and I can take action on them then if the time is right. The better you get at planning and improving your productivity, the more capacity and impact you will create. You will win at home, work, relationships, and in your community. You will learn to live with excellence, ease, and enjoyment. Planning is the key to unlocking your ability to achieve your goals!

Welcome to our new Wednesday series of transformational stories from our new Friday Workbox Certified Organizers! Organize 365® recently upgraded all of the Business Friday Workbox Systems and we are so excited to share the stories of the certified organizers who helped us make these improvements! On Wednesdays, I normally 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. Today, I am sharing my conversation with Tanya Blackburn. Tanya is a professional organizer in Winston-Salem, NC. She is a Friday Workbox Certified Organizer who has experience in both corporate settings and as a small business owner. We talk about setting and meeting goals, finances, business operations, and the new slash pocket colors. You can find Tanya at Prime Organizing, on Facebook, and on Instagram. 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 with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® All Access Friday Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats Organize 365® Certified Organizers I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

This week, I want to teach you all about the green slash pockets in the Friday Workbox System. Green slash pockets are for financial responsibilities and repetitive administrative tasks. At first, I thought green slash pockets were optional. I worked in direct sales for a long time, and I realized that most direct sellers did not look at the financial side of the business. We had a passion for the products and companies we were representing, but did not pay attention to the money. Unfortunately, many of us were not making enough sales to be profitable, and it was also easy to spend money faster than it came in on new samples and gifts. Creative Memories introduced me to the idea of looking at my business finances on a monthly basis. By keeping my sales and purchases organized, I was able to know every month if I was making a profit or experiencing a loss. This simple financial organization was the inspiration for the Organize 365® Annual Income & Expense Binder. Money in the door is not profit, and it is vital to update the financial situation of a business at least monthly to ensure your financial picture is realistic. Not everyone owns a small business or deals with financial tasks as a part of their work. When not used for finances, the green slash pockets are repetitive administrative tasks that need attention on a regular basis. Tasks repeat at different intervals in different work settings, but consider what tasks you do over and over every day, week, month, quarter, and year. Creating checklists and systems for ensuring these repeating tasks are handled will improve your efficiency and productivity. As you begin to reach your maximum capacity at work, I recommend hiring an administrative assistant or an executive assistant. These staff members can begin to take over these repetitive administrative tasks, especially those that are easy to explain and delegate. Training someone to handle your email, calendar, correspondence, and errands is an investment in leveling up your own capacity for your most important work. Having your checklists established helps ensure your assistant is cost-effective. Despite having over twenty team members at Organize 365®, there are administrative tasks I must do every single week. I share more detail in the podcast, but I still need to ensure that every week I make time for email, errands and orders, checklists, and my Friday Workbox. My Friday Workbox time is not optional. This is the time when I review all of my slash pockets and active projects, update my calendar, plan time to work on each slash pocket in the upcoming week, and update all of my meeting agendas. I need to ensure I move projects forward so our company stays healthy. Effective and productive work is the result of good habits and systems. If you want to succeed at work, your green (administrative) work is not optional.

Welcome to our new Wednesday series of transformational stories from our new Friday Workbox Certified Organizers! Organize 365® recently upgraded all of the Business Friday Workbox Systems and we are so excited to share the stories of the certified organizers who helped us make these improvements! Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I normally 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. Today, I am sharing my conversation with Adriane McGraw. Adriane is a professional organizer in Fostoria, OH. She has experience in HR for a Fortune 500 manufacturing operation. Her business Paper & Progress is dedicated to helping small businesses and working professionals streamline their operations and systematize their success. We also share about how the Business Friday Workboxes have been made even better by the certified organizers mastermind team. You can find Adriane at Paper and Progress. She is also on Facebook and Instagram. 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® 100 Day Home Organization Program ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats Organize 365® Certified Organizers I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

