
Organize 365 Podcast
835 episodes — Page 7 of 17

Pursuing a PhD 10: A Mid-Semester Review & Organization Session
I gave myself the gift of a mid-semester review and reset my PhD organization. It was the BEST gift. I've hit the halfway mark in my semester. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything and make sure I'm on target. Here's how I hit the reset button: Re-read the syllabus for each class (HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS) Compiled and organized all my notes for all my classes into a notebook by class Planned ahead for the second half of the semester by looking ahead and doing anything I could do to organize my remaining assignments and classes Our brain's desire organizational planning time. Are you giving yourself time to plan and organize your work, home and life? EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button Organize 365® Slash pockets The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day 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!

529 - Your Home is a Business
Have you ever thought about how much your home is a business? Our homes are businesses. The entire US economy runs on the economy of your house. If the American family is doing well, the American economy is doing well. When I talk about our homes as businesses, I don't mean that you should be just going through the motions and checking boxes or anything even similar to that. In this episode, I share how you can use tools and systems (similar to what you would do at work) to gain a bigger impact and less stress at home. A business usually has a CEO and COO. Your home most likely does, too. Sometimes you may be acting as the CEO and COO, sometimes you may just have one of those roles. The CEO creates the strategy of the company, manages the capacity and resources, and plans for execution. Some of the things you may do as the CEO of your home are: During your weekly Sunday Basket® routine, you look at what constraints you have in the upcoming week, what needs to get done Planning your week and trimester in advance The COO plays a critical role in running the day-to-day actionables that will accomplish the strategy the CEO has created for the team. The key to success is that the CEO and COO are both operating proactively and strategically. Making choices about what to work on, how to spend time and money, and what experiences and impact they want to create within their household. In this episode, I deep dive into how The Friday Workbox® operates for your business and apply this to how the Sunday Basket® helps you run the business of home and family. I'd love to hear your feedback on this one! Do you see the parallels between running your home as a business? Come learn how to plan like the CEO of your home! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day The Productive Home Solution™ The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® 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!

Transformation with Sarah Hart-Unger
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! Today I'm excited to talk with fellow podcaster, Sarah Hart-Unger. Sarah hosts the podcast Best Laid Plans, co-hosts the podcast Best of Both Worlds with Laura Vanderkam, is the mother of three children, married to a surgeon, and works as pediatric endocrinologist! So, needless to say, she stays busy! Organization and planning are a big part of her ability to do so much and we will be talking about the systems she has in place. First things first, we talk about parenting! Sarah is experiencing a golden window because her youngest child just turned 5! For parents of children younger than 5, things are just changing so frequently every 6-8 weeks that it is hard to catch your breath in terms of getting organized. We discuss how when you go through different stages and phases of life, you learn how to use your organization and time management skills in different ways. Sarah is a big believer in functional organization. It doesn't have to be pretty, but it needs to work for you! She shares how she is ruthless about getting rid of things and enjoys knowing where things are. Organizing her time is one of her favorite things to do. Mine, too! We dig deep into how planning your home life by quarters just does not work. It creates weird cut-offs like July. Who wants to start a new plan in the middle of summer? You need to have your entire summer planned out. The quarters of the year aren't actually new energies. The Organize 365® approach to planning is by trimesters. Planning allows you to make room for your own explosive growth! We both discuss how during busy seasons of life, our respective calendars and planners bring us a sense of peace and allow us to have more capacity. Do you have a plan that you love to look at? That gives you peace, not stress? That creates calm in chaos? Do you have a plan for the upcoming trimester and summer season? Sarah also shares how she has organized her children. We discuss a very hot topic - how to organize kids' artwork! Check out the episode resources if you want to share the Kids Movie Sarah references with your kids as well! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day The Productive Home Solution™ The Sunday Basket® Lattice Binder for kid's artwork Organize 365® Kids Movie Learn more about Golden Windows and Season of Organizing Watch the video on YouTube to see the sneak peek of Lisa's Weekly Planning Sheet I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 9: Setting Aside PhD Administrative Time
There is administration time related to getting your PhD. The Sunday Basket® and the Business Friday Workbox® teaches you there are invisible tasks you do at home and work. Once these tasks are made visible, you can eliminate as many as possible. Mid-semester, I realized I need PhD administrative time. Listen in as I review what types of administrative tasks I have while working on my PhD. Planning my work Organizing my email Signing up for teacher office hours Cleaning up Zotero files Next week, I will share with you how I took a pause and reoriented myself. EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Zotero 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!

528 - Do You Know How to Play the Game of Life?
Are you playing Checkers or Chess? Of course, you are playing Checkers. We all are. But, some of us are playing (and winning) Chess, too! In today's episode, I breakdown how you can "play" the game of life better with an emphasis on strategy. As I breakdown the "game of life" in this episode, we discuss: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Marie Kondo's life with three kids Generational norms The strategy of living life with a planned approach Which leads us to the free Organize 365® blitzes. These blitzes were designed to help you get ahead. They may seem like "small wins" but they have a huge impact on how we look at our time in a more strategic (chess-like) way. These blitzes teach us how to incorporate forward planning into our game of life. In the next four months, you are going to experience Memorial Day, Mother's Day, tax day and the summer season. These things are coming whether you plan ahead or not. But, if you do join our blitzes and planning day, you'll be able to approach the next four months with a planned and strategic approach. This will allow you to enjoy summer experiences with your family, sign your kids up for their favorite camps, purchase plane tickets before they sell out and look forward to your summer. Playing Chess allows you to get out of the reactiveness of the Checkers game. Organize 365® Planning Days allow you to do the mental work ahead of time so you can enjoy the upcoming season. I hope you'll join me! EPISODE RESOURCES: Routine Reset Blitz Organize 365® Home Planning Day The Productive Home Solution™ 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!

Transformation with Stefanie Fowler
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! During this month we have been talking to women about how women in their 30s are getting it done. Stephanie represents women that are not working from home. She began her career as a corporate executive before she left to continue to grow the company she founded with her husband, Vince. She and Vince have 4 kids, 11, 9 (twins), and 6. She worked from home for the last couple of years, but got physical space last Spring and she is back working in an office. She enjoyed her time working from home, but realized she needed more thinking and planning time and has since moved into a physical office space. She moved to a condensed schedule, Monday to Thursday available for meetings and in the office with Fridays off, to give her the ability to have some parts of a stay-at-home mom. Never being able to fully work on just Austin Fowler, she has found time saving activities. Her time is very full with her own business and a family of 6 so it is important to her to plan and prepare for her weeks and weekends. She is very disciplined and uses her Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox® to plan while using her bags to pack and prepare. Listen in to find out what things work well for Stephanie and her family during this season of growing children and a growing business. EPISODE RESOURCES: AustinFowler.com Instagram @austinandfowler I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 8: Creating Multiple Uniforms For The Hats I Wear
Are we really talking about clothing again? What does this really have to do with getting a PhD anyway?! Organization unlocks our time and productivity unlocks our capacity. I'm using my PhD as the example for these stories, but everything I'm sharing with you is how I am taking past organizational strengths, learning, or habits that I have had or am developing now and how I'm refining those in order to get more time and have more capacity. The way in which we free up our time in order to be able to do the next thing, that's organization. As we organize, we create a habit. A habit is just doing the thing you've already organized without consciously thinking about it. In order to really get more time, you have to over analyze some basic habits to figure out if there is a more efficient way to do these things and somehow create this new habit and put it on autopilot so we don't have to even think about it. This brings us back to clothing! Listen in as we talk about how creating a uniform for the different hats you wear will help you to transition into the role that you're playing and mentally enter into that space. EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button 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!

