Podcasts about friday workbox

I'm sticking with answering your questions about the invisible work we do. And today is all about the Sunday Basket®. I didn't yet have a name for it. But I'll never forget the sense of accomplishment from the first time I tried my idea out that became the Sunday Basket®. In 2012, Joey went down for his normal 20 min nap, and I, Lisa Woodruff, actually got a few calls made and checked a few things off my list. The more I did it the more I realized this was something all household managers needed. And now I had a plan to get control of my to do's and paper.  Organization is a learnable skill. Delayed gratification = Productivity The Sunday Basket® is a box on your kitchen counter to “collect all”. On Sunday, you make decisions. One person asked “How do you know what to do first?” Reality check: you are not going to get all your to-do's done. We are all overcommitted. When I go through my Sunday Basket®, it's really a process of elimination; what is the least I can get away with doing.  When you only take care of the things necessary, you free up time for you. And this is why we use note cards! You don't need to do the busy work of rewriting your to-do list, you just decide if each thing on each note card needs to be done by next Sunday or not and you put it right back in it's slash pocket if not.  One person noted they spend all their time going through slash pockets and recreating their to-do list. I remember being worried, “What was I going to do when I completed my Sunday Basket®?” It's important to know what you are freeing up time to do. How would you feel actually completing one of those tasks each week? Then two each week? Then what's that big reward? Will you get more time with your family? Continue your education? Plan what you will do with all that extra time.  Sunday Basket® for now and later A Sunday Basket® can be utilized in many ways. I answered one question about using it for finances. You can have a whole Sunday Basket for finances where you track and plan your 401K, Investments, and projects or large ticket items that you are planning to purchase. I use my household manager one for monthly tasks including bills. I have a separate one for larger financial planning. Another person inquired about all the tips she's saved and if putting them in her Sunday Basket® was a good idea. If it's tips or instructions for something difficult to find each time you need to do it, print it off and place them in your Household Operations Binder. And/Or, you could have a whole Sunday Basket® devoted to projects, book tours, getting your PhD, recipes, and life hacks for “someday.” I recommend pink because that's the color for you, the future, and dreaming. The Sunday Basket® is a great place to store ideas and you will know where to find them later.  Then when you have the time from only doing necessary tasks, you have time for something that doesn't need to be done but that you have been wanting to do. We have the Sunday Basket® for your household manager role. And there is the Friday Workbox for work. They both help in similar manners but the slash pockets have slightly different functions. We offer bundles to help you make the most out of you purchase to maximize your organization and productivity results.  If you really don't know where to start, you won't break customer service's heart to call and they'll shop with you. They love to hear what you are working on and suggest the perfect products for you and the phase of life you are in.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Yesssss, announcing Customer Appreciation Days!! This Thursday through Monday at midnight. Boy do I have some great deals for you. If you have had your eye on a product for a while now is your time to get it at 15% off.  Also, there will be daily deals too! There are videos each day to keep you in the loop of everything Organize 365®. Thursdays deals are geared towards all the new products and “while they last” products. If you feel like you have a handle on your home and work, this is the day for you.  Friday is going to feature additional deals on the Friday Workbox and coincidentally, it's also the Live Friday Workbox Planning Day. I'd take a look at the All in Work bundle, the Productivity Pack, and the meeting agenda course.  Saturday is focused on all of the invisible and visible work that we do in our homes. If you've been wanting to really dive into your home now is your chance to get The Complete Home Organization Bundle, The Paper Solution, The Productive Home Solution, and more at a discount.  I appreciate you guys!! Sunday is of course all about the Sunday Basket®!  If you are new to Organize 365® this is a great starting place for anyone to get organized.   Monday is your last chance to place your order - don't miss out on these crazy deals.  Go print off the workbook so you can see all the products, so you can figure out what is going to be best for your summer transformation for what you want to do for organizing your home and paper and your life in the fall. EPISODE RESOURCES: Customer Appreciation You Tube Videos CustomerService@organize365.com Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media.

PLANNING…it's the one thing that you can control in these unsettling times. Planning Days are now 20% OFF! The best part is, when you sign up for the subscription, that price is locked in for future planning days. Planning will help you to make better choices and establish routines and new habits. Routines and habits take a little more time to become second nature. Routines and habits change your character of who you are over time through intention and discipline. That's what we do in Planning Day.  There are three types that Organize 365® offers; Home, Friday Workbox® and now the little sister…Teacher Planning Day.  Planning days help you to look at your time and plan ahead for the next 120 days for the Home or 90 days for Work. You will establish routines that will lead to habits that end up freeing up your cognitive load. You will look at how you are currently spending your time and think about how you want to spend your time. Each planning day comes with a workbook to work through what your next 120 or 90 will look like.  You all may be familiar with Home and Work Planning Days but I want to share with you a little bit about what to expect in the Teacher Planning Day.  You will look at the personal development goals you have for yourself, not the ones given to you by your administrator.  You'll look at theme days, your planning time, and how to be productive.  I'll go over the Teacher Workbox with you and we'll talk about the pink slash pockets and what you want to do for personal development or ideas for your classroom. The purple slash pockets used for 3-5 projects you want to complete. With the blue slash pocket you'll think about a communication goal, your team, and maybe a goal you all set together. And then the green slash pocket, I'll explain how to use it for administrative tasks and your checklists.  OOOPS…we made a mistake and I have decided to roll with it. I know how planning will help you to feel in control in a time when you may feel uneasy. So the Complete Home Organization Bundle accidentally got included in this sale. I feel so strongly that planning is what we all need right now so I'm keeping this on sale too. If you have been interested in the bundle, now is your time to get it. And at this price your planning day is almost free.  You will get the Productive Home Solution® as well as a Sunday Basket®, the Paper Solution, Binders, and the workbooks, check out the link below for full details.  If you wanna be around other go-getters, driven,  and positive people then Planning Day is the day you don't wanna miss. Once the Planning Day has happened pricing will go back up. So take advantage of this deal and get in the driver's seat and get the Planning Day that is right for you!  EPISODE RESOURCES: Home Planning Day Friday Workbox® Planning Day Teacher Planning Day Complete Home Organization Bundle Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media.

This important update is being recorded on April 8th at 3pm. I hope there haven't been too many changes by the time you listen to this episode. There have been so many economic changes and the atmosphere is starting to feel a little uncertain like it did about 5 years ago when Covid reared its ugly head. There are 3 types of responses to what's going on. Those who know too much and they are thinking way too far in the future, those who stick their head in the sand and don't want to know about any of it, and those who know just enough to make positive, proactive, profitable choices for their homes. As a CEO I am in the last category. I'm in preservation mode to preserve Organize 365® and my employees' jobs. I tried to give you different perspectives of what is going on from the overall economy, from a CEO, and as a household manager.  Job Security & The Stock Market There are three things people are worried about right now. Two of them are job security and the stock market. Come to find out federal jobs aren't secure! In 2008/2009, people didn't think it was possible to lose your house. In 2020, people didn't think we could be locked in our homes.  I told you in a previous episode that I don't understand the stock market so I don't have much advice. Greg and I decided long ago to invest in the stock market, Greg takes care of that. Our children are invested in the stock market. And historically the stock market always comes back.  Supply Chain There was never a toiler paper supply issue. We had plenty of toilet paper because it's made here in the U.S. Size was the problem…it was only available in industrial sizes for like schools and stadiums. But where we are going to see supply chain issues will be from items that come from China. We are in an economic war. My recent order from China is going to be tariffed at 121%!!!  That's right! Half of this episode is about sourcing my supplies and how & how it has changed. Due to the tariffs, expect to see fewer choices at come point and quantity available to decrease if it comes from China. I explained a lot about how the tariffs came to be, how they added up, and what they mean for the American supply chain. I offered solutions to keep your household supply chain supple.  How is Organize 365® responding?  As a CEO that looks into the future, I always have an 18 month to 2 year supply of physical products. Organize 365® isn't going anywhere! We aren't passing the tariff expenses to our customers, we don't have to, as I explained, because of the way I have financially structured Organize 365®. And we aren't ordering from China for now.  I am anticipating working with an American company for our Sunday Baskets® in addition to other products and may continue to work with them once this whole thing blows over. I speculate it will be a good 18 months till our economy stabilizes again.  We're running leaner with daily operations. And we're thankful we didn't raise expenses by moving like we wanted or getting the ERP system.  And most of all, always wondering as economics are changing, how can we meet our customers where they are. So, we have decided to offer upcoming planning days for home (5/3) and Friday Workbox® (6/6) and Teacher planning day (7/9) for a 20% discount from $250. You will get the planning prep day, additional videos, the 4 hour planning day live webinar with replay access for 6 weeks, and the workbook. Stop spiraling, think about the root cause of the supply shortage you experienced during Covid, and start planning. The sky is not falling. Planning is the one thing you can do that will give you more time, help you make better decisions, make your money go further, and make you feel like you are in the driver's seat.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Home Planning Day Friday Workbox Planning Day Teacher Planning Day Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Julie D. Julie and her husband have, in their home, a daughter, a son, and Maggie their dog. Julie heard someone talking about the Sunday Basket® and was intrigued and figured she could figure it out. Julie wasn't looking for organization as much as she desired systems. Before the interview, Julie drew out a mind map. She wanted to make sure to share ALL of the products and ways that Organize 365® has benefitted her life. Make sure you catch the episode to hear all the areas that have been impacted in Julie's life.  Julie came from 20 years in the retail space where she used to be in charge of 13 week projects that consisted of resetting a store or setting up new stores. The way the Organize 365® systems break down 90 (for business) and 120 (for home) days, was familiar to Julie. That is how they would organize the resetting of the stores. They'd make a plan and then run that plan for the next chunk of time.  Your home is like a small business right? So your family members we joked are like employees uninterested in the success of your small business. It's harder to get them motivated to keep things organized. We talked about how men from the Boomers generation who witnessed a stay at home mom, AKA the primary parent taking care of the home and children and a dad “bringing home the bacon.”  So their expectations were similar for their families. The systems let her do just that as they'd planned. The kids program has helped her to have them do some of the organizing. She's invested in the kid program to which the kids know a lot of “what Lisa says.”  Julie has thoughtfully implemented all of the Organize 365® systems.  She has multiple Sunday Baskets® and even got her mom and big sister to invest in Sunday Baskets®. She loves spreading the “gospel of Organize 365®.” It was a way for them to do life together till her mother passed away. Of course, she inherited her moms. She feels the Sunday Basket® is so important in her life that when they remodeled her kitchen she had to make sure she knew where she'd be able to put it once it was finished. During the remodel, she had a Sunday Basket® dedicated to the remodel and it was convenient for her and her contractors. It kept the remodel moving along and organized.  Julie's son, John, has level 3 autism and that has added to the demand for systems. She values the Warrior Mama binder to have in DON (determination of needs) meetings. She made a point to put a picture of John as a baby on the front to remind administrators and physicians in the meetings that her son is a person and he has come a long way. She's got a Friday Workbox® for her daughter in regards to Julie being leader of the parent council (Canadian speak for the PTO), being the pizza mom, girl guide leader, and as the registrar for speed skating. Once she realized she wasn't going to continue being the leader of the parent council, she could see taking off that train car gave her more capacity for something else. She's got a financial binder for each kid to keep track of receipts and medical visits. And John throws her plenty of challenges too, but, she has peace of mind that she's basically created playbooks for everything so when the wheels start to look like they may fall off she knows how to prevent it and get back to smooth sailing.  Julie often wonders how 20 year old Julie would have benefited from the Organize 365® products and systems. She was in a chaotic period of time and wonders how things would be different. What's different now? Julie has more peace of mind and capacity to prioritize her crafts. She's able to “do more projects that make me feel like me.” This is one line item in the budget that will not go away.  Julie's advice is, “Do a blitz. Then it's not a huge commitment to some ongoing system you have to learn.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® The Productive Home Solution® Household Manager 21 Day Bootcamp Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Happy 7th Birthday to the Sunday Basket®, let's all break out in song. Just kidding…I am so excited to tell you the Paper Organization Certification course is 20% off till April 1st. Once you have finished the certification and get your license, you can charge for your services and receive 30% commission on products you sell.   Once upon a time I was a very frustrated mama. Joey was only 6 months old and Abby was 2. Lil Joey didn't like to nap very long and I had a pile of actionable papers but no time to go through them much less accomplish anything. One night the Sunday Basket® was born. I knew the more planned, organized, and efficient with my time I could multiply the amount of tasks I could conquer. Links below to hear the evolution of the Sunday Basket®. Once the Sunday Basket® took off and people were implementing it in their lives they were longing for more training. So I started to offer workshops. But I knew in my heart of hearts that with the growth of my company, there would not be enough Lisa one day. That's when the opportunity to become a certified paper organizer started to be offered.  Some people can DIY it and implement it successfully. Some people, like me, prefer 1:1 explanations and don't mind paying for the speed of implementation. And yet others want to be tricked into it with a little get together, snacks, music, and friends. I used to be a part of Creative Memories, a scrapbooking company. I loved our monthly Friday night workshops and envisioned the certified organizers taking a playbook from Creative Memories. We had such rich connections and were really doing life with each other. And with simply learning to ask “Can this wait till Sunday?” you have a safe place to hold all your actionable papers till Sunday and externalize all the things you want to do.  When people come to the paper organizing retreats that are just one day mind you, they walk away with friends. It is a non-judgmental space. It's a safe place to ask questions about the paper you have with you.  Lots of times another attendee has organized the type of  paper in question. And it's through those conversations that friendships are developed.  Depending on the stage of life you are in, it can be really hard to make friends. I think of how my mom and myself have made friends over the years. I have never really been in the phase of life to plan or attend girls nights out. Those Creative Memory workshops were that for me. And the Paper Organizing Retreat or the other in person event may be that for you. 50% of the people attending are usually settling an estate which can be isolating and lonely and sometimes it's their spouses. You can't make friends in the walls of your homes. 5 years after COVID, it's time to get back to in person events. People are in need of people more than ever right now. And it's us, the people and community of Organize 365® that makes it so unique. So if you are interested, you have the heart of a teacher or a friend, and you want to become a Certified Paper Organizer now is your time!!  You will be certified in the Sunday Basket®, and the Financial, Medical, Household Reference, and Household Operation Binders. Once you are certified, you can even add on certifications like The Friday Workbox®, Teacher Workbox, and The Productive Home solution. We need more certified paper organizers! If you want to take it a step further, become a professional organizer; we have a course for that too called POTT START, check it out. If you just need to talk it out or ask more questions please reach out to customer service at customerservice@organize365.com.   EPISODE RESOURCES: The Paper Solution Certification POTT Start for Professional Organizer Certification 521-Lisa's Organization Story 2002 522-Lisa's Organization Story 2007 523-Lisa's Organization Story 2012 524-Lisa's Organization Story 2017 525-Lisa's Organization Story 2022 Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter   Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media.  