Today, I want to teach you how I think about the blue slash pocket topics in my Friday Workbox. At first, blue is for you. Then, as your business or role grows, blue becomes the color for your team. In the Friday Workbox, the slash pockets build upon one another, and need to evolve in order, especially if you are the owner of a business. Pink possibilities become purple projects. Purple projects then inspire you to grow a team to help you meet your business goals. When you first begin working, blue slash pockets are for your professional development, meetings, and your human resources records. You need to know and understand yourself first, before you can lead a team. After you know yourself, you can learn more and better understand your family members and work team members. Learning and developing yourself and your team can only make your work better and more effective. As you better understand who you naturally attract and how you best deliver your message, your impact will grow. As you reach more people, you will need to add people to your team. If you are a female head of household, it is best and easiest to add housework assistance to your team first. This can be a housecleaner, laundry assistance, child care, pet care, or car care. Freeing yourself from household tasks gives you more capacity for your work. In Organization is a Learnable Skill, I tell my own story of growing a team at home and at work. Growing your team at work, especially if you are directly hiring people, is a new skill set that you will need to develop. If you are a business owner, when you hire employees or contractors, you will have to generate pink and purple work for those people and you will want to ensure their efforts are worth the financial expense. Blue slash pockets will help you keep your team organized, and will provide reminders to learn about your worker's styles for learning, feedback, and motivation. As your team grows, your personal development should focus on growing your own skills in communication, overseeing workloads, and running meetings. Organize 365® also has some unique approaches to meetings. I share how we use one-to-one, daily huddles, department, and team meetings in the podcast - be sure to listen in to hear the details!

On the last podcast, I taught you about how to create a plan for your work. In this next series of podcasts, I will be taking you behind the scenes and sharing how the Friday Workbox system was organically developed from my own experiences. Today, I want to teach you how I think about the pink and purple slash pocket topics in my Friday Workbox. I am the daughter of a salesman father and an entrepreneur mother. I also have been a classroom teacher, so when I look back on my own work history, I can see the ways I am different from other business owners. I am also highly analytical about how I work, and I am extremely productivity minded. My earliest work included over twenty direct sales businesses. In observing successful direct sales leaders, they were good at selling their products, providing VIP customer service, and creating a team who also had these skills. Because of my interest in productivity, I not only adopted these skills, but I focused my efforts on my most profitable customers. I had the same earnings and success with a team that was only 25% as large as the other industry leaders, and with only 20% of the typical customer base. I don't like to waste time, materials, or effort. Throughout my working years, I am able to educate, sell, and support my customers. Over time, I have realized that I am successful in these things because I think of my business as having a total of four pillars. In this and upcoming podcasts, I will share with you how pink, purple, blue, and green colors correlate with different parts of your work and how they build upon each other. PINK = POTENTIAL When I turn to my Friday Workbox, all of the different ideas, dreams, possibilities, and potential goes into pink slash pockets. These are not commitments or goals, they are dreams and ideas. Sometimes, they become active right away, other times they take years to materialize. They are truly about potential; things that may happen in the future. Because the possibilities are endless, collect as many pink slash pockets as inspire you. By keeping my possibilities in pink slash pockets, I physically review them quarterly and update, add, dream, and rethink how they may apply to my business. PURPLE = PROJECTS In the Friday Workbox system, purple are the actionable, goal-oriented, deadline-driven, dollars-committed, projects. Once your pink item becomes an actionable project with a deadline, and other people become involved, it moves to a purple slash pocket. Most people can only take action and make progress on one to five slash pockets at any one time. As your team grows, you can increase your capacity by having other people complete purple projects at the same time and increase your impact. Any kind of business or work requires both pink and purple working together. In some workplaces this is potential leads being upgraded to actual customers. In other jobs, this is article ideas turned into publications. Both together are required to sustain your business. Once you have a cycle of both, you can move onto the next step of work - blue. Check back next week for more on that!