527 - Excellence vs Perfection in Home Management
There is no such thing as perfection. There just isn't. Don't let social media fool you. What about those pictures you see as you're scrolling your phone? Those aren't real. Perfection isn't real. But how do we get our brain and subconscious mind to understand this? When you see me, you are getting the 100% real me. I don't use filters. As a matter of fact, I don't even know how to use filters. It's important for me to show you the real me. What you see is what you get. I am not a perfectionist. I am a woman of excellence. This episode is going to help you understand how you are also a person of excellence and what that means. Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do..therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit." The habits taught through the Organize 365® systems and courses lead us to be people of excellence. These same habits help us free our brains and time to do what we are uniquely created to do. Habits are so purposeful. Negative habits tend to happen naturally. But positive habits rarely happen naturally. I want you to think about your habits - are they helping you be a person of excellence? Are they allowing you the time you need to do what you are uniquely created to do? I want you to choose a life of excellence over perfectionism. Don't expect perfectionism from yourself or others. A person of excellence is able to focus on substance, richer conversations, better solutions and live a more productive life. A word of the wise, choosing not to be a perfectionist is not an excuse to be lazy. You still need to strive for excellence. This will look different depending on your phase of life and priorities. I want to leave you with three things in this episode: Perfectionism is not a thing. Excellence is a great middle ground for you to strive for. You will never be done working on yourself, learning, growing and creating the person you want to be. It's a journey. As you think about your journey, I want you to also think about your home and the three seasons per year within your home. You need different things in those seasons. A person of excellence is continually improving and evolving the way they organize and use their home and time. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution™ The Paper Solution® The Friday Workbox® Aristotle Quotes 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!

Transformation with Andrea Dekker
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! Welcome back Andrea to the podcast. Andrea, 37, is married to her husband, age 41 and together they have 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys ages 11, 8, 7, and 5. Listen in as we talk about how she stays organized in her 30's with a young family. Andrea discusses her focus of functional organizing for a family of six. We also get to hear how interesting her time and scheduling works, and what she does to make the different seasons of her life work within a schedule. We all know feeding a family can be challenging and the desire to make the right food choices is a priority. Andrea shows us her process of making food changes in her family when change doesn't come easy for anyone. Andrea mentions the quote "Build a life you don't need to escape from" and how she and her family have built that life where she feels energized and isn't looking for a vacation to bring her rest. She doesn't feel the need to take days off to recharge her batteries, because it seems to work itself into each and every day. EPISODE RESOURCES: AndreaDekker.com I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 7: Organizing Everything on My Google Calendar
Have you wondered why you don't seem to have enough time in your day? I use my Google calendar to organize my time, everything that would naturally occur in my life gets a time block on my calendar, including commute time. Then when I look at my week, I can play with those time blocks. Am I spending enough time in certain areas or too much time? I've been able to see all this time in my calendar and I've gotten better at estimating my time for my classes and assignments. This allows me to figure out where I have extra time and where I don't have enough time. Have you asked yourself, why don't I get everything done? Or do I have the capacity to take on something new? Start looking at the pockets of time on your calendar that do not have anything associated with. Document how you use that time for a week or two and then you know if you have time you can actually give to something new and maximize your productivity. EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button Google Calendar 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!

526 - Marie Kondo Has Thrown in the Towel and Admits Her House is Messy
Let's break down one of the fastest spreading organizational news stories I've ever seen - Marie Kondo is admitting that her home is no longer tidy and she's embracing it! The news of Marie Kondo's house being no longer organized spread like wildfire. This was not an accident. Marie Kondo is a worldwide sensation. She did an amazing job marketing her book and herself. She's a renowned organizer and businesswoman. Here are some past episodes I've done on Marie Kondo: Why the Magic Art of Tidying Up Doesn't Work for American Women What Do You Do with Items that Don't Spark Joy? How Marie Kondo is the Atkins Diet of Organizing We all can feel better knowing that Marie Kondo is saying perfection does not exist. Although, if you have been following my podcast all this time, you know that I have always valued progress over perfection. In this episode, I take the conversation in the media about organization a step further. What does it mean to feel organized? Can you recognize and observe organization or is it a feeling? Is organization the ability to quickly take action? How do we know when we are organized or when we are no longer organized? Your home and your organizational systems should be a representation of YOU. What's important to you? What works for you? What doesn't work for you? I LOVE my home. I love how I decorated it. I love how I organized it. I love what I've saved over the years. And I want you to love your home also. I want you to love the stuff you are maintaining, dusting and living with. I want you to look forward to being at home, walking around your own home and loving the things you see on the walls, shelves, even inside your storage room. Organization and being organized is SO much more than minimalism. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Productive Home Solution™ The Paper Solution® The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® 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!

Transformation with Jami and Jason Balmet
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! Meet Jamie and Jason Balmet in Oklahoma running a small business, raising 7 children, and homeschooling: 10 year old twin boys 7 year old twin boys 5 year old girl 2 year old boy 3 month old boy Jamie and Jason are currently in the accumulation phase and we talk today about how they handle this phase of life with home and work. We discussed how their housework is divided, they've got a great mix going on, and how the kids are involved in this. They have some great tips on how to get the kids involved at home. One of the tips for this was to talk a lot about their family vision and how that plays into giving responsibility to everyone in the family. Listen in as they tell us how their family began traveling full time to now putting down roots in Oklahoma. We also get to hear about how they organize things at work and home and how different their systems are; Jamie loves her paper and Jason is all about the digital side of things. Because their business blends with work deadlines plus having family time, the communication aspect is key for the two of them. Being honest with each other about their needs and their mental space is important to keeping things running smoothly. How have they gotten to this place in their lives? They are very clear on what their goals are. Working in the business and on the business and being purposeful and intentional with planning plays a large part in how they have been able to succeed. Tips from Jamie: Be clear on your vision What are your family values What are you saying yes to and what are you saying no to Planning meetings annually and quarterly about Business Homeschool Family Be realistic with your time EPISODE RESOURCES: eMyth by Michael E. Gerber The Productive Home Solution™ and Planning Day Finding Joy in Your Home Finding Joy in Your Home Podcast I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 6: Organizing ALL Your Due Dates in One Document
This week I am talking about how I organize my assignments. Some of the things I use are Organize 365® Slash Pockets that are colored red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. These slash pockets help you organize the basic tasks you do at home and at work inside of a Sunday Basket® or a Friday Workbox®. These organize the everyday events, not the projects. I am using colored slash pockets, productivity tabs, and highlighted documents to keep track of everything within my courses. Red: Research Lab Orange: Wednesday Class - Psych 501 Yellow: Thursday Class - Psych 502 The game changer for me was creating the excel spreadsheet with all assignments and reading ordered by due date and color coded. I cannot explain how much more grounded I felt when I could see in totality everything I needed to do inside of a 2-page spread. This gives me the extra buffer I need by allowing me to stay ahead. If you have different moving deadlines, moving pieces, or moving parts that need to be done over a period of time, it may be helpful to put all of those into one big document in order of when things need to happen, versus keeping things separate in separate categories of your life. What would happen if in very busy seasons of your life you would use this one big document to go by what is due next versus what role you are playing in your life? EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button Organize 365® Slash Pockets 1.0 Sunday Basket® Business Friday Workbox® Kolbe Organize 365® Productivity Tabs 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!

525 - Lisa's Organization Story 2022
When I started this podcast series looking at how I've used the Sunday Basket® over the years, I thought I'd be sharing with you the tactical details of how I use the Sunday Basket®. What I realized is that the Sunday Basket® is a habit. Like brushing your teeth, making the bed, getting ready in the morning. Things we didn't do at one point and eventually they become part of your everyday life and routines. And that's what the Sunday Basket® has become. It's part of my everyday routine. In this episode we are back in my present day life. My kids are now adulting. Their day to day needs are off my plate. I've outsourced a lot of the tasks that have to do with my home and I have a whole team at Organize 365®. Presently, my Sunday Basket® is running like a well-oiled machine. And it's serving its purpose for Grayson, my grandson, as well. I end up with lots of toys that need batteries on Sunday. I drop those in there throughout the week and all the incoming mail. My Portable Sunday Basket® goes back and forth between my home and my office. I have a slash pocket for calls that need to be made during business hours and things that can't be dealt with on Sundays. What has really increased over the years, and if you listened to the previous episodes in this series, you have probably noticed the evolution of my Friday Workbox®. I have multiple Friday Workboxes® and pretty much always have. I used to have Friday Workboxes® set-up for different income streams. Now I have Friday Workboxes® for departments, teams and initiatives within Organize 365®. But the biggest shift in my life right now is the transition I just made to becoming a student again. This was a big decision for me. And as I was trying to make the decision to take this leap, I asked myself "what if?" What if I do get my PhD? How will I feel? What if I don't do this? And I decided, definitively, that if I didn't say yes to this at this point in my life I would be disappointed. I would still want it four years from now. And this is the time to do it. To jump in with both feet and go for my dream of becoming a PhD. So now I want to ask you, what if? What if you had the real Sunday Basket® with the playbook, the properly color coded slash pockets? What if you had access to the Sunday Basket® Club every Sunday as your accountability and success partner? What if you came to Planning Days with me and truly planned out your goals, assessed your routines and created a plan for your upcoming trimester? What if you took the courses inside The Productive Home Solution™ and learned to be organized while getting your entire home organized? What if everything in your home had a place and you had more time? What if you had a Friday Workbox® and Friday Workbox® Planning Day to help structure your work and deliver on your projects with ease? What if you knew what you were uniquely created to do? Keep moving forward and keep making progress and thinking about what is possible. I can't wait to continue this series in five years. I'm excited about what's to come for me and Organize 365®! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Portable Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution™ Home Planning Day Work Planning Day Embrace - Discover what you are uniquely created to do. 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!

