(The testimonials and messages from our community that were shared in this podcast can be found toward the end of the page.)

We have a huge, beautiful community here at LearnDoBecome who are working their way to a calm, organized life, and today I wanted to share some ideas that will hopefully offer support. Now, I know when I refer to “getting organized,” I say it as though it is something you can actually achieve–like there will come a day you can check off a box and say, “I’m organized!” We all know life doesn’t work like that. There will always be something to file, a message to return, a mess to clean, etc. But I do believe each one of us can get to the point where we are at an organized baseline—and you can keep it like that for good.

Here are 5 thoughts that I hope will lift you today and lead you toward that organized outcome you’re looking for:

(1) “I am a solution finder.”

In my experience, the most successful people are not looking for reasons they can’t. They’re looking for reasons they can. In our STEP Mastery Facebook group, Taryn created a mad-lib type of recommendation for people posting questions. Instead of saying, “I need help!” or “This is hard,” we encourage them to say something like, “I am currently working on ____ module and I am struggling with _____. I already tried ______, and my question is ______.” Brilliant!

In our entrepreneurial work, I have loved being around entrepreneurs because they think differently. They’re not victims. If something changes in the world or the economy, they don’t shut their doors. They adapt. They ask one another what’s working. They experiment with new ideas. It’s beautiful to watch.

On our visit to Kenya, we did some touring with Mentors International, an organization that provides business mentorship and helps people lift themselves out of poverty. There was one woman we met who runs a children’s clothing store. I asked how she got customers to come to her store, and she told me how she uses TikTok to advertise her new items, and when someone says they want to buy it, she sends it with a motorcycle-delivery guy, who gets paid by the customer upon delivery. I was so impressed!

It’s the same thing when we’re getting organized. Let’s say you keep piling things by the front door. What could you create so that doesn’t happen? Or maybe you’re overwhelmed by projects? How could you reduce the number you expect of yourself?

(2) “I am taking care of myself.”

We often end up disorganized because our time and energy goes to other people and we put ourselves last. Then when we DO put energy towards ourselves, we feel indulgent or guilty or like we’re ignoring all the people around us. Organization is self care. It’s essential. It’s not easy, but for people like us who care for others and devote our lives to being a support, it’s the best way we can replenish and enable ourselves to sustainably serve.

(3) “I am training my brain.”

This is truly what happens inside our STEP program, but this also applies with any other organizational skills you are learning. Some serious, consistent effort up front pays off in spades because when we train our brains to choose order over chaos, that will eventually become our default. For example, we teach people how to designate and use a capture tool on a daily basis. This might feel foreign or annoying when you have to write down every random thought you want to act on, but it’s genius because pretty soon, you’ll naturally capture the important tasks, and you’ll have a system to focus on them, and your brain won’t constantly be spinning with ideas. The reason we end up with piles of stuff is because we don’t have a simple path to decide what something means to us and where it needs to go so we won’t forget it. When we solve this problem and train our brains, everything becomes so much easier!

(4) “I am keeping things simple.”

One of the best updates we made to our STEP program was the “Function Over Fancy” rule right at the beginning. We found that people were pausing their work in order to decide on the perfect desk, the perfect inbox, the perfect file container, etc. But if they had an upcoming move or were saving up for a special desk or something, they assumed they had to wait until conditions were perfect. That is a recipe for becoming stuck. Now we show a bunch of photos of very functional systems that are incredibly simple—I even did a video showing how I worked my whole system using a notebook from the dollar store and a cardboard box with file folders inside. And we’re watching people post now in the group showing their incredibly simple systems that are not “pretty,” but they’re getting the job done. It’s amazing.

(5) “I am getting organized for some very powerful reasons.”

My heart is touched each time I see a written commitment from one of our community members. We invite you to think about your “why,” write it down, and post it where you’ll see it regularly. I’ve never seen anyone say, “I’m committed to getting organized so I can be a lazy person who ignores everyone else and lives a life that is self-centered and indulgent.” (Though, if that’s your why, that’s totally up to you!) Instead, I see people sharing how they want to be excited when they wake up. They want to be present with their loved ones. They want to be able to serve in meaningful ways. They want to hear God more clearly. They want to feel joy on a daily basis and live a full, beautiful life.

Doing things in new ways requires effort. I get it. Right now, I’m working on getting out of sleep debt. I’m sleeping SO much, and it’s taking longer than I thought it would. But as I get myself to bed by 10, make time for the rest I need, and simplify my other responsibilities during this time, I’m telling myself similar things. I’m working towards a solution to my fatigue, I’m taking care of myself, I’m keeping things simple, and I’m resting up for some very powerful reasons.

I know your heart wants to do a lot. And I know it would be amazing if all your dreams could come true right this instant. But I am so, so proud of you for taking these steps and creating an amazing foundation for the future.

Community Highlights and TestimonialsJennifer wrote, “Hello! I just finished Module 2 and wanted to share the physical part of my Command Central. My favorite part is my Read & Review tray — I think it’s a good candidate for the “use what you have” theme. It’s an ice bin from an old refrigerator . (I’m not sure why it got separated and didn’t leave when the fridge was taken away, but I’m glad it didn’t; it’s perfect here.)”

Here’s the image she shared:

Chantaline shared the following message and images:

CLEAR A SPACE: 10 min burst before and after.
Did everything get set somewhere else for later processing? Yes.
But do I have a clear space to get started? YES!!!

Karen shared this message with us:

“My win for the day…..tickler file really works for me. So does having my planner. I was able to use that $500 gift certificate a nice family bought for my classroom. I was in the area, I easily found the certificate and used it. I have some supplies, viola strings sets, trumpet oil, reeds for clarinets and different sizes of saxophones, a new chromatic tuner and bass rosin. Yay!”

Related Links:Video: I Replaced My Organization Setup for a Notebook & Cardboard Box

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The ARISE Membership– an amazing gathering place for community members that are using their Command Centrals to refine relationships, health, finances, individual purpose, and more. We focus on a new topic each month, and this is an amazing opportunity to receive coaching and support from Team LearnDoBecome. You can sign up for a free, 60-day trial here.

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Quick Announcement! If you are reading the show notes and listening to this podcast when it first comes out, there is about a week left until our STEP Momentum accountability group begins! (Starting on Wednesday, September 3rd, at 10am Pacific.)

Our signature program, Steps to Everyday Productivity, helps you build a simple system to organize everything in your life–projects, tasks, goals, routines, paperwork, email, and all the “stuff” in your physical, digital, and mental space. When you organize your MIND, your space naturally follows!

This is event is for all members of our STEP Mastery program, and if you want to learn more and get our BEST offer to join, click here to visit the STEP Momentum page!

Eric and April recorded a brief video telling more about it, and you can click here or on the image below to watch!

We’d love to have you join us as we go through the STEP program together! If you have any questions at all, please send a message to email (at) learndobecome.com and we’ll get back to you shortly!

In this episode, team member and coach Taryn shares how she first discovered the STEP program in 2017 during a particularly busy season of life. At the time, she was juggling a packed schedule that included teaching piano lessons, leading cake decorating classes, baking special-order cakes, managing multiple church responsibilities, and supporting her husband’s full calendar. While she appeared to be managing it all, internally she felt overwhelmed by the constant pressure to keep everything straight.

Taryn had always been drawn to organization and loved the look of tidy containers and clean spaces, but those surface-level solutions never truly solved the underlying chaos. Piles of paper kept accumulating and mental clutter remained. That all changed when she discovered the STEP program through a free webinar. After purchasing the program, she started slowly, implementing one small step at a time. But it was when she finally built her full Command Central and committed to regular daily and weekly reviews that everything shifted.

The piles disappeared. Her brain felt clearer. She finally knew where things were and could find what she needed without stress or confusion. Even as her schedule has changed and health challenges have come her way, her Command Central has been a consistent source of support.

Now as a STEP coach, Taryn finds joy in watching others experience the same transformation she did. She especially loves seeing the momentum and growth that happens in the STEP Momentum accountability group. Her story is a beautiful reminder that lasting calm and clarity are possible, even in the busiest of seasons.

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This is event is for all members of our STEP Mastery program, and if you want to learn more and get our BEST offer to join, click here to visit the STEP Momentum page!

Eric and April recorded a brief video telling more about it, and you can click here or on the image below to watch!

In this episode, STEP Coach Jill Adams shares her heartfelt and relatable journey of discovering the STEP program in the middle of one of life’s busiest seasons. Back in 2016, Jill was a busy mom of four, managing endless carpooling, extracurriculars, laundry, meals, and all the mental load that comes with family life. Though everything looked fine on the outside, inside she felt overwhelmed and mentally exhausted, especially during the “Sunday scaries” when she’d lie awake for hours worrying about the upcoming week.

Jill’s turning point came when she found the STEP program and realized it was the first real investment she had made in herself since becoming a mom. She was especially inspired by the idea of going to bed content and waking up excited. What followed was truly life-changing. STEP gave her a system to stop relying on her brain to hold everything. Instead, every task, project, and commitment had a place—outside of her head—which brought her lasting mental clarity and peace.

Today, Jill is not only thriving with her own Command Central but also serves as a coach to others going through STEP Momentum. She loves seeing the transformation that happens when members finally solidify key habits, especially the Weekly Review, which she describes as the glue that holds the system together. In STEP Momentum, she explains, all the guesswork is removed. Participants receive clear, simple assignments each day, helping them build their Command Centrals with confidence and calm.

Jill’s message is filled with hope and encouragement: that even if life feels chaotic now, just a few focused weeks with STEP can lead to lasting change. Her story is a beautiful reminder that it’s never too late to reclaim your time, your energy, and your peace of mind.

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This is event is for all members of our STEP Mastery program, and if you want to learn more and get our BEST offer to join, click here to visit the STEP Momentum page!

Eric and April recorded a brief video telling more about it, and you can click here or on the image below to watch!

In this episode, team member and STEP Coach Candice shares her heartfelt journey from overwhelm to clarity using the STEP program. At the time she discovered LearnDoBecome, Candice was living in Johannesburg, South Africa, juggling multiple roles as a pastor’s wife, church secretary, and leader in children’s ministry. Despite her passion for serving her community, she often felt defeated by the mental clutter and forgotten tasks piling up each week.

Candice candidly describes sitting in church, noticing all the things she had meant to take care of, from unwatered plants to unaddressed maintenance issues, and feeling frustrated that she was letting people down. After fruitless Google searches trying to find a system to help her stay organized, a STEP webinar ad appeared on Facebook. She immediately knew it was the answer she had been seeking.

She dove into the program, built her STEP Command Central, and experienced breakthrough moments around how to track tasks, manage projects, and organize paperwork. STEP gave her not only practical tools, like how to manage future tasks or plan a church event, but also peace of mind knowing everything had a place.

Candice now uses Asana to manage her digital system and continues to refine her setup as a coach. She warmly invites anyone, even those who feel stuck in the “messy middle,” to join STEP Momentum, the live community accountability group starting September 3rd. Her story is a powerful reminder that lasting transformation starts with one small step and a system that truly works.

Related Links:Free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook Group

YouTube Channel: Subscribe Here!

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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This is event is for all members of our STEP Mastery program, and if you want to learn more and get our BEST offer to join, click here to visit the STEP Momentum page!

Eric and I recorded a brief video telling more about it, and you can click here or on the image below to watch!

In today’s podcast, we’ll be sharing 10 stories from our community members that each represent one facet of life that is benefited by getting organized (and we’ll share tips and tricks along the way!) Let’s dive in!

Principle #1 – Microbursts work.Principle #2 – Dedicated, distinct spaces–to work and to store things–create peace and fulfillment.Patty shared, “Selected the kitchen as my Command Central. I did #clearthespace before setting up. For now, all the folders Goals/Routines/Current/Projects/etc… are behind the tickler file on the left. The binder contains my LDB instruction manual for references and cheat notes.

“I set up my writing desk in my bedroom for journaling, writing and privacy when I need it for calls, etc. No mess on this flat surface allowed. I have a work desk area in my formal living room as well. I will likely set up a separate tickler system for the home based business at some point soon, goals and CBNAL too.