We are back from our 2021 summer break, and I am so excited to let you know that we have some exciting new episodes! Starting today, I will be sharing transformational stories from our new Friday Workbox Certified Organizers! Organize 365® recently upgraded all of the Business Friday Workbox Systems and we are so excited to share the stories of the certified organizers who helped us make these improvements! Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, I normally 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 get Organized! Today, I am sharing my conversation with Stefanie Ardoin. Stefanie is a professional organizer in Hilton Head, SC. She is a registered Health Information Administrator with over thirty years in the medical field. She is also an expert in both paper and digital organizing. She has so much to share with us about her own journey and the many ways she is already helping the Organize 365® community. We also share about how the Business Friday Workboxes have been made even better by the certified organizers mastermind team. You can find Stefanie at Island Organizing. Her digital community is Paper & Digital Simplified. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® 100 Day Home Organization Program ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats Organize 365® Certified Organizers I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

Throughout September, I will be teaching you how to proactively plan your work, control your work situations, and make decisions about what your work is going to look like, now and in the future. It is time to plan our work. I have always been a non-traditional worker, so we use a very broad definition of work at Organize 365®. I want you to make a plan for your work and make thoughtful decisions about how to manage this part of your life. No one will ever get everything on their to-do list done. Getting a system in place to manage your to-dos will allow you to optimize your work and have more time for your life. What is work? Work is whatever you are doing for the majority of your Monday to Friday hours. Your priority for the majority of the week in this season of life is your work. It can be volunteering, caregiving, working a traditional job, or being an entrepreneur. It can also include being a stay at home parent, or a homeschooling parent. There are many different kinds of work. Work is a mindset about how you approach your activities, and may or may not be related to what you do to earn an income. Where do you work? The COVID-19 pandemic has changed where we work. Because of our new experiences, now we all can discuss in-person work, remote work, and hybrid work. Where each of us works will likely continue to change over the coming months and years. I started Organize 365® at my kitchen table, moved into a corner of my bedroom, briefly used a spare bedroom, had an office in a loft space at home, and then finally moved to the Organize 365® office. No matter what kind of work you do, you need to consciously decide where you will do your work. Many homes do not have a dedicated home office. Some work requires working in different locations on different days. However, establishing where you work is vital to effectively getting your work done. No matter where you do your work, you need a consistent place to capture your work papers, ideas, and to-do items. For your household, the Sunday Basket® handles all of your home paperwork. At work, the solution is the Friday Workbox. What hours do you work? I love working. I love creating impact through my work. I have never been successful setting work hours for myself, but I have learned to set non-work hours so that I have time and energy for my home and family. I set aside Sunday as a day when I do not do work, and I lavish my attention on my family. This is my approach, but yours may be different. You may be in a season where your focus and priorities are on parts of your life outside of work. In those times, you may need to fit your work hours into firm boundaries. In this situation, determine when you will start and stop your work day. Be clear about what can be flexible and what cannot change. Try different approaches to your work hours and determine what is best for you at this time. Where will your work supplies be put away? No matter what your work situation is, you need to have a place where you can put all the parts of your work away. This is especially important if you are working from home or working from multiple mobile locations. Just like in kindergarten, at the end of the day, your workspace needs to be clean. The Friday Workbox is designed to hold all of your active work papers, and to keep them organized so that you make consistent progress towards your work goals. When you have your Friday Workbox, a computer, and a phone, you can work anywhere. This is a system that is easy to grab, ready for you to easily access your work and take action, and safe for storing your work when you are done for the day. As more people are working and schooling from home, it can be hard to be done working for the day especially if our work is out in the open. Putting everything into the Friday Workbox (including the laptop) and putting it away, allows your work space to return to the other functional purpose. Putting away things we are not actively using improves the family enjoyment of our spaces. I am a multi-faceted, multi-passionate person. I know many of you are too. Over time, I have found that having a separate box to store the pieces of a project or job helps me to organize my brain. Prior to using boxes to store my projects, I had multiple unfinished projects in the open around my home. It was overwhelming, and I did not make as much progress as I thought I would by keeping these things visible. At the end of each work session, develop a transition routine. Check your email one last time. Close your computer. Drop any notes for action items or reminders in your Friday Workbox. Put your papers back in the Friday Workbox. Put your Friday Workbox away and enjoy your non-working time with the others in your home. If you need more help getting your Friday Workbox system started or optimized, we now have Certified Organizers who are specialists in the Friday Workbox System. They are specially trained to help you as an individual, or can help you get the Friday

