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!

As many of you know, following one organizer will bring you to another. In fact, that’s how some of you ended up in my community. So many of you reached out suggesting Kendra Adachi with The Lazy Genius podcast for an interview for the Monday Connections episodes. Thank you so much for the recommendation and we had an insightful conversation.

Lazy Genius

Kendra Adachi was a perfectionist to the extreme. She was teacher’s pet, valedictorian, and voted most dependable by her peers. In 2015, she started a lifestyle blog. The podcast, The Lazy Genius, followed not even a full year later. She teaches women to “Be a genius about the things that matter, and and lazy about the things that don’t.” Once she became a parent she learned that rule. She was so used to doing everything perfectly but once her second child came along she realized you can’t be perfect at everything. And that’s how she got to pointing out to women how to find a happy medium between Boss Babe and Hot Mess.

We agreed how nice it is to come on an episode with an idea and through the recording think out loud. Inevitably we end up with feedback from the community that results in solutions or next steps. When I asked her if she worries about running out of episode topics. She replied with the fact that the perspective on laundry changes with your lifestyle. For example, she may be talking about endless stained laundry from toddlers and grow to sharing about how she is teaching her teenagers how to do laundry. We commented on the value our listeners get from hearing how a female is doing things. Kendra shared that 93% of time management books are from male authors. It’s time for women to learn from each other.

And Kendra shared about “Big Black Trash Bag Energy”. You know when you’re just over it and so you get out the big trash bag with the internet to toss everything and just start over? No need. Just start small. Work on one thing.

Women Have Always Ran the World

Kendra shared the point of view that maybe there’s a stigma to the importance of the female role and how much men value what women do. And I agreed through the lens that women have always ran the world but now that women are in the workforce, it’s coming to light how much women are really doing. And sorry guys, it’s more than you. Men get to watch a football game but women feel like they need to be productive making the meal plan or planning car pool while watching that same football game. We have been the CEO’s of the households but now all that invisible work is being identified. We have these never ending tasks that replenish themselves and leads to weary spirits. Planning is essential for women to manage the household and take care of everyone. Kendra pointed out you are inherently a preparer, an adjuster, or a notice-er. And then we talked about the mindsets and lifestyles of being 30, 40, and in your 50’s. And the two scenarios determine how you got about what you gotta get done.

You Only Know What You Know

I find it so difficult to find other women CEO’s to learn from. We joked those women are too busy to sit down to write a book or record a podcast. My hope is for all women in the 20’s and 30’s to find a community to show them systems on how to be a household manager. You get a new job, you get training. You buy your first house and you’re responsible for the payments but no guidelines on how to care for it. Up to you to hopefully stumble across the Household Operations Binder. Don’t get intimidated by the CEO role. It’s not meant to be this manly corporate role. You only know what you have been taught. Women need to be in community with each other, doing life together. We are the experts in this role!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Sunday Basket®

• 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.

It’s 2017, I’m on the plane home from California. I just attended a conference, a mastermind with a virtual friend of mine, Chris Ducker, and I’m writing down the 5th value that I want for Organize 365®. The Power of Community: In community, everyone can learn to be organized, action is easier, and happens exponentially. Organize 365® believes organization is a learnable skill.

I’m a CEO

After the investment I had made in that 6 days in California, it sunk in, I’m a real CEO. I was making money and needed to structure my company to be able to purchase inventory. After considering our current phase of life and how I envisioned Organize 365® would grow, I was advised to structure it as a C-Corp. All the details and thought process I shared in this episode. I also decided on the way home that I was going to need to hire 7 contractors for areas that were not my strength. In community with these contractors I grew Organize 365®

Virtual Friends

I had a really hard time in the friends category really my whole life. I shared a really vulnerable time in my life in Catholic school where the girls weren’t so nice to me. Maybe it was me? I was used to talking to adults. The place in my family where I was born had me surrounded by adults all the time. I had my successful female lineage, my father who owned his own business, and then the smart men on my dad’s side of the family. I was so mature in conversation but naive in interacting with kids my same age. I finally had a pretty solid friend once I was married. Around 2012, my pit of despair, I was back to no community. My parents divorced and it kind of blew up the whole family, I ditched my friends so I would not be around negativity, we were in a tough parenting season so church had become less, and I wasn’t teaching anymore. I didn’t even have my Creative Memory parties anymore, the women I had scrapbook with once a month for years.