“One step at a time Happy to be here, thanks for all the support!”

Here’s the “before” picture:

Here’s the “after” photo:

Principle #3 – Doable weekly routines will maintain your system effortlessly.One of our STEPpers shared this message and photos of their calm, tidy, and peaceful home:

“Just want to encourage you all. For the first time in my adult life I am not freaking out when I know people are coming over! We may occasionally have a small pile here or there but it gets taken care of weekly. DO NOT GIVE UP!!! You can do this!!! It is definitely a process but so worth the time!”

Principle #4 – You can become your own home organizer once you learn a very simple system.Loleta wrote, “My wonderful daughter built this closet for me (when she renovated my home office). I wasn’t allowed to put anything in it until she was ready to assist me. Hah, now I don’t need to wait on her. I’ve got the STEP System. This is where I will store my support materials for work.”

Principle #5 – Small steps (that make sense to your brain) can lead you out of even the deepest challenges.Ruby shared, “As I’ve been recovering from cancer treatment, I’ve been going through the revamped STEP program and have gotten excited about it again. Somewhere in the garage boxes is my previous command central [after moving and having most of our belongings in storage]. But I decided to start fresh and build a new one so I can get going once again!

“I still don’t have my routines, mind sweep, current projects, next in line projects, CBNAL, etc, but my machine is built and ready to handle it!! The rest of my office is a mess again, but that will be one of my first projects. In the pictures my work desk (I work from home) is on the left and my Command Central is on the desk on the right. I’m just proud of the fact I finally had enough energy since cancer to accomplish this today!”

Principle #6 – It only takes a simple shift to “lift the fog.”Principle #7 – Change can be systematic, not scary.Principle #8 – Your mind can feel peaceful when it knows “later” items will actually get done.Karie wrote, “My office and creative space is finally clear and organized!! My Command Central is on the left side of my desk. It took me a little longer than I hoped but boy does it feel good! There is still some Level 4 work to do on the cabinet but I have clear, organized space to be productive and focused. Before and after pics show the difference.”

Principle #9 – Your heart wants to see dreams becoming reality. Once you see this process as a simple puzzle to solve, you’ll feel a giant sense of relief.One of our program members wrote in and said, “I’m really excited about what lies ahead. The more I dive into the STEP Program, the more I can see myself becoming the organized, focused person I’ve always wanted to be.

“It feels amazing to know that with each step I take, I’m moving closer to turning my ideas and plans into reality. Suddenly, projects that once felt overwhelming now seem exciting – almost like a puzzle I can’t wait to solve. It’s such a relief to feel this newfound sense of clarity and motivation. Bye-bye procrastination – I’m ready to get things done!

“Thanks again for your support. I really appreciate how helpful and encouraging you’ve been.”

Principle #10 – When you get your mind “unstuck,” you’ll be amazed by the impact and influence of your work.Related Links:Free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook Group

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This is event is for all members of our STEP Mastery program, and if you want to learn more and get our BEST offer to join, click here to visit the STEP Momentum page!

April and Eric also recorded a brief video telling more about it, and you can click here or on the image below to watch!

In today’s podcast, I’m going to take you through a real-time inbox processing session. I’m using our 8 STEP Processing questions, detailed below, and these questions help me know exactly what to do with every items that comes my way.

Here’s what my inbox looked like at the start:

And now on to the processing questions! Here’s the original list without my edits:

8 Processing Questions1. Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) 2. Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) 3. Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) 4. Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) 5. Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) 6. What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) 7. Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) 8. Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? I’ll include the names of the items and how I answered each question below:

Item: Car Warranty Letter in Mail Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + No * Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) + No * Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) + No * Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) + No, but I probably need to handle it sooner than later. * What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) + Under the “Home” section of the Next Actions List, I am writing that I need to read through this paper and decide if I want to send the form letter back to Honda with our information. * Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) + Yes, the paper and envelope. They go in a file folder that stores my Next Action-related materials. * Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? + Yes! Item: A Card and Drawing for Brother-in-Law Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + No * Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) + No * Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) + No * Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) + No * What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) + I need to print out a couple family pictures to include in the letter before it’s ready to be sent. Under the “Computer” section of my Next Actions List, I’m writing down that I need to quickly select an updated family picture and then send them to the store to be printed. * Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) + Yes, this envelope with a drawing from our son. It’s in the file folder for my Next Actions-related materials. * Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? + Yes! Item: Bank Card (Old/Inactive) Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + Yes! I am done with this card and it was replaced, so I can cut it up now. *Item: One of Our Son’s Toys Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + Yes! This shouldn’t have been in my inbox to begin with. It must have been on the kitchen counter when I was bringing in the papers to my inbox. I can quickly put it back in the toy closet and remember to better protect my inbox next time. The goal is to keep all “extra” items that aren’t ours or that do not need processing out of our inboxes. Item: Empty Picture Frame Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + No * Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) + No * Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) + No * Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) + No * What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) + I want to print out a picture to hang on our wall, so I’m going to add a “Computer” task to my Next Actions List to look for another family picture to send to the store for printing. I’ll tack it onto the other Next Action I wrote down above, which was also related to finding and printing a family photo. * Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) + Yes, this photo frame. It goes in a little box I have prepared to hold Next Action-related materials. * Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? + Yes! Item: A Painting on Canvas, Needs a Frame Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + No * Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) + No * Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) + Probably! I don’t know what this project looks like yet, so I am not going to add it right to my Current Projects List. I like to have a basic understanding of what the Next Actions will look like before fully committing to a project. I put this on my “Waiting” Projects List for the time being. * Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) + No * What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) + I need to research how to get a canvas onto a frame and get it prepared to hang up on our wall. Under the “Computer” section of the Next Actions List, I’m going to write that I need to watch a couple YouTube videos and/or find a tutorial online. * Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) + Yes, this canvas. I am going to keep it in our office closet since it is too big for my support materials box. I am going to note the location of the painting next to the project’s title on my Waiting Projects List. + After I complete this Next Action, I will decide when I will make this one of my Current Projects. * Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? + Yes! **Item: Old Flash Drive Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + No * Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) + Possibly, I can choose to make it a routine to remove files I want to save every Sunday afternoon for 15 minutes. (This is just an example.) Or I can choose to make it one of my Current Projects for the month and chip away at it by completing Next Actions. These Next Actions would be to remove files for 15-20 minutes at a time. * Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) + Possibly, see above. This could be a routine or project–up to me and my personal preference! * Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) + No * What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) + If this is going to become a Current Project, I can put a Next Action under the “Computer” section of my list to spend 15 ish minutes removing files that I want to save from this old hard drive. * Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) + Yes, I’ll store this flash drive in my office supplies box. * Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? + Yes! Item: My Husband’s Shirt (I stained it and want to dye it to cover it up.) Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + No * Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) + No * Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) + Possibly. I can make this a project on my list, or I can add the very first Next Action to my Next Actions List and just keep adding the sequential Next Action to the list once I complete each one. I try to only have 2-3 Current Projects on my list at a time, and then smaller “projects” like dyeing a shirt usually stay on my Next Actions List. This is just personal preference after using my Command Central for so many years. When a mini project only has 3-4 Next Actions, I just let it live on the Next Actions List. When I go to cross off the Next Action I just completed, I ask myself, “Am I totally done with this?” If the answer is no, I just write down the next, Next Action. * Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) + No * What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) + I need to purchase some dye for the shirt, so I would add a task to the “Computer” section to place a pickup order at my local craft store. * Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) + Yes, this shirt will be placed in my Next Actions-related materials box. * Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? + Yes! Item: Email to Set Up Doctor’s Office Portal** Is an action required? (If not, archive it.) + Yes * Can I do it in two minutes or less? (If so, then do it.) + No * Does it belong on my Routines List? (If yes, add it appropriately.) + No * Do I need to add any projects to my tiered list? (Make sure ONLY 2-3 are in “Current.”) + No * Is there a deadline? (If yes, note it on your calendar.) + Yes, mid October, so I have some time. * What is the Next Action? (Appropriately note it/delegate it.) + I need to spend 10-15 minutes setting up the online portal and adding my personal information for pre check-in. I will put this task under the “Computer” section of my Next Actions List. * Are there any associated Support Materials? (File them appropriately.) + Yes, this email will be filed in my “Immediate Action” email folder. * Am I TOTALLY clear on when I will see this and complete it? + Yes!

I hope you enjoyed processing the inbox with me! I had a lot of random items this time around, but I am feeling great about the Next Actions List I have prepared for myself. And I’m totally confident in when/how I will interact with each of these items moving forward.

Excited to see how you process your own inbox and incoming items!

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Most of us have WAY too much coming into our lives…emails, texts, messages through a variety of apps…it can feel overwhelming, for sure. But there are some things we can do to alleviate the pain, and that’s what I’m covering today!

I asked our LearnDoBecome Community group what, exactly, was contributing to their communication overload. (I’ll link to the full conversation at the bottom!)

Here Are the Main Challenges(1) Too many communication channels: This leads to overwhelm and fragmentation of information. For example…

Donna told me, “I’m part of a performance group and we have a Facebook messenger group list and a WhatsApp group mailing list and a text message group list and an email list. Each of those started as a way to send critical information to the members. But it’s so hard to find the critical information, because they always turn in to a “reply all” situation. The important stuff is buried under a pile of–thumbs-up…smileyface…lol…emoji”

April shared “Text messages from friends and family with general chitchat, but also trying to organize plans, group messages from other parents with kids in the same class as my son, group messages from the school parent team. WhatsApp messages from a broader group of parents at school, and Signal messages from another group I’m involved in. Not to mention all the emails coming in about medical appointments, medical information, and emails with more details than the group chat messages from text, WhatsApp, and Signal can provide. And that feels like just the tip of the iceberg. It feels like I’m drowning in communication sometimes!”

(2) Too many messages, in general:

Alia said, “While I was in college, I found that I was getting about 500-600 emails every couple months from the different professors, grading websites, school newsletters, etc. I had many friends who said “yeah I just don’t check my school email because it’s too much.” But I could tell this seriously weighed on the students in my classes, and many of them just avoided the emails altogether, missing important date changes, scholarship opportunities, deadlines, club events, etc.”

Christine gets emails every day from some companies she’d like to stay connected to (for deals, etc.).

Jeanette gets tons of feedback requests–every time she rents a car, books a hotel, goes to the dentist, etc.

Jennifer has hundreds of emails coming to her work email–with problems she needs to solve and situations to support. It’s tough because she’d already attending too many meetings, supporting committees, coaching employees, and addressing conflicts, so these extra emails feel like an added burden.

(3) Lots of details IN the messages that are hard to locate, when needed:

Jane said, “One of my daughters is a dancer. She dances with her school, with her dance school, and is part of a huge state wide dance concert. So, when emails come my way with dates and rehearsal schedules, competition dates, what costume stuff I need to get her, where does she need to be on a particular day, oh, I bought this for you… was that for the dance school competition or the school dance competition… oh, and then there is the dance exam stuff too Add that with the fact that 2 of her sisters are in the state dance concert too, in different sections…”

Liz shared, “Multiple modes of communication are bogging me down. We are selling a house and building a new one. I get emails, text messages and voicemails from the realtor, sales person and project manager. I am not sure when I need to access this content what mode was used to convey that information so I can review it.”

This Likely Isn’t a Surprise to YouWe’re human, and we have limited mental bandwidth. Making decisions, dealing with emotions, handling interruptions, or even just knowing messages are waiting for us can take brainpower.

But at the end of the day, we need to take a leadership role in our lives, and, while it often feels like it’s “us against the world,” there are some techniques that really make a difference.

Great Advice from Our CommunityInside this conversation (again, I linked it below in case you want to engage with real people in our Facebook group!), our members shared some great tips:

(1) Consolidate where we can.

Sometimes we can influence group leaders, friends, family members, colleagues, etc. to streamline communication by only using certain channels or setting “rules.” Eric, for example, prefers texts to emails, so I rarely email him. In our company, we send emails if the information we’re sharing might need to be referenced again in the future (easy to search in Gmail), and then we have casual conversations in Slack (those are deleted automatically after 30 days).