Emily Kelly: How Do You Know What You Are Uniquely Created To Do? - Part 3
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! Listen in as Emily and I come back together for the final episode of our podcast series. The things we are talking about we regularly talk about privately, but we feel that what we are sharing is meant for more than just ourselves. People really don't talk about this: how you stay organized at home, how you survive hard things, how you transition through unexpected events. I am such a forward motion focused person, I'm always thinking about what is next. And this is what excites me and lights me up. We talk about what you are uniquely created to do. It is not necessarily ONE thing, it is always evolving, changing, and growing. The Organize 365® mission is to help you get organized so that you have more time so you can do what you are uniquely created to do. My only goal is to show you the invisible work that you're doing and you can decide if you want to continue doing it or not, organize it, habitualize it, or declutter it, so that you can get time to do what you are uniquely created to do. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Victim's Assistance in Akron I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 5: Organizing Paper Citations By Color
During week 4, we talked about how I think in color and how it helps me to learn things faster. When focusing on learning something new, being able to chunk the information into at least 4 color categories as I am learning is really helpful. I've learned how to add colors into writing my papers to help me remember which journals I am citing, which information is mine, and which information is from different authors. As I am going through this PhD podcast, I hope that learning how you organize in one phase of life can inform and help you in the next phase of life. EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button Zotero Organize 365® Research Podcast Organize 365® Research 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!
524 - Lisa's Organization Story 2017
Are you ready for the positive, productive and proactive Lisa to make her debut? Welcome to 2017! In this podcast, we explore the paradigm of personal and professional growth. By 2017, I was running my in-home professional organizing business. It was BOOMING. But I had this gut feeling that it wasn't what I was supposed to be doing. I was noticing that a lot of the women I was organizing were diagnosed or self-diagnosed with ADHD. I enjoyed what I was doing so much that I wanted to reach more people. I wanted to make a strategic pivot in my business so I could have a larger impact. During this period of my life, my Friday Workbox® took center stage. I went to an office supply store to get more slash pockets and found that they were no longer offering packs of solid colors - only the multi-colored packs. That's when I realized that I needed to manufacture these slash pockets and bring this all together so people could master these systems and save time. Talking through my ideas with my mom helped me think even beyond just manufacturing the slash pockets. She had me walk her through exactly how I would create a Sunday Basket® or Friday Workbox® if I were to create my own. And then she got to work with her sewing machine and the first Sunday Basket® prototype was born. Looking back, it was such an exciting time of growth for me - both personally and professionally. I knew I needed to become a different kind of company (beyond in-home professional organizing). I needed a team. For the first time ever I was starting to trust my own intuition as a business owner. This is when I started to make the leap into the business owner and CEO you see today. I hired my first coach. I needed to invest in myself to grow as a business owner. I knew that the cap to my business growth was me. I had to (and still do) grow for my business to grow. All those things that I did gave me the investment in myself that I needed to understand my worth and grow into the role I wanted for myself. It's okay for not every single thing I do in my business to be direct income generating. I wanted to create systems and processes that anyone in the world could get a Sunday Basket® to save 5 hours per week to use for The Productive Home Solution™ to unlock their time for what they were uniquely created to do. And that's what I've done. All of these organizing solutions and courses are available to you today because 2017 Lisa had a bigger vision for herself and for YOU! How do you want to change your future? Learning to be organized can get you there. The time I spent as a professional organizer was what helped me create the courses we now offer at Organize 365®. I saw how much organization had a larger impact on people's ability to achieve results. I share stories of this in this episode. What impact could living an organized life have on you? EPISODE RESOURCES: FREE Sunday Basket® Mini Course The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Productive Home Solution™ 1.0 Slash Pockets 2.0 Slash Pockets 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!

Emily Kelly: Organization During Multiple Transitions - Part 2
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! I'm excited to welcome back my sister, Emily Kelly, to the podcast for part 2 of 3 in this series. This has been much anticipated by the Organize 365® community and I was waiting for the perfect time for her to tell her story. In part one of this podcast series, Emily Kelly shares her experience for the last year. Today she is sharing how she has organized her personal and work life during this time. Listen to Emily as she describes how she is using her Sunday Basket®, Friday Workbox®, and her slash pockets to sync her bills, goals, and her calendar. Emily and I share what we looked like before slash pockets and binders while working together to settle our Dad's estate. I share my CliffsNotes™ on how we handled this important time in our lives. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Athena International I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 4: Organizing Lecture Notes By Color
The way I see the world in color is helping me organize my PhD studies and the work I am doing in school. Being able to use color allows me to chunk the information I am learning and help me remember it better. Pink: For home it is anything related to your uniqueness and for work it is your ideas and marketing. Purple: For home it is anything related to household work and projects and for work it is the visible work and projects. Blue: For home it is anything related to your family and pets and for work it is your team and people. Green: For home and work it is anything related to money and your invisible work. I was able to learn how to do a literature review, how to do an annotated bibliography, and how to write a proposal for a conference using color for each of these key components. Whenever we talk about introductions it will be pink, whenever we talk about methods it will be blue, and whenever we talk about results it will be purple. EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button Organize 365® Research Podcast Organize 365® Research Organize 365® Business Friday Workbox® Organize 365® Sunday Basket® 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!

523 - Lisa's Organization Story 2012
When we left off in the previous episode, I was in the pit of despair. I wish I could say I was out of it by 2012. Spoiler alert - not quite. But 2012 is when a monumental shift began to happen. I was 39 years old by this point. I quit my job. Our family was sinking into debt. Our kids medical needs were still high. I didn't even recognize my own house (it was a wreck). And my marriage was feeling the strain. My inherent organization ability had gotten me this far in life but now everything I knew about organization was not enough. I didn't have a playbook or framework for being the person I needed to be - hosting the holidays, having kids with busy schedules (and going to two different schools), and all the other positions I found myself filling. Which leads me to explore how we become disorganized. I think part of it is that we get to a point in our lives where we no longer have a story we are working towards. This episode is really important because when you find Organize 365®, you're likely a pretty organized person and looking for more tips and tricks to be even more productive. But more of us stumble across Organize 365® when they realize "I can no longer continue this way for the rest of my life, there has to be another way." And the good news is that if you have had this thought - there is another way. Change can be uncomfortable. But it is through this discomfort that you transform. I've seen it time and time again in the Organize 365® community. What you may not be expecting is that when you need to learn the skill of organization the most is usually at a point in your life where you don't have the time and money to do so. But by not budgeting the resources to get organized, you won't be able to easily get out of re-living the same story you are trying to get out of. This is where I found myself in 2012. I was in the wrong story. Tune in and find out how I began to turn it around in 2012. Also in this episode: The Friday Workbox® takes center stage Tips and Rules for Organizing Passion Projects & Hobbies Want to hear more about my 2012 story and my 5 tips for organizing with depression? Listen to this podcast. What is the organized story of me going forward? Stay tuned next week to find out! What is the organized story of you? EPISODE RESOURCES: FREE Sunday Basket® Mini Course Organization is a Learnable Skill The Friday Workbox® The Sunday Basket® Saving Your Story Photo Organization Program 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!