It's time to decide and make a plan. Last week, we talked about what is in your control. Control is about the decisions you make, how often you decide, and the impact of the decisions you make. These things matter much more than how many decisions you make. Today, we will talk about different aspects of decision making. Deciding seems so final. It's really not. I will teach you about making deliberate decisions today, and then reassessing them when the information you have changes. Almost a decade ago, I decided what to have for breakfast, and I haven't needed to decide again. I just grab the same breakfast and coffee and I'm ready to go. Who thinks this much about breakfast? We all do! We just don't realize how much effort we put into decision making if we aren't actively paying attention to our decisions. When choosing my breakfast, I thought about calories, energy level, hunger, and how different food choices affect my energy level. I weighed all these factors and made a decision about what I will eat every single day. I have shared about ways that other leaders make decisions once to avoid decision fatigue in podcast 271. Anyone can learn to make decisions about the little things like simple meals, clothing uniforms, or putting items into a Sunday Basket®. Deciding once spends more energy up front, but it reduces decision fatigue and exhaustion over things that do not really matter in the long run. Another important factor in making good decisions is controlling how many decisions you need to make in a given day. In the past, I used to think it was a sign of success that I made all of the decisions in the company; everyone answered to me! Now almost all of the decisions at home and work are happening without me - this is growth and success that can scale and be sustained! Organize 365® uses a decision making ladder similar to Michael Hyatt's Delegation Levels and the Phoenix Project Levels of Decision Making. We all have a finite capacity for making decisions. It's a physical reality. You can only make so many decisions. If you want to make more impact, you must empower and teach people how to make decisions the way you would make them. This means they can make decisions without you. Freeing up your own capacity and investing in your team furthers your mission and vision so much more than you can do alone. One important lesson I've learned about decision making is that you can only make decisions about your own home, work, and life. Decisions become easier once you truly embrace that you only control yourself. Other people will make their own decisions. I can see the beauty in all of the decisions that people make. The decisions that others make don't bother me. I love to learn how other people come to the conclusions and decisions that they make. You can't make a decision to control another person. You can only decide how you want to work, live, or do life. Very few decisions we make are permanent or irreversible. At certain times in life, and certain seasons of our lives, we will need to re-make our decisions. Whenever you get more information, you should reflect and reconsider your decision. Ask yourself: Does it still work in this season of life? What has changed and how should my decision adapt? I now look at what decisions may need to change at the start of each of my mini new years (January, May, and September). I make my decisions at the beginning of each 4 month stretch, and then I see how it goes. I don't mind taking 120 days to research and try new decisions, and the final decision tends to last five to ten years. I work on one or two big decisions each trimester; this system doesn't work with 30 new decisions. September is the most productive planning time of the year. Every year, I set aside a Planning Day for my home and set goals for myself, home, family, and finances for the next 120 days. I also set aside a day every quarter for myself and my team to do a Workbox Planning Day. I'd love to have you join me and make progress on your own decision making and goals!

Here's the thing, you don't have very much control over almost anything. But, you have so much control over a few things. I recorded a bunch of podcasts before I left for the book tour, but I like my podcasts to be as relevant as possible. I want it to feel like we are talking on the phone together in real time. But, I can't see the future. COVID keeps changing our lives. It is one of the things that we cannot control. We all desire a sense of control. But, when you focus on things outside of your control, it causes stress, anxiety, and worry. If you choose to focus on what you do control, you can reduce or eliminate the stress, anxiety, and worry. We have control over our mind, our home, our media inputs, and our impact in the world. COVID is extremely important, but it is not urgent. It is distracting most of us from our purpose and our impact on the world. Today, I want to talk with you about making decisions about the things you actually can control. You set the tone and cadence in your home. You control the decision making. Identify what you can control. Then, make decisions so that you can get some of your time back. I want you to be able to control what you can, and free up your time to do what you want to do. For me, stress and anxiety come from the unknowns in life. The more I focus on what I do control, the less I worry. I want this for you too.