Christine, when referencing the daily company promotional emails, said, “I’ve used your suggestion of creating a filter on Gmail so they all go into @vouchers/offers and I go and clear them out every so often… The best thing is that they don’t go straight into my inbox any more!”

Stephanie shared, “”I try to keep subscription emails in one account & more important/time sensitive (people, appointments, doctors, bills, school, extracurricular, etc.) [in another]. ”

(2) Batch responses.

Jane said, “Normally, I look at messages once or twice a day, and when I get home from work and have a couple of minutes I will add dates and notes of what, where, when and who needs what.”

Jennifer shared, “Scheduling ‘no meeting’ blocks on my calendar, including all day Fridays… My challenge here is to hold fast to those blocks.”

I agree–I think it’s essential to silence our phones and close our email so we can have focused time to work. I put extra social apps on the second page of my phone, with only the specific app notification turned on, so I don’t have anything popping up during the day, and I have to actually LOOK to see if there’s a conversation going on. For my phone, I did create a setting where, if one of my “Favorites” calls (this includes my husband and children), the phone does ring. Texts don’t interrupt me, but I’ve told them if it’s an emergency to give me a call. And, I know, easier said than done, but this has been extremely helpful to many of us!

(3) Automate when possible.

Jackie wrote, “I leveraged email rules (Outlook) to manage them. If I was cc’d it went to a cc’d folder… Emails from my bosses were color coded to catch my attention… Certain senders went directly to trash.”

Gmail filters do this BEAUTIFULLY, as well! I have dozens set up so emails are automatically sorted, forwarded, etc. as needed.

Three More Suggestions You May Not Want to HearOkay, maybe you DO want to hear these, but they’re not as easy to digest.

(1) Before you sign up for something, make sure you recognize the full scope of the commitment.

My rule of thumb is to imagine how much time/energy it’s going to take–and then multiply that by three. You might be thinking, “April, you’re such a pessimist. Such a killjoy. It’s not that bad.” And maybe you’re right, but here’s what REGULARLY happens to me.

I’ll volunteer to run something (like a charity drive for our local food pantry), and I assume it’s going to be easy-peasy. A couple of emails, maybe a flier, collect the items at an event, load my van, and then drop everything off. But then questions come up from donors, so that necessitates more texts, conversations, and phone calls before the event. Then people who forgot might want to drop things off at my house later. More texts and calls–all for a good cause. And then my husband needs the van to do a different errand, but it’s full of stuff because I’m waiting for everything to come in.

Same thing with kids’ sports. It’s more than just practices and games. Usually there’s a photo day, a closing dinner, coordination for a coach’s gift, a snack rotation, updates when it rains or practice is canceled, people who need rides… It’s all great, but if we don’t build that extra stuff into our expectations, we’re going to take on too much and end up overwhelmed.

(2) Extract all the details and tasks as you process your messages–and put them into a trusted system.

Again, this takes time. It’s easier to say, “I’ll just go back to the text when the time comes.” But honestly, when you learn to extract all necessary information as you go, you get to the point that your messages are all “read,” and you literally never need to go back unless some odd situation comes up.

I personally use my STEP System to manage all of these things, and here are a few examples:

If there’s an address for an event, details about what to bring, etc., I put it directly on my calendar. I add an asterisk after the name of the event, which means “more is in the notes section.” Or I’ll say, “Lunch for Cousins–Bring Fruit Platter” as the title.
If I get a text from someone asking me for a job reference, or something like that, and I say, “Sure! Let me get back with you,” then I write “Respond to _____ about _____” as a task on my calendar for the day I want to send that message.
If I were remodeling my house and getting quotes, details, etc. from a variety of people, I would either copy or screen shot the information and keep it in my digital project manager along with that project. That way, all texts, emails, etc. would essentially be “gathered” where I could see them.

You do want to have a full system set up, if at all possible, as that will alleviate any stress you might otherwise feel.

(3) You may need to say no to some things.

NONE of us like to hear this. I like to believe that I have the bandwidth to do everything my heart desires, but when I try to do too much too fast, my brain skips some steps. For example, after getting back from our three-week trip to Boston and Kenya, I cleaned out my paper inbox and found 5 wedding and graduation announcements. Eric and I looked at our calendars to see which receptions we could attend, and then I was sending money to the others and simultaneously coordinating a bunch of other bills and correspondence (while my mind was trying to process some difficult things that had happened while we were gone–and I was trying to get a stain out of the carpet that appeared when our plants overflowed). In my haste, I put an important wedding reception down a week EARLY, and when Eric and I showed up, we were the only ones there! We ended up having a great conversation with the future bride and groom, who were at the house, but I realized I was trying to do too much at the same time. I needed to “say no” to some of that and just take it one task at a time. We did go back to the “real” reception the following week, and they were happy to see us back!

One other thought I want to share comes from a STEPper named Gwen. In response to a question about how to possibly get project work done when routines take up way too much time, she shared this incredibly insightful response: “Routines are choices we build into our lives. Should I live in a house, or an apartment? Get a pet? Get takeout or cook? Use a paper bowl or ceramic? We construct our day to day routines around hundreds of choices (or happenings) over time. Realizing that my routines are heavier than I want is very valuable. Yes, it’s frustrating (but we are all here because we were already feeling frustrated, right?) Maybe it’s the most important thing that I needed to look at, instead of distracting myself with projects or shopping. For myself, and likely many others, I had to face that I had created a life that was too full of routines- that was too heavy of a lift for the number of hours in my day. I was annoyed that STEP made me look at routines…I only wanted to figure out how to find time for all of my projects. Turns out, lightening the routines was the essential first step in the process. I had to deeply reconsider my priorities and simplify things that I found value in, to create time for myself to be creative, have adventures, and rest. Deconstructing can be very freeing! “

At the End of the Day…We get to decide which and how many forms of communication come into our lives. As we were visiting a small village in Africa last month, part of me was envious of their quiet lives. Very few people had televisions or telephones, and internet access was extremely rare. They gathered together in person–and they had INCREDIBLE attention spans. Even the children sat through a 4-hour celebration without getting up and running around.

And, while the volume and frequency of information can truly be overwhelming, I do see it as a gift to be able to communicate with family, friends, and our whole LearnDoBecome community–all from my phone or computer, while sitting in my own home (or wherever I am).

What I don’t want is for you to have the benefits and blessings of technology at the cost of your personal peace. It is possible to create simple systems with our communications so we can do what matters most.

LearnDoBecome Invitation:Take a few minutes to assess your communication “pain points.” Look through the ideas shared above and, if desired, create a small project that includes setting up filters, adjusting notifications, and/or having conversations with those who message you most frequently to create better processes going forward. This is TOTALLY worth it!

And Now for Some Community Celebrations!!________________

________________

Upcoming Events at LearnDoBecome!Our August 2025 ARISE topic is: Financial Health Check-In: Money Conversations that Matter

This upcoming live workshop will be held on Friday, August 22nd at 5pm Pacific. (And a recording will be available afterwards!)

Join us alone or with a partner (and maybe order dinner in!) for this ARISE Transformation Accelerator. We’ll have some solid discussions (featuring YOU!) that will enable you to get past any roadblocks holding you back from financial peace and success. It’s going to be a party! (And if you’d like to bring a partner, but you don’t think they’ll be thrilled about it, Eric promises it will be way less painful than a root canal…)

Click here to start your free 60-day trial of ARISE!

A live session of STEP Momentum is starting on Wednesday, September 3rd, for all STEP Mastery members!

Full details can be found on our information page, linked below, but this is a fantastic opportunity to go through the whole STEP Program and set up your own Command Central in 3 weeks. We’ll provide simple homework assignments 3 times a week, send encouraging texts, and provide accountability opportunities for you! Can’t wait!

Click here to learn more!

Other Related Links:Whole Communication Conversation in the Free LearnDoBecome Facebook Group

Free Resource: Emails to Zero Training

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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Hello! So happy to be back here on the podcast. Our daughter/wonderful team member, Alia, has done an amazing job podcasting these past several weeks while Eric and I were in Kenya with Village Impact (see the related links below for a video recap!). I love hearing her share her experiences and wisdom. She strengthens me, and her episodes beautifully illustrate how the principles we talk about here at LearnDoBecome literally work for every age and stage.

Today I thought it would be fun to talk about two “secret weapons” for calm productivity. (I could call them “useful tools,” but I like feeling like a ninja when I call them weapons.) And when I say “calm, values-centered productivity,” I mean that we’re able to get the right things done and feel a deep sense of progress in our lives, but we’re not hurrying, hustling, jumping back and forth from thing to thing, etc. I have a tendency to do too much, move too fast, say yes to too many things, but in my heart of hearts, calm, values-centered productivity is the only kind of productivity I truly want in my life.

All right, so the two secret weapons I’m covering today are discernment and a tiered list, but I want to give a little background on why I’m even discussing this.

As Eric and I were traveling, we had a chance to talk to many, many people from different walks of life. Eric is incredibly extraverted, and our children joke that he makes friends with everyone and helps them rethink their business models, and then they ask him to be in their weddings. I’m more of an introvert, but I do genuinely care about others and try to be helpful, so between the two of us, we’re usually able to have a lot of solid, meaningful conversations.

When we meet new people, they usually ask us what we do, and we explain that we help people who are overwhelmed by the details of life to create simple systems so they can do what matters most. We talk about how we help people out of overwhelm and enable them to feel calm and present–even when there are thousands of emails, piles of stuff, and tons of ideas swirling in their minds.

They often widen their eyes, take a deep breath, and say things like, “Oh, I NEED that.” And we don’t go deep right there and start teaching them our STEP system, because sometimes they’re just trying to be polite and they don’t actually want us in their business. But here’s what I notice from our conversations when they’re willing to share their struggles.

(1) They use procrastination and distraction as methods to feel FREE.You can probably relate to this, but when we put something difficult off for a while, it feels kind of good. Like “I don’t have to do that if I don’t want to. I’m the boss of my life. See how strong and free I am!” And when we distract ourselves from doing those hard things–by doing something ELSE that feels more fun, perhaps, it’s like we’re laying a foundation for good things to come, so we can feel good about our intentions or our side projects–even though they’re distracting us from what we really need to do. Like, “I’m going to organize my kitchen because once it’s organized, I’ll be able to build my business.” (But then you still find something else to do later on instead of building your business, so you end up stuck or maybe even shutting down the business.)

(2) Their stressful issues typically don’t just go away.We can get really good at masking the stress and pretending like everything is good, but unless we actually work on the deepest challenges we are facing, they are typically only going to get worse. For example, we met an entrepreneur who had started a brand new shop. She was struggling to manage her inventory, marketing, etc., and she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to keep her shop open much longer. To make ends meet, she’d taken on some contract work that was taking quite a bit of her time, but the money felt good and helped stop some of the gaps she was facing. However, when she did have time to work on her shop, she found it overwhelming, so she would just watch TV, scroll on her phone, and relax. Which I TOTALLY understand–because I used to do the same thing when Eric and I were starting our first business back in 2007. That stress behind the scenes is still there, actually getting worse, and making it so your relaxation time isn’t actually relaxing you because subconsciously, you know there’s something else you need to be doing.

Okay, so what does this have to do with our secret weapons for today?

(1) DiscernmentAsking ourselves the question, “What is the most important thing for me to do in my _______ (personal life, family, business, volunteer work)?” is incredibly important. And then using our discernment to answer that question appropriately is a skill (and, I would add, a gift from your Higher Power).

In the book The One Thing, authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan ask, “What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

We can apply that question to multiple facets of our lives–our health, relationships, finances, purpose, etc.

What’s so interesting to me, however, is how infrequently we talk about discernment, as a society. It’s so easy to get distracted by our phones, to move through our days based on others’ agendas, or to just sit and do nothing because the alternative feels overwhelming.

And anyone can “make a list and check it off,” right? The skill comes as we use our discernment to put the best things on our lists, AND as we use our discernment to make adjustments along the way if our attention needs to shift to something more important.