Emily Kelly: What Happened With the Dream Job - Part 1
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! I'm excited to welcome back my sister, Emily Kelly, to the podcast. This has been much anticipated by the Organize 365® community. And I was waiting for the perfect time for her to tell her story. Emily Kelly worked for Organize 365® for about 5 years. When I last interviewed her on the podcast, she was embarking on a new adventure. She had found, what she believed to be, her DREAM JOB. This is a three part series where we are going to get all the details on Emily's journey since she left Organize 365®, but you are also going to get an in depth look at the relationship between Emily and me. Sibling relationships are unique because this is likely the longest relationship you will have in your life. Longer than your parents, your spouse, your children and your friends. You and your sibling(s) are in a unique position and have experienced things together that will forever just be an experience shared between you and them. Emily experienced some very unexpected life events. And one of the lessons that she had learned during her time at Organize 365® kept her going in the right direction. Grace. Give it freely. To yourself and others. Flash forward to today and we find Emily, a new version of herself, ready to share the broken road that led her to exactly where she needs to be. But you will hear more about that in Part 3. EPISODE RESOURCES: Jesus Calling Book The Sunday Basket® I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 3: I Do Not Have 186 Hours - Week 3
Starting the PhD, I was as planned as you could possibly be. I even took care of all the possible health visits I could have before starting school just so I didn't have to take away any time to do that once I started; now that is planning! This journey is not easy, but I prefer to be positive and upbeat, not sharing everything that's not working. I don't pay attention to the things that I don't have control over, but I am going to tell you the things that have gone wrong in the first 3 weeks just so I can point back to this episode and be like, "remember week 3", not everything is perfect. In preparing, I began by pretending, since I'm a pretty productive person, I could add in this extra 30 hours of work and nothing else would really be sacrificed. That's not a thing because there aren't 186 hours in a week, there are only 168 hours in a week. I'm hoping that the learnings that I take from this can be beneficial to you and whatever it is that you are adding to your plate and whatever you are striving to be as well. EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button Laura Vanderkam - 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think Oura Ring 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!
522 - Lisa's Organization Story 2007
The year was 2007. And I was ROADKILL. Unexpected life events had run me over. Divorce had unexpectedly hit my family. My father was in poor health. I was raising young children with medical diagnosis. I had attended one HUNDRED and ten doctors appointments. I came unglued. I reached my breaking point. There I was standing in my kitchen. Not making sense. Tapping on a cabinet. Greg swooped in and got the kids out of the house. As I stood there pleading with myself, "You've got to get it together, Lisa!" I went upstairs to my room to figure out why I felt like I was falling apart. At the time, I had a physical planner. I flipped backwards through my planner and realized a pattern. I was spending so much time at doctor's appointments. I started to tally it up and found that in the past year, I had gone to 110 doctor's appointments. Doctor's appointments are not only time consuming, but they are expensive. So at the same time, I had become a "jill of all trades." I was running my Creative Memories business, cleaning houses, organizing, tutoring, working for Scholastic book fairs and several other direct sales related jobs. No wonder I was falling behind and apart. When it rains, it pours. My Sunday Basket® became my umbrella. I was overwhelmed. And I was being pushed to new limits. But I wasn't disorganized. I cannot even imagine what this phase of my life would have looked like if I had not already had my Sunday Basket® system and routine in place. I was not home much at all during this phase of life, but I always had my Sunday Basket® with me. Which meant I was able to still be productive while waiting at the doctor's office or in the car pick-up line. This helped me keep up when life started moving way too fast. EPISODE RESOURCES: Free Sunday Basket® 5 Day Mini Course The Sunday Basket® The Warrior MAMA Binder The Paper Solution® 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!
Transformation with Maggie C
show notes

Pursing a PhD 2: Setting Up Systems for Writing
There is a difference between perfectionism and setting up a system. My first writing assignment should have taken me just an hour or two but instead it took me eight hours. I shared my new adventure on Instagram stories and many of you told me to take a page from my own book and embrace progress over perfection. YES! I hear you but let me explain… I wasn't trying to be perfect. I was trying to spend some time now to set-up my systems and create a template for myself to save me time in the future. Does this sound familiar to you? This is EXACTLY what organizing does. Organizing is an investment in time today for a future exponential return on time. EPISODE RESOURCES: Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button Organize 365® Research Podcast Organize 365® Research Zotero 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!

521- Lisa's Organization Story 2002
This podcast is the first in a series of five that will walk you through different life phases and stages I've experienced, and how The Sunday Basket® has been my partner in productivity along the way! Join me in my time machine as we take a glimpse into what my life looked like in 2002 and how The Sunday Basket® was created to support me during this phase of life. In 2002, I had two babies, a successful career in direct sales, the same house I still live in today and of course, Greg! I also had a paper pile problem. And everyday I was playing "the paper pile game". I would leave my ever-growing pile of papers (bills, mail, to-do lists, calls to make, checks to be deposited and everything in between) on one side of my kitchen island. Each day I would have the best of intentions to tackle that paper pile; but often I would have just enough time to shuffle the papers around before one of the babies needed me and then right back on the counter it would go. That process was repeated day in and day out. How could I make this paper pile more actionable? One night as my family slept, I finally laid out all the papers in front of me. I began to sort the paper piles into categories. By the end of that evening, I had 40 separate "piles" that were now categorized. The next day I was able to grab just one of those categories (I had separated them all into binder dividers I had on hand) and take immediate action. Oh my goodness! What a profound impact this had on me. It felt so good to finally be taking action and little by little I watched the paper pile shrink. I put all the binder dividers in a Longaberger basket (remember those?) and I began to add any new mail, paper, notes, to-dos, etc. into the basket. Then each Sunday, I would sit down and go through it. This is where I learned how to prioritize things that needed to be done before the next Sunday and plan my week ahead as a mother and direct sales leader. The impact of breaking down my paper piles into actionable chunks was HUGE. This is how The Sunday Basket® was born! Want to have your own The Sunday Basket® experience like I did? We have a FREE 5 Day Sunday Basket® Mini Course that you can join now. This course will walk you through gathering your paper piles and how to sort them in 5 daily tasks. Join me next episode as my journey takes a stark turn from babies and bliss to chaotic and unexpected. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Mini Course The Sunday Basket® Organize 365® Paper Organizing Retreat See photos from 2002 on Instagram 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!

Transformation with Laura L
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! Today I'm so excited to introduce you to Laura L. During the pandemic she found me via the Organize 365 podcast. Laura started her Organize 365® journey with The Sunday Basket® and the binders. She also created binders for her parents. The day she got the MS diagnosis, the Medical Binder and the Sunday Basket® became monumental to her daily success. Laura got into the habit of taking her Medical Binder with her to doctor's appointments. She loves having everything at her fingertips. She has noticed that she gets a poor cellular signal in the medical buildings; so it's nice to have the paper copy to reference. Laura was already a fan of all things Organize 365®; but she felt compelled to share her success story with others. Laura launched her business and is The Paper Solution® Certified. She is thankful for the peace of mind that comes from the organization offered by the Sunday Basket®. Recently at her daughter's wedding the portable Sunday Basket® was called "The Bag with All the Nuclear Codes." She was organized and had all the information with her in her portable Sunday Basket ®. Then again the very next day it held the information needed for her mother because she had a doctor's appointment to take her to. Her advice if you are just getting started: "Just carve out the time to do it!" EPISODE RESOURCES: The Paper Solution® Binders Paper Organizing Retreats The Sunday Basket® The Organize 365® Medical Binder The Friday Workbox® The Portable Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® Certification I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Pursuing a PhD 1: Over Prepared
Episode 1 - Over Prepared Even though I am the CEO of Organize 365® I am not exempt from life events that can throw a person off track. I only got a 48 hour honeymoon phase of balancing life, work and school until life showed up! But we are in it now - I'm juggling home and school and family! As I pondered the week I have concluded to only try to be seven days ahead, not four years! I was so over prepared I didn't know what to do with myself and then it dawned on me that I could work ahead. I learned I could even test ahead if I'm prepared. And I just may do that because who knows when life is going to show up again! Listen in to hear how my family has handled the transition! 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!