So I turned to authors. I listened to their audio books. I gleaned all they were talking about and trying to apply it to my business. And then I found podcasts. Like, what? It was an endless supply of basically audiobooks. They were my virtual friends, Pat Flynn with Smart Passive Income, John Lee Dumas with Entrepreneur on Fire, Chris Ducker with Youpreneur, to name a few. I would mull over the questions Chris Ducker would ask his guests and then I would practice answering them. But then I got to thinking how the female lived experience is so much different than a male’s. So I searched out women to follow and listen to. Life is so flat when you don’t have friends. I couldn’t seem to make any friends so this was what I had. I was always talking with them, they just couldn’t hear my side of the conversation.

Organize 365® Community

Being such a fan of community and understanding community helps others to learn, I knew it had to be a core value of my company. I also knew that the growth I was expecting and the experience I wanted for my customers, I would not be able to hold the community together alone. I’m still very much involved with the Planning Days, Embrace, and other webinars n such. But you see team members running some of the clubs and other things. Life is better in community, connecting with other humans.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• 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!

There are two ways you can proactively anticipate. You can act like it’s Y2K again. When the 1000’s place in computers was switching to 2 at the end of 1999, Greg and I proactively anticipated from the stance of lack. We stocked up on water and toilet paper in the event the world ran out. OR you can proactively anticipate with a positive mindset and life in abundance. You know where you are going and what you want and plan how to get there.

Get What You Want

I love holding babies! So when I was younger I thought how can I get to be the one to hold the babies because others in my family too like to hold the babies. I anticipated no one wanted to change the stinky diaper, so I did. Then after I took them to the bedroom or somewhere away from everyone, I’d change the diaper and then steal my cuddles. “Lisa, are you bringing back the baby?” they’d ask. I also anticipated that people like to sleep. So when my aunts started having babies, I’d offer to stay over to take care of the baby during the night. I knew they baby would be up in the middle of the night and my aunts wanted to sleep. What do you want and how can you be helpful? Maybe by giving an act of service that fills your cup too. If you remember last week’s episode, I did this with babysitting too. I wanted to be the babysitter of their choice each summer. I made sure I lined it up in plenty of time for the parents to be able to line up summer camps or whatever on the days I would be watching their children so they could rely on me for transportation and care of their children.

What Can You Do In 20 Minutes?

Thank God Abby was a sleeper but my lil Joey only took 20 minute naps. I had so many plates in the air and without a sufficient nap time to address anything, lots of things were falling through the cracks. I had, literally, a foot of paper piled at the end of my kitchen counter. One night I decided to tackle it by sorting it in to 40 categories. By the time I was done, it was late, I needed to pick up my mess but also have it accessible. I threw the sorted and paper clipped papers into a Lonaberger basket till the next day at nap time. I knew I was going to have a small window to accomplish something. I was proactively anticipating this nap and I was ready. Slowly over the next six weeks I was able to get caught up one paper packet per nap time. Having my paper organized I was able to get systems in place so I could keep growing Organize 365® because I realized that is what I was uniquely created to do.

Proactive Anticipation Go Hand in Hand with Planning

I have always had the ability to look into the future and anticipate what is coming for the female American Household Manager. I have been in many homes, of all types. I know things like the energy during different times of the year, how supply chain works, and kids! The Sunday Basket helps you to proactively anticipate the next week. Planning days help you to proactively plan for the next 120 days. I found these systems to be effective for my house and then created ways to teach them to others in the Organize 365® Community. Once you find what you are uniquely created to do you need the systems more than ever. At first they give you time to find out what you are created to do. You could dive into the fulfillment of what you discover but then you may have your train go off the rails. The systems continue to provide time to keep doing what you are uniquely created to do, in combination with everything else a Household Manager must do.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• 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!

“We have a hard time just wanting what we want.” Transformational Freedom is my driving force through personal development and unapologetic gumption to pursue the things I want. Our houses are holding us back. When we feel like we are taking care of our primary role of household manager, spouse, and parent, then we feel free to pursue what we want.

4 Generations of Ambitious Women

When you have a great grandmother who gets her teaching degree because it’s the only degree a woman can get, you learn to succeed despite limitations. She went on to run a floral shop, a restaurant, and a gift shop which is definitely not what other women were doing those days. AND she divorced her husband! And then you have a grandmother who gets her Home Economics degree because again, limitations. And see her and her husband start a student loan - ish business, you see an example of a woman not waiting for permission. But then goes on to set an even greater example when she remarries and starts up a home economic kit mail order business of sorts out of her home. Like how did people order? She figured it out because it’s what she wanted to do. And a mother like mine. She was so focused on business. She started The Fine Line out of our basement and created cases of clothes she bought one weekend in NYC. She did that for 6 years and then sold it for a profit.