So then that leads us to ask, “What can we do to protect our ability to discern?”

The answer might be different for you, but I personally prioritize things like spending time with my Higher Power, taking care of my mental health/thinking patterns, getting enough sleep, nutrition, and exercise, and connecting with my goals and vision each day.

When we see “discernment” as a secret weapon–or an incredibly beautiful gift–then “self care” isn’t optional. It’s essential because it protects this ability.

(2) A Tiered ListI love, love, love David Allen’s Getting Things Done® methodology. It has blessed my life in SO many ways. Some people give it a hard time, though, because it consists of “lots of lists.” I don’t see it that way, though. I see it as a visual way to take all the “stuff” in my mind and heart–and everything that used to clutter up my physical space–and organize it by what matters NOW and what might matter LATER.

Sometimes, though, our “now” lists gets super long, so I’ve created some guidelines for myself (and I teach them in our STEP program) to limit the number of projects, tasks, routines, etc. that I need to focus on at one time. This works through tiered lists. They’re simply set up so that the most important items are front and center, but the other ones aren’t forgotten. Here’s how it works:

For projects, we have Current, In Progress/Waiting, Next in Line, and Someday. I allow no more than 7-8 TOTAL projects (divided by Me, Family, and Beyond–Work/Volunteer Activities) in the “Current” section. Then I allow just a few to sit in “In Progress/Waiting,” maybe 10-20 in “Next in Line,” and perhaps 20-30 in “Someday.” Anything that doesn’t fit in those categories goes into a “Someday WAY Later” spot that’s tucked away.
For tasks, we have a Next Actions List and a “Next in Line” Next Actions List. My Next Actions List (video explanation linked at the bottom of this post!) is just a simple bookmark in my paper planner, and I try to have no more than 3 tasks in each category (home, to discuss, computer, phone, errands). The list also is supposed to be completed by the end of each week. (So if I know I won’t do something that week, I don’t put it on that list. I make a calendar reminder for it or I add it to my “Next-in-Line” Next Actions List that I review during my Weekly Review when I create my new bookmark.)
For routines, we have “must-do” routines and then “would-love-to-do” routines–these fold in with a Multiple-Choice Perfect Day. If I absolutely need/want/have to do something (like prepare healthy foods, finish specific projects, study my scriptures, exercise, take care of my home/family), those things are either already on autopilot, blocked out on my calendar, or given an assigned date in my digital task manager. There are LOTS of “would-love-to-do” routines, though, that I don’t want to fill up my calendar because it’s okay if they don’t happen, but I also don’t want to forget them. I have them on my digital Routines List, without deadlines, and I review them during my Weekly Review. These are usually extra fun things I might decide to do–like practice my guitar–or they are additional ideas I may do if I have energy (like reading certain books, helping certain people, sending encouraging texts to old friends, etc.).

The reason I get so excited about tiered lists is because most of the people here at LearnDoBecome have hundreds of thousands of things they want to do. If I’m guessing right, you’re compassionate, energetic, thoughtful, excited about a lot of things, eager to learn, and confident that you can make a difference in the world. Those are incredible characteristics, but if people like you don’t have tools to help organize all of those beautiful intentions, you end up feeling exhausted, frustrated, and unfulfilled…waking up overwhelmed and going to bed more overwhelmed. MY goal is for you to “wake up excited and go to bed content.”

LearnDoBecome Invitation:If you’re thinking, “Okay, April, I’m willing to give your secret weapons a try. What should I do next?”

My invitation is as follows:

Take a moment to brainstorm what it would take to protect your gift of discernment. Most likely it’s going to involve some serious self-care. Commit to doing that.
Then go through your projects, routines, and tasks, and create tiered lists, like I outlined. If you want some help, sign up for our Welcome Kit, and we’ll take good care of you!

And Now for Some Community Celebrations!!This first message comes from Judy:

This next message comes from Karen:

This next message is from Judy:

And this final message comes from Janet:

Upcoming Events at LearnDoBecome!Our August 2025 ARISE topic is: Financial Health Check-In: Money Conversations that Matter

Our upcoming workshop will include some helpful, upbeat, and potentially life-changing conversations around a few solid finance sub-topics. Are you ready for “finances” to be included as one of your biggest strengths?

While talking about money management, mindset, and logistics can often feel complicated, our goal is for each ARISEr to feel confident, energetic, and deliberate around money-management, so we can all feel the JOY that comes when we use our financial resources to do what matters most.

This live workshop will be held on Tuesday, August 12th at 10am Pacific. (And a recording will be available afterwards!)

Click here to start your free 60-day trial of ARISE!

A live session of STEP Momentum is starting on Wednesday, September 3rd, for all STEP Mastery members!

Click here to learn more!

Other Related Links:Kenya Video Recap with Village Impact

Video About Next Actions: Clean Up Your Long “To-Do” Lists

YouTube Channel: Subscribe Here!

Free Resource: Emails to Zero Training

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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Backlog is something we all can’t seem to escape. Whether we have thousands of emails built up in our inboxes, decades of family photos we want to sort, or lots of papers stuffed in dozens of boxes in the garage, there’s at least one thing in our lives that needs to be addressed someday.

But when we are getting organized, it sometimes feels like we need to get rid of the backlog FIRST before we can move on to everything else.

I used to have this exact same mindset when it came to backlog, and it felt incredibly frustrating to not have the time or energy to get to everything from the past while I was trying to sort through the current stuff that was coming into my life. And it felt even more impossible to try to squeeze time in for the backlogged items while I was going to school, working on big projects for work, and trying to create meaningful relationships in my life.

However, once my mindset shifted and I learned the importance of putting the backlogged items onto my Next in Line and Someday Projects Lists, my life was changed!

I went back through several LearnDoBecome resources and podcasts on this topic and compiled some of our best advice for dealing with backlog. I hope it’s helpful for you!

Podcast 264: A Shorter List…TODAY.April shared that she frequently hears this kind of sentiment from our community members:

“I love the idea of a small list but if I don’t make more headway on my tasks each week, they will get backlogged and either there will be consequences or I will be overwhelmed the following week or both.”

This podcast is one of my absolute favorites because it walks us through the process for creating a short list and shows us that we will actually get MORE done when our lists have less on them.

And this podcast/post offers some incredible insights into why many of us believe that we need to have long lists with lots of things to check off in order to be productive. This is such a great resource for doing personal mindset work before addressing the backlog. Here’s a quote from April’s post on this topic:

“It isn’t easy to lighten our lists. It often feels incredibly counterintuitive. I had to do this a couple of weeks ago when I had too many expectations for myself and didn’t even realize that was the problem until my incredibly insightful doctor pointed it out. As soon as I lightened my load and visibly made my lists smaller, my body responded, and I can’t even explain what a gift that is.”

Podcast 220: 3 Organizing Skills That Actually Make a DifferenceI absolutely LOVE the process of doing a Mind Sweep and getting everything out of our heads and into our STEP System. This quote comes from this podcast’s show notes page and illustrates how sweeping our minds of all the “stuff” we’re thinking about can help us with the backlog:

“That mountain of “to-do’s” can sometimes feel overwhelming, but when we know how to address this kind of situation, our minds can feel calm and we can create a clear path forward.

“This is one of the most incredible aspects of the STEP Command Central–there is a place for doing a ‘Mind Sweep’ and getting all of the items out of our heads and subsequent places for projects, one-time tasks, routines, and next actions that are identified from the Mind Sweep.

“Alia and I both shared instances in our lives where we were dealing with health challenges, busy schedules, or interruptions to our day-to-day schedules, but we were able to work through the backlog and identify what was most urgent and needed our attention soonest.”

When we can identify the many projects, tasks, and routines that are swirling inside our heads, we can create a solid plan for tackling one thing at a time when the time is right. When we try to take on the backlog of items while we are going about our everyday lives, there’s a big chance that we’re going to overload ourselves and not end up making as much progress as we hoped we would.

When you do a Mind Sweep, the things you write down and put on your future projects list, for example, are SAFE and ready for your future self!

Podcast 188: Digital Photo Organization with AliaIn this episode, I detailed my routine for processing all the new photos in my life. There’s a video on that page (linked above) showing my process, and I have kept up with this routine for almost 10 years now.

Here’s what I wrote about backlog back when I recorded this podcast:

Most of us have smaller sub-projects that we need to address when it comes to photos from the past or a lack of an organizational system. Here are a few things that might need to happen as examples–these would all be individual sub-projects (under the umbrella of “total photo organization” as the large end goal project). These might go on your Next-In-Line or Someday Projects List depending on your ability to work on them:

Go through old files of photos and assign names/dates for consistency
Purchase an external hard drive (or research the method that you’d like to use for long-term photo storage)
Transfer all digital photos to said hard drive or storage location (this can be done in small, Next Actions!)
Make a copy of these hard drives and give one to each child/sibling where applicable
Move photos into special albums for big life events, vacations/trips, and other categories that you’d like to reference
Research scanning tools or a local business that can help digitize all of my printed photos
Create a process for getting these newly scanned pictures onto my hard drive/online storage platform
Ask parents/friends if they have any pictures that I might not have access to yet–create a plan to acquire these photos in order to “complete” my collection

As you can see, there are a lot of smaller projects that can come to mind from this overall project of photo organization.

When you identify these small sub-projects, they don’t seem quite as daunting. This is how I’ve tackled my goal of getting all of my favorite family photos onto Google Photos over time. I started this project in August 2021 and am just finishing this project this week in April 2023!

One might look at this timeline and think that it took me way too long to accomplish this project, but in reality, I was able to use small, next actions to break the project down into manageable, bite-sized pieces. I was able to make progress on this project in the midst of a lot of life changes–getting married, moving a couple times, finishing up and graduating from college, and expecting a baby this summer. I’m so proud of the progress I’ve made on this project, and I was never stressed out by the thought of needing to simplify certain parts of it during the busy seasons of life.

Our Free Emails to Zero TrainingThis training includes a 13-minute video and simple steps that will TRANSFORM the way you use and look at your email inbox.

Instead of using your email inbox as a holding space for everything, April will show you how to move all your past emails into a “safely stored” folder. Once all the backlog is out of your main email inbox, she will teach you strategies for processing all the new emails that come your way each day. You will develop a routine to handle each incoming email and its corresponding tasks as it comes your way.

Then, it becomes one of your Next in Line or Someday Projects to handle the backlog of all your safely stored emails. Those thousands of emails are patiently waiting for you and when you are able to do a Next Action of spending 10-20 minutes sorting them and processing them, you’ll know exactly where to go/look!

Here is what Barbara shared last week about her experience with Emails to Zero–we had a great conversation about this training in our STEP Mastery Facebook group, and it was exciting to see how many people were going to add this to their Next in Line Projects List.

Podcast 133: Characteristics of a Successful Project – Week 3 Report – Four Weeks to Finished!In this episode, April shared these two community testimonials and wrote, “Ignoring the piles of stuff often feels like the easy route, but honestly, when you build your Command Central and realize you have the tools to actually get out of the overwhelm and stay out of the overwhelm, that feels so much better.”

Podcast 104: What to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed by TasksThis podcast has some great resources that aren’t strictly related to backlog, so if you’re looking for more tips to handle the general overwhelm, this is a great place to start!

This is what April shared in regards to using the 2-minute rule:

“David Allen teaches it in his books, and it works EVERY DAY for me. If you can do something in two minutes or less, you do it. You don’t write it down. Now, sometimes when you’re returning from a vacation or catching up on backlog, you have like 20 2-minute tasks. I get it. But it saves time in the long run and helps build that momentum!”

When we are going through the backlog, we are going to find a LOT of 2-minute tasks and other 10-20 minute Next Action type of tasks buried in the emails/papers/other items we are sorting through.

Instead of feeling like we need to take action on every single item right away–especially if we don’t have the time right now to do those tasks–create a list of all the 2-minute tasks you’re finding. You might even decide to group them by context: Home, Computer, Phone, Email, To Discuss, Errands, etc.