520 - Tax Organization & Deductions
I am not a CPA and neither am I on my way to becoming one…but I have learned so much about how to get organized for optimal results when it comes to doing or getting your taxes done. And I'd love to share some ideas on how to organize the paperwork you need for your taxes and make the tax season easier for you. Whether you do your taxes yourself or have someone do them for you - it is in your best interest to have organized documentation. Documentation is key! The Organize 365® Income and Expense Binder holds all your substantiating documentation for your business. Did you know you need 7 years of substantiating documentation? Now there is a way to effortlessly keep track of everything. This binder will give you peace of mind at tax time. EPISODE RESOURCES: Free Organize 365® Tax Organizer Worksheet Organize 365® Income and Expense Binder Green Slash Pockets Mimi's Cookie Recipe (as mentioned in the mailbag) 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!

Transformation with Rosa E.
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share their challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! I have spoken about life events and how they derail us from time to time. Rosa E. came to the paper workshop and was energized to get her home organized. Little did she know that shortly thereafter her mother would be moving in with her permanently. A life event was about to derail her. Now that her mother has moved in, her family is finding a new normal. I offered some ways she could spend some special and intentional time with her mother. I speculate that this model of multigenerational homes may become popular due to the economy and all the demands on two parents in the workforce. I also shared how this works in my house with Abby and Grayson living there. Each family's space is considered mini condos or apartments. And I teach this starting in the Organize 365® Kids Program. It's easier to divide common spaces up and identify personal spaces. Everyone needs a "safe space" to decompress and do what they want to do without answering to anyone. I also pointed out that we all like the Sunday Basket® because it speaks to us, we're all just 12 year olds at heart. And now she's implementing a Sunday Basket® for her mother too. To top it all off, Rosa is also starting a new career. She's home organizing and The Paper Solution® Certified. She has been using the Friday Workbox® as her partner in success as she's starting her business. She attributes the Friday Workbox® to helping her schedule her week, think ahead to marketing and networking, and grow her organizational business in Arizona. EPISODE RESOURCES: Organize 365® Paper Organizing Retreats The Paper Solution® Certification The Business Friday Workbox® The Sunday Basket® I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

519 - Organizing my PhD journey Part 1
I just experienced a Golden Window and I want to share with you how I got organized to embark on my back-to-school journey! When I shared with you all that I'm going back to school to earn a PhD, I got a lot of suggestions. So many amazing suggestions that I literally started a pink slash pocket so I wouldn't lose any of these valuable ideas. And, of course, I want to share everything with you. Here's why - this journey is super helpful if you are also going back to school (whether you're working towards a PhD or a different degree). And it's also helpful to apply my journey and my experiences to any and all of life's changes. The type of organizing I'm doing to get ready for my PhD experience is no different than the type of organizing and preparation I would recommend for any life change or transition - having a baby, moving, starting a new job, getting ready to retire, getting ready to welcome grandchildren. When you are getting ready to make a change (especially one that will impact your daily schedules and routines) it's important to look around your home and at your organizational systems to make them as functional, organized and efficient as possible for what life is going to look like for the foreseeable future. This is a whole new life transition. Remember recently when I explained the difference between Ready…Set…Go? I have completed all household projects, put systems in place, reorganized my schedule, and I am in "Go" mode. This has been a major transition for me and I really evaluated how I spend my time, my habits, my routines, and looked for 30 hours I could devote to my post-baccalaureate first, and then my PhD. I will be taking you all on this journey with me. I could not be more excited and in four short years I will have earned my General PhD in Psychology from Fielding University! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Happy Doc Student Podcast How to PhD Podcast The PhD Life Raft Podcast PhD Pending A PhD Rollercoaster: A Diary of Ups and Downs of Being a Doctoral Student Stay connected with me and see behind the scenes on Instagram. 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!

Transformation with Kristen K.
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share their challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! Kristen K. had a demanding full time job and a demanding two year old. When she "broke", she found herself searching for productivity podcasts. Lucky me, Organize 365® came up and Kristen was listening so she could gain control over her boxes of mail. Kristen was taking vacation days just to address these boxes of mail; and she knew there had to be a more productive way. Paper can easily get the better of anyone. After listening to multiple episodes, she knew the next step was the Sunday Basket. You guys, she still has her original Sunday Basket and uses it faithfully! She's even gone further to become a certified organizer so she can help others. She knows the struggle and doesn't want others to go through the same struggle. Kristen made an interesting side comment during this episode. She said, "I mean I had to do it, I knew my husband wasn't going to help." Too often we think our family is going to join us in this organization endeavor. No, they may not - and that's ok. You have to go into it knowing this is a "you" thing. We also discussed productivity vs. priority! Being productive is NOT prioritizing your tasks. Pick your priority, and that priority is ONE. You can prioritize ONE section of your life or ONE room in your house. We go over all the ins and outs of this topic in the episode. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution™ The Paper Solution® Certification I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

518 - The Lisa Glossary Part 13: Defining Executive Functions in the Home & ADHD
Is it possible? Can you put enough systems in place to correct or manage ADHD? After diving into ADHD and running all the tests, the ADHD expert was convinced I did not have ADHD. However, when we took a deeper dive into my childhood and who I was before Organize 365®; it was a clear picture of a person with ADHD. The expert explained that all the systems I have put in place, combined with hiring out the tasks that I struggle with…I have masked the fact that I have ADHD! I didn't always believe in an ADHD diagnosis. When I was young and thought I knew everything, I was convinced children just needed a little more discipline and manners. Some children just had a lot of energy is how I explained it. But then I had one student who put me in my place. I thought it was crazy for mom and dad to try medication for the little girl during the VERY last week of school. But much to my surprise; she was a very bright student and the medication helped ADHD get out of her way! I realized I knew nothing about anything. Isn't it funny how the more you know, the more you realize that you know very little? Once we adopted children, I loved to play preschool with them. It wasn't until a routine doctor visit that it was brought to my attention that I would be raising a child with ADHD. At this point, I craved information to help my children to succeed. I was lucky enough to attend seminars in Cincinnati with all the best doctors and learn about ADHD! Now I'm embarking on my PhD journey, where I'll be focusing on the brain and the eight executive functions. That's right! I'm a lifelong learner and am confident that I have the systems in place that I need to be organized and succeed. It has come full circle – and I'm here to share it with all of you! EPISODE RESOURCES: ADHD Resources Page ADHD Online 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!

481 - The Lisa Glossary Part 12: Swiss Cheese Organizing - Organize 365® Research Findings
What does it mean to be organized? How do you know when you're done organizing? No one has ever officially defined "organized." I decided I would define it. We started by conducting academic-level research using our surveys. You can read more about Organize 365® Research and the finding on our Research page. For most Americans, organization happens as Swiss cheese organizing. You're a little organized here and a little organized there. You can't confidently say, "I AM organized," because you think that being organized means perfection while not being organized is hoarding. You don't have language for what happens in the middle of these two! We need to consider the idea of done rather than perfect. In this episode, I share many statistics and findings from our research, which is all leading us to change the way we present and teach the material in The Productive Home Solution™. If you just get through the first 42 days of the 100 Day Home Organization Program, you will have 80% of the spaces you use on a daily basis organized. You CAN call yourself organized. But many of you don't FEEL organized. It doesn't fully check off any single category of organizing as complete for you. It just marks a couple more spaces in your Swiss cheese organizing. I want to see you get to the point where you can say that you are personally organized or storage organized or paper organized, etc. You get to pick and choose which areas you want to tackle and master and declare organized in your life. Coming in the fall in The Productive Home Solution™, you will be able to pick an area, focus on it for 5 or 6 weeks, and then declare that area of your life organized. You'll work in baby steps to mark a full area as done so you can move on to the next area you want to organize. But what does it mean to be organized? Both men and women declare their home organized when… You'll have to listen in to find out the answer! Learn more about and join The Productive Home Solution™ here. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