In this episode, Lisa J. and I sat down to recap the Small Business Mastermind;  If you remember,  she owns a farm in Australia. Lisa J.'s farm and life has been improved by the products and systems from Organize 365®. When she heard there was an in person opportunity to work with me, she jumped on the opportunity!! Lisa J. was also excited to be in a room with like minded accomplished women but what she didn't expect to walk away with was so much more self confidence in business. I put out a survey asking the attendees what they were hoping to learn. Glad I asked because I was on the wrong track as far as what I had planned to teach. I love learning about other people's businesses and consulting them how to move forward and grow and I wanted to address what they needed. I decided to hop on voxer with everyone and get a better understanding of who they were and their businesses. This also got them talking with their teams and more focused on what they wanted out of the mastermind. Once they arrived, I opened with me introducing them to the group. And then we talked about all the ways I analyze time. It was time for lunch and I needed a break because Imposture's Syndrome was setting in. These were amazing accomplished women. What could I teach them?   Coming back from lunch they introduced themselves to the group and talked about their strengths and weaknesses. I talked about the Kolby Index test. Once they took that and heard them explain themselves, it opened the door for authentic conversations in a safe space, advising each other how to overcome their weaknesses, strengths they saw in each other, and true camaraderie.  That was a huge success but how would I continue to provide value to these women going into day 2? I knew what to do, 12 minutes - one to one with me. I remember from my coaching days that by 8 minutes people would be so overwhelmed with actionable to-do's that they wanted to go start strategizing on ways to implement those ideas. I also knew we needed a couple of minutes to say hi and hug. But then what would everyone do while I was tied up in these one to one's? I had Tanya available for remote work conversations, Steph for Chief of Staff conversations, and Anna was available for information and documentation conversations. They could shop or tour the warehouse and of course check out Joey's car.  Lisa J. said they all agreed that the 12 min one to one's were genius because it gave a deadline as to when the conversation was going to end so you really needed to be prepared going into the coaching session. She said everyone should have been recorded leaving the one to one's because of the confidence they exuded.  One of the biggest benefits was all of the networking all of the attendees got to do during the day and at night. They all stayed at the same hotel, chose to have meals together, and explore the area a little. Due to being connected before the mastermind via the app, they were able to get the backstory of everyone and know what they needed help with. They are now a group of 20 friends doing business together and making connections in business. From our one to one, Lisa J is working on a retreat for farmers where they can work on the transfer of their farm to another owner or a younger generation. Can't wait to catch up later this year. If you too are looking for guidance and a network of like minded business owners, get signed up to attend the next Small Business Mastermind! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Transformation with Lisa J.  Small Business Mastermind Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

You're a business owner - Congratulations!!  In stage 4, there needs to be a mindset shift. You are no longer just doing this little side hustle, you are an entrepreneur! I will never forget when a  friend said to me that I was a home organizer. That was it!! The common thread of all my side hustles was some aspect of home organizing. But I identified as a stay at home mom. However, she was right and that's when my mindset shifted because now my unique talents had an identity. Did you know that 39.1% of all businesses are owned by women? Those women, on average, are 42 and have been in business for 11 years. The most common reasons people start new businesses are to pursue a passion, seeking financial freedom, and to increase flexibility in their life.  Do you do this? Now that your household is counting on this income, you need to get the math straight. The trap a lot of us fall into is still thinking like a W2 employee. Before we got a $2000 paycheck and all of that was for our house. Now, as an entrepreneur, you need to account for your business expenses AND taxes. So if your business had $500 in expenses and you need to save $500 for taxes, all your house really gets is $1000. In stage 4 you may need to evaluate your services or product offerings to make sure you are working smarter not harder. Because you are both the business owner and the admin, it can make it challenging to hit income goals. Entrepreneurs As an entrepreneur, you are officially dedicating time outside of your W2 employment and all your time is no longer for household tasks and leisure.  This can include volunteer/charity work where you are dedicating your time to benefit people outside your home. And the longer you are in this work, the more you will narrow down the services or products you want to offer, keeping the ones with the best money exchanged for your time. That's the beauty of entrepreneurship, flexibility. You also have flexibility in your time.  This can be a double edged sword because since you are likely working from home, all your household tasks are there, begging for your attention.  When you go to your W2 work they don't expect you to clean the bathrooms. But at home… How to Organize Administration and Track Profitability And you may think your business isn't taking that much time. But you probably aren't tracking how long it takes for your administration tasks. Just like in your home, you use the Sunday Basket® to get it all done, you need a Friday Workbox® at work to get everything done. You are wearing a lot of hats in your business now. There are 4 types of work I teach you about in the Friday Workbox® and they are color coded.  The pink slash pockets are a safe place for ideas you have for the business, future products or services, and personal development you'd like to consider. The purple slash pockets are for projects with deadlines or products that are making money. With all of your paid work is plenty of invisible unpaid work too. And all of those tasks fall into administrative work which is in green slash pockets. Administrative work is bookkeeping, invoicing, emails, leads, tracking expenses, monthly P&L, and more. And blue is for the team we will talk about in stage 5. In stage 4, it's time to legitimize your business by organizing all of your tasks and creating an LLC. Administration is the key in stage 4. You need systems in place to free up capacity to be more productive and profitable.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Paper Solution® The Productive Home Solution Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

You know how you hear people, on the Wednesday Transformation episodes, say to just get the Sunday Basket® instead of DIY? Yes, it's because of the mindset that comes with the purchase. The basket is simply the school supply. And it's the same for the Friday Workbox®.  You may be thinking you have the Sunday Basket® and it's the same as the Friday Workbox®, right? Wrong. With the Friday Workbox® the slash pockets mean something different, you get access to the online dashboard and course for the Friday Workbox®, and the co-working time every Friday much like the Sunday Basket® Club on Sundays. The Friday Workbox® will help you, the lifeblood of your business, explore personal development and the dreams you have for your business. It helps you to treat your team like the royalty they are and to be loyal to your customers and create ways to surprise and delight them. And most importantly it helps you to see that you are in fact profitable every month, or not, and then there's time for course correction. So here's all the deals I have for you!! Friday Workbox: 50% discount, now just $250!!  You'll get the Friday Workbox®, slash pockets, online dashboard, Friday Co-working time, and the course to teach you how to gain capacity in your business for more, remember life in abundance! Meeting Agenda Course: 50% discount, now just $499!!  It kills me when people say I don't have meetings so I don't need it but wait! Yes, you do! This is for all the details of purple project management in informational form and digital documents. Think of links you need for a project, they wouldn't do you much good on paper in a slash pocket, right? I know, some things just can't fit in a slash pocket! Work All In Bundle: Best Deal!! $750 discount, now just $997!! Are you ready? You get the Friday Workbox®, Work Planning Day, Income and Expense Binder, and the Meeting Agenda Course. Don't wait too long to take advantage of this because it's while supplies last with the Income and Expense Binders and I don't want you to miss out if you have been wanting to get one. Friday Workbox Productivity Pack: 50% discount, now just $90!! You'll get three stand alone Friday Workboxes®; Sapphire, Navy, and Plum. You can do what you want with Sapphire and Navy. I suggest treating them like employees or dedicate them to different businesses that you run. I gave plenty of examples in this episode to get you thinking about what that could look like. The Plum one will come with orange slash pockets for each month and purple slash pockets for the project you do cyclically and extras for new projects. For example, in July, you'd have a purple slash pocket for back to school, paper organizing retreat, and any other projects you have for July. Purple work isn't always new work!  Small Business Mastermind: $2500 Introductory pricing is only until March 10th!! The first session is in March. It will also be offered the first week of June and the first week of September. After this year, this mastermind will no longer be offered.  EPISODE RESOURCES: Friday Workbox Workbox Planning Day Friday Meeting Agenda Course Work All In Bundle Friday Workbox Productivity Pack Small Business Mastermind CustomerService@organize365.com Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media.

Last year, two of our key leaders and I attended a Dave Ramsey Summit. This is how I have gotten some of my best CEO training. I really think about the topics the speaker is bringing up and think of Organize 365® and have I implemented something similar? Have I done that thing? Or maybe is that idea an improvement we should consider? It was great for us to be hearing the same information at the same time and be able to discuss. We even changed our Monday morning meeting a little to catch our staff at a better time of day. And then I thought “Is there anything I need to add to our values?” What is Busy Work? When I thought about staffing and when someone leaves Organize 354®, is there a way to eliminate busy work. Do their job tasks still need to be done or were they busy work? Is there someone else on the team that can do those tasks? It got me thinking of all the busy work teachers do. It's cute to put the little bubbles at the “end” of each stroke of the letters but is it necessary? I'd do it once, then copy the paper the rest of the year, otherwise it would become busy work. Revisiting a closet you've done recently thinking you'll get the same high will let you down because the transformation is not nearly as dramatic. Busy work is that unnecessary re-working of tasks. As long as your work is not done, even if it's busy work,  you won't have the excess time, capacity, and boredom to seek out what you are uniquely gifted and created to do. Operationalizing  The flip side of busy work that can appear as busy work is operationalizing your tasks. I started out organizing my sister and I's rooms. Then I graduated to organizing the homes I babysat in. I have always loved gifting an act of service. I organized the “craft area” by the fire place at my house and my mom loved it. So I did it annually around Christmas for her. But then my parents expanded the house and she got a larger space. My mom is an artists and that was definitely a challenge to understand what was valuable and not. I asked a lot of questions!! I would help other teachers to organize their classrooms. And eventually organized my clients. But in each of those instances I was growing my skill set. I was learning how the spaces were used and why the items were in there. I was operationalizing how I helped other get organized. You can do the same with repeated tasks. That's why on Planning Day I tell you to stock up your storage for the trimester. Don't order one of the same thing each month, operationalize it.  The Sunday Basket Replaces Your Checklists First of all, there is a time and place for checklists. Checklists can be useful if you are trying to establish a new routine. Be careful not to let it become a crutch. Don't be so stuck on the list that it supersedes your role in the company. And not everything needs to go on the list, just big things you can't forget. And checklists are good for something you don't do often. My best example I shared was our packing list for Florida each year. As we grow and change the list does too. We edit when necessary so we don't forget for the next time we need to use the checklist.  I can remember the last time I used a master to do list. In 2014, I wrote 10 legal pad pages of all my to do's. I organized them by family member or entity and then prioritized them. I transferred each item to an index card. And I filed them away to deal with on Sunday. It is nice to look at all tasks individually and decide on importance, my time, and my money. I may write down the same task multiple times and that's ok because I got it out of my head and who cares if I wrote it multiple times. I place them in the appropriate slash pock. I take action on the actionable items. Then once I complete the task I get to toss it in the recycling. Lists never go away, with index cards you can complete them and toss them. The Sunday Basket is safe keeping till you can take action.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Productive Home Solution Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Sharon T. who is married and at the time of this interview was caring for her special needs sister, full time. Sharon has always been organized but was looking to “up her game.” Fun fact; Sharon lives in Singapore, joined me at night for this episode, and there they spell organization with an “s.” She was looking for help with both spellings. She found the Organize 365® podcast and felt like language was being given to what she was going through.  She and I talked about how women in general try to straddle home and work life balance. But to what degree is it talked about? There are subcultures with in races, right? I talked about being White Irish, wonder where my sarcasm comes from, and White English, who tend to be more reserved. We felt it important not to generalize cultures. But it did bring up the fact that some cultures talk about the struggle of doing it all as a women and others “suffer in quiet.” This is the language that was speaking to Sharon so much.  Sharon watched her cousin take his last breath in 2019. The doctor said his diet was in part due to his passing. That really forced Sharon to take a look at her life and listen to what she felt she was being called to do and that was to help the special needs community. Diet can affect people positively that have special needs. And diet can support those care givers to take care of themselves. To combat the “Woe is me” mentality. Sharon thought about this as she considered her mom's caregiving life to her sister. She and her sister started their business, Possible Nutrition.  In 2022, Sharon looked at the pile of papers and decided to finally systematize them with the Friday Workbox® she had treated herself to for her birthday the year before. Sharon loves to write things down and reflect on them. Is it possible? Is it needed? Does it make sense? Then she can share it with her sister or whoever. She finds it very cathartic to seasonally review the business and plan for what is coming up. And it's so important to document care. As we change so too will our care. If I was going to babysit, I'd have the parents fill out a little form such as nap time, foods, pacifier or not? If it had been 6 months or more, a lot could have changed! It was a dentist's findings that really got Sharon thinking about how our diet really affects our bodies. We need to eat for nutrition and in a manner that facilitates absorption. With the right diet she's seen symptoms subside quite easily. Well this opened a big can of worms and I started picking her brain about macros and what she considers a nutrient rich diet. Then I asked a burning question about protein. We talked about the order in which to consume your meal. And it's pretty cool how the order alone can affect your glucose, if it spikes or not and how quickly you resume your baseline glucose level.  There is no universal diet or organizational system because we are not all the same. And life changes which means the way we eat and organize will too! We shouldn't view our health as our idol rather to be good stewards of our bodies so we can do what we were uniquely created to do.  Sharon's advice is, “ I think that if you're just starting out maybe say establishing a home or, just getting a first job, start with Sunday Basket®.  We need to get our own personal lives in order before we can look at managing a home, before we can go out there and do anything else.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter    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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!  