I go into depth on how to turn a collection of 2-minute tasks into one of your Current Projects in this episode: Podcast 277: Turning Tiny Tasks Into Big Wins – The 2-Minute Rule in Action!

This allows you to know that ALL the 2-minute tasks are safe for now inside their project containers. When the time is right to make this one of your Current Projects for the month, you can confidently begin working on them and chipping away at the backlog.

Related Links:Podcast 264: A Shorter List…TODAY.

Podcast 220: 3 Organizing Skills That Actually Make a Difference

Podcast 188: Digital Photo Organization with Alia

Podcast 133: Characteristics of a Successful Project – Week 3 Report – Four Weeks to Finished!

Our Free Emails to Zero Training

Podcast 104: What to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed by Tasks

Podcast 277: Turning Tiny Tasks Into Big Wins – The 2-Minute Rule in Action!

Free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook Group

YouTube Channel: Subscribe Here!

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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Landing Spots exist in all of our lives, and what we decide to do with them determines how our minds and spaces feel. When we let the physical items pile up, things feel cluttered. When the digital items start to increase, it can feel almost impossible to sort through everything to pull out the important things.

However, when your Landing Spots are checked regularly, each important item will be addressed and any related tasks can be extracted from the physical or digital item.

We’re going to discuss 3 Landing Spot areas today, but I want to emphasize that there is 1 important part of the Command Central that is NOT a Landing Spot.

Your Inbox is NOT a Landing Spot.

When items come into your life, your Landing Spots are the first line of defense. You’ll take a look at all the items (physical, digital, or mental) and do the following:

Take out any trash and get rid of it.
Pull out any items that need action taken ASAP. Either do those tasks now using the 2-minute rule or give yourself calendared time some time today to handle them. Remember, this is only for things that are truly urgent and need your attention right away.
Everything else should be non-urgent, but they all require some kind of action at some point. These are the items that belong in your Inbox.
Any item that made it this far will go into your Inbox to be processed during the Weekly Review.
During the Weekly Review, we’ll use the 8 STEP Processing Questions (a podcast all about those questions is linked at the end of this article) to help us decide what to do with all of the items.

So now that we know how to handle items that come into our Landing Spots and that our Inbox is not part of this first line of defense, what things DO count as Landing Spots?

(1) Physical Landing Spots

Each person’s life will look a little bit different, but here are some general ideas:

Corner of a counter in the kitchen
A basket on your desk where coworkers set things
Your car
Your purse, briefcase, backpack, or diaper bag
Entryway where the mail is set down
A file tray at the community organization you volunteer at

Where do physical items come into your life? Where do people place items that need your attention?

(2) Digital Landing Spots

Personal and work email inboxes
Text messages
Social media message inboxes
Slack or another app for work-related messages

(3) Your Capture Tool

This can be a paper or digital list that you keep with you throughout the day.

As ideas, thoughts, goals, future projects, pop-up tasks, etc., come into your mind during the day, write them down on this Capture Tool.

This is your mental Landing Spot. Whenever you have a thought that would otherwise get lost or keep you up at night, write it down here on the Capture Tool.

Now, what if we have way too many Landing Spots?

This is where you get to consolidate them!

In your home, you may need to tell your family members, “We aren’t setting items in 8 different places around the house any more. From now on, please set items in _____ place and I will look at them each day.”

The same goes for physical items given to you at work, a place where you volunteer, church, etc.

When it comes to the digital side of things, you might decide to consolidate email inboxes and have all your email accounts forwarded to one place, where possible. You might consider deleting some social media or messaging apps that are not being used regularly or that cause too much distraction or frustration.

This is totally up to you, and there’s no one right way to go about consolidating the places. Honestly, you could have 20 overall Landing Spots, and as long as you feel good about them and you are checking them every day, that’s all that matters!

However, if you feel like physical and digital clutter are building up and things are slipping through the cracks, you might need to streamline things.

I typically like to check in on my Landing Spots once a day. Here’s my overall process:

(1) My Physical Landing Spots

I check the following locations once a day and process all of the items that come from these areas:

My desk in the living room
Our entryway where we set our mail/items that come in from the car
The car
My diaper bag (it’s basically my purse–one place to hold everything)

At the end of the day, we do an apartment reset. This gives us a chance to check each Landing Spot and make sure that we don’t have any random papers/items floating around the house.

(2) My Digital Landing Spots

I have a solid routine for checking my personal and email inboxes at least once a day. I delete anything that is trash, I handle urgent things right away, and I put the rest of my emails into a folder to handle during my Weekly Review.

The same process goes for my text messages. I have a routine to check my messages 2-3 times a day and try my best to get back to everyone who messages me within 24 hours.

I have consolidated my messaging apps so I only have 3 additional places to look for my group chats with friends and family members.

If you’re thinking, “I don’t really have a good routine for checking emails, texts, or other digital messages,” I would invite you to add this as a future project on your Next in Line or Someday Projects List. It is a project to establish a new routine, and setting up a new routine that will support you long term is definitely worth the investment of time and energy!

(3) My Capture Tool

My Capture Tool is actually my email inbox because I have my email inbox to zero. Whenever I have an idea that comes into my head, I’ll simply send myself an email and then I’ll process these ideas along with my regular emails at the end of the day. Here are a couple things I emailed myself recently:

Invite new friends to dinner
Record items on our budget spreadsheet
Send a Facebook message to a high school friend
Add cookbook project to my Next in Line Projects List
Download free book a friend recommended

Each of these items was extracted from my email inbox and added to the appropriate place in my Command Central. Nothing is in my head any more and I can trust that they are all safe!

What about all the backlog in my physical and digital spaces?

Please resist the urge to handle every single email, text message, physical space, etc., right now. Dealing with backlog is a whole separate project (or many smaller projects once things have been broken down).

I recommend looking at what just came in today, yesterday, and maybe the past 2 weeks. Start pulling out anything urgent or time sensitive, but realize that most of the “stuff” that makes up the backlog has actually been sitting here for weeks, months, or even years. It doesn’t need your attention right this minute.

Focus on creating solid routines that will support you TODAY to process all the new things that are incoming. Once you have a good routine to handle everything new in your life, go back and start chipping away at the backlog. These can be added to your Next in Line Projects List, and they’ll be safe and ready for you when the time is right.

Are there any Landing Spot questions that you have for us? Feel free to leave them here in the comments section!

Related Links:Free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook Group

[PODCAST 292]: “What Do I Do With This?” – Using the 8 STEP Questions to Process It All

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Today I’m speaking directly to you who are hungry for change. I’ll share some of my own experiences and then I’ll offer a couple of potential solutions and resources that will hopefully benefit you!

For many years, instead of being “hungry for change” I have been “patient for change.” I think there’s a lot of power in that–because we all have different seasons, and lots of challenges will naturally resolve themselves as we move through life.

But I believe that being patient for change only works if we are still able to thrive in the midst of that waiting period.

Sometimes those times where we’re trying to be patient can feel draining and unhealthy, and my personal goal is to have internal joy and peace–even when external circumstances are tricky.

Here are a couple of questions for you today:(1) Is there anything you feel anxious, angry, or discouraged about—that you feel like you can’t change, but you are HUNGRY for change?

For example, maybe you feel like your life is always going to be cluttered or you’ll always feel overwhelmed. I used to feel stressed about tasks constantly.

The book Building a Non-Anxious Life is really good, and one thing it emphasizes is that anxiety is there FOR us. It’s the fire alarm saying that something is on fire. When we ignore it or sedate it, we aren’t putting out the fire.

Two examples for me from last year were my health—specifically my sleep apnea and stomachaches/food reactions I have had for years. Plus, I have had a hard time setting boundaries while working from home.

But I thought things couldn’t change. Doctors weren’t helping me with my physical struggles, and mentally, I felt guilty if I wasn’t always there for my family, etc.

(2) If the world depended on you solving that problem—not making someone else change, but making it so that you didn’t suffer the consequences anymore–what would you do?

The reason I ask that is because in most cases, there is either a change we can make in our heads or a coach who could help us (even via a book checked out from the library or a free podcast/video channel).

Here are a couple of solutions that have worked for me:(1) The Feeling Great app

You’ve heard me talk about Dr. Burns’ books (linked below with the additional resources), but now he has a “Feeling Great” app that will take you through a cognitive behavioral therapy session based on the TEAM method, and it is SO good. I’m paying an annual fee, but they’ll even gift it to you if you can’t afford it.

It helps me see how most of the problems I face are truly in my head. Yes, there are struggles, but the problem is the way I am processing things.

New Year’s Day, for example, I thought I was going to have some quiet time to work, and then everyone’s schedules changed, and I started feeling frustrated with my surroundings. I explained my problem to the AI inside the app, and here’s a portion of what it told me (as we were practicing the “externalization of voices” method):

That was so helpful for me, so I stopped the pity party, I put on headphones and listened to some soft study music, and I happily did my work!

(2) Hiring a coach.

Health-wise, I wanted to feel better for years, but every year, I was kind of stuck in the same place. I was going to a bunch of doctors and trying a variety of things, but I started to lose trust in other people helping me, so I was trying to solve the problems on my own. I was able to “get by,” but I knew I needed more support if I was actually going to experience change.

Finally, I decided to hire a coach and commit to a health program. This past year was so good for me! Hiring that coach helped me to finally make progress and find the answers I needed.

Then this year, I noticed I still needed some coaching, so I signed up with another health coach, and it is SO worth the time and money.

Eric and I have also wanted to play the guitar for years. I have carried my guitar with me (through 10 moves) since college, and I still can’t play it very well. A few days ago, Eric and I bought an online guitar program, and we sat down to play today. We did a little “easy blues” sequence during our first lesson, and it was so fun!

Even though I had purchased a guitar instruction book and watched a few tutorials on YouTube, nothing was really sticking. Now we have high hopes!

I hope that these stories and ideas have given you some things to think about that can help you with your goals and changes this year. I know it’s not a comfortable situation when you’re hungry for change, but I do encourage you to invest in yourself so you can actually experience those changes and the growth you’re excited about.

Sending lots of love!!!

Related Links:UPCOMING LIVE EVENT:

STEP Momentum is starting January 8th, 2025!

Click here for the full details!

Create Your Year (and Month, Week, and Day!) – Free Downloads

Books (Amazon Affiliate Links):

Building a Non-Anxious Life by John Delony
Feeling Good by Dr. David Burns
When Panic Attacks by Dr. David Burns
Feeling Great by Dr. David Burns

Feeling Great App

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Our ARISE membership – an amazing gathering place for community members that are using their Command Centrals to refine relationships, health, finances, individual purpose, and more. We focus on a new topic each month, and this is an amazing opportunity to receive coaching and support from Team LearnDoBecome. You can sign up for a free, 60-day trial here.

Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety

When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life

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In today’s podcast, I’m sharing some amazing community examples (and personal experiences) that give hope and show that it is possible to create space for your family and friends in addition to getting organized and completing everything else you have going on in your life.

And we have an exciting announcement!

As of the time this podcast is going live, we have an upcoming live event/accountability group called STEP Momentum that is starting January 8th, 2025!

Click here for the full details!

And now onto the podcast!

One of our team members, Taryn, shared this great advice to someone who was feeling discouraged recently:

“To add to this great advice from your fellow STEPpers, it’s normal to veer off track when life gets in the way or when we get sick. The STEP Program and the Command Central offer a structure that can help us to get back on track. It takes time and practice, but it’s well worth it.”

She also shared some words of wisdom from one of our STEPpers:

“Many of us have started and restarted the program. But I’ll bet 99% of us HAVE made progress. We’re not perfect. We’re not finished. But we’re further ahead than we were before STEP. And that’s how you want to think about it. It took you years to get here – you won’t change overnight. But you CAN change – 5 minutes at a time. Each action you take brings you one step closer to control in your life. Keep asking questions. Now set the timer for 5 minutes and DO something.”

I love this! When we give ourselves these 5-10 minute invitations to make a change in our lives, the results can be tremendous!