468 - The Lisa Glossary Part 11: Organize 365® Research
For 2022, we are adding to the Lisa glossary. This week, we are talking about the Organize 365® Research projects. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the ideas and beliefs that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing. Several years ago, as I was writing the Organize 365® vision, I knew that I wanted to conduct research to bring to light the organizational needs of Americans. I want to be the go-to resource for knowledge about home and paper organization. I legitimately had no idea how to do research surveys and data analysis. Recently, I have been learning about the difference between market research and academic research. Organize 365® is now sponsoring academic-level study and third-party data collection backed by Harrisburg University. Research always starts with a hypothesis — what you think the result will be. I wanted research results that showed that women are doing the majority of the work at home. But, that's now what we found. We have started to share our initial research findings. As I learn more about research, we really end up with more questions. One of the steps in research is to define every term used in study surveys. For example, you cannot ask a participant about "mental health" because that term is too broad and open to interpretation. However, you can ask about anxiety or depression. When we developed the first survey, I needed to figure out how to define "housework." The research questions ended up focusing on four different types of housework. Cleaning - Cleaning is related to the dwelling and covers any task a cleaning company would do. Learn more back in Podcast 422. Tasks of Daily Living - These are tasks related to the person regardless of where they live. These are the tasks defined by Social Security Disability and include things like preparing food, consuming food, running errands, planning meals, and washing laundry. Learn more back in Podcast 424. Maintenance - is an optional housework activity where the property owner makes an additional infusion of money into their investment (property) to maintain and improve their property. In the long run, maintenance expenses increase the value of the initial investment. Learn more back in Podcast 428. Organizing - is an optional housework activity where a person makes an investment of current time for a future return of time. This is completely optional and customizable. Time spent today organizing results in an exponential time in the future. Often this involves setting up systems of organization and can be applied to renters and owners. Learn more back in Podcast 426. Literature Review As part of academic research, researchers look at other studies done on similar topics. The Organize 365® review looked at the role of women in the 21st century home. As I mentioned above, I thought women were doing all of the housework. It turns out that everyone thinks they are doing the majority of the work at home. There is so much work to be done. Defining housework and recognizing these four areas makes housework feel overwhelming and never-ending. As women become more effective at articulating their role in housework, families will be able to better understand how much work is being done and proactively decide if the work should continue to be done at all. Our next study survey has been completed and we are busy analyzing the results. Learn more back in Podcast 430. #myextra5 The Sunday Basket® consistently saves people at least five hours a week by getting organized and being proactive. Through organization, you get extra time, and we all need more time. Follow or tag Organize365® on Instagram and share how you are spending your extra time once you get organized! — #myextra5 This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

467 - The Lisa Glossary Part 10: Organize 365® Binders
For 2022, we are adding to the Lisa glossary. This week, we are talking about ditching the file cabinet and establishing essential household binders. I also want to be your teacher to help you get your home and work paper organized and functional. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the ideas and beliefs that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing. As a professional organizer, I used to teach people how to build (and hopefully maintain) a color-coded file cabinet at home. But, in 2017, I had a sickening revelation that what I was teaching was not working. In a short time, I heard from two audience members who needed to emergently evacuate. No matter how organized their files were, their paper was not portable. I am a functional organizer, and I learned that our paper needs to be portable and limited to a reasonable amount of space. It was time to ditch the file cabinets and organize reference papers into essential household binders. File cabinets are typically not well-maintained and they are certainly not portable. America needs a better solution for reference paperwork. After some ongoing analysis, I realized that household paper generally fits into four categories. I look at my own life experience caring for my ill father and settling his estate. I look at my life as a homeowner. I thought about all of the information it took to keep my household organized and my family functioning. There were no ready-made systems for being a caregiver and executor when my father passed away. I have worked with the members of the team who have gone through similar life challenges to try and make our binders as broad and effective as possible. But, because they are binders, they can also be adapted to handle any life situation you encounter. I created a reference binder for each of the four areas of essential household paperwork. Tax forms and kid's memories live outside of this system, but everything else that needs to be saved can typically be fit into one of the four essential binders. The Four Essential Household Binders Organize 365® sells physical binders to help with your household paper organization. The contents for each binder are also detailed in The Paper Solution book. However, our physical binders have multiple pages of worksheets that help get the information from the many places it lives organized into one location. Setting up the binders will make your life more organized and easier. But, it is also a gift for your family. If anyone else ever needs to take over any portion of your #adulting, they will have what they need at their fingertips. Financial Organizing Binder This binder details your current and future financial information. It includes retirement accounts, vehicles, insurance, home inventory, estate planning, and funeral plans. This binder was originally designed for someone to be able to take over your financial life and close your estate. It can help with tracking bills, setting a house, or cancelling a lease. I estimate that in order to have a comprehensive financial binder, you will get 30% from your file cabinet, 30-40% digital information, and 30-40% in your memory or on random papers in your home. Medical Reference Binder This binder is designed to be used mainly by a caregiver. You can set one up if you are caring for someone else, or you can set one up to make it easier for a friend or family member to care for you. Although medical records are electronic, they are siloed in each medical practice. Many of the software systems do not effectively share information. Pharmacy, doctors, dentists, specialists, and insurance companies all have their own record systems in America. I estimate that 5-10% of this information lives in your file cabinet right now. 40-50% is online in some kind of medical record system. The other 40-55% is not recorded anywhere (yet!). Your medical binder is also a perfect place to keep a list of questions for your next appointment, write down observations, record behavior changes, and communicate with other caregivers. This binder has a comprehensive workbook that includes a health history, childhood milestone tracker, symptom recorder, and place to record what you have already attempted. Life is short and the unexpected happens. We will either need caregivers or be caregivers. Having a portable, concise medical reference binder will help you to get the best care. Household Reference Binder This binder is the one I use most frequently. It is designed for people who are homeowners but can be used if you rent too. This binder is designed to have all the reference information you would keep organized if your house was a person. If you were selling your house tomorrow, you could hand over the binder to the new owners. The binder contains home improvement information, paint colors, appliance informa

466 - The Lisa Glossary Part 9: The Paper Solution
For 2022, we are adding to the Lisa glossary. This week, we are talking about The Paper Solution. In 2020, I published a book called The Paper Solution. I also want to be your teacher to help you get your home and work paper organized and functional. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the ideas and beliefs that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing. Paper is my thing. I love writing on paper, I love organizing paper, I love everything about paper. But, as a professional organizer, I realized there is very little information available about how to organize paper, the categories of paper we deal with in our lives, and how to actually use paper in everyday life. Less Paper, not Paperless. Although we have been promised a "paperless" society, the reality is that the US is a paper-based society. We are able to handle more things digitally than ever before, but we still need physical paper for many things in life. In America, our vaccine cards, birth certificates, vehicle titles, and medical records are all physical paper. Other parts of the world have digital systems for these things, but because of the uniqueness of our government and our focus on freedoms, we do not have universal, digital records for these things. In my own life, physical paper has saved me over and over. Paper means that I can avoid expensive professional fees, and it gives me authority with lawyers, doctors, and school principles. In America, paper is the way I (and you) can substantiate claims and provide proof of what you know. Paper is useful in settling estates, advocating for children during IEP meetings, and for communicating vital health information during a medical emergency. The Paper Solution The Sunday Basket® is the foundation of an organized home. The Sunday Basket® starts as a physical basket that holds actionable papers. But, really, it is so much more. It is a weekly habit of processing and looking proactively at the upcoming week that keeps the household running more smoothly. In 2020, I published The Paper Solution as a physical book. It is written to change your mindset about papers, and to give you the practical tools to get your household papers organized. The Big Purge As a professional organizer working in people's homes, I saw over and over that file cabinets allow us to save much more paper than we ever in. Surprisingly, most Americans can get rid of 80% of their filed papers and will never need them again. You can declutter your papers in as little as 15 minutes a day. Take a few file folders out and review them. Make piles for papers to recycle, shred, and save. Put the "save" papers back in the file cabinet. If you have ever taken care of a loved one's papers, you know how vital it is to have important papers organized and easy to find. Take care of the people you love by clearing out all the old papers that no longer need to be stored or saved. Types of Paper - Actionable and Reference Of the papers that should be kept, there are two main categories. Actionable papers are papers that require you to take some action — bills to pay, grocery lists to buy, or a note to book that vacation hotel. Reference papers are all of the other papers we save — bank account numbers, retirement statements, wedding cards, and love letters. These we may look at again sometime in the future, but they mostly need to be kept safe. Ditch the File Cabinet After years of helping people get their files color-coded and organized in a file cabinet, I had several clients who were facing emergency evacuations. The reality was that they did not have time to pull out important documents during their emergency. That is when I realized that our reference papers need to be portable and there must be a constraint on how much paper we keep. It's not realistic to load up an entire file cabinet when trying to get away from a forest fire or a hurricane. For several years, I have been teaching people to ditch the file cabinet and replace it with several essential reference binders. (More on this in the next podcast). Certified Organizers America is going to need a team of trained professionals who understand the skill of organizing to teach it to others. The Organize 365® system offers different levels of assistance for learners depending on their personal needs. Certified Organizers are trained by Organize 365® to provide 1:1 or small group coaching, assistance, and support. I want you to have what you need to get organized and to be successful. We all need to have our paperwork organized. You can do it now, or you can do it after an emergency. It is a blessing to do it now — it is a gift to yourself and those who love you. Organize 365® offers The Paper Solution for any type of paper you have. Actionable, household, reference, or work. Learn more at organize365.com! This episode