In this episode, I introduce you to Carrie T. who is married with two children. She has a daughter away at college and her son is still at home. Carrie travels a lot to see her daughter compete and listens to the podcast during those long drives. Carrie actually found the podcast many years ago when she was looking for organization podcasts. She loved the advice that “Your brain is working while you are listening and the solution will come to you.” She valued other organizational programs, but gravitated towards Organize 365® because of The Paper Solution®.  Carrie started with a DIY Sunday Basket®. It was fine, but she couldn't find the right colored folders so she had to create labels in the color instead. She realized she was doing a lot of work for something that she could just purchase. She asked for the official Sunday Basket® one year for Christmas and dove into setting it up on Christmas day. She valued that everything was in one place. She wasn't looking for papers. She could almost always find whatever she was looking for in her Sunday Basket®. She admitted she may have over slash pocketed, but she's definitely got the hang of it now. She's looking forward to the tax write off of getting a Friday Workbox® next. Another reason Carrie asked for the official Sunday Basket® was for the community that she desired. She loves attending the Sunday Basket® Club. She likes to attend live, but also uses the replay to pause the recording and finish each task in her time. Then she hits play and continues on. We talked a little bit about how each week you go through all of the rainbow slash pockets, but the 2.0 slash pockets don't need weekly attention. We agreed on average it takes about 90 minutes to process each Sunday. And I know about every 4-6 weeks I thoroughly go through my Sunday Basket® and that can take me about 3 hours. She also values the division of workboxes in quarter 4 for the holidays, the next year, and taxes. It's like 3 external brains for the different hats you wear as a household manager.  Carrie wishes she'd just gotten the official Sunday Basket® sooner. She has so much more peace of mind now because she knows “It's in the Sunday Basket®.” With her extra pockets of time and her children getting older, she's playing with the idea of getting her pilots license. She wants to be able to fly to see her children and attend their sporting events.  Carrie's advice is, “Keep listening, and if you feel like the Sunday Basket® is the right thing to do, just do it! Do it now.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

It's time for the last three planning days Organize 365® will offer this year. You are probably thinking “Oh, come on! How much more could we plan the holidays?” So much more! So many layers to planning!! Holiday Blitz Mini Planning Day Think of the Holiday Blitz Mini Planning Day like a taste of what we do in the Planning Days for Home and the Friday Workbox®. You will download the workbook and join the webinar. I start with having you think, what do you want the holidays to look like for YOU? Why are you doing what you are doing? Do you like the things you are doing for the holidays? Are there traditions or tasks others enjoy doing that you don't? Could they take them over? You are going to decide if you can adjust expectations, do housework less frequently during this time, how you want to spend this time during the holidays. Where do you have room to accomplish all your goals for the holidays and have fun? My words for the Holiday Blitz Mini Planning Day are Projects and Play!! And how can you monopolize on Black Friday to keep your supply chain stocked while saving money?  The Sunday Basket® is a system that hopefully you have used and have seen the time savings on a weekly basis. And you know it's a replicable system to run your home and delay decision making. But by this time, your Sunday Basket® is bursting at the seams so it's time to get the Holiday Blitz Bundle, a Hunter Green Sunday Basket® and Sapphire Blue Sunday Basket® and a set of Rainbow 1.0 Slash Pockets, to set aside paperwork for 2025 and keep holiday actionable papers at the forefront to execute the holidays the way you want to.  Friday Workbox® Planning Day With the year winding down, all critical work should be done by November 21st because people are going to start mentally checking out. So with that in mind, no meetings are going to be terribly productive so take the time to plan 2025…the first quarter, anyway. Scratch the itch to plan by attending Friday Workbox® Planning Day on December 6th. I have recorded new videos that you can start watching as soon as you get signed up to prepare for this planning day.  Prep your calendars, revisit all your administration work in the green slash pockets, update any systems to start 2025 feeling prepared to be ultra productive.  Home Planning Day Prep & Home Planning Day  We will have Home Planning Day Prep on December 27th. The first hour you will process through your holiday basket which we will transition to a tax basket. And you will combine the sapphire basket back to your regular Sunday Basket®. And all the archive papers will go into your The Paper Solution® Binders, keeping them up to date. The 4 hour live webinar for Home Planning Day is on Saturday, December 28th. We will be planning the next 120 days, 4 months of your household manager responsibilities, your small business. Lots of new videos for this planning day, too! Joey even put together a playlist so you can get started watching videos and listening to the podcast just as soon as you are registered. I try to be your economic forecaster, giving awareness to upcoming events that may catch you off guard otherwise. Each 120 days that we plan for in Home Planning Day have different energies. Think of any Golden Windows you may have coming up. Is this the time to plan on a meaty project? You will ask yourself, what are the advantages and limitations of the current season of life that you are in? We spend a lot of time analyzing your time! Breaking it down and looking at multiple ways you could be using it. You will create routines for morning, afternoon and evening for Monday through Friday and for the weekend. Our Saturday and Sunday energy is different, too!  Won't you join me in my maze of planning days? EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Holiday Blitz Mini Planning Day Holiday Blitz Bundle Friday Workbox® Planning Day Organize 365 Home Planning Day Prep & Home Planning Day The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

I've stopped apologizing for my natural energy that drives me to want to be productive. And I want the same for you. Ultra productive people are so proactive that they have a plan B, C, D, and so on. They are prepared to zig, zag, and pivot at a moment's notice whenever plans change. What Do You Do Now?  Ultra productive people capture all their ideas for a rainy day (eh hum, pink work). For me, that “rainy day” came this year when I was supposed to have jury duty. I went through my slash pockets and planned all those tasks for the week(s) I knew I was going to have jury duty. If I didn't get summoned, I had work to do but it didn't need to get done. When I arrived at the courthouse, they announced there would be no case and we were absolved from the remaining two days that week. If this happened to you, what would you do? I think a lot of people sit in “I don't know what to do” and the day gets wasted. I however, thought through my options and decided going into work and finishing some important administrative tasks was the most beneficial use of my time.  When I was still doing in home organization. I developed an A/B schedule. It never failed that a client would cancel. I wouldn't know what to do because I had planned on working. So my day would go to waste. That is, until I came up with what I needed to do on the days I wasn't scheduled for out of the house work and days I worked from home. If an out of the house day became a work from home day, I knew exactly what I needed to do. It was like my plan B.  Time for Everyone Including Me Seems like the mom is always offering to help and pour into their family, but does the family ask the same to the mom? No. It's just facts, I think. So go ahead and pour into yourself too!  I am pouring into me the same way I pour into them. I think about my time A LOT! I think about tomorrow, the week, the month, the next 6 months. I look at my color coded calendar and make sure everyone I love is getting time, that I have set aside enough time for the PhD and work, and now I include ME!   Sunday Basket®/Friday Workbox® Love I have bountiful pink slash pockets. I have a lot of house projects, trips I want to take, and things I want to try/do. They are in a safe place, the Sunday Basket® for my house and the Friday Workbox® for work ideas. Greg and I went to Home-A-Rama and there we saw Wow Window Boxes. I knew all about Wow Window Boxes because it's been tucked away in my Sunday Basket® since 2017 when I had received an estimate. I spilled the beans that I was going to ask for it for Christmas. Much to my surprise, Greg said we could do it now. So we did it in time for Thanksgiving!!   You know when you have a plan for your day and then something takes it off track? I always struggle with how annoying it is. But then, I dig into my Sunday Basket® or the Friday Workbox® and there are all my ideas and slash pockets waiting to be executed. They turn into my plan B, C, or sometimes D. I have proactively filed them away in the correct slash pocket, then I can decide how much time I have and what kind of energy I am feeling. These are just a few ways I am unapologetically proactive so I can be ultra productive. For my family and Organize 365®, I am where work comes from. I love it. I am uniquely created to help others become ultra productive, too!  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Podcast 10 Year Anniversary Giveaway  Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Trisha D. who sometimes has a very full house of 8 and sometimes just 4 due to her step children and when they have dad time. Trisha was a follower of Cass with Clutterbug and she'd been talking about the Sunday Basket®. The way Lisa teaches and Lisa's story resonated so strongly with Trisha. With 6 kids to keep track of, the Sunday Basket® really made sense to Trisha and helped with the overwhelm.  Previously Trisha had been in an abusive relationship. In Organize 365® and Lisa, she found grace, encouragement, to be brave, to be transparent, progress over perfection, and to put herself first to get out of codependency. Trisha pointed out that if you have never been in a healthy organized environment, then you don't know what that looks like. She learned what it looks like and how to accomplish it for herself through the Organize 365® products.  Despite the differences in functionality of households, the Sunday Basket® can help anyone really, no matter what your situation. Trisha gained so much confidence from organizing and getting control of her life. In her recovery from her past relationship, she appreciates how the systems from Organize 365® can aid in a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP). Which brought up the question, does the change in environment change emotion or vice versa? And is it easier to change your environment or emotions? Trisha experienced that once she started organizing, it gave her more bandwidth to focus on redefining reality and healing emotionally.  Trisha was so impressed with Lisa, this woman who was once depressed and life was a “mess,” she started a business, went back to school, and vulnerably shared it all with her listeners. Trisha's big take away from Embrace was when Lisa said, “If you doubt that anyone believes in you, I believe in you!” So Trisha started a Friday Workbox®. It became apparent that her employer didn't appreciate the effectiveness of her using it. So she started her own business! Trisha believes Organize 365® is changing one person at a time, empowering them to follow their dreams. She's been using the Friday Workbox® and it has helped her organize and prioritize the systems of a business. Listen to hear all she has accomplished in three short years.  Trisha now has more hope, faith, time, capacity, a more full life. She truly learned how to create something from nothing. She values the Organize 365® products as roadmaps to life, like the Warrior MAMA Binder, the Friday Workbox®, and Sunday Basket®. Trish's advice is, “Go for it, whatever way makes sense.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® The Paper Solution® Warrior MAMA Binder Sign Up for  the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Beatrix S. who lives alone after her husband was transferred to a nursing home where he could get care and supervision for dementia. Beatrix found Organize 365® years ago when Gretchen Rubin interviewed me about the book “The Paper Solution.” Her first thought was, “What, filing cabinets to binders? Prove it!” Beatrix had always struggled with paper. So she got the book, read it in a couple of days, and found herself joining the 100 Day Home Organization Program (which became The Productive Home Solution®) and getting a Sunday Basket®. Now she says she's hooked. In 2003, Beatrix reflected on her study and how cluttered it had become again. Please, you need to listen to this insightful poem she shares. She was a minister and has a great way of storytelling. You can hear it in this poem. It was clear imagery of the disarray her study was in.  It took awhile for Beatrix to wrap her brain around the Sunday Basket® System. She'd not been a part of Organize 365® long when she attended her first Home Planning Day. She also had a couple of unexpected life events, including her husband having a stroke and moving to a nursing home. Beatrix also thought maybe she didn't have anything left to declutter. It'd been a couple of years since she'd followed Marie Kondo's way of decluttering her closet. I pointed out that Marie Kondo is great for decluttering and Organize 365® offers great organizational systems. Beatrix had plenty to declutter and organize. Beatrix was most shocked with her bathroom and how much she'd crammed in there!  Through the years with Organize 365®, Beatrix has formed a support system of friends. They meet every month and she has found them invaluable with the tough season she is in. Life is good, she acknowledged, but she's deeply sad and fatigued with loving and caring for her husband. Her advice for others in a similar situation is to surround yourself with as many support systems as you can. Beatrix has more time now; time for friends, beautification, exercise, and planning. She was recently diagnosed with ADHD and it explains so much. Beatrix really wishes she'd had the Friday Workbox® when she was in ministry; she always struggled to finish projects. And she wishes she'd known how to organize paper. She's appreciative of the replays so she can get additional takeaways and the “teacher's approach” I take with the systems Organize 365® provides. We had a nice conversation about the evolution of school and how they support the ADHD brain/learning style.  Beatrix's advice is, “Start with the Sunday Basket®. If that doesn't work then just start with one drawer.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® Home Planning Day The Paper Solution® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

How do we move from being a productive person who can get a lot done in a day to someone who can really set and achieve bigger goals that are going to make a marked difference in the world? The way to become more impactful doesn't come from productivity, it doesn't come from apps, and it doesn't come from digitizing things. It comes from increasing your organization.  In order to build the tracks for your work train, you have to establish work systems, processes and habits. In Workbox Planning Day, we talk about having a beginning of the day routine, a midday routine, and an end of the day routine. Then you can add in Friday Workbox® coworking time each Friday, and Planning Day every quarter. Now there will be the new Workbox Planning Day Implementation event that will kick off next week, and will continually happen every quarter. You have to build these tracks first so that you can move forward faster. Having these three routines each day gives you guardrails and allows you to task stack different things at different times of the day so that you have more capacity and more time to work on your purple projects and move new initiatives forward through the company.  Now you're moving faster because these habits and routines have reduced your decision making fatigue. You've task stacked as many of your green tasks into these bucketed times each day and week so that you have more free time to work on the other colors - pink, purple and blue. Now it's time to build the train cars. How you build your work train cars is very customized. What your train looks like throughout your career is also very customized. Interestingly, you can get your work train up and running faster than your home train. Typically it only takes a year - if you're an employee. If you're a business owner, it's a lifetime pursuit. You're never going to be done because you're always reorganizing the train tracks, moving around the cars or adding and subtracting them. It's basically one big game.  The first work train car will be the Business Friday Workbox®. This will teach you there are four different kinds of work; four different roles you play in your job. Everyone has four: pink, purple, blue and green. Once you figure out what those are, we're going to optimize those four kinds of work over the course of one year. The second train car are the Workbox Planning Days. Until you learn how to plan, how to use your Friday Workbox®, it's really just a pretty way of organizing your to do list. Until you learn to plan the work that's within the workbox, it's very reactive. You might speed up a little, but you will not have the impact that you want to have. How do you take the green work (administrative) and task stack it in as small amount of time as possible at regular intervals throughout the day so that you can increase the capacity you have for the pink, purple and blue work? Once you start going through the Planning Days, you start to proactively and purposefully plan out what your initiatives are going to be in the next 90 days. You start doing less, but getting more in depth. You delete or delegate projects, you streamline your goals and stop overcommitting. You realize how cyclical work is and how much it's related to home.  There are other things that are going to slow down your train - like losing a team member, adding a team member, a new product, losing a product, and so on. Every time you pull into the station, you will go through every single train car. Every 90 days, every quarter. I would love for you to join me for the Workbox Planning Day Implementation event next week. It will be the 13th week of every quarter from now on, so you can add this into your coaching package in order to keep your train running. My job is to get you more productive and profitable so that you can avail yourself of all of those great coaches thereafter.  EPISODE RESOURCES: Business Friday Workbox® Workbox Planning Day Workbox Implementation Day Sign up for the Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

We speak to entrepreneur Lisa Woodruff, CEO of Organize 365, who shares her inspiring journey from teacher and stay-at-home mom to organizational expert. Learn how she conquered challenges and built a thriving business dedicated to helping people rediscover the joy in a well-organized home.Our discussion dives deep into the mental toll disorganization can take on your life. Lisa and I explore the pressures of living up to society's picture-perfect home ideals, often leading to feelings of inadequacy and isolation. We emphasize the importance of functional organization over aesthetics and introduce actionable strategies to reduce anxiety and cognitive load. Learn about the transformative power of structures like the Friday Workbox and Sunday Basket that make invisible tasks visible and manageable, enhancing productivity and freeing up time for self-care and personal activities.We don't stop there. From tackling the "Sunday Scaries" to balancing professional and domestic responsibilities, this episode is packed with insights to help you lead a more organized and fulfilling life. Discover how evolving roles within the family and embracing organizational systems can serve as powerful forms of self-care. We also delve into the importance of maintaining a serene, clutter-free environment for mental well-being. Tune in for practical tips that will inspire you to create a balanced, peaceful home and life.You can find Lisa Woodruff and Organize 365 at:https://organize365.com/https://www.instagram.com/organize365/https://www.facebook.com/Organize365Her very popular Organize 365 Podcast can be found wherever you get your podcasts_________________________________________Are you ready to reclaim your midlife body and health? I went through my own personal journey through menopause, the struggle with midsection weight gain, and feeling rundown. Faster Way, a transformative six-week group program, set me on the path to sustainable change. I'd love to work with you! Let me help you reach your health and fitness goals.https://www.fasterwaycoach.com/?aid=MicheleFolanHave questions about Faster Way? Feel free to reach out.mfolanfasterway@gmail.comFollow Asking for a Friend on Social media outlets:https://www.instagram.com/askingforafriend_pod/https://www.facebook.com/askforafriendpod/Please provide a review and share. This helps us grow! https://lovethepodcast.com/AFAF*Transcripts are done with AI and may not be perfectly accurate.**This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