In August, I start planning and thinking about the next mini new year - the school year. During July, I like to reflect and review the past year and begin to dream and plan for the future. No matter the season, I spent a lot of time thinking about and pondering how I invest the minutes of my life. I have always valued every minute and think through how to optimize, prioritize, and maximize each one. Time management is the process of evaluating where you are in all the areas of your life, determining your priorities, allocating the resources available to you, and making a plan to achieve your goals. In this podcast, I recap some podcasts on time management. In episode 134, I share how I plan my life in mini years (trimesters). In episode 426, I share how organizing is an optional investment of time today for a potential increase in your time in the future. The Sunday Basket® is an organizational system that will take 60-90 minutes of planning time to free up an extra 5 hours of time each week. More importantly, when you are organized, your brain is free to think and dream, instead of just trying to keep track of to-dos. Episode 366 is about organizational math. I share how I apply the same benefits of basic math skills to your transformational journey into organization. For any of you who are math phobic, I promise we only talk about addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In episode 269 I discuss how we make decisions to prioritize either time, money, or motivation. Understanding what is most important in our current situation helps us to decide what approach will result in the most effective outcomes. I no longer measure value strictly in terms of time or money. Instead, I look for the tangible outcomes of my daily actions. The 100 Day Home Organization Program is priced at 10% of the cost of in-home professional organizers helping to declutter and organize an entire home. However, most of us do not value our time as much as we do our money. Committing financial resources to getting organized helps to motivate people to engage in the 15 minute a day tasks of the 100 Day Program, and actually achieve a transformation of their homes and lives. Which of your goals are worth an investment of your time, money, and motivation in the next four months?

Today, I am bringing back the Organize 365 lead researcher, Sarah Dyson. We are sharing about our soon to be published literature review scheduled to be in the The Journal of the Arkansas Psychological Association. We share how we needed to define a shared language in order to collect data and discuss solutions. The submitted article is titled The Role Women play in the 21st Century Home and Gender Equality- A State of the Art Literature Review. As soon as it is available, we will share a copy of the publication on our research page at organize365.com/research. My initial hypothesis was that women were doing more work at home than men. Interestingly, those are not the results of our research! Members of younger generations share housework far more equitably than we expected. Gender roles have changed and we need solutions for all genders, all age groups, and all types of households. Organize 365® is adjusting based on this information. The literature review covers four major topics in the home: cueing and goal attainment, gender roles, female entrepreneurship, and future research. Listen in for a sneak preview of all these topics.

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Adrienne W. She lives with her husband and 2 kids under 5 years old and she works as a teacher. She shares about getting her home organized has given her control over the whole household. She also shares her tip for using her Sunday Basket® to improve communication with her husband. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® 100 Day Home Organization Program ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