340 - The Lisa Glossary Part 8: Special Circumstances that Impact Your Organization
See the full blog post at organize365.com/special-circumstances-organize-365-story-part8 This is part eight of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about some special circumstances that impact your organizational journey. As always, I start with helping you to get the right mindset about home organization. I want to give you the ability to look at your life circumstances and understand the ways in which they are impacting your organization. Getting your thoughts and mindset ordered is vital to ordering your physical spaces. I want to share with you some life circumstances and talk about how they affect your thinking and your organizing work. This week, I want to share some special circumstances you may face in order to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I special circumstances and their impact on organization. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization in order to progress along your transformational journey. See all eight parts of this series at organize365.com/glossary This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

339 - The Lisa Glossary Part 7: Redefining the Meaning of "Work"
See the show notes at organize365.com/redefining-work-organize-365-story-part7 This is part seven of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about how you define "work." As always, I want to share my mindset and thinking with you. I also want to share how owning a home or running a household can also be your work. In this podcast, I also share many of the words I use surrounding the concept of work that help me to be more efficient, productive, and effective. This week, I want to share my perspectives on work to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about work. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

338 - The Lisa Glossary Part 6: Redefining How We Look at Time
See the blog post at organize365.com/redefining-time-organize-365-story-part6 This is part six of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about how you look at time affects your organization and productivity. As always, I focus on helping you get the right mindset about how you spend your time. Time is the most abstract concept that will have the longest impact on how you spend the rest of your life. I want to share with you some of the ways you can change your mindset and how I think about time has changed over time and has helped me to grow in productivity. This week, I want to share my perspectives on time to help the Organize 365 community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about time. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

337 - The Lisa Glossary Part 5: Home Organization Perspective
See the full blog post at: organize365.com/home-organization-perspective-organize-365-story-part5 This is part five of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. I want to talk with you about getting your home organized. As always, I start with helping you to get the right mindset about home organization. I want to give you the ability to figure out how to organize your home for yourself. Getting your thoughts and mindset ordered is much more effective than ordering your physical spaces. I want to share with you some of the ways you can change your mindset and the way you name the spaces in your home. This week, I want to share my home organization perspectives to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about how we get our homes organized. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

336 - The Lisa Glossary Part 4: Renaming Everyday Home Spaces for Modern Life
See the full blog post at: organize365.com/renaming-home-spaces-organize-365-story-part4 This is part four of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. This week, I want to share how you rename the spaces in your home to make them more functional as part of your transformational journey to an organized life. I define and explain things like a hot mess room and a drink station. I share how the names you give different spaces in your home can dramatically affect how you think about them. This podcast and our new glossary will help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about different ways I organize homes to make them functional. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

335 - The Lisa Glossary Part 3: From Overwhelm to a Plan
See the full blog post at: overwhelm-to-plan-organize-365-story-part3 This is part three of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. This week, I want to talk with you about what happens as we move from one phase to the next. Typically, we get overwhelmed, feel like we are living in chaos, and struggle to have a plan. We struggle to keep pace with the new change while we are trying to learn a new level of organization, and the transition takes longer than we expect. As things get moving faster and you begin to feel overwhelmed, the way to regain clarity and be able to adjust from being reactive to productivity is the Sunday Basket®. This week, I want to share the details of the Sunday Basket® to help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about how I think about how we get our homes organized. These ideas are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing and will help you take those first steps towards learning the skills of organization. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

334 - The Lisa Glossary Part 2: Discovering Cycles & Seasons of Organizing
Check out the blog post at organize365.com/cycles-seasons-organize-365-story-part2 This is part two of a series sharing the Organize 365® Story. This week, I want to share the cycles and seasons you will experience along your transformational journey to an organized life. This podcast and our new glossary will help the Organize 365® community to have a shared vocabulary and foundational language. No matter when you begin your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. Listen in as I teach you about the cycles and seasons that influence your organizing journey and that are at the core of everything I teach and how I approach organizing. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.

333 - The Lisa Glossary Part 1: Organizing Foundation
Check out the blog post and more details here: organize365.com/organizing-foundation-organize-365-story-part1 This week on the blog, I am starting a series sharing the foundation of Organize 365®. I share the five foundational principles that are the bedrock of everything I teach inside of Organize 365®. I want to ensure that we have a common vocabulary and you know what the foundational principles are. No matter when you being your transformational journey (or when you need to reset or restart), this information will be here as a reference for you. This episode is a part of the Organize 365® Glossary Playlist. Listen to other episodes on the Glossary Playlist here.
Bonus - Organization is for Me in 2023
Has your New Year's energy kicked in yet? It's time to capitalize on that energy! We know you have goals and we have the tools you need to get you there! One of the things that I have learned over the last decade is that life is work. There's unpaid work at home and paid work at work and sometimes there's unpaid work at work and sometimes there's paid work at home. It's all work. In order for me to be the best me I can be I need to plan for both the unpaid and the paid work that is my privilege and responsibility as a contributing member of society. We have heard from many of you that you are trying to decide or pick what your focus will be in 2023 and I say we should just have it all. An organized person unlocks their time, allowing them to pursue what they are uniquely created to do! The start of the new year feels like the turning of a page, a clean slate to make lasting organizational change in our lives - at home and at work. Organization is a learnable skill. One that will take you wherever you want to go. Follow your renewed energy that the new year brings and use it to maximize your progress! Half the battle in learning the skill of organization is deciding what to do next. The "Organization Is For ME 2023" Bundle can make those decisions for you. This bundle will assist you with getting organized and making consistent progress towards your goals at HOME and at WORK. Why can't we have it all? Why can't you be organized with your paid work and your unpaid (but oh so fulfilling) unpaid work? That's why we've put together the Organization is for Me in 2023 Bundle - to help you do just that. You don't have to choose between work and home. This bundle is going to give you the courses and tools you need to excel at both. In this bundle you'll get The Productive Home Solution™ with Planning Day. As well as The Friday Workbox® system with the Goal Planner and Planning Day for your work. Imagine how amazing it will feel to unlock your time in 2023?! How it would feel to come home to an organized house and create a system and routine for managing your work, passion projects or business? This is your YEAR! Be all you can be with the Organization is for Me 2023 Bundle! Episode Resources: Watch the video Organization is for Me 2023 Bundle The Productive Home Solution™