Maybe we spend 5 minutes clearing a small space on our desk so we can start building our Command Central and creating a more calm, organized life.

Maybe we work with our family members to clear space on the dining room table for 5 minutes so we can all eat dinner together and start having more connection with one another.

Maybe we spend 5 minutes emailing our co-workers to better establish work boundaries so we don’t end up with so much on our plates or we don’t feel burned out.

I also included 2 audio testimonials from some of our STEP Momentum graduates that went through the whole program with us this summer.

Diana first shared how she was able to start working through the items in her childhood home after her mother passed away. Once she learned how to process the items/papers that awaited her, her life transformed! She was no longer afraid to have people over to the house and she was able to start clearing areas of the house that had been untouched for a long time.

Barbara then shared a great experience about having to heal from some health issues at the same time her family was hosting an exchange student. She was able to look at everything she had going on in life and put several items on her Next in Line and Someday Lists. She realized that she needed to prioritize her health and not take on too many additional things in order to best take care of her family and this exchange student.

I loved these examples so much because I, too, have been taking a lot off my plate lately and adding those items to my Next in Line and Someday Lists. I’ve been in a busy season of life and didn’t have a lot of energy the past couple months, so I have been really intentional about what things make it on my Current Projects List for the month and my weekly Next Actions List.

This has enabled me to spend more time with my husband and son–while still being able to complete the most essential work and family-related projects–without feeling stretched too thin.

My mom, April, sent me two awesome testimonials from our Facebook groups that go along perfectly with this topic.

This first testimonial is from Cathie:

Isn’t that beautiful? I loved reading how Cathie was able to give her papers and other items a home in her Command Central. And in doing so, she was able to create a physical space that allowed her son to invite friends over and create wonderful memories.

My husband and I have been developing our own personal home reset routines that we do together each night. I love knowing that no matter what is going on in our lives, we take just 10-20 minutes to reset things and make sure that we’re putting away the clutter and working together to finish the dishes, laundry, or general cleanup from the day.

Our apartment isn’t perfect by any means, but it gives me so much peace knowing that things are generally tidy and that we can welcome loved ones into our home on a regular basis.

This next testimonial is from Christine:

We all have a lot going on behind the scenes, and it can sometimes feel like things are just too overwhelming.

I’ve had a few moments over the past couple months that have been pretty tough, but I knew that I could give myself the time I needed to regroup–and I knew that things were safe in my STEP Command Central.

I knew exactly what routines I needed to focus on each day/week, and I made sure to keep my other commitments and projects as streamlined as possible. This allowed me to complete the essential projects that needed to be done, while also spending enough time with my husband and son. We were even able to welcome several different friends into our home as we prepared for the holidays.

If you have any other examples of ways you’ve used your STEP System (or STEP principles in general) to create space for your loved ones, I’d love to hear from you in the comments on this post!

Related Links:UPCOMING LIVE EVENT:

STEP Momentum is starting January 8th, 2025!

Click here for the full details!

Podcast: What I Do (Productivity-Wise) When I’m Sick

Video: When LIFE Gets In the Way of Getting Organized

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Welcome to our special workshop to help you get clear on what’s coming this month! The audio podcast version is above (simply hit the “play” button), the video version is below, and then you’ll find the written synopsis. In the related links at the bottom, you can access your own copy of the worksheet. Enjoy!

Hello there! I have a special treat for you today. We are doing a hands-on workshop (with a worksheet) on how to create your Current Projects List. And if you’re wondering, “What’s a Current Projects List?” or “Why does this matter?” I’m going to,explain and it’s going to be so much fun.

If we don’t specifically identify a few projects that deserve our focus for the month, we’ll probably work on 50 to 100 projects at the same time, and typically, we won’t get any of them done. But if we have a very simple list, maybe between one and eight projects for the month, you can break those down into little microbursts, you get those projects done, and then you can bring in the next projects when you have bandwidth.

By the end of today’s workshop, you are going to have a solid, doable, exciting plan for the month, and you’re going to feel a big lift.

I’ll take you through each step, so you don’t have to have the worksheet, but if you think it will make it easier to go through the process, then please come download your own–for free!

When I create a Current Projects List, I like to have three categories: Me, My family, and Beyond. Beyond means paid or volunteer work–because we want to have it really balanced. You don’t want all your projects to be for work or all your projects to be for the family. We need to have everyone taken care of, right? So what we’re going to do is on page one of the worksheet we’re going to brainstorm our “Me” projects and our “Family” projects. And then on page two of the worksheet, we’re going to brainstorm the “Beyond” projects, and we’ll do a final project selection.

I put together a lot of prompts so that you can consider exactly what you, your family and other people need that month before you identify your projects. And this is just going to take a little bit of effort, but as you get in the habit of doing this every month, you’re going to find that you’re just knocking out projects.

And they’re not just any projects. They’re projects that actually lead you toward that life that you just can’t wait to wake up and live, and that’s what I want for you. Okay, are you ready to get started?

I wrote the following:

- Sustained health habits
- More time reading
- More time outside
- More 2-Way journaling

(You could pause right now and go make yours!)

Mine include:

- Be present for the holiday
- Look for service opportunities
- Trip after the holiday
- Support son with new job
- Follow-up doctor appointment

I included:

- New video/slide deck
- YouTube class
- Host an event
- Be available/notice needs

Now, this, again, isn’t everything I’m going to do volunteer-wise or professionally. There’s a lot of little things that are going on–like routines, calendared items, tasks, etc. But these are the main projects.

Now, if I look at the three brainstorms that I just created, I have 13 projects. But remember, I don’t want to have more than seven or eight total. And sometimes it’s even healthier for me to have five if there’s a lot of other stuff going on. So I’m going to look at each one of these brainstorms and identify any routines that can be pulled out or anything that maybe could wait till next month–and just really highlight what makes the most sense to be a project.

Remember that a project is something that can actually be completed. So I then go through the brainstorms and I rewrite the highest-priority ones so that they come across as things that can be completed and not just random thoughts.

Looking again at my “For Me” projects, I wrote this:

- Sustained health habits
- More time reading
- More time outside
- More 2-Way journaling

But then I ended up with this on my “final” list:

- Spend at least 2 evenings a week reading instead of watching TV (establish that routine)
- 2-way journal 3x a week (establish that routine)

Looking at the “For My Family” projects, I wrote this:

- Be present for the holiday
- Look for service opportunities
- Trip after the holiday
- Support son with new job
- Follow-up doctor appointment

But then I ended up with this:

- Trip after the holiday
- Support son with new job

Finally, in the “Beyond” projects, I wrote this:

- New video/slide deck
- YouTube class
- Host an event
- Be available/notice needs

And then I ended up with this:

- Video/Slides
- YouTube Class
- Host Event

What’s nice is that now I have seven projects for the month. That’s totally doable, and it’s going to be so fun!

Now hopefully you did this worksheet or you’re planning to do it, but you may find that you have so many things in your brainstorms that you just feel totally overwhelmed and you feel like you can’t choose which ones are the most important.

This is where I recommend you have a “Next in Line” list and a “Someday” list.

Tiering your projects will help you focus on the ones that truly matter most, and it helps you calm down because all the projects are “safe.” It doesn’t mean the ones that are next are not important. It just means that you’re not going to try to do everything at the same time because then you don’t get anything done, okay? So that ability to distinguish which ones really matter, that’s what I want all of us to get really good at because it gives us something very doable.

The way you know that your project list is optimal is if, when you look at it, you get this little “lift.” When I look at mine, if I think, “I don’t want to even do this,” then there’s too much on it?

But if I look at it and I think, “Oh, this is going to be so great! I can’t wait. I can do this!” then I know that it’s optimal and it’s going to work. And If I’m a week in, and I feel like it’s too much, then I can always edit. Let me repeat that: You can always edit your list.

I also recommend you post your Current Projects List or keep it handy so you can refer to it often.

Now you might be thinking, “Well, now that I have all these projects, when am I going to do them?”

We have lots of podcasts and videos (check our directory in the links below!) to help you create project time, but I want to give you a couple ideas that can help you feel excited so that you can take what you’ve just brainstormed on this worksheet and move onward and feel great.

Number one is you want to look at your projects and say, “What is the very next action for each one? How am I going to make this happen?”

I’ll give a couple examples.

Let’s take my two-way journaling. I really liked a two-way journal and I like to do it on a computer, but I want to be able to do it in the mornings. So I might say, “Okay, I have a little calendar where I write out my plan for my study in the mornings. I’m going to add two-way journaling for three days this week. So there’s a little reminder for me.” Then when I wake up in the morning, I’m going to check that, and I’m going to keep my computer right where I do my morning study so I can easily journal–because sometimes if I leave my computer somewhere else, I think “Oh, it’s fine–I’ll do it later.” But then I don’t. So I’m already picturing where I’m going to be how I’m going to set myself up for success with that.

For this trip, the Next Action is just to have a conversation with Eric because he’s actually excited about this we were talking about what we wanted to do the other day. All I need to do is put this on my Next Actions List in the “To Discuss” section and write, “Chat with Eric about the trip.” That’s actually really easy! Or on Fridays, Eric and I do couples planning. I can just add that to my agenda. I could put it on my Friday agenda or on my Next Actions List, but that way I know I’ll have that discussion and then we can decide who’s doing what.

And then finally for the “beyond” section with the video and slides, I just need to spend some of my project time on that, which I’ve already got outlined. I know that I’ll work on that. If things are already part of your routine or in your schedule and you know you’ll see it, awesome! Otherwise you want to make sure you have those Next Actions boiled all the way down, So there’s no question that you’re going to be able to just jump right in and get it done.

Many people in the world just spin in circles and never feel like they get really important things done, but you are going to be an example for your friends and your family and coworkers and loved ones because as they see you waking up excited and going to bed content–moving forward on everything that really matters to you and then being available to be able to be of service and have helped others, they’re going to be inspired. And I can only imagine the influence that you’re going to have.

I’m so glad that you’re here. Please get your worksheet, the link can be found below in our “Related Links” section. You can print that yourself or get out a notebook and go through the exercise that we just outlined today. But I think you’re going to feel so good and then report back in the comments. Let me know. Did you make your current projects list? Any questions? Any inner turmoil? Are you feeling good? I can’t wait to hear about it!

Community Highlights and Testimonials

We’ve been receiving so many amazing testimonials lately, and I wanted to highlight a few here in today’s podcast!

This first message is one that we received in our free community Facebook group:

This next amazing post comes from Amy, one of our STEP Mastery members:

This next testimonial was posted in our STEP Mastery group with all these pictures of a big chest that had been organized.

It said, “Proof that STEP has changed my life! For how long have I just shifted the random stuff so the lid would close without me sitting on it?”

In the pictures, she shows this large wooden chest and continues, “Not today, hidden chaos monster! With April’s sweet voice in my head, I heard, ‘Now you have two minutes. I challenge you to do it in two minutes or less. Double dare!’

“Being raised with four brothers as the only girl, that’s always been my, ‘Oh really? I’ve got this!’ Somehow, sweet April has become my challenging sister. So the timer begins—done! Wow! I would have stood there just looking at Facebook, but nope, I got it done! Treasures found? Yep! Clothes I somehow thought at some point, ‘Oh, this is a good place to shove too-small kids clothes to take to the church for the lighthouse ministry.’ Well no longer in that season! Still going to the church, but now in a bag in my car. And the rest was empty bottles and a random leaf garbage bag? Hmm…No clue what that brilliant, good-place-to-shove-that thought was for! But now I’m walking away from flipping laundry, having ‘STEPped’ another monster.”

Related Links:Download your own Current Projects Worksheet here!

UPCOMING LIVE EVENT:

STEP Momentum is starting January 8th, 2025!

Click here for the full details!

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A fun interview with my sister Laura that will help you to strengthen yourself financially. And I know this is a different type of topic for us here at LearnDoBecome. We talk about helping people stop drowning in piles—creating systems to get out of the overwhelm.