Didn’t Get Permission, I Went After What I Wanted

Which gave me the gumption to start my own babysitting business. The examples of women in my life I saw growing up didn’t wait for permission to pursue what they were uniquely created to do. I didn’t wait for permission or see someone else doing it. No, I paved my own path to filling up my summer calendar with baby sitting positions. I saw a need and solved a problem for moms who needed to get tasks done and take care of themselves per my suggestion. I used my unique skills of loving children to make money on my terms.

Transformational Freedom

At Organize 365® we say “As you let go of one thing, you are open to receiving the next. We strive to unlock your life’s purpose through the process of decluttering, organizing, and increasing productivity.” You also don’t know what you haven't experienced. I acknowledge that if you haven’t seen, for example, a healthy marriage then you don’t believe they exist and don’t know what they look like. I love the Organize 365® community for this reason. Hopefully you are hearing healthy examples on the podcast and then being exposed to more in the community. Community opens our eyes to possibilities. And because we don’t believe in those possibilities, we cling to what we currently have. That’s why it’s so important to acknowledge letting go of one thing, only to experience something even better. Remember this life is not happening to us, it’s happening for us.

Permission Granted

Greg didn’t flinch when I told him I was going to quit because he knew I would make money still. I had replaced my teaching salary with Creative Memories and planned to grow my organizing business to contribute to the family finances. In my organizing experiences, one client broke down when the last area was done, saying she could finally go back to work. What? The emotional weight of our homes on us women is great. Ladies, our houses hold us back because whether or not you work, you view your household manager role as primary. Organize 365® is here to get you decluttered and organized so you can be productive. Here is your permission to explore what you want and to pursue it. Fly out of your golden cage. Return as much as you want but you are free. Permission granted.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• 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 Nita M. who is married and employed as a stay at home mom by her two young daughters. Nita first found Organize 365® through the podcast. Nita had just turned 40 in February of 2024, after having a baby in November 2020. There was just an energy that she wanted to get back on track. Postpartum had derailed her normally organized life. She’d been watching another organization show when she saw me being interviewed. Nita has her MBA and she connected with the language we use at work being applied to the home. It also clicked that our kitchens are like restaurants and our storage is like a prepaid store. The analogy of the work and home train resonated with Nita, too.

The way you think of your home changes the way you operate. Profitable businesses are always planning, iterating, and looking at the target market they serve; our homes are no different. With these two schools of thought in mind, Nita adopted what her supply chain looks like and is now more prepared. She realized she had to buy toilet paper no matter what so what was the difference of doing it over 120 days or just purchasing it all up front, or set up a subscription through Amazon? When supplies came in, she used to just have them throughout the house, until she realized her guest bedroom closet was being underutilized. Now it’s storage (AKA Nita’s prepaid store) for each 120 days.

I brought up the study by Wayne et al that speaks to the “Invisible Family Load.” Household managers seem to have a positive disposition to the cognitive and management of the invisible load, but a negative disposition to the emotional cost of the invisible load. Nita shared the story of going to an amusement park with her daughters and getting rained out. Her oldest daughter complimented her when she realized how organized Nita was with her car closet. She was prepared with towels and snacks. With systems in place, Nita feels positive towards the emotional cost of “getting” to do all the invisible tasks for her family.

In an effort to learn it all and understand my brain, Nita has invested in all the products. She agrees that for a stay at home mom, The Productive Home Solution® would be a natural place to start. Nita liked that she was able to get her foundation settled, then move on to the Sunday Basket®. Some nights as she and her daughter drift off to sleep, they listen to the podcast, per her daughter’s request. Nita cleans on Saturdays, plans on Sundays, and processes her basket on Mondays. She has two portable Sunday Basket®s that travel with her in her second home, her car. She loves knowing how to create the flow, the manipulation of time that makes her life more smooth. She even gave me an idea to check out the delay start feature on my washing machine. Get those machines working before you even wake up!

Nita’s advice is, “Trust the process. Lisa knows!” She’s constantly quoting Lisa and this is what she says to her friends.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Organize 365® Podcast Resources

• The Sunday Basket®

• 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!