In this episode, I introduce you to Kailley S. who is a busy mom of 6 with number 7 on the way. Kailley has a dog, she's married and her dad recently moved in with them. In 2021, Kailley was looking for an organization podcast. We actually met at a homeschool convention in Cincinnati. At the time, Kailley was expecting the twins (who are now 10 months); now she's expecting again! Kailley is in the accumulation phase of life and discovered she actually is organized. She knows where things are but that's just it, there are so many things with 6 kids. She's learned she's functionally organized. She gave the example of moving cups lower so the kids could get their own cups (which she wanted) and they didn't have to climb on the countertops (which her husband wanted). She continues to iterate their spaces as their kids' needs as they change and grow (SMART-I-ES). Kailley used to go to her husband's business every Friday to watch the replay and process her Sunday Basket® while her mom would watch the kids. Sometimes Kailley and her husband even got to go out for a lunch date. But Kailley's mom's health worsened and she couldn't help on Fridays anymore. Unfortunately, her mother passed about 5 weeks before her twins were born. Kailley no longer took the time to process her Sunday Basket®, but she was still placing things in it for safekeeping.  We pointed out at this point how important it is to know the phase of life you are in. Really busy phases of life may only allow for once a month processing. I know with the PhD right now, I am having to do my Sunday Basket® once a month. But organization is like riding a bike; the skill of organizing doesn't leave you. When you have small children under the age of 5, life is just chaotic. It's like once you get on a schedule, the kids change and the schedule is out the window! It's a time of life to give yourself grace. Speaking of grace, that's what Kailley wishes she would have known sooner. She was organized despite her spaces not being Pinterest perfect. We all need to give ourselves grace and not compare to others or what they are doing. This is something Kailley had struggled with in the past and the podcast reminded her of this lesson.  Kailley homeschools her children, hosts a monthly co-op, and runs one of the ministries at church. Then Kailley added the twins as the holidays were approaching, her mother's passing, going through her parent's house, selling their house, and having her dad move in with them. Kailley's siblings were very helpful in going through and selling her parent's home. She purchased the Friday Workbox® for church and the Holiday Sunday Basket® Bundle too. Even with the addition of more Sunday Basket®s, she noticed all of them plus a laundry basket were overflowing. She's been able to declutter all the baskets and is ready to start a routine with the Sunday Basket® again. After all of that, she claims she feels like she is starting to catch her breath. It's the beginning of a new school year and she's got a plan in place for Fridays, with her older two going into work with her husband and her dad as the “manny” with the next three; she'll keep the baby.  Kailley's advice is, “Don't let a perfect finish deter you from getting started. Start with just one small thing and often that leads to one more small thing. Before you know it, it's one big thing. Just do it!”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Julie C., mom of three boys and two dogs and a wife. In December 2019, Julie was starting to organize her office and thought, “There's no TV in this room, maybe I'll find a podcast to listen to.” She was really drawn to the messages along with the teaching of the Organize 365® Podcast. Julie had previously tried the Freedom Filer® Filing System, but ended up confusing herself with it. That's when she implemented the Sunday Basket® and got her paper under control. Then when the unexpected event of a cancer diagnosis was received, Julie was able to lean on her Sunday Basket®. Julie's oldest son was a senior and she wanted to make sure his graduation celebration was perfect. Her family and friends were able to help her plans play out due to the organization of actionable items in the Sunday Basket®. I have noticed in my 50's, some of my friends have experienced a cancer diagnosis or a heart attack. These unexpected events throw life off kilter. This is usually when we realize we need to get all the info out of our heads and onto paper in the event people need to access accounts and such and we are not in a capacity to do so. Our team had a crazy fall last year and I did a 6- part series of the different events and how my staff was handling them; check out episodes 555 through 560 to hear all about them.  We can't control much in these events, but the Sunday Basket® gives us peace of mind. And I mention that Julie being able to have peace of mind gave her the ability to rest, which is when our bodies repair and heal. Julie was also encouraged by the Organize 365® community, realizing others had been in her shoes and learning what they did.  Once Julie was back to work, she attended the Friday Workbox® Planning Day sans the Friday Workbox®. I laughed, but Julie explained all the benefits she gained from simply planning. Like scheduling a workout, actually putting it on the schedule in her day. Julie has also acknowledged with her kids getting older, she has more time. Due to the podcast, she was inspired with all her extra time to go for her Doctorate in Education for Leadership and Healthcare.  Now that she's planning to go back to school, she's also been evaluating cleaning in her house. We talked about how you can clean your house OR you can hire that out and use that time towards a project or something like going back to school. We also talked about the stigma that comes with hiring someone to clean your house. You could feel “holier than thou” OR you may consider how grateful that person is to work, which could be what they really enjoy, and the ability to make money for their family.  Julie recently became a member of The Productive Home Solution® and appreciates The Paper Solution® Binders. It's so important to have the information documented and now in her Medical Binder for the future. And speaking of the future, she wants to get the Launch Binders for her boys. We talked about learning the skills of cleaning your home or other home management tasks. We often learn them in the dorms at college. But what if you don't attend college, then how do you learn? In either setting, we agreed the Launch Binder is the way to go to share common knowledge with your children as they embark on their independent adult journey. Julie's advice is, “Just get started. Lean on the system, it doesn't have to be ‘done.' It's a journey, not an end product.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Friday Workbox® Planning Day The Productive Home Solution® The Paper Solution® Launch Binder Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Allie H. Allie is a busy lady being an Assistant Professor, pursuing her PhD, taking care of her four children (currently ages 9,7,5,2), and being married to her supportive husband. Allie wanted to change her negative self talk about her home and her life. She'd been following Sarah Hart Unger's blog and she talked about me and Organize 365®. Allie first found Organize 365® through the podcast. What Allie found in listening to the podcast was organizational advice that was applicable in our busy lives, but also about how to have a positive mindset. She loved that when she finished each episode there was an actionable task. This was specifically helpful as Allie transitioned from young adult to her own, more mature, family.  Since she'd been listening to the podcast, when she got her Sunday Basket® she knew what the colored slash pockets were for. She used pink to dream and much to my suprise, after just having her 4th child and getting ready to return to work, she threw in “Learn Italian.” I guess leading by example I have taught you people well to dream! I shared that I love travel and looking back to 2015 it was a dream of mine then that is now starting to come true. And Allie knew it may not be right away, but she dreamed of learning Italian because she is Italian. Also, this goes to show the capacity that is in all of us. Allie pointed out that when we dream and then fulfill those dreams, we are filling up our cups to keep pouring into our families and careers.  Allie made a makeshift Financial Binder and put all the important papers in there. When she needed her son Henry's birth certificate, she knew right where to look. She expressed how much time the products and systems save her as well as her cognitive load. And at work she uses her Friday Workbox® to keep all documentation of her accomplishments for the year because the university she teaches at requires that. It's also a safe holding place for her CEU's and other certificates. Her students know of it, too. When they finish a lab with results, they suggest placing it in the Friday Workbox® to have for the next time they do that lab or a similar one. Allie pointed out that due to the size of the Friday Workbox®, it's easy to leave at work or bring home and it keeps her from retaining too much paper. With Allie being successful in her career, a thriving family, her lack of negative self talk, and two hours free most nights, it prompted a conversation about capacity. We are told this lie that you can't have it all and do it all well. But we humans have so much capacity when systems are in place. Don't feel bad for wanting more; we can do more than we think! Allie, being a teacher, is home for the summers. Allie shared that this summer she made a checklist of activities so next summer she's not starting from scratch with ideas to entertain her four children. And I slipped in a couple of little tips. Once I complete taxes or fill out school paperwork for my children, I always ask myself, “Am I going to have to do this again?” If the answer is yes, I make copies of the filled in paperwork or I make a checklist for ease next time. Also for ease, I make a note to myself when running errands or traveling if I need to put more diapers in the diaper bag or fill up the shampoo. That way when I get home, I fill up whatever it was and then I'm set for the next time I travel.  Allie's advice is, “Listen to the podcast, take it in, and decide what are a few things you can implement. Also progress over perfection. We don't need to be perfect, but nice and good people that are happy.” Often times we get to see the after but we don't see the “doing.”  It's in the doing part we get to functional organization, not picture perfect, which results in confidence and happiness. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

It's summertime! Time to put on some sunscreen, let your hair down and get relaxed, right? Wrong! People, you need to plan what you are doing in business because everyone else has that summer mentality. Let me tell you, summer will be over before you know it. But with a little planning, you will be ready for the most productive weeks that come after summer. Summer, Summer, Summertime… Why does summer go so fast? I'll tell you why…because in May/beginning of June it's almost like we exhale from the school year in anticipation of all the summer fun. And the Bermuda Triangle we call July. The first week everyone basically has off or takes off mentally anyway. It's hot and our energy is zapped. August comes around with back to school. If you have school age children just be forewarned, life will not return to some normalcy until September. Summer is when we take advantage of our PTO and making memories with our families. Be Purposeful With everyone here and there, you'll be lucky to have a full meeting. It's a hard time of year for hiring and/or growing your team in skills and mindset. Just reserve yourself to the fact that summer is a good time to work on YOU! If you are a business owner (but also applicable to your position in your company), I would suggest for all summer production to be planned and accounted for by June 1st. We do offer a Friday Workbox® Planning Day on June 7th so it's not too late to get a plan in place if this is the first time you are considering this. This way you have peace of mind that projects will get done at work so you can get projects done at home; and this will apply to your staff, too. If you are organized in the summer, the pay off is profitability and productivity in the fall.   Don't forget the Friday Workbox®. I did a quick rundown of the colors and what you could be planning within each slash pocket. Pink is for all your ideas, personal development, and research and development. We'll focus on the pink work for Friday Workbox® Planning Day. Purple is for your projects. Projects have dollar amounts and deadlines attached to them like client work or new products that will be launching. I strongly caution you to only pick one to two projects in summer. Blue is for people such as your employees, contractors, vendors, excluding the end user or your customers. And green is for finances and your admin tasks. This is also where you would have your checklists. The Value of a Checklist The good ole checklist. A little tough love here, make sure you are putting tasks on it that are important and that you would not already complete on auto pilot. Checklists are what you are doing and a good indication of what could be handed off. As your company grows, you can use those checklists like job descriptions. Your checklists will point towards the position you need to hire next and what they will be doing. And as people resign, and as business changes and evolves, you will need to evaluate if that checklist still needs to be done or can some tasks be eliminated and the rest handed off to another employee/contractor. When it comes to your checklists, I want you to ask yourself two questions.  If this checklist didn't get done, what would happen?  If someone else does this checklist, what would I do with all the time that would move the company forward?  Now that we know work will be taken care of, join me next week as I discuss how to choose this meaty summer project you have been waiting to sink your teeth into! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Friday Workbox® Planning Day Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Anna is back and we're talking all about the white paper Anna created for the Teacher Friday Workbox®. When Anna came to me with this pink sparkly box of Teacher Friday Workbox® opportunities, I wanted to talk shop. Anna was almost done with her EED and I am still very much tied up with the PhD. So it was a win-win to have Anna complete a white paper. It is so interesting that there is literature and media supporting what I have been saying all along. Anna's supportive data came from her EED education and mine is coming from my PhD education. Anna shared that for the school year 2023-24, Tennessee reported 3.900 teacher vacancies and Virginia reported 3.9% of teacher positions were not filled. There is a real teacher retention problem and with the help of Anna (and don't forget Jayme!), we are out to shine light on the issues and increase teacher retention.  There IS Money There is personal development money schools can be using that is not earmarked for the operations of or in the buildings. Schools have these funds and aren't always sure how or where to spend them. Yes, you can offer self care like maybe a massage day for the teachers, but it's a temporary fix. Give the teachers a raise! But that is costly to an already dwindling budget. An easy answer will be the Friday Workbox® or the course from Ashland University that rewards them with CEU's. How Does The Teacher Friday Workbox® Actually Help Educators So how is the Teacher Friday Workbox® like self care? Most of you have heard on the podcast that a lot of teachers have purchased the Teacher Friday Workbox® on their own. They were looking for a solution and treated themselves to organization. As the number of tasks go up, so does the teacher's burnout level. A person needs to see the work before they can start to strategize a solution. The Teacher Friday Workbox® helps to identify all the invisible tasks. Then teachers can decide if they need to eliminate, delegate, or plan for each task. Task Switching We have all heard the stats about how costly in time it is to constantly be switching between tasks. The Teacher Friday Workbox® helps you to identify tasks in similar categories (the task specific slash pockets). When you pull out an IEP for a specific student, you can focus on all the tasks needed to be completed for that one student. Our brain likes this focus on one task and stress is reduced.  Reduce Cognitive Load on Working Memory Color coding is so productive for our brains. And I know I have nerded out about the connection in the brain when we write things down. That activity of pen to paper is so impactful on our brains and with recall. Cue the index cards. You write everything down. You don't stress over remembering what you are trying to remember. The Teacher Friday Workbox® allows you to use your brain as a brain and not a filing cabinet.  Community When Anna really stopped to think about what teachers needed in a resource that could decrease burnout …it was the Teacher Friday Workbox®! She also pointed out the value of community that you get. It's nice to have positive voices outside of your building. It's nice to see what others are struggling with as well as celebrating wins. AND it's private from parents and students. It's a safe space for all things teaching.  What is included in the Teacher Friday Workbox®? Red Workbox (roughly the size of a watermelon) One Set of Rainbow Slash Pockets Sets of 5 of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Purple, and Pink Online Dashboard Online Private Community Teacher Camp (first two weeks of July) During the Summer - Thursday night coworking time with replays Lifetime Access EPISODE RESOURCES: Teacher Friday Workbox® Managing Executive Functions with the Teacher Workbox (Ashland University) Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Jayme was a self proclaimed organized hoarder. She's always been a naturally organized person. In 2017, she hit rock bottom knowing she just had too much. It wasn't until the windows were replaced in her house. You see when you have new windows installed, you have to move everything away from the windows so the installers have enough room. For about two weeks, all that stuff was in the middle of her room. THAT was chaos, but it shined a light on the fact that all the mess or hoarding at home was causing Jayme mental chaos. This is when Jayme found Organize 365® and cleaned up her personal space, her home. Cleaning Up Mental Chaos at Work Jayme was used to pouring herself into work as a principal Monday through Friday and cleaned house on Saturdays. Jayme would stay as late as she needed to on Friday nights just to have peace of mind that she was prepared to walk back into school on Monday. If we are honest with ourselves, as educators, the one planning period you get is not ample planning time. When you plan as a teacher, you are able to deal with any distractions during instructional time. Jayme found the Education Friday Workbox® (now the Teacher Friday Workbox®) and was able to get organized at work. The Friday Workbox® allows her to plan and feel prepared, and that's what she wants for her staff. She wants them to continue having a passion for teaching and not feeling burnt out. Cleaning Up Mental Chaos at Home This cleaning up of mental chaos is why Jayme was so excited to share the Education Friday Workbox® with her teachers. If she could just show them how to get organized in the classroom, they would see the benefit of having home organized, too. At Organize 365®, we want to bring light to the invisible work you are doing and have a better plan to tackle it. It took Jayme about 18 months to get her home “done” and longer for work. Jayme encourages her staff to know it will take time. A first grader can't read a book and write a full report, but after a few years of learning and doing, in 3rd grade maybe they can. And I never mix words about this, it will take time. Jayme finds herself still listening to the older podcasts and learning. She recognizes that the information lands differently now when she hears it based on her progress. She still hears new things she can add to what she's already used to doing. You have learned a lot about Jayme and next Jayme is going to help us understand the structure of schools and responsibilities of staff in the state of Indiana, specifically Greendale Middle School in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. EPISODE RESOURCES: Teacher Friday Workbox® 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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