We teach people to build a Command Central in our STEP program to organize all the “stuff,” and that is a great place to start. However, we also have our ARISE membership where we then talk about how to architect a life of excellence once you DO have your system in place, and ARISE covers 6 categories: Organization, Relationships, Health, Higher Power, Purpose, and Finances.

We rotate through these topics, and back in August, Eric led a class about preparing for an extraordinary retirement. Laura listened to the class replay and seriously jumped right in and started applying what we covered, and it was so awesome to hear her success that I asked her to join us on the podcast to share her story!

We’ll go ahead and jump in, and then I’ll share more at the end on how you can move forward with us, as well, if you’re feeling excited.

Laura: I’ve learned so many things in ARISE. I loved your financial planning month that you had us focus on because I that’s something I’ve always wanted to get more organized in my life but I kept putting it off because I just thought it would take too long and be too complicated. One of the things that you recommended was this was the book Start Late Finish
Rich by David Bach, and I started reading that and it got me really excited.

First of all, I should probably say I was sort of drowning in piles like you had helped me so much It’s hard to focus on on things when you’re full of piles So I’m so thankful for the program that helped me get my piles organized, my life organized so that I could tackle some financial challenges that I was having. So I’m really grateful for that.

Here are a few examples of things I started doing after reading that book and going through the ARISE resources:

During COVID, I needed to sign up to have a Zoom account and my own private Zoom account and it cost $15.99 a month. A couple years later, I tried to cancel my Zoom account and there was no easy way to cancel it. And I got really frustrated every time I went to cancel the Zoom account, I couldn’t figure it out. And so I just put it on hold for a long time.

I ended up talking with your daughter, Grace, and she helped me figure out how to log in, reset my password, and quickly cancel it. That’s $15.99 I’m saving every month now!

So I got a little momentum after cancelling my Zoom account, I got a little excitement. And then I started actually listening to “Start Late, Finish Rich” by David Bach on my drives to work. And the one thing he was talking about is this latte factor where people spend $5 to $10 a day on lattes.

It was really interesting that he said that specific dollar amount, $10 dollars a day, because I work for the city of Long Beach and there’s a McDonald’s right across the street. When I drive to work, I’m usually in a hurry and I haven’t eaten before.

I was thinking, yeah, I could save $10 a day. I don’t need to order food every morning, and April, you had just told me that you were starting to make oatmeal every night. I thought, I can make oatmeal every night. So I started with that and I don’t really need to drink and the other stuff. So I did that and I’ve been saving $10 a day.

Eric: It’s true because you might think that’s just a small thing, but, you know, when you think about this quote I heard “little leaks, sink a ship,” little leaks of little spending here and there, it can really add up.

To clarify, I think David means you don’t have to give up everything every day. I mean, you might still have a latte once or twice a month, but there’s a lot of ways you could cut back simply and save $50-$70 a month. Looking at your subscriptions and stuff can sometimes open up $300 a month. But if we’re careful and kind of evaluating our spending, we can find this kind of money and then he talks about what to do with that.

It isn’t hard to just do a simple review and audit and a basic adjustment, not depriving ourselves of everything we love, but just a few adjustments, right?

Laura: In the book, he also says to just look at your bills and see if you can knock off expenses and just be aware of your expenses. I realized one of my most expensive bills was our TV, internet and phone that was a bundle package. And we got it a long time ago and it was $350. And that was a long time ago when things were a little more expensive, I’ve continued to pay this amount and I knew it was too much.

So I finally got around to calling and what David Bach said to do in the book, it’s like call your competitor first and see what they can offer and then go back and tell them. So that’s exactly what I did. The competitor said, “We’ll do it for a hundred.”

I called my provider back and told them this, and they said, “We’ll take off 150 right now.” They didn’t want me to leave and they wanted my business. I decided to stay with this current provider so we wouldn’t have to get new routers or change any of our existing setup.

They were also able to give me some additional information on how to save even more money by switching to smart TVs that don’t require separate cable boxes–boxes that I’m paying about $10 a month for right now.

Another exciting thing I had happen was David Bach wrote, “Hey, whatever bill you’re paying, just call and say, ‘Is there any way I can reduce my bill? Is there anything you might be able to do?'” You know, whatever it is, just call and ask, and so I happened to be paying my car insurance, and I didn’t know if I could reduce my car insurance.

My insurance was reduced by $100 because I drive less than I did when we first got our quotes, and the insurance person was also able to tell me a little bit more about our coverage and benefits with the insurance.

My husband had been in an accident where he was hit by a drunk driver, and the driver didn’t have insurance or any way to cover the damages. I found out that the whole accident was covered by my insurance, and we had no idea earlier!

And now my husband, Jim, is getting the back of his car repaired. And it’s like $3 ,000 of damage that the insurance company is paying for that I didn’t know about. I wouldn’t have known had I not made that phone call. So anyway, we’re really excited about that. And I kind of started making a game out of it now because it was fun. Like, what else could we do?

I also decided to look into my health insurance coverage, and I learned that we have more dental coverage than I thought we had. Now I am getting the work done before the end of the year so it will all be covered!

And I found out that we have pet insurance through my work as well!

The thing that really helped me too, it’s like you and Eric have talked about this word before–about momentum. And you know, if you just gain a little momentum, like Grace gave me that little momentum when we cancelled the Zoom account together. It gave me the confidence to make the next call, which turned out to be so easy, and then I just made the next call. And it spanned over a period of a couple months, but just gaining a little momentum really got me excited and positive energy going in the right direction. So I just want to say to your people and just get a little momentum going and it’ll happen!

April: Thanks for being here with us! I hope that you got some empowering ideas as you listened to Laura, and we’d love to hear your additional wins in the comments on this page. And if you’re interested in joining us here at LearnDoBecome in our ARISE membership, please visit LearnDoBecome.com/ARISE. We also have our STEP program to help you get organized and stop drowning in piles, and you can find out more about that at LearnDoBecome.com/STEP. We are so grateful to have you here with us!

Related Links!Book: Start Late, Finish Rich: A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age

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Do you have a “junk drawer” somewhere that you KNOW needs to be cleaned, but you just don’t have the energy to do it?

What if you could take just 3 minutes to get it where it needs to be?

Most people procrastinate cleaning out drawers (and closets, rooms, garages, etc.) because they know they’re going to find things that need attention or bandwidth that they don’t think they have.

But I want to show you that this can be SO easy.

I grew up with every drawer full of stuff–most of which we never used. We would dig through drawers to find things, and it took a lot of time and energy. I now rarely have any drawers in my house that aren’t organized, but it’s fun to do a little spruce-up every so often, so I’ll be doing that as I explain the process.

By the end of this podcast and post, I think you’re going to feel AMAZING! And you can work right along with me, if you’d like, pausing the podcast where appropriate.

Ready to dive in?

The first 4 steps are:

Empty the drawer
Clean the drawer
Identify the drawer’s purpose (makeup, pencils/scissors/tape/basic kitchen office supplies, silverware/utensils, etc.)
Put the right things back

I believe you can do this in 3 minutes or less if you don’t overthink this.

But THEN you have a bunch of stuff that doesn’t belong in the drawer, but you don’t want it sitting there, right?

You’re going to move to Step 5: Sort the drawer by trash, donation, and “somewhere else.”

Trash and donation are pretty easy. (Ask, “Do I actually use this?” and “Could this bless another person?”)

But it’s the “somewhere else” pile that usually requires a little more brain power. Sometimes you know where it goes–like this hair brush goes in my son’s bathroom–or the screwdriver goes out in the garage. But what if there are tasks associated?

This is where I want you to move to Step 6 and extract Next Actions from that pile.

A friend of mine had foreign currency in his kitchen drawer. So I asked him what he wanted to do with it? Store it in a filing cabinet and create a calendar reminder to pack it next time he goes to that country? Research how to exchange currency from home if you don’t use it? Send it to a friend who lives in that country as a gift? You definitely won’t use it if it’s just sitting in that drawer, so we want to make a decision and move forward.
I had my kids’ basketball buttons in my hair supplies drawer, and I didn’t actually wear them to their games, so it didn’t make sense to keep them. We put them in our kids’ memory boxes instead.

The FINAL step (number 7) is to identify routines that will keep the drawer that way.

I won’t toss random things in here going forward
When I buy any new makeup items, I will discard the old ones
When I see something in my drawer that I haven’t used in over a year, I’ll donate, discard it, it or move it somewhere else.

We have a fun printable if you’d like these steps right in front of you–and there’s a sample Next Actions list you can try, if you’d like!

Click Here for the Printable!

I wanted to feature some recent experiences from two of our STEPpers. This first message comes from Noella:

This next one is from Lynette. Check out these Before and After photos of her craft room!

Related Links! Click Here for the Printable!

[PODCAST 51]: The Three-Box Method for Organizing Your Space

Video: Clean a Drawer with this 3-Minute Technique!

[PODCAST 24]: The “Clean-A-Drawer” Challenge

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I wanted to start out today’s podcast by sharing a couple amazing testimonials from our STEPpers. This first one is from Dianna:

And this next one is from Laura!

And now onto the podcast!

If you currently feel like you have SO much to do during the day that you never have time for “projects,” today’s podcast is for you!

I recently received a message from one of our viewers who watched our video about the 4 criteria (where to start on our to-do lists) and said this:

“Just after the 8 minute mark, you used a phrase I haven’t heard before. You said that you have ‘project time each day.’ This is where I struggle…. Could you explain that more? I can’t figure out how to fit in projects. You’ve mentioned having 8 projects going in one month and I can’t even figure out how to use time to work on one single project. I know there is a solution. I just can’t figure it out. Do you schedule a certain amount of time every day? Work on one project each day? Multiple projects each day for 10 minutes? I’m so interested in learning more about your daily project time. Thanks for all you share. Your videos are so encouraging and uplifting.”

I LOVED this question, and I’m excited to dive in today–because if you’re in the same boat, at home or at work or out in the community, I want you to know that there is HOPE!

Having the ability to identify and complete projects is one of the best ways to improve your life. (Do you want to move? Get a new job? Prepare for a family? Strengthen your family? Create systems so that you have more free time? Travel? Serve? Get healthier?) These all can be done through effective projects.

(1) The number of Current Projects you have is related to how many routines you have and what is on your calendar.

Picture a pie chart. The big circle represents your available time/energy to work on things. ½ might be routines (personal and family care), ⅓ of what is left is calendar/appointments, the final ⅔ of the ½ is project time. So I only choose the number of projects that will fit in that time. And I err on the low side. (You also might want to consider the amount of help, health and energy, skills, etc. that you have in the areas that you’re wanting to move forward.)

(2) These projects need to be organized and put on a Current Projects List so you can actually know what you’re focusing on that month.

Sometimes I might fold in extra things that could technically be called “Projects,” like making some new Indian food recipes or hanging up our family photos on the wall. Those are multiple steps, but they were fun and easy to manage with my regular calendar/next actions list, so I didn’t write them down. What you DON’T want is to have a bunch of big “secret” projects that weigh on your mind, but don’t get acknowledged.

Here’s an example of one of my past Current Projects Lists:

(3) At the beginning of the week, I look at what I want to accomplish that month, and I ask myself what makes sense for THIS week.

If I am traveling, I can do a digital course and planning, but I won’t be doing some of the deeper computer work or home projects that I’d planned for the month.

(4) For ANY project, you need to break it down into clear Next Actions. 10-minute microbursts are key.

Holiday plans, for example, can sound really nebulous. But I figured out super specific tasks to move me forward:

Talking with Eric about our holiday budget
Talking with our kids about their hopes and dreams for the holidays
Researching local events for 10 minutes online
Researching new traditions, etc.

(5) DEEP WORK: I keep a few hours of “project time” open each day.

For me, 11am-2pm is ideal for that. I do morning scripture study, prayer, and journaling, get Spencer off to school, exercise with Eric, walk Sunny, do a morning tidy, take a shower, etc.

Then my deep work as an entrepreneur is 11-2, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, and sometimes, depending on what I’m working on, I might get up earlier and get quite a bit of work done in the morning–or if we have a lot of meetings/events during the day, I work in the evenings for a few hours.