Learn more at organize365.com/podcast/defining-housework-maintenance In November of 2020, I did a two part podcast on the four kinds of work in business (361 & 362). It turns out, there are also four kinds of housework, and I introduced these in Podcast 418. There are many of these business concepts that also equate to our homes, we just don't think of running our household like it is a business. We hear a lot about work/life balance as though these are two separate ways of getting things done. There are so many parallels between your day job and your home job. A few podcasts ago, I shared that Organize 365 is pursuing research about organization. One of the first challenges we faced is that we do not have a common vocabulary around work inside the house like we have for work in the workplace. As part of our research, we needed to define the words we were using in the survey questions. That meant, we needed to define housework. This is the final episode of a four part series that defines and explains the different kinds of work we all do inside of our homes. Today, I am sharing some details about the fourth kind of housework - maintenance. Home maintenance tasks are the tasks that the owner of the property is responsible for in order to increase the value of the home. This includes things like painting, updating flooring, replacing HVAC units, and purchasing a new roof. It is technically optional, but it is in the best interest of the property owner to keep the maintenance up to date. It is an investment the owner makes to protect the value of the property. Maintenance can be done directly by the owner, or it can be done indirectly by hired help. Renters have very little, if any, maintenance expenses and responsibilities. In the most recent research, Organize 365® discovered two important things. Home maintenance is the kind of housework where external help is most often hired by the homeowner. Home maintenance is also the only category of housework that is most often completed by men. When Greg and I first purchased our home, my dad taught me a very important lesson. His advice was to make any desired improvements to our home as soon as possible, so we would get the most enjoyment from our purchase. He was so right! I also remember my aunt recommending an annual home maintenance budget of 5% of the value of the home. That is a lot of money. You may not spend the whole amount every year, but larger expenses can use up several years worth of the budget. If you own your home, I want you to think about being the landlord of your home. This will help you determine what maintenance tasks are most important. The Organize 365® Household Reference Binder is helpful in keeping track of your maintenance needs and documentation that the necessary tasks have been completed. Having an organized system for my documents and information has helped me to make decisions about when to replace and when to fix certain appliances. I can also better predict my maintenance expenses because all of my papers are easily accessible and organized. I hope that you find these descriptions of housework helpful and I want you to think about how you can become more efficient with your housework to do the work you are uniquely created to do!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Lisa F. She lives with her husband, three kids, and a whole bunch of animals. She shares so much about how she has slowly increased her organization over the last few years. Lisa found Lisa from podcasts, and has consistently worked to transform her home, her family, and her life! I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® 100 Day Home Organization Program ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Sheila M. She has been through the 100 Day Program nine times already! She lives with her husband and two sons. Listen in to hear how she has gotten control of her paper and is ready to take on her newest life event - retirement! I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® 100 Day Home Organization Program ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

In November of 2020, I did a two part podcast on the four kinds of work in business (361 & 362). It turns out, there are also four kinds of housework, and I introduced these in Podcast 418. There are many of these business concepts that also equate to our homes, we just don't think of running our household like it is a business. We hear a lot about work/life balance as though these are two separate ways of getting things done. There are so many parallels between your day job and your home job. A few podcasts ago, I shared that Organize 365 is pursuing research about organization. One of the first challenges we faced is that we do not have a common vocabulary around work inside the house like we have for work in the workplace. As part of our research, we needed to define the words we were using in the survey questions. That meant, we needed to define housework. This is the second of a four part series that defines and explains the different kinds of work we all have to do inside of our homes. Today, I am sharing some details about a second kind of housework, tasks of daily living. This type of housework is a set of skills we all need to do or have done for us for our survival. Tasks of daily living are related to the Social Security Disability definition of disability and include things like grooming, grocery shopping and meal preparation, transportation, and paying bills. Some transitional high schools offer training in these skills through Project search and other programs. Tasks of daily living follow the individual. In college, as a new parent, and as a grandparent, you will always have to feed yourself and do laundry. Conversely, the amount of cleaning likely went up and down depending on your stage of life. However, once you share a home with another person, you begin to negotiate to divide and conquer the tasks for convenience and productivity. Generally, these tasks become consolidated as the responsibility for the person who is home more often. Tasks of daily living are the hardest and most expensive to delegate. Some small portions of them can be outsourced, but it is not convenient to have help with these items. Most of those surveyed reported they did their own tasks of daily living. In the study, we also asked what the major barriers to doing these tasks were, and most of the general population reported a lack of motivation or being too tired. See more about the research at organize365.com/research. The major solution to keeping your tasks of daily living organized and getting them completed proactively is the Sunday Basket®. You need to create better systems, better habits, and reduce your expectations!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Lori W. She lives alone with her rescue chihuahua and does not have any children. She shares how she is downsizing her paper and clutter collections while caregiving for family members. Lori also shares how The Paper Solution has been helpful in her journey. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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 For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® 100 Day Home Organization Program ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!