This week I want to talk about lists. Why I don't have to do lists, cleaning lists, work lists, etc. I just all the sudden realized I didn't have them and had to figure out, where did they go? When did I get rid of them? How long have I been living without lists? Where was my security blanket? It just seems like the more productive you are, don't you need more lists? Shouldn't your lists have lists?  So my new to-do list is my Sunday Basket®. Many of the things that our brain reminds us to do or that end up in our Sunday Basket® don't need to be done now, or in the near future, or in some cases, ever. But our brain wants to let us know about it as a possibility… of a potential way of spending our time if we'd like to sometime in the future, maybe. What I've moved into after so many years of checklists is establishing better routines, better cadences of natural structures inside my house, inside my day, inside my work. Looking at my morning, afternoon and evening routines. There are six routines that I have Monday through Friday, and then my household management and household cleaning day. There are no organizing emergencies.  Having good, strong routines for the essentials and then wide open spaces for whatever you WANT to do. Let's play more! Are your lists really serving you anymore? Are they helping you? Are they reducing your stress and anxiety or making it worse? For me, the answer has been the Sunday Basket® at home, the Friday Workbox® at work, planning days every 3 or 4 months for home and work, and the Organize 365® Blitzes.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Kitchen Productivity & Profitability Blitz The Paper Solution® The Productive Home Solution® Jump Start - Personal Jump Start - Kitchen The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Lydia M. who has two daughters, ages 4 and 9 months, is married and living in Florida. She has the capacity to run her business, invest in her family, and partake in her hobbies or simply scroll through Instagram. But it wasn't always like this. Lydia was getting ready to start her bookkeeping business, DAC Balance, so she searched for podcasts to motivate and educate her. She came across the Professional Organizer Think Tank Podcast in 2006 which still exists!! When Lydia heard me say that there was a regular podcast, Lydia found it and has been a loyal listener every Friday since 2017. It was fascinating to learn about what Lydia does, the business sizes that she works with, and compared Organize 365®'s business as it pertained to her business. Simply put, she's the middle man between the data entry person at a business and a CPA. Some businesses do not need a full time “controller” so they hire Lydia to fill that gap.  Lydia and her husband were fortunate enough to move into her great aunt and uncle's home after losing her aunt. Since her aunt's passing was somewhat sudden, all their things were still in the home when they moved in. Lydia's family was happy to not have to purchase something for this home that was new to them but it also meant estate sales, garage sales, and multiple trips to donation centers over the next 4 years to clear it all out.  In 2019, Lydia found out she was pregnant. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit not too much later. The idea of becoming a mom and the pandemic gave Lydia time to get organized with the 100 Day Program she'd received as a gift for Christmas. Now that the house had been cleared out, it was time to declutter her stuff. This resulted in items being in the correct rooms…but also meant all the stuff needed to be gone through again. I shared a little tip we competitive puzzle solvers use, and it's that we go through the pieces three times to complete the puzzle. We declutter to be able to organize to be able to get optimized and the result is productivity. This is why we go through The Productive Home Solution® three times.  Lydia went on to describe how she is resetting her home every three months-ish due to her 9 month old growing and developing. With babies, there is a 3-4 monthly cycle in and out of clothes, toys, and safety in your home. Once our children are about 5 that turns into the first half of the school year, the second half, and then summer. This is why we do the home blitzes in that same pattern. Lydia wants to set an example of planning for her girls. I brought up that meme: Choose your hard…Planning is hard and not planning is hard. Lydia wants her girls to know it's normal to plan for the upcoming week. She wishes someone had taught her that way earlier in life. We talked about the impact on our mental and cognitive load when we use the Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox®. Speaking of planning and the benefits, you think I rabbit trailed on shipping in the past two episodes? No, we really trailed off getting into what the heck I am doing with my PhD and what my coach and I discussed. Turns out I have had a good chunk of research completed towards putting together a Household Organization/Productivity Theory!  Lydia's advice is, “Buy all the things. Do the blitzes to get a sense of how it feels to be organized in a season.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® The Productive Home Solution® Planning Day The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Wendy T. She's married with a 13 year old son, a 10 year old daughter, one cat and one dog. She lives in Southern Australia and owns 2 Air BNB's. Talking to Wendy gave me a lot of ideas about traveling to Australia, and how to fulfill my wish list. I hope Greg joins me in 2026! It was interesting to learn that Wendy found Organize 365® through the ADHD Podcast which brought her to the Sunday Basket® Podcast and then to the main podcast. In learning about the Sunday Basket®, she thought this could be the way to gain calm in her home. In 2020, Wendy was in the process of moving. She purchased the old The Productive Home Solution® and found permission to let go of things.  Back then it was the IDLE “process” and we laughed at the placement of the phone book mentioned. She'd experimented with Marie Kondo, but what she found different with Organize 365® were the systems, processes, and schedules. It was more than just decluttering.  Wendy used to have paper piles in each room and she'd throw papers in them thinking, “Oh yeah, I'll deal with it later.” When those paper piles started to disappear, that's when she knew Organize 365® was effective in her life. Our homes don't have administration offices like work, but Wendy saw her Sunday Basket® as a mini administration space. She could hold things in there until they needed to be dealt with. She loves the ability to think less and follows the tried and true systems of Organize 365®. We got on a shipping 2.0 conversation (1.0 was the Canadian shipping last episode), this time about Australia. This held Wendy back for a time. We feel selfish spending this money because it seems like it's for us. The reality is that the family eats better, the Sunday Basket® user is more calm, and the house runs more smoothly. We pay a lot of money for summer camps and soccer, we should spend money to maintain our homes too! After Wendy splurged on the Organize 365® products and shipping them to Australia, she realized it's like self care. She doesn't spend money on shoes or handbags; so this is her splurge. Wendy pointed out that because shipping is so high, she appreciates the planning and implementation days to still be part of organizing life with Organize 365®. Planning Day is where she learned about permission for something else…naps! The planning days brought us to discovering each other's calendars. Australians celebrate different holidays. Their seasons are different from ours. And their school year is different. This got me thinking about America's natural energy/cadence to organizing and how it matches up, or didn't in most cases, to Australia's. Her Golden Window is NOW! We determined Wendy's weather must be like that of Arizona's. It's summer now and can get up to 40 degrees C or 104 degrees F. It's also one of the busiest times for the Air BNB's with the gardens. She values her Friday Workbox® even more now with managing people. She's not doing so much physical work, but she is managing!  Wendy's advice is, “Go back to ‘Lisa Basics'. Give yourself grace. Done is better than perfect. Keep at it - chip away. Just start! It's just a habit. If you build the habit, it  just gets so much easier!”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® The Productive Home Solution® Planning Day The Paper Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Christa G. Christa is from a little town not too far from me; but about six years ago moved to Michigan from Georgia. Christa is married and has two children that are almost 12 and 16. Christa ended up hearing one of my interviews on the Boss Mom podcast around 2015/2016. She knew when they got to Michigan that she wanted to start a wedding planning business. She got the Friday Workbox® to keep her on track and organized before they moved. She now runs her wedding planning business full time! She's known for planning unconventional weddings that reflect the character of the bride and groom.  When Christa first found me, my kids were about her kids' ages. We laughed about having these humans that look like adults in our homes and how they take up more space, have opinions, and different food preferences. Christa has been such a proactive mom that these little adults do their own laundry and can prepare meals for themselves…even if it's just frosted flakes! We rabbit trailed to what I call “selfish” laundry. Christa mentioned that she'd like to see her son wash more than just a uniform he needs for his sports team. When Greg says he's going to do the laundry and I see only his jeans got washed; I give him a hard time saying “Oh, we're doing selfish laundry today?” Christa and I agree to just put a full load in the wash instead.  She plans her meals for the week when she processes her Sunday Basket® and then the family sees what she'll be making and what nights they'll have to fend for themselves. We kind of have this going on at my house except we all have cars and we all have money. So we are all shopping and not all of the food is getting eaten. I remember my mom doing the “refrigerator review” which meant she'd heat up all the leftovers the night before garbage day. Whatever didn't get eaten, she'd toss. This was one more attempt at that food getting eaten instead of wasted. The Woodruff's are a work in progress in this area!  Christa managed to get her home life running pretty smooth and then she focused on her business. She has learned to become a person of excellence in one area and then build on her skill set. Weddings look so different for each couple. I shared that Greg and I were married 6 months after Greg finally proposed, it took him three years. Christa shared that she eloped. She normally hears “you made this process so much more calm than I expected it to be.” Wedding planners are there to have your back. They will read through all the contracts, search for options for flowers or other items you need, and pivot when needed. This way the bride doesn't get lost in the weeds of the details. She offered some wedding planning advice: Get help planning your wedding. Ideally a wedding planner, but if not rely on your wedding party to help.  Your budget will depend on the number of guests you have attending. So to stay within your budget you may consider a smaller invite list.  Find a venue that fits your vision to prevent additional spending in order to transform the space.  Hot button alert!!  You wanna hear a good story about a good venue and contracts? I shared what happened to Organize 365® with the Savannah Center. You will not see me doing business with them! Christa shared how she had to fight for a couple when at the last minute a venue decided to have their ballroom renovated leaving them to deal with a less than ideal wedding. You bet Christa got that money back!! That's the blessing of a wedding planner.  Christa's advice is, “learn to be flexible, readjust when needed and not be so rigid in what you want to happen. But feel out what is supposed to happen and what feels right.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® The Productive Home Solution® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!  

Last week we went over the first step to the cycle of getting organized; decluttering. I shared that decluttering leads to organization. I defined organization as lasting change in your home - not like housework that needs to be done daily or weekly. In this episode, I take that definition one layer deeper. Your rooms should not be talking to you…what does that mean? There IS seasonality to our homes; our choice of shoes, meals we cook, our diets, activities we enjoy. Naturally, we need different items for each season. This is why here at Organize 365® we have divided the year into trimesters; 4 month segments to plan for the next phase of seasonality your home and life will be facing. Now that we are done with the holidays, when is the next time you'll be making a turkey? Likely in 11 months. So you could put that turkey pan and the lifters in your storage...but you can't because your storage area is a hot mess like every other storage area I've seen ever. THIS is why it's nice to be organized. You can tailor your spaces with the seasonality and have an appropriate organized storage area to do that! Each planning day helps you to anticipate these seasons and the “unexpected” events that come our way with each season.  Did you know that this year Easter is in March??  Yes! Our last planning day we talked about that, which will change spring break for many of us. How do you “Spring Break”? You may need to make hotel reservations or talk to people you travel to for Easter. It's inevitable that after Easter our brains switch to summer - but the reality is that we have a lot of weeks left in school until summer. I also brought awareness to taxes. Yes, they are coming!!  It's funny how these “unexpected” events come out of nowhere and can throw everything off track. This is why we have the planning days. For this reason, you get the first planning day included when you get The Productive Home Solution®. We want to give you all the support we can to get you organized and stay that way even if an unexpected or routine “unexpected” event comes your way.  Year One After a year of going through all your spaces (15 minutes at a time) decluttering and organizing, you will no longer have rooms talking to you. No room is reminding you to change the light bulb, order a backup of a product you use daily, or a repair that is needed. You have backup of products you use and systems in place to resupply. You are no longer using your decision making allowance on what you are going to wear, what is for breakfast, or other simple decisions throughout your day. This process of decluttering will result in organization. This will not look like everything is labeled and “pretty.” This kind of organization will look like more time and more free thinking space in your brain. You can start to mentally prepare for your day as you get ready or drive to work. You can focus on accomplishing your goals. You may not be organized now, but you could be a year from now. So where do you start?  I always advise starting in your personal spaces and storage, and then you get to choose your own adventure. You can choose your paper, family spaces, or kids spaces. I will note that kids' spaces need to be done in the summer; so consider where you are in the year when you choose where you will organize next. Once you get to fall, you need to do the spaces you didn't do in summer. This will take you about a year. If you think about how much time you spent on just your bathroom, you can expect your full home to take about a year! Year Two Now that your spaces aren't talking to you, it's time to refine. You get life long access to The Productive Home Solution® and can really go through it as many times as you'd like. This time you will go through all of your spaces again…but during this round you will get rid of some things you didn't last time. You may have set up your Sunday Basket®, but you may find that you are not really making everything wait until Sunday. This year, you will start to understand the importance of waiting until Sunday to free up decision making and time. You will also start to better utilize The Paper Solution® Binders. You will find yourself going through the free blitzes at a deeper level. You are a productive planner. This is the year most people will add the Friday Workbox® too. You have seen the impact of the Sunday Basket® at home and you desire that same level of organization at work, too. Year Three THIS is the year you recognize “I am an organized person.” You finally feel it. No rooms are talking to you. You know the visible and invisible work that needs to get done and you have systems in place to support you in work and life. Work is in control. Life is in control. You can flux when unexpected life events come your way. Your home and work will not fall apart. Now you can gather all the time from both areas and think about whatever you want to all the time. You can now start to do what you are uniquely created to do!  I'm not going to lie…you are going to want to quit sometime in these three years. So make sure to catch next week's episode on what to do when you get the urge to quit.  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Productive Home Solution® The Paper Solution® The Household Operations Binder The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