I didn’t always have this kind of time available during my days. We are about to be empty nesters and I have a lot more flexibility each day than I did when we had 4 young children at home. When all of our children were little, I would do most of this deep work during the early morning or evening hours.

(6) The best skill is knowing how to “bookmark” a project and get back to it.

For example, we have been updating our sales page and emails and it felt pretty overwhelming to me because there are a lot of moving parts to this project.

So I outline the related tasks in order in Asana, and I make sure they are super simple, and then I work on them in order. Last week, for example, I made a Google Sheet with edits I need to make on our sales page and emails–multiple locations.

Now THIS week, I’m going to actually start making the edits. But I don’t want the project to feel hard or to forget where I wrote out all the details. So I include the link to the Google Sheet in the description of my project. That way, when it’s time to do the work, I just sit down and click, and I can pick up where I left off.

I hope that this is helpful to you! I love your questions, and a lot of our podcasts and videos can help you, if you’re just getting started! Please comment below and let me know what you thought of this podcast and if you have any follow-up questions!

And now I want to end this podcast with a couple more amazing testimonials! This first one is from Jodi:

And this final testimonial comes from Lynette. She shared some pictures of a recent, completed project and they are fantastic!

Related Links!Video: Fix the Overwhelm with this 3-Minute Technique

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Today’s podcast is specifically for business owners who want to improve and get out of overwhelm, but the principles I’ll be sharing ALSO work if you’re optimizing things with your work as an employee, volunteer, or contractor–OR if you’re looking to optimize things at home.

The basic idea is that there are SO many ways we can improve and optimize our lives, but it doesn’t need to feel hard.

If you’re new here, I’m April Perry, co-creator of LearnDoBecome.com. I’m a wife, mother, and Nana, and I’ve created a system that helps us all to finally stop drowning in piles. So glad you’re here!

All right, so today’s podcast was inspired by an amazing conversation that happened inside our community.

It started with a post that essentially said this:

“In my professional life I run a printing/signage/direct mail company and there are a lot of processes and systems that need revamping in our shop – a lot of costly mistakes have been happening, I’ve been working at night a lot to get caught up, jobs are often becoming “rush jobs” because they aren’t being processed quickly enough, etc.

“This is all leading to a stressful situation and making me hate work but this business is [very important to me on a personal level]. With that said, I have a number of ‘big initiatives,’ and also ‘smaller picture’ items that I want to implement and they all feel urgent because I know they would have positive impacts on my business.

Simplifying our pricing structure so staff can get quotes out more quickly
Getting our new website live which is a huge project that I’ve been paying for and (hardly) working on for over 2 years
Ordering branded shirts for front-facing staff and delivery driver
Check engine light is on in our delivery car and I need a new van anyway so now it’s pushing me to put this as a higher priority
Deep dive into the ways we can use AI for our business
Creating a “next step” email template for our quote emails based on the type of product they are ordering
Deciding how we can outsource some graphic design work to lessen the burden on my internal staff (which requires a number of steps)
Reviewing recurring subscriptions and seeing how we can save
AND THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG (sorry I could really do an entire mind sweep on just this topic ugh)

“So the question turns into: HOW DO I GET ALL OF THIS DONE???”

When I saw this question, I actually got really excited because, as a business owner, I know EXACTLY how this feels. There are an infinite number of ways to optimize, but I have a finite amount of time.

So today I want to share a few ideas that will hopefully help you if you find yourself in the same boat. And if you have more suggestions/ideas to support this community, please share in the comments!

(1) Prioritize the “most impactful dominoes.”

When we organize a house, we recommend starting with areas that will make the others easier. Either because it’s simple and quick and will help build momentum–or because it’s where you spend the most time, or it’s the biggest pile, etc.

In the case of building your business, what are the TOP projects that will make everything else easier? (Maybe it isn’t several, but just one you prioritize.)

Here’s what a couple of our community members said in response to this question:

I would prioritize anything that delivers a better or faster product to your customers. I always focus on revenue first. These things, to me, look like direct customer impact items that I would put first:

Pricing structure
Outsourcing certain items (this might be a way to catch up on some items, but I would not outsource Rush services. Outsource new orders as they come in, while you work through rush orders, unless necessary.) The key here is to know what types of things are more efficient to outsource, so every time you get that order, it goes straight out.
Next step email

The delivery truck is obviously important to customer service. Maybe take it in for service, just to make sure it’s not going to die on the spot somewhere, then start looking into a new one, when you’re a little more caught up. If it entails any kind of extra painting/wrap for your business logo, this might take some extra steps.

I would put everything else in one bucket, and see if it becomes a higher priority based on the first few things, or if once you feel like the other things are under control, you can work on them.

Do you have any employees you can delegate to? Can someone draft the email? Can they help identify areas where things get held up in the process? Can they gather a list of sizes or place the order (even if you come add the credit card at the end)?

__________

Sometimes we don’t KNOW what will make the biggest difference, so we just have to decide what feels right and go with it.

But what I’ve learned over the years is that good leaders make decisions–even if they’re not perfect.

I only recommend working on between 1 and 3 business projects per month–written on your Current Projects List.

(2) Use Next in Line or Someday Projects Lists–with “Pressure Easers”

Your Next in Line and Someday Projects Lists hold all of the projects that you can’t do right this second. That way, you know they are all safely stored and waiting for the right time to be moved to the Current Projects List.

What’s a “pressure easer”? It’s any way you can calm your mind around the pressure that those delayed projects are causing.

The comment made about the delivery truck is one of those–just make sure the truck is not going to die.

For something like a website that isn’t being worked on, sometimes there’s a way to turn off recurring charges or get a lower fee or something like that while you’re waiting for the project to become a priority. We’ve had experience doing this with a reporting software and ads service. Deferring the regular payments and use of normal service bought me more time and saved us a lot of money.

Or for those branded shirts, could you ask everyone to wear the same color–or buy matching aprons for now? Is there an easy way to satisfy the need until a more permanent solution is available?

(3) Optimally Organize the Information You’ll Need for the Future Projects

One of the things that causes us to hold on to too many projects at the same time is if we have related items or information sitting on our desk or on our computers that we’re afraid we’ll lose if we don’t do that project right now.

For example, let’s say I have a catalog for branded shirts here in front of me.

I also have a bunch of notes I’ve taken about the pricing structure.

And I have tons of images, website drafts, etc. related to our website creation on my computer.

When it’s all on your desktop, at the top of your email, or in an open browser, you’ll want to keep all of those things in front of you until the projects are done.

But that just creates more and more clutter to work through, and it prevents you from doing your most important work.

INSTEAD, the project is written on your tiered project list, with a note saying WHERE the related items are.

New Uniforms* (catalog in Support Materials Cubby or visit ______ website)
Pricing Structure* (notes in Support Materials Cubby)
Website* (All files in this digital folder: LINK)

This makes it super simple.

(4) You Can Also Throw Things In “The Bucket”

I don’t want my Someday Projects List to get super long, so I also have a “bucket” I call “Business Optimization.” I put lots and lots of ideas in there–with related information I may have picked up along the way, etc.

Some people recommend NOT writing down every idea because it takes too much time, and if you really want to do something, you won’t forget it.

I just like to know that if I hear a good idea, I could at least find it again if I wanted to. Or I could review the list for good ideas in the future.

(5) To actually get the projects DONE, I love David Allen’s Natural Planning Model

At a very high level, you identify the purpose and principles, clarify the outcome vision, brainstorm all the parts of the project, organize those by sequence, category, etc., and then figure out your very next steps.

We have a video about that linked at the end of this post. And we have a free training designed to help you identify the very next actions for your projects so you won’t ever need to procrastinate again.

Your next steps–write down the projects you’d like to do–figure out which ones are the biggest dominoes, safely store the others–along with their related information–and then focus on getting those first projects done!

Do you have questions about using the STEP System in your professional work or as you’re starting a business? Please share them in the comments!

Related Links!Video: 5 Steps to Make ANY Project Feel Easy

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I thought it would be fun to start off this podcast with some awesome testimonials from our LearnDoBecome community.

The first one is from Olga:

This next one is from Amanda:

And now onto the podcast!

If you’re like most people, you have a REALLY long list of things to do. Some written down, some in your head.

But you also never get that list done, and it keeps growing, and it becomes this “race to the bottom” that will never actually have a finish line.

Today I’m sharing the biggest lie that we all have somehow come to believe about our long lists, and once we uncover that lie, I promise your lists will get shorter, and you’ll actually get them DONE.

The lie is this: A long list = “I get more things done.”

And before you say, “that’s true!” I want to show you another way to think about it that I believe will change the way you work and reduce the stress you feel.

Now I often hear things like this:

Here’s why this perspective is great:

It acknowledges that a small list would feel better
It shows that this person is realistic and recognizes the pace required to keep up with their life
It shows this person is responsible and careful

But let’s go back to the BIG LIE:
If my list is long, I will get all the things done that I need to do.

We KNOW this is a lie–because how many times have we actually finished our super long lists–consistently (not talking about one big burst at the end of a period of procrastination). But we all still make long lists over and over again.

I KNOW you have a lot on your plate, and I know you might feel like it all rests on your shoulders and if you slow down, you’ll let people down.

But I want to walk you through this process of lightening your load. You can still do great things (WITH the help of your higher power AND while still making time for self care and your family), but it does NOT depend on a long list.

FIRST, let’s look at our beliefs about a short list.

It means we are ignoring important things.
It means we’ll stop once we get done, and we’ll forget everything else that didn’t make the list.
It means we are living below our level of energy and responsibilities.

Those are all false.

What we’re actually doing is selecting the highest-priority items from the long list and giving ourselves space to get them done. (You can even give yourself a deadline for your short list, if you’d like.)

And then we have everything else waiting on the sidelines–safely stored, not to be forgotten.

Here’s what happens when we work from a short list:

We’ll build momentum because it feels easy.
We’ll move to the next-highest priority items once we finish that short list because they’re not lost–they’re just waiting.
We’ll ultimately get more done with less effort because we’re in the flow of productivity.

Now let’s look at how time is typically spent vs. how it could be spent.

In this first example with a long list, we procrastinate for a long time and then do a flurry of activity right at the end. This can sometimes still be effective in getting our lists completed, but we’re stressed the whole time. We typically feel some sort of mental strain while we’re procrastinating AND while we’re finally doing all the stuff we delayed.

In this next example with a short list, we get right to work, steadily completing small groups of tasks until we are done. (Remember that short list–and then the next-in-line items that can be completed next). Then we have time left over to either rest and replenish or potentially move forward on some other things that we’re excited about.

At this point, you may be thinking, “Okay, but how do I actually DO this?”

Step 1: Make your list of the things you actually have to do in the next few weeks. These are not “someday” items or wish list items. These are things that you truly need to do.

Here’s a small example (I’m imagining yours may have 100 items or so, if you’re new to this):

Exercise
Dentist on the 4th at 3pm
Update the Sales Page at Work
Vitamins Daily
Bloodwork
Learn Software for Accounting
Fix Faucet
Return package Thursday
Garden Cleaned Up
Trip to Oregon Planned
Birthday Gifts for Son
Laundry
Attend the Conference for Work

Step 2: Add any one-time calendar-specific tasks to your calendar. These are either appointments (like the dentist and the work conference) or tasks that have to be done on a specific day (like returning that package on Thursday).

Step 3: For anything that is a routine, meaning it needs to be done over and over again, add it to a Routines List–organized by Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly–and post it or create it digitally–as long as you will see it regularly. This would include things like exercise, daily vitamins, and laundry.

Once you’re finished with those 3 steps, what should be left are either Projects or Next Actions.

Step 4: For your projects, I recommend you select between 1 and 8 to go on your Current Projects List, which you will then post somewhere obvious or keep it digitally somewhere that will be visible throughout your work day. The number of projects you choose is determined by how big the projects are and how much time you have to actually do them. I suggest you err on the low end.

Step 5: For any projects that don’t currently fit on your Current Projects List, create a “Next in Line” list. If any of them have a deadline when you