In November of 2020, I did a two part podcast on the four kinds of work in business (361 & 362). It turns out, there are also four kinds of housework, and I introduced these in Podcast 418. There are many of these business concepts that also equate to our homes, we just don't think of running our household like it is a business. We hear a lot about work/life balance as though these are two separate ways of getting things done. There are so many parallels between your day job and your home job. A few podcasts ago, I shared that Organize 365 is pursuing research about organization. One of the first challenges we faced is that we do not have a common vocabulary around work inside the house like we have for work in the workplace. As part of our research, we needed to define the words we were using in the survey questions. That meant, we needed to define housework. This is the first of a four part series that defines and explains the different kinds of work we all have to do inside of our homes. Today, I want to explain the first kind of housework - cleaning. This is a type of housework that we all think about when we consider housework. But, we rarely agree on exactly what "clean" looks like. I define cleaning as anything that a cleaning company would do inside your house. There is a level of cleanliness that is necessary for health. Cleaning will always cost you time, and sometimes it can cost you money. Regardless, someone is responsible for the level of cleanliness and the frequency of cleaning in your home. Setting rules for cleaning, determining an action plan, and establishing habits of actually cleaning will help you ensure this kind of housework gets done. Remember to find more at organize365.com/research

I want to talk with you about the Weight of Paper in American Households. I began talking about paper in 2012, when I shared a DIY version of the Sunday Basket® that transformed my paper organization at home. At that point, I had been using my own Sunday Basket® for ten years. I began using this paper organization system when I had two kids under two years old, and I needed a way to get my actionable to-do's actually accomplished. I needed a way to manage the mail, the kitchen counter piles, and the kids paperwork. Looking at random papers all over the house kept me reactive, and I wanted to be more proactive and effective when managing my home. I learned to delay the things that initially seemed urgent and important to one day a week. By developing the system of giving these things regular attention on Sunday, I was able to have more weekday time to run my direct sales business, be a stay at home mom, and manage our house too. This system results in an immediate change, and over time (usually about six weeks) the habit of addressing all of your paper weekly will give you back five hours every week. There was a long time when people believed they didn't have or need paper, and there has been an expectation of a paperless society. In early 2021, Organize 365 sponsored research about the State of the Household in the 21st Century. As part of that survey, I wanted to learn more about how different generations were dealing with their paper. In today's podcast, I share the outcomes of the research we did on the weight of paper in the American home. For the purpose of this study, the Sunday Basket® refers to a safe holding place for all of your actionable papers, ongoing household projects, kitchen counter piles, and to-do items. Here are the main findings I want to share with you today: Both men and women agreed the Sunday Basket® would be a useful solution for five different kinds of paper clutter: mental piles, kitchen counter piles, unfinished project papers, unorganized reference papers, and important papers. The same research subjects also agreed that the four main binders offered by Organize 365 would be a useful solution for finding their important reference papers. 84% of Americans believe that organization is a learnable skill! It is so exciting to have the statistical, quantitative research done to back what I have known for years. As a result of this research, I have more information to give you better resources to help YOU get organized!

Welcome to the newest Wednesday Podcast! On Wednesdays, 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 get Organized! This week, I am sharing my interview with Beth Guckenberger. I shared this interview as part of Embrace last weekend. Beth and her husband have 11 children (biological, foster, and adopted). Together, they are the executive directors of Back2Back Ministries. During the interview, she shares how she uses note cards to stay organized and dream. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do! 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. For more information about the programs and products mentioned in this podcast please check out these links: Organize 365 The Sunday Basket® 100 Day Home Organization Program ALL ACCESS Workboxes Paper Organizing Retreats I look forward to helping YOU get Organized!