You all love when Emily comes on the podcast. So the good news is, she's back! We last left Emily at her job at Quality IP facing the wall with people talking about lunch behind her. Turns out this opportunity was the final straw to Emily exploring entrepreneurship! We are talking about sales, the economy and ripple effects, the rate of change, and the safety net that is your credit score. Here's the update… The Next 6 Weeks Pretty safe to say the two of us like to plan. And there's a cadence or a cycle to organizing. We dream, make it real, complete the idea, and then we get to start dreaming again. Emily shared that she looks at these areas of her life the last week of the year or the first week of the new year: financial, spiritual, relational, emotional, mental, and vocational. She decides the next steps she wants to take to improve those areas and then strives towards the next step over the next six weeks which takes her to her birthday. She can audition new ideas and keep what works and what needs to be revamped. Recently she's been trying to get to the yoga studio. I remember when I used to do in-home organization and Carol, my partner, would always say “Let's audition the couch over here. If you don't like it then we'll move it back or audition a new location.” Emily has auditioned the idea of trying out this yoga studio, but it's time to look for a new gym or mode of physical activity to move her health goals forward.  Don't Force a Square Peg Into a Round Hole “Forcing things never prosper.” Emily and I agree I have a pretty high awareness of my intuition and I follow it. I have always been more focused on the destination rather than how I get there. I know what I want the end product to be. I asked Emily when she decided to start trusting her intuition. She acknowledged that she used to force things and go against her gut. And it was no surprise that things haven't worked out with this strategy. When they let her go at Quality IP, she thought “I'm done!,” I'm going to do business through relationships which is in alignment with me.” They wanted her to play the numbers game and she wanted to earn business through relationships. Despite her sales being stellar, they weren't happy she wasn't doing it their way. She was tired of forcing square pegs into round holes. Once she relinquished control, she felt God putting things into place to keep her afloat as she started down her entrepreneurial journey. She only has her income so she can't just sit back and collect unemployment. She has hustled. And let me tell you, in general, the hustle is back. The pandemic is over and we are back to the hustle and bustle of life. She has found a couple of marketing clients and she's done some odd jobs to supplement. These odd jobs have been put in her path. God just keeps winking at her to let her know she's on the right path. She's doing business through relationships and that feels much better than playing the numbers game. She's always been a fantastic networker and those relationships are paying off in her transition. She knows she does not want to work for anyone again. There's no forcing anything and she's listening to her intuition. She knows she's not in control. She reminded us all that we are only in charge of our thoughts, attitude, and our efforts.  Emily's Lessons in Business Emily pointed out not to count eggs that have not hatched. She shared that she had calls lined up that ended up canceling. That resulted in not making money. But Emily didn't sweat it because she'd taken advantage of all opportunities that had come her way. Don't say no to a money making opportunity today because you may have money coming in a week or two. Take advantage of all opportunities. A Friday Workbox® can really help a person to keep track of odd jobs while organizing your main stream of income.  Emily has found herself to be more productive when she starts the day with a list of priorities from the end of yesterday's work day. She made her list at the end of the day what was most important to complete the next day while it was fresh. And there is science that backs up the fact that the act of handwriting with a writing utensil (not a stylist on a device) provides better recall and encodes the information deeper in your brain. Emily took advantage of her good credit score before she was let go. She knew she had to have income to get a bank loan as a safety net for this transition. Keep your credit score in good standings. This has benefited me in my personal life and small business. We had to live off credit cards for a little bit when our children were younger. And I have been able to get lines of credit at two banks for Organize 365®. When I was looking into purchasing a building, my credit score was definitely a bonus for me, too.  The Changing Sales Landscape Things are moving faster since Covid. Change happens in about 3-5 years. But since Covid has dwindled down, the hustle is back. I remember many years ago learning about the Singularity Theory from Ray Kurzweil, that at some point everyone would know everything. I had the hardest time wrapping my brain around this concept. This has been made possible mostly due to the internet. The rate at which we learn new information is exponentially faster than 10 years ago. There's not the lag of relaying of the information that there used to be. Emily remembered asking a classroom if they thought there would be self-driving cars and maybe one student would raise their hand. She asked the same question a year later and all but one student would raise their hand. It went from no one thinking it was possible, but with a plethora of information coming at them, they learned and understood this could be a possibility one day. And now… When Covid hit, we all took advantage of technology that would have slowly been utilized. Covid catapulted that forward. Now most know how to Zoom, order groceries online, and alot of us rely on Amazon. All these changes were almost forced on us due to the restraints of Covid. And there has been so much ripple effect from Covid and supply shortages we experienced. We've seen the minimum wage has also gone up. But one part of the economy doesn't go up without everything else going up. There was stimulus money that was given to employers who in turn spent it on wages. And of course, the product they needed went up! Another example is the price of shipping a cargo container went up so high. But then once we could get them shipped, they sat at the ports because we didn't' have enough workers on the railroads I have also noticed that the fad of high ticketed coaching and other online sales funnels are starting to shrink. These strategies were popular based on it being a numbers game. Reminds me of the book “80/20 Sales and Marketing” by Perry Marshall. The idea is if you are in a bar, and you ratchet a shotgun under the table, 20% will look at you. Those are your people. Those people want what you have. Now build a relationship with those people because they are your client and know others with similar interests. When Emily had Rainmaker, her tagline was “Hope is not a strategy and everyone is not your target audience.” Focus on your target audience. We buy from people we know, like, and trust!  Well, there you have it folks. Emily is now an entrepreneur using the unique skill, knowledge, and abilities she has to do what she was uniquely created to do! The two of us aren't going anywhere. If you need Emiy's services reach out to her via email emilyMkelly@hotmail.com EPISODE RESOURCES: Friday Workbox® 80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

How do we move from being a productive person who can get a lot done in a day to someone who can really set and achieve bigger goals that are going to make a marked difference in the world? The way to become more impactful doesn't come from productivity, it doesn't come from apps, and it doesn't come from digitizing things. It comes from increasing your organization.  In order to build the tracks for your work train, you have to establish work systems, processes and habits. In Workbox Planning Day, we talk about having a beginning of the day routine, a midday routine, and an end of the day routine. Then you can add in Friday Workbox® coworking time each Friday, and Planning Day every quarter. Now there will be the new Workbox Planning Day Implementation event that will kick off next week, and will continually happen every quarter. You have to build these tracks first so that you can move forward faster. Having these three routines each day gives you guardrails and allows you to task stack different things at different times of the day so that you have more capacity and more time to work on your purple projects and move new initiatives forward through the company.  Now you're moving faster because these habits and routines have reduced your decision making fatigue. You've task stacked as many of your green tasks into these bucketed times each day and week so that you have more free time to work on the other colors - pink, purple and blue. Now it's time to build the train cars. How you build your work train cars is very customized. What your train looks like throughout your career is also very customized. Interestingly, you can get your work train up and running faster than your home train. Typically it only takes a year - if you're an employee. If you're a business owner, it's a lifetime pursuit. You're never going to be done because you're always reorganizing the train tracks, moving around the cars or adding and subtracting them. It's basically one big game.  The first work train car will be the Business Friday Workbox®. This will teach you there are four different kinds of work; four different roles you play in your job. Everyone has four: pink, purple, blue and green. Once you figure out what those are, we're going to optimize those four kinds of work over the course of one year. The second train car are the Workbox Planning Days. Until you learn how to plan, how to use your Friday Workbox®, it's really just a pretty way of organizing your to do list. Until you learn to plan the work that's within the workbox, it's very reactive. You might speed up a little, but you will not have the impact that you want to have. How do you take the green work (administrative) and task stack it in as small amount of time as possible at regular intervals throughout the day so that you can increase the capacity you have for the pink, purple and blue work? Once you start going through the Planning Days, you start to proactively and purposefully plan out what your initiatives are going to be in the next 90 days. You start doing less, but getting more in depth. You delete or delegate projects, you streamline your goals and stop overcommitting. You realize how cyclical work is and how much it's related to home.  There are other things that are going to slow down your train - like losing a team member, adding a team member, a new product, losing a product, and so on. Every time you pull into the station, you will go through every single train car. Every 90 days, every quarter. I would love for you to join me for the Workbox Planning Day Implementation event next week. It will be the 13th week of every quarter from now on, so you can add this into your coaching package in order to keep your train running. My job is to get you more productive and profitable so that you can avail yourself of all of those great coaches thereafter.  EPISODE RESOURCES: Business Friday Workbox® Workbox Planning Day Friday Workbox® Planning Day Monthly Subscription Workbox Implementation Day Sign up for the Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

I wish you guys could understand the opportunity Jayme gave me when she offered up her school as a pilot school. Jayme had been talking about the Education Friday Workbox® and explaining how she was so organized, but I was still shocked that she was able to get approval overnight! It was an easy “yes” for the superintendent because he knew it was already so effective for Jayme. I am so excited to share how it went! “Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.” - Bill Gates  The same can be said for our houses. Most people overestimate what they can achieve in one weekend or month and underestimate what they can achieve in one year.  It's funny, through developing Organize 365® I've been able to identify that we do not focus on decluttering or productivity as much as we focus on learning organization. The first one aids organization and the last is allowed due to organization. When I wrote “Organization Is a Learnable Skill”, that's what I shared; my acts of organization. When we are organized, we get the pay off of productivity. I'm excited to dive into the book study and dig into how you can achieve results, too! Three years after launching Organize 365®, I was able to be the business owner and send my team out into the field. After six years of effectively running Organize 365® due to organization leading to productivity, I was still blogging, had the podcast, the early stages of what is now The Productive Home Solution®, and manufacturing for the Sunday Basket®. I was still in multiple direct sales companies and the train wasn't stopping any time soon. But If you would have told me I would accomplish all of that, I am not sure I would have expected to. I used to love to stay after school when I was a teacher and organize a fellow teachers' space. They loved when I bopped into their classrooms.  I say all of that to tell you that at that time, I launched 8 workboxes. I had a box for all the things I was doing. And the Education Friday Workbox® was one of those 8. Being a teacher is so different from any other career. When you need a potty break at work, you get up and go, right? Not a teacher, they are in charge and looking after multiple children. They can't just leave them unattended. I have such an understanding of the teacher world, workload, and home life. So I knew how to make the Friday Workbox® work for teachers.  I truly believe this should be on each teacher's supply list. It's a one time purchase and then a lifetime of organization in the classroom. The real issue becomes who pays for it; I don't think this should also fall on the teacher! Should it come from the federal budget? The state budget? Or the local educational budget? Each state operates a little differently so we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess. Our teachers really only get paid based on instructional time with students. But what many may not realize is all the administrative tasks they have, the responsibility to meet curriculum, nurturing the relationships with students and parents, and time that takes away from their families and pets that rely on them, too. They do not get paid based on all of the invisible work they do that is not optional! Our teachers make large sacrifices of mental capacity for the career that they love.  Did I call Sally's mom back? I need 4 toilet paper rolls for that experiment tomorrow. Those are just a few examples of what teachers are trying to remember. We need to help teachers free up their mental overwhelm! They are constantly surpassing their mental capacity. I designed this pilot to teach them how to write those thoughts down quickly, something that can be done right in the middle of class, and continue on with the lesson. Then at the end of the week, sort them into slash pockets and conquer the tasks. It's so gratifying to free up mental capacity for them in a way that makes them confident everything will still get handled. Because I understand this world so much, I decided to create 3 more slash pocket colors for the Education Friday Workbox®. So, how did it go? What I Discovered It was interesting to me that all three sessions I led were mandatory. There were 52 people in attendance. This was offered to all faculty, not just teachers. Thirty-five staff members took on the opportunity to get organized for a more smoothly run classroom. The special needs teachers showed that they needed additional support. After doing a zoom with the special needs teachers, I decided to offer the Paper Organizing Retreat to all of the special needs teachers. Because what I learned was, almost all of the special needs teachers were new to teaching or new to their school building. That's a lot of newness and it explained their desire for more support! I had 4 of them attend plus Jayme. I sat down with them and learned more about their students and their workload. We came up with customized solutions for each teacher. That's the thing about any of the workboxes. They will get you 80% of the way there, but then you have to customize it to work for you and your needs. They all felt that for the third session they would like to learn home organization. I was open to other topics like lesson planning. But of course, I love that they were experiencing organization at work and wanted it for home, too. Yes, get both trains running!! What Puzzled Me I was fascinated to learn that only 2 out of all participants had a digital only organizational process. Which meant that of the remaining participants, 50% were hybrid of both paper and digital while the remaining 50% were paper only. Mind blown because I always hear of people trying to get a digital system perfected. But what I think is actually happening is that they are doing double duty! I'm also curious for the faculty that attended but did not take the Education Friday Workbox®, were the first two mandatory sessions beneficial? Should educators get an Education Friday Workbox® during college or first year teaching? Different states evaluate for IEP's through different entities. What I Would Love I would love for all teachers to have the Education Friday Workbox® and embrace it! I would love to see professional development for teachers via the Education Friday Workbox®. I'd love to be able to improve their mental health by freeing up their mental capacity. And I'd love to see teacher retention. I'm excited for this to become an actual study. But for now, I am happy with this pilot and it will add credibility to studies in the future. I'd love to help more educators as part of this Education Friday Workbox® pilot. What I Need to Move Forward Do you have knowledge about your state and how things are funded for education? Do I need to be part of a special vendor portal? Is there a certain list for vendors to offer professional development for your schools? Do the districts make the decisions in your state? Does your state have an initiative for teacher retention? Are you on the board, PTO, a teacher or a principal and think this is something you may want to do in your building? Do you want to offer it just to first and second year teachers? Or on a voluntary basis? Who makes the decisions? Who do I need to talk to? Do they want to meet in person? What can I do to advocate for these teachers? Who is open to receiving this information? Please email me at customerservice@organize365.com if you have answers to any of my questions or can aid introductions. I am taking you all on this journey so you can see that  though I do not know the answers, I keep trying. The success or failure of execution will determine my next steps. I have been uniquely created for a time like this.  I have been uniquely created to create online courses to teach people organization through the internet to make visible the invisible work done at home and work. And after my PhD, I will do research to make visible the cognitive and mental load in all these areas at a scientific level to elevate the conversation of systems and structures that need to be in place for adults, just like we have for children, in school, home, work, and teacher environments. I want you too to discover what you are uniquely created to do! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Education Friday Workbox® Paper Organizing Retreat Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Happy Anniversary Wednesday Podcast! In this episode, I wanted to do something just a little different. Normally I talk to someone who shares their Organize 365®  transformational story. Some way, shape or form they found us, BUT not today's guest. Today, I am introducing you to the editor of the Organize 365® Podcast, Tiffany Mason with Virtually You! She has been with Organize 365® for a year now. I wanted to know her thoughts about the time she has been with us and the effect we have had on her. She sends me Voxer messages often so I know she has fallen down the same organizational rabbit hole as the rest of us! Recently, Virginia had to leave Organize 365®, but it was Virginia who connected us with Tiffany. There was an interview, we threw a lot at her, she didn't blink, so we decided to give her a try. Initially, she shared that she felt a little overwhelmed; there were a lot of different episode formats, products she didn't know about, and lingo she'd not heard before. After a few episodes, it made sense that we had a glossary playlist we needed her to republish for the sake of the Organize 365® Podcast listeners.  It wasn't long before I could tell she was hooked. I mean, she is paid to listen to the podcast, but I think she would listen regardless. But why? Tiffany shared that she feels seen by me. She feels like my mission is not to sell sell sell - but rather offer systems and products to free up time for my listeners so they can do what they are uniquely created to do. Tiffany can also relate to my husband Greg. Her husband is more like me and she finds humor in the things I share regarding Greg and I! And she shared how impressed she was to learn Organize 365® was the 32nd largest woman run business in Cincinnati. I am proud to share that this year we moved up to the 30th spot! Because Tiffany is in Florida and I am in Ohio, I shared that Cincinnati is the number 1 city for startups. She pointed out that our ranking is even more impressive, being in that environment and climbing.  I wanted to know how her organization has changed. She said she started with the Friday Workbox® and after she was comfortable with that, she wanted to do a planning day. She has had such a great impact from the planning day that she joked about getting on her knees and calling it a PSA post for society that all women should attend a planning day! She saw what it could do for work so naturally she wanted a Sunday Basket® for home life. She aspires to train her family to put things in her Sunday Basket® as you have shared here on the Wednesday Podcast. We got into an interesting conversation about the definition of home roles. Tiffany saw a post where a wife had the kitchen garbage and questioned if she's crazy to think he should do all of the garbage, if his “chore” is to do garbage. But this is the problem. After the war in the late 40's, marketing “brainwashed” us all into thinking a woman's role was homemaker. The guys aren't at fault either, they are just doing what they saw modeled. There are plenty of great fathers and husbands who are willing to do their part. Tiffany remembered a previous guest sharing that nowadays women are working and don't only have the house to focus on. In business, job descriptions are written but at home…well??  And in my studies, I have uncovered this is a white woman problem. In other ethnicities, they have well defined roles and housework gets done! Even the children have roles. Tiffany expressed so much gratitude for being a part of Organize 365®. She is impressed with the grace we all extend one another. She has been able to take some of our organization and implement it with her clients. There are so many moving pieces, but she's proud to work with Organize 365®. She encouraged all of you to share an episode with someone on the drive to Thanksgiving dinner, like a spouse maybe (wink wink). OR if you have had enough Thanksgiving, get some fresh air while you catch up on the Organize 365® Podcast and feel free to tag us! Tiffany's advice is, “You don't need to reinvent the wheel, just get the products that Lisa has taken the time to perfect.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Home Planning Day Workbox Planning Day Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