517 - Go!
Last week I shared with you that one of my weaknesses has been overcoming the fact that I usually "ready, fire, aim" as opposed to "ready, set, go." Learning to do the SET step in Ready, Set, Go has been my weakness. What I have found from nearly 11 years of working with the Organize 365® community is that GO is the area that tends to trip you up. Being able to GO - actually getting started or keep moving on your goals and overcome your self-limiting doubt - can paralyze us. I used to be where you are. I used to worry about what others would think of me. Will Greg (my husband) judge me? Can I meet or exceed my own goals? What if I can't do what I want to do? What if I can't live up to my own expectations? What if I invest time or money and fail? The what ifs would paralyze me and keep me from starting. It allowed me to stay stuck. Stuck in my reactive and negative life. I would start a cycle of getting ready and set but never going. Ready, Set, repeat. There was no risk with ready and set. I didn't have to step too far out on a limb or too far out of my comfort zone. Then one day I asked myself - what if everything happened for me? What if everything was easy? What if I did achieve these goals? What if I was able to achieve a bigger impact on my family, community and ultimately the world? And I ask you - What if I had never started Organize 365®? What if I stopped podcasting tomorrow because I worry about looking silly or foolish? What if all of the Organize 365® products went away and were no longer resources to you? How did that make you feel? I don't know what it is that you have to offer the world. I don't know what a more organized life with less stress and more time will do for your family, your community and your work - but I bet it is more than you even realize now. And ultimately the only way we will know is if you GO. If you actually get started. Stop holding onto that branch of self-limiting beliefs and negative what-ifs. It's time to take the next step in your organizing journey - it's time for you to go. What great timing! We are headed into a new year - clear out your house, clear out the cobwebs in your mind. Get ready, set, and let's GOOOOO. I believe in you. You can do this, you have what it takes, and the time is now. Please join me. We are going to do this together. If your goal is to reclaim your home and your time - I have the solution for you. The Productive Home Solution™ is a new way of thinking about your space and time! Half of the battle with anything we are ready and set to do is deciding what the next step is (and then the next step after that). Avoid decision fatigue and use The Productive Home Solution™ as your roadmap to guide you through the journey of getting organized. Organization will carry you through so many of your goals; and was the first step for me getting to where I am today. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Productive Home Solution™ Organize 365® Year End Bundle The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day - December 31, 2022 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!

The Process of Organizing your Storage Space with Michelle Paradice
Meet Michelle. She's the voice behind the mailbag introductions on the podcast and the Customer Service Team lead here at Organize 365®. Michelle is SO loved by the Organize 365® team and customers! She got quite the surprise when I asked if I could come and organize her storage area and video it for The Productive Home Solution™! You guys…my home is already SO organized, including my storage area. I've already shown everyone in The Productive Home Solution™ my storage area too many times. It was time for me to tackle someone else's storage room. The progress we made in ONE DAY may seem unbelievable; but it is all very doable when you know the order of the tasks you need to complete to get organized! Michelle picked me up at the airport and we got to work. Thank goodness we had a dumpster. We started by focusing on what could go in that dumpster. We were able to tackle a tucked away storage area with old shelving and her garage. Michelle, who described the experience as "humbling", almost had us pass on that tucked away storage area. But looking back, that was the most rewarding space to get organized. We really forced Michelle to focus on what we could get rid of first by repeatedly saying "You have the dumpster, we are here, what can go?". Then we focused on cleaning and reloading the storage area by zones. Michelle said it felt like a 40 year old weight had been lifted off her shoulders at the end of the day. Her mom (who also lives in the home) was so pleased at what we accomplished in one day. When you listen to this episode, I want you to be inspired and know that you too can learn how to get an organized storage area and then go do it. Once you have it organized properly, it should stay organized for a very long time…if not forever. EPISODE RESOURCES: Limited Time - watch the video of Lisa Organizing Michelle's Storage Room (only available through 12/31/22). Shelving Units Bins The Productive Home Solution™ 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!

516- Set...
In part two of this three part Ready, Set, Go series, we are going to discuss the middle child of the Ready, Set, Go family - SET. What does it mean to get SET and to be SET? The running joke for visionary entrepreneurs like myself is the quote, "Ready, Fire, Aim!" And boy have I lived that quote in the past! At first, in my 20s, it was because I didn't know what I was doing - at home, at work, or as a parent. I learned the hard way - every time! But later in my 30s, it wasn't really my fault anymore. There wasn't enough time to prepare or aim. Life was moving so fast that I was missing important things while running at Mach 1 speed! It wasn't my fault. And it's not yours either. The last time we had "preparation time" in our calendars was in grade school where our teachers carefully planned our assignments and workload so we had time to complete things. By the time high school arrived: extra-curricular activities, part-time jobs and sleep filled in all the cracks and then some. No one has enough time. And no one is going to give us more time. #truth Work colleagues, parents, children, partners, neighbors and friends all want our time. Some demand, some plead, some expect it without question. And we give it…gladly, lovingly, freely. We get up earlier, stay up later, eliminate hobbies and rearrange our days. Eve Rodsky compares our time this way, "Men's time is worth diamonds, and women's time is like sand." Ouch. You can't unhear that. But, it's true for me. Greg has a golf night. He goes on fishing and golf trips. I haven't had a hobby night or gone on a trip with friends since having children (22 years ago)! After work, Greg makes dinner and then watches TV. Now, I do the dishes (sometimes), take a bath and do a puzzle. But I feel weird about it. Until a few years ago, my after-work activities involved driving kids, cleaning the kitchen, laundry, straightening up, etc. until I felt it was an acceptable time for me to stop "working" and take my bath. When are we going to give ourselves the permission to take back a little of our time? Last week we talked about being ready. The truth is you and I are OVER ready. We have been for decades. But we don't make the plan and run the race to a different end. Why is this? SET is all about saying your time is not more important, but AS important as everyone else's. For me, in this season, it means I am going to start my Ph.D program and travel - A LOT. For work, for pleasure, and for me. Let me be clear. My family is not happy about it. They intellectually support it, but in words and actions, they are not pleased with the change. Am I being selfish? Maybe. Would I want it for every single one of them? Absolutely! When one of my family members wants to…further their education, move out, have a baby, take a trip, find a new doctor, pursue a new passion…I facilitate the how, when, where, and payments. I am happy for the sacrifices of time and self-focus I have devoted to my family over the last 25 years, and for the ability to grow Organize 365® around my family. But now I want to pour more of my time and talent into my unique gifting. So, how do we get SET to do the things we want and need to do in life? We know how to help others in our lives get set. We set our kids up for school, set-up their school supplies, bookbags, dorm rooms, etc. We set our partners up for their endeavors and trips. We know how to get set-up; we just don't often look at doing it for ourselves the way we do for others. How do we SET ourselves up for success? Getting SET comes after getting ready because when you are getting SET you are already ready. You are doing the final steps before you GO (more on that next week). What do you need to GO? Get that together now. How can you get SET for a productive and proactive new year? If your goal is to reclaim your home and your time - I have the solution for you. The Productive Home Solution™ is a new way of thinking about your space and time! Half of the battle with anything we are ready and set to do is deciding what the next step is (and then the next step after that). Avoid decision fatigue and use The Productive Home Solution™ as your roadmap to guide you through the journey of getting organized. Organization will carry you through so many of your goals and was the first step for me getting to where I am today. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Productive Home Solution™ Organize 365® Year End Bundle The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day - December 31, 2022 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!

Transformation with Amber N.
On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! Amber N. shared her transformation with me! She's the mom of two children who are a senior in high school and 14 years old, and she has a Greg of her own! Amber had always been inspired to be organized; but at some point life just got in her way. She was no longer organized but desperately wanted to be. Amber had tried other organization systems, including hiring a professional organizer. The funny part is, once she got through some of the Organize 365® resources, she no longer needed that professional organizer to come back in for a "refresh". She had learned the skill of organization and now she can do it on her own! I keep telling you, organization is a learnable skill people! Amber had to come to terms with what "being organized" actually means. Did it mean mimicking the pictures from Pinterest; or was it more important for it to be done? Picture vs. Reality. Cute vs. Organized. We put so much pressure on ourselves to give our children these picture perfect parties or bedrooms. Honestly, our kids aren't on social media and do not see the pictures we see. They are not on Pinterest. They are not looking for these tiny details. They are just happy to spend time with us, and to celebrate their birthday. Give yourself some grace. Amber had to start with baby steps…but ultimately she ended in a sprint. She started with her mail and the Sunday Basket® despite all the paper in her house. She was so excited with the results that she wanted more and wanted it more quickly. Now she's The Paper Solution Certified and can help people on their own organizational journeys! I encourage everyone to evaluate what your energy level is during each season, and what area you want to focus on - such as the house, school & work, or maybe it's being a more intentional mom. Then set the expectation at the beginning that 'something is better than nothing' when it comes to getting organized. Amber has learned so much from Organize 365®. Her major takeaway is to extend herself grace. Her other biggest takeaways are: If you put a process in place, you can move through it Good is good enough and focus on macro not micro Don't get bogged down Now that she is organized, she has time to spend with her family and on her business too. She also has more money because she isn't paying late fees and more grace that she gives to herself! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® Certification I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!