I'm excited to announce that for the first time ever, Organize 365® will be participating in Black Friday!  My mind couldn't help but remember the movie “Mr. Mom” from the 80's. Terri Garr is re-entering the workforce in marketing with a bunch of men. They are in the conference room working on marketing for a tuna company “Schooner Tuna.” Terri's character points out that it's tough grocery shopping because of the prices. They were in a recession. Those men weren't in the grocery stores shopping, but she had been. She said, just offer a discount for now. After getting their buy in, the commercial shows Howard Humphrey, the CEO, expressing his awareness of how times are tough, with the American flag waving in the background, and that Schooner Tuna will be dropping prices by $0.50 per can.  And I couldn't help but draw the parallel to today's economic climate in the grocery stores. Try as we might to spend less, at the end of the day we all still have to eat!  This hit home with me and I feel, at this time, it's the right time for Organize 365® to offer a sale. That's right, a sale! I am purposeful with offering a sale or bundle due to the timing of the year. I saw how much you all loved the bundles I have made this year. I hope this gives you the nudge to get started or give the gift of organization to someone else. ORRRR let this be the excuse to start a conversation with someone with whom you share finances. Heck, put it on your list so this year they get to give you a home run gift!   Black Friday Shopping Tab You'll find all these deals online under the Black Friday category in the shop. If you are gifting organization this year…you'll simply choose that it is a gift. And then we'll send you an email asking for the recipient's information so they can get started!  Gifts will ship to you so you can wrap them up and watch them open with excitement. So what's on sale you wonder?  The Complete Sunday Basket® 50% OFF! $125 The Sunday Basket® in the color you choose 1.0 Rainbow Slash Pockets (1 set) Essential Slash Pockets (20 total) Online Dashboard The Sunday Basket® Workbook The Sunday Basket® Community  The Sunday Basket® Club (42 weeks out of the year) Sunday Basket® Stock Up - No Limit $97 1.0 Rainbow Slash Pockets Essential Slash Pockets (pink, purple, green, blue) The Productive Home Solution® Course $997 4 The Paper Solution ®Binders Online Dashboard The Productive Home Solution® Playbook TPHS Community Planning Day (Dec. 30th) Planning Day Workbook The Productive Home Solution® Playbook for only $49 Friday Workbox® Starter Bundle 50% OFF! $373.50 Friday Workbox® in the color of your choice 1.0 Rainbow Slash Pockets Essential Slash Pockets The Business Goal Planner Online Dashboard Friday Workbox® Community Friday Workbox® Club every Friday of the year Planning Day: Dec. 1st at 10 am ET (with replay available for 6 weeks instead of 25 days) Get them all at these amazing prices until it ends on Cyber Monday November 27th at MIDNIGHT! We are here to help you along the way of planning and crushing your personal and professional development goals.  EPISODE RESOURCES: CustomerService@organize365.com Black Friday Shop Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I invited Lisa J. back for an update because she has some exciting news. She lives in Australia with her husband Kirk on their large farm, and their two teen children go to boarding school. She takes care of the administrative tasks for their farm. She loves what she does but got overwhelmed with all the tasks. If you recall from her previous episode, she got relief with the Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox®. It's not common for a farm in Australia to have more than one person taking care of the office and associated tasks. She took Lisa's advice after being on the last podcast and has hired an executive assistant three days a week for the past 3 months. It's going well and she is now looking more at the corporate farm structure. Family farm, one wife is usually taking care of the office. Corporate farm, there is a “team” doing all of the administrative tasks. She can see their farm going in the Corporate direction.  The Lisas discussed what that may look like. Lisa Woodruff brought up the point that yes, there are a lot of tasks. Yes, you can hire help to get those tasks done BUT it must be in the name of growth. Or be aware that it may just simply enhance your lifestyle. Right? It will free up time that usually a business owner can then use towards strategy and growth. If you are content with where business is then just know you are paying for that extra time. And that is fine but Lisa made a brilliant point about hiring help in this respect. That being said, Lisa J. is in a growth mindset and since the last episode has been able to attend 4 planning days. She said the way Lisa W. breaks down the quarter really helps her. It helps her to spatially visualize what will be taking place. She likes to do a one year plan, break that down to one quarter, then one month, and lastly one week. The planning days help Lisa J. to do just that and accomplish goals. Lisa J. has been able to transition some purple slash pockets to her assistant. Now that she's in the thick of it, she and Lisa also talked about some blue and green slash pockets Lisa J. could hand over to her assistant. The Australian government has put a lot of paperwork back on the farms which has increased their workload exponentially. These are tasks her assistant can do, as well as handle technology and social media. Lisa J. was good to create slash pockets for her repetitive tasks and can now offload them one by one. Lisa J. wants to share her organization with other farm offices. It's usually the wife of the farmer. We all know mom's wear a lot of hats and not all of them have the capacity or skill set to be #allthethings. Both Lisa's agree the work that one woman is doing is easily the work of 5 people.  Just think of companies as big as Lisa's farm and there are usually multiple people running HR, bookkeeping, administrative tasks, and more! The beautiful part about Organize 365® systems is that they are kind of like scaffolding and then you, the homeowner or business owner, can customize it to your needs. Anyone can apply these systems to their lives. Drum rolllllll pllllllleassssse….Lisa J. is going to start a podcast to help other farm offices. It will be titled Farm Office Tool Box. She has a burning desire to help other wives/farm offices that may be trying to do it all and feel overwhelmed.  She wants to share how she uses the Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox®, or really how she had kind of combined them to stay consistent and feel in control. And she wants to normalize more people running a farm office. Lisa J. shared that being organized really helps her to feel confident. She trusts herself to make good decisions for the farm. Lisa W. pointed out that all farms, not just Australian farms, will be able to utilize and implement the tips and advice Lisa J. will be sharing.  Lisa's advice will be in her podcast Farm Office Tool Box Podcast…check it out! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

I find it challenging, interesting and exciting to try to break down how I plan and win at home and work, which took me two decades to figure out. It's like working backwards with little Lego bricks that you can replicate to build your own productive and organized house.  There are productivity courses and productivity gurus. For the most part, people who have learned to be productive have done so through a lot of trial and error, thinking, processing, and moving things around in their brains and in real life. Organization is essential for a productive life because if your physical space is disorganized, then it's harder to have enough mental capacity to organize invisible work - which is what productivity is. If your physical space is disorganized, then your productivity doesn't get enough traction to make enough of an impact in your life that you will persist long enough for it to become magical.  The Sunday Basket® is the first step to becoming a productive person, because it moves you from day-to-day thinking to week-to-week thinking. Even if you only do it for 90 minutes on Sundays, it's a monumental lift because the day to day of running a household and being a homeowner is pervasive. There's an inherent, unending task of being a household manager. You can't systematize your house to the point that there's no work to be done. You can reduce your expectations, the amount of stuff you own, the size of the house you live in, outsource your meals, cleaning services...the list goes on and on. But still there's only so much you can automate in your life. You still need to buy clothing and take care of your body (shower, brush your teeth, etc.), eat, sleep, and the like.  The final thing I want to reiterate is that the Sunday Basket® System moving you from day-to-day thinking to week-to-week thinking has a secondary benefit for your whole family. It creates this weekly cadence and this purposeful pause in requests and fulfillment of requests for yourself and your family. Being able to look at your finances on Sunday and then make decisions based on what everyone wants or needs helps you make better money decisions and also better time decisions.  Next week I'm going to talk about why email is the laundry and dishes of work. Oh my gosh! And then in a few weeks I'm going to talk about how to move into season-to-season productivity, both at home and at work. What does it look like to take the Sunday Basket® and turn it into seasonal productivity? What about the Friday Workbox®? Why would you even want that? Stay tuned!  EPISODE RESOURCES: Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® Sign up for the Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

In this episode, I introduce you to Kristi L. who has two daughters at home. Rachel is a high school senior and Lydia is in 8th grade. After losing her husband to cancer, Kristi decided to move closer to family in Indiana. Kristi is a rare gem who found Organize 365® before the podcast!  It's so fun to meet someone who has seen and appreciated the evolution of Organize 365®. Kristi started with my eBook in 2012, then grew her organizing skills through the Sunday Basket®. Kristi relied heavily on the Sunday Basket® to stay organized while she took care of her husband. After his passing and trying to do it all, Kristi decided to sell the horse farm and move. It didn't sell overnight. While trying to keep the house “showing” ready, she moved a lot of stuff into a pod for later organizing which was smart because it took 2 years.   She decided the taxes were just too high and was tired of spending a lot of time mowing the lawn, just a quick 8 hours! When they got to their new downsized home with only two garages, Kristi took her time settling in. She could have continued to get COBRA health insurance forever, but her girls needed coverage going into 2019. So Kristi decided to go back to work. It was a good thing too because shortly after her daughter, Lydia, would be diagnosed with epilepsy and she'd be using the Warrior MAMA Binder more than ever. She already had the binder because Lydia has an IEP for ADHD.  This is when Kristi decided they needed more structure and she knew the 100 Day Challenge (now The Productive Home Solution®) was just the answer. Shortly after, she added the Friday Workbox® for organization and productivity at work too. She realized a lot of tasks were assigned digitally so admittedly she let the Friday Workbox® go. But then in her review, she was urged to get more training done. It dawned on her they weren't getting done because it was something the Friday Workbox® used to help with! She was happy to share that she went back to the Friday Workbox® and now has the next three months scheduled, which allowed her to delegate work to others (in different time zones) to help with different tasks associated with the training. She learned her lesson and is sticking with the Friday Workbox®! Kristi now has The Productive Home Solution®. After having a nightmare that she was passing and her daughters were going to have to take care of things and she wasn't organized, she knew she needed the binders for peace of mind. She pointed out that the Sunday Basket® serves to accomplish actionable tasks while the binders keep your affairs in order. She felt it beneficial to get both which are included in the The Productive Home Solution®. Kristi has a lot less stress these days due to the products and systems from Organize 365®. One the most recent things Kristi treated herself to was the Paper Organizing Retreat! Kristi loved the 1:1 help she received with her paper and binders. She had such a fabulous time at the retreat, not to mention the night in the hotel where she was finally able to charge her car. More importantly, she got to “be” with all her paper that next day and make more progress on what she started at the retreat! Next time she's bringing her mom! Her mom is 80 and has a lifetime of paper. Kristi likes the idea of being able to shred what she predicts to be 99.99% of that paper at the retreat! Lisa joked that either way, Kristi will be taking care of that paper. So it can be with her mom's help now or later because it's not going anywhere otherwise. Kristi's advice is, “start with the Sunday Basket®, then buy it all.” Kristi says to start with pink and take care of yourself first. Get you organized for two reasons; as a woman you need to get organized first and it'll take a long time before it needs to be touched up-you're the only one using your personal space. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® Planning Day The Paper Solution® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with the Organize 365® community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Our Organize 365® Dream Team has experienced way more than its fair share of unexpected events this year. Like...A LOT. Nearly every single one of them has dealt with or is dealing with really big life events. I asked a few of them who were willing to share about those unexpected events and how they navigated them. Today's podcast features Stefanie and her daughters Haleigh and Hannah. It was definitely a family affair on this episode! Stefanie lives in a multigenerational house - consisting of herself, her husband Adam, Betty (the dog), their daughter Haleigh and husband Kaleb - and their 6 children! Haleigh and Kaleb have been married 11 years and met at ministry school in South Carolina. They have 4 biological and 2 adopted children - their names are Manchan, Parris, Olivia (Liv), Frances (Fran), Charlotte (Lottie), Isaac (Ike). Kaleb is the Lead Pastor at their church (Christian Renewal - Hilton Head and Bluffton, SC) and Haleigh is the creator of the Foster Care Ministry, Free Homeschool Co-op and Kids Ministry at the church. They are also foster parents and Haleigh is on the Foster Parent Advisory Council for the state of South Carolina. Hannah and Sean have been married 7 years and also met at the same ministry school! They were missionaries for 5 years and served in China, Ecuador and Costa Rica. A few years ago, Hannah started experiencing some health and infertility issues, so they decided to move back to the states to focus on her health. She's the Children's Director at the Bluffton campus of Christian Renewal Church and her husband also works for the church as their Media Director. Late 2022, after receiving their fostering license, Hannah and Sean found out they were expecting. What a surprise and what a miracle. Back in March, Stefanie was gearing up to travel for a few Organize 365 events. She says it seems as if every time she travels, something happens - someone in the family gets sick, her daughter has a new foster placement, or someone needs her more than usual. Stefanie was enjoying a Wednesday off with her youngest grandchild (Ike) when she got a call from Hannah. She was having serious back pains, but was only about 5 months along in her pregnancy. Hannah is a self-proclaimed “worrier” - so she called the doctor and went to get checked out. When she arrived at the hospital, she was 3cm dilated. They immediately called an ambulance and had her transported to Charleston to the closest hospital with a NICU. Gabe was born at 26 weeks 6 days, and weighed 2 pounds 11 ounces. The first 20 minutes of his life he was unresponsive and was getting no oxygen to his brain. The doctors told them they would have a very long road ahead of them, and at first weren't sure if he was going to survive. They only got to see him for a few seconds before they whisked him off to the NICU floor. Gabe was definitely a miracle, he blew everyone away just in his first week of life. He was moved off the ventilator within days and all respiratory support on Mother's Day. Hannah kept track of all of his progress and needs with the Warrior MAMA and Medical binders, plus a journal that Stefanie had given her. They left the hospital with him on June 26 - 4 days after his actual due date. Stefanie loves that all her family members consistently use The Sunday Basket®, Friday Workbox®, binders and even the Education Friday Workbox® for homeschool. Haleigh with her diagnosis of ADHD took the longest to implement the products because the implementation felt very overwhelming; but just recently one of the kids found their birth certificate for her within minutes because it was in his binder (where it was supposed to be!). Hannah has had a lot of relief with the mental load of all of Gabe's medical needs, insurance claims and appointments by using the Sunday Basket®. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® The Paper Solution® Binders Education Friday Workbox® Warrior MAMA Binder 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!

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! In this episode, I introduce you to Stefanie Ardoin. She has been part of our Organize 365® Dream Team since 2021 and one of our Certified Organizers since 2018. We are talking about Stef's transition from empty nester to multigenerational living. We are also talking about her previous roles which transitioned her into her roles inside of the Organize 365® Dream Team - one of those being the administrator of a medical & surgical practice. Once she moved from Louisiana to South Carolina though, we renegotiated Stef's role within Organize 365® because I definitely wanted to keep her!. Stef and her husband Adam moved next door to her daughter and son in law for two years in South Carolina. Stef wanted to do things a little different with her grandchildren than she had done with her children and this move provided that opportunity. Being neighbors gave them confidence that they could cohabitate. So the two families bought a house together! Stef, her husband, and her daughter's family (which includes 6 grandchildren) all live together now. Listen in as we discuss the necessity of planning and creating routines. As we talk, you can hear how the process of using the Friday Workbox® is something that productive people naturally lean into. Once Stef was acclimated to Organize 365®, it dawned on her she'd been doing her own form of the Friday Workbox® in the medical practice. Productive people have this natural cadence to reflect on their week, see what's left to do with pressing deadlines, what can wait, and then plan their next week. Stef shared how she used similar systems in her previous position as an administrator of a medical & surgical practice and how using the Friday Workbox® and Planning Days really helped her to move into the next level of productivity. Once she was on the employee side of things instead of the administrator side, she realized the slash pockets flow in a different order. When you are the business owner and visionary, the slash pockets go pink → purple → blue → green. However when you are the employee, they flow more like green → blue → purple → pink. She was no longer the one coming up or implementing the pink stuff, so it put a different spin on the slash pockets for her. Stef shared how and why there was that shift with her use of the workbox. Stef really took over the Friday Workbox® Club and ran with it! This got us talking about the business owner/administrator's day, and all the work that is completed before the rest of the employees show up. The keeper of ideas and how those get implemented. The relationship with the employees. It's important to know them, but not spend so much time getting to know them that you lose chunks of time to work on the business. Offer the element of caring about them, but not that you talk everyday. If they want more time with the CEO, let them learn while you earn. They can always help you at an event or sit in on a presentation. This way you aren't taking away from your valuable time and they are still getting the benefit. Business owners have hard numbers they need to hit to keep the business running, after all. We talked about what that CEO day looks like and the thoughts that are guiding their days.  We then discussed meetings. At Organize 365®, how we have a kind of digital workbox for in between meetings. Everyone can see everything that is going on and what the meeting will cover. We use Google Docs and team members can add to it in between meetings to cut down on texts, Voxer messages, and instant messaging. I discovered the other benefit to this system…ideas aren't being sprung on employees at the meetings. Everyone has time to process and think. This leads to productive and actionable meetings. And that's why we started  to share our meeting structures and agendas inside the Meeting Mastermind, to help other businesses accomplish productive meetings. The idea is that your team should be effectively using the Friday Workbox® and Planning Days, now you need effective meetings to make that action take place. Your teams will also be able to look back at the projects you have previously discussed. Projects maybe you started and then halted, only to realize now may be a better time to try again.  You all know I love to spend time in pink work and being the visionary for Organize 365®. I also love to hand things off once I have hatched the idea. The digital systems we have in place allow me to do that and keep ideating on what I was uniquely created to do. After 4 years, this little dream team we have in place allows each team member to step up in their zones of strength and almost be me. This has created more time for me, the business owner, time I am using to get my PhD. What would you do with the extra time?  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Friday Workbox® Meeting Mastermind Certified Organizer Directory Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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!

Our Organize 365® Dream Team has experienced way more than its fair share of unexpected events this year. Like...A LOT. Nearly every single one of them has dealt with or is dealing with really big life events. I asked a few of them who were willing to share about those unexpected events and how they are navigating them. Monique is the first to share, but this isn't her first time on the podcast! I love how open, honest, and willing to share her story for the benefit of others she is. Monique has 6 adult children - 3 are biological, and 3 are adopted from Ukraine. Her husband Zenon is a first generation Ukrainian. Within the last 18 months, Monique and her husband have moved to a different state, welcomed their first grandbaby, one of their daughter's got married, and dealt with Zenon losing his job. WHOA! They lived in the same home in Valparaiso, Indiana for 20 years. They also just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary! The move was the best change for their marriage and their family. Then the first wave of unfortunate events hit. Their son and daughter in law who lived in Wisconsin were expecting a baby and he lost his job. Shortly thereafter, her son lost his job. It was then they decided to follow Monique and Zenon to Tennessee and start a new chapter of their lives. Monique stepped in to help as much as possible like any good parent would - on top of dealing with all of life's normal challenges. She quickly learned it was a mistake to assume that adult children know how to do things that they've actually never done on their own! It's a whole different ballgame stepping back into a teaching role as a parent when they are adults. Monique & her husband also have a few children with special needs. Teaching adulting skills to those children who have a different processing ability can be a challenge. They know this will require a lifetime of mentoring, and they might not be moving out someday and will most likely have a different future than their other children. They really had to do a mindset shift and readjust their expectations once they realized they might not become “empty nesters” like they once thought they would. Lisa and Monique also shared about how much they love being grandparents. Monique's grandson Gabe was 4 months old at the time, and Grayson is about to turn 2! The impact you can have on your grandchildren's lives is so unique and different than what you had on your own children. They both hope they can make better choices this time around, and do things differently with them. Monique's husband can't wait until Gabe is 2 so he can take him to Home Depot, and Greg can't wait until Grayson is 5 so he can take him fishing! Next up in Monique's life was her daughter's wedding in May. She still lives in Indiana, and Monique was trying to be supportive in helping her plan the wedding long distance. She would make weekend trips from Tennessee to Indiana to do all the wedding preparations she could along with her daughter. Monique spent the entire week leading up to the wedding with her as well, and was intentional about carving out special time with her before she became a married woman. How does she do it all? As if a move, a grandbaby, and a wedding wasn't enough to make her head spin - she was also working full time at Organize 365®. Along with her full time job, she was taking out of town organizing jobs and coaching sessions in the evenings and on the weekends to earn extra money. She says she and Zenon had to "get scrappy" in their old age to deal with all the extra expenses in order to invest in their children's lives as much as possible. Monique wastes no time feeling sorry for herself or worrying about how she will get it all done. She simply gets up and gets dressed. She figures out what the next step is and problem solves along the way. She uses her Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox® - and focuses on only 7 days at a time. It feels like a game of Tetris to her; fitting all the pieces in, figuring out what the most critical things to get done are for the next 7 days, and flexing that time when something out of the ordinary does come along. Then she experienced another blow - Zenon lost his job. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise - because he was able to go on a trip to Ukraine in March shortly after the war began. He focused his energy on this experience and giving back to his home country. He drove 25 hours in a caravan and made multiple stops along the way, delivering supplies from the western side to the eastern side where people were stuck in war zones. He experienced a once in a lifetime chance to be involved with organizations that help children, bringing people from east to west, taking things that people need from west to east because they couldn't get it, and meeting a relative for the first time. Listen in next week to hear Part 2 of Monique's incredible story - it's unbelievable to think even more unexpected events were right around the corner. EPISODE RESOURCES: 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!

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! In this episode, I introduce you to September G. who is an ambitious entrepreneur. We talked about her routines pre and post pandemic, and the moment she just couldn't take it any longer. The pandemic was the opposite of a Golden Window for September! She couldn't take that they had settled into old habits during the pandemic. When her husband asked if they were on the verge of a divorce due to September's unsettled behavior and the meltdown she had, she said that is when they banded together and invested in the Sunday Basket® and their marriage. She has been able to make the invisible work visible, so others can accomplish the same tasks in her absence since she travels often. It gave them a chance to renegotiate and reorder responsibilities. Listen in as we discuss the vital role the Sunday Basket® and The Friday Workbox® plays in both her businesses and her home life. She and her husband actually go through their Sunday Basket® on Fridays, and then he knows what his checklist is for the week. She runs a coffee shop with her children, and the Friday Workbox® helps them get things done more efficiently. It systematizes what's happening and when, they get more done, work faster, and management is much more proactive. It works so effectively that she has peace of mind that things will not fall through the cracks. I hypothesized that maybe the boys are ok with doing the Friday Workbox® on their own because they saw their dad model this behavior. Even when we don't realize it, our children are watching us. We need to get ready to cheer September on because in March and April of 2024, she embarks on the Southern Tier Bike Ride from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL. September explained the ride and that it is a 2-month commitment. She is confident that Gerrity Education Team, the coffee shop, and her household will be taken care of due to the systems and organization that September, her family, and her remote team have put into place thanks to Organize 365®. She has freedom from stress knowing that things won't fall through the cracks.  September's advice is, “Just buy all the stuff.” Let Lisa do all the thinking for you and you just fill in the blanks or do the things. Forget struggling to DIY it! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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!

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too! In this episode, I am excited for Susan T. to share her Organize 365® journey with you! Susan lives with her husband and adult children - her daughter is 29 and her son is 26. They both live in apartments in Susan's home and we talk about the blessings and challenges of building strong relationships with our adult children. When she found Organize 365® through an interview I did on another podcast, she was helping a friend get her paper organized. She then, like many of you, binged all of the Organize 365® podcasts and found that our solutions were exactly what she needed!  She had been trying for a while to figure out a system for organizing her work. She had an ever-growing pile sitting on the corner of her desk. The pile was creating overwhelm for her. She struggles to get her work organized and move easily from task to task. She needed a system for her work and her paper pile. The Friday Workbox® transformed how she organizes her work and her ability to keep moving throughout the week at work, especially as someone who works mostly out in the field. Planning Day for Work and Home have also been a gamechanger for her. She subscribes to both Work and Home Planning Days which leads us to a conversation about how Organize 365® is able to help orchestrate a flow for your life through these planning days, which is exactly why Susan goes to them all. She looks at it as an accountability partner for her home and work. The coaching she gets from me during these events is an added bonus! Listen in to hear our tips for organizing your medical history in real time and how to set aside time for yourself to dream and think! EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Friday Workbox® Planning Day The Productive Home Solution™ The Productive Home Solution™ Home Planning Day Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  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!

What motivates you? Where do you get stuck in your organization? How can Organize 365® support you MORE in your journey? These are all questions that have led me to create a new offering for you! This summer we will be piloting new classes designed to help you achieve your organizational transformation faster. I know from the Wednesday podcasts that once you implement the Organize 365® solutions, whether it's the Sunday Basket®, a binder or The Productive Home Solution™, a weight is lifted off your shoulders. You have freed up your mind and most often your time. Then you are able to dream again and do what you are uniquely created to do. The problem is once we become even slightly disorganized, we are starved for the time we need to even implement these solutions. I know that many of you who are going through a challenging life stage or unexpected event are already missing work. And I also know that if you have an appointment or meeting scheduled - you attend and participate. So I've created classes for you to help you hold yourself accountable and get your Organize 365® solutions implemented as quickly as possible! These classes will be 3 hours long and you can literally start with your products in the box. The goal of the class is that you will go from having a brand new (or never implemented) Organize 365® solution and have it implemented and ready for use by the end of the three hours. The classes are the PERFECT compliment to your Organize 365® products and I've got the absolute BEST teachers lined up for you. The Education Team at Organize 365® has a robust roster of experienced professional organizers who specialize in different areas to provide you the most amazing and informed experience in setting up your organizational systems. This is a great opportunity for you to receive one-on-one support from the dream team! Meet the teachers: Monique Horb will be teaching The Sunday Basket® and The Warrior Mama Classes Stefanie Ardoin will be teaching The Friday Workbox® and The Medical Binder Tanya Blackburn will be teaching The Financial Binder and the Income & Expense Binder How to sign-up: I'll be doing a free introductory webinar 3 weeks before each class. The webinars are FREE. Join the webinars by registering here. Classes will be $250, but are currently being offered (for this summer only) at the introductory price of $179. Classes can be purchased here Want more professional assistance from Organize 365®? Do you want someone to create your Sunday Basket®, Friday Workbox® or Binders for you? We will be opening up a full-service option as well. This will start at $2,500 per solution. If you want this option, please email customer service at customerservice@organize365.com. Do you want to talk to the Education Team about your situation, needs or what would work best for you? Reach out to us at customerservice@organize365.com to set-up a one-on-one call - completely free. Episode Resources: CustomerService@organize365.com Sign-up for the free webinars Register for classes Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

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 interviewing Lindsey S. She's a high school special education teacher that found me through my podcast with Angela Watson. What's so interesting about this interview is that Lindsey S. was already living an organized life when she found Organize 365®. But her life was speeding up and she had the wherewithal to know she had to implement some new organizational systems and skills if she was going to keep up. She lives with her husband, twin 5 year old daughters, and 9 year old daughter. Lindsey holds nothing back in the hopes that her story will help others. One of her daughters has a learning disability and one has autism. Her openness in sharing her journey advocating for her children is admirable. Even as a special education teacher of 12 years (knowing the ins and outs of the systems in place), she still needed a system for organizing and presenting her documentation for each of her daughters. She uses the Warrior MAMA Binder!  We talk about parent intuition and observation which is something I've always known (anecdotally) is a thing. But I'm learning more and more about it in my PhD program. Lindsey has thoughts on this also! Switching topics to how Lindsey organizes herself and her household - you have to hear how Lindsey is “chunking” out her Sunday Basket® time! If you are in a busy season of life and can't seem to find the time to do your Sunday Basket®, this podcast is for you!  I am floored to find out Lindsey also has Sunday Baskets® for each of her girls! She walks me through how these are set up and it is absolutely genius! She gave me some ideas to implement in my own life with my daughter. Then, she walks us through her Friday Workbox® which has been amazing for her since she has so much administrative work that she's been able to make visible (and pretty) with a Friday Workbox®. The Friday Workbox® helps her easily glide through her day. It's given her more capacity and time. How is Lindsey using the time she's unlocked through implementing Organize 365® systems and courses? Listen in to find out! EPISODE RESOURCES: Organize 365® Warrior Mama Binder The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Productive Home Solution™ 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!

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! You are in for a treat because in this episode we meet Deanne. She found Organize 365® through the book “How ADHD Affects Home Organization.” She's a mental health professional who was seeking resources for her clients, but also found the book to be helpful for her and she wanted to learn more about functional organization! Deanne lives with her husband, her 15 year old son and an 18 year old exchange student from Norway! She also has two older sons that have launched.  Since Deanne is a mental health professional, we jump right into the connection between organization and mental health. How does organization impact our mental health? We speak anecdotally about the physiological and emotional distress that organization can cause. Deanne started her own functional organizing journey with The Sunday Basket®. It's a great place to start! She now has a Sunday Basket® she manages on her mom's behalf, a Friday Workbox® for her business and has gotten her oldest son using his own Sunday Basket®. Deanne plays many roles in life - she is a wife, mother, business owner, caregiver for her mother and I'm sure many other things. We get into what functional organization and systems like The Paper Solution® Binders can do for you as you are balancing these roles and having to advocate for others.  As Deanne took on caregiving for her mom, she became the power of healthcare and power of attorney. She set up a Sunday Basket® for her and had to sort through a room's worth of paper on her mom's behalf. She has made it a point to set up her own binders. We discuss how doing our binders is (1) a gift we give to those that will one day have to advocate for us or settle our estates and (2) a project that doesn't need to be perfect. If you are using The Paper Solution® Binders and they are at 80%, that is absolutely an A+ and will save you and your family time in the future. We discuss the process of implementing the Sunday Basket® and our learning styles. How did you implement your Sunday Basket®? Did you do it all at once or one step at a time? Deanne waited until she had a big chunk of time and could get it all set up the way she wanted.  She's now well on her way. This interview covers so many topics, tips and positive organizing affirmations! EPISODE RESOURCES: How ADHD Affects Home Organization The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® The Paper Solution® Binders Additional Resources for Getting Organized with ADHD 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!

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? If this is a new realization for you - the good news is we have opened up The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day to everyone now. 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!

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!

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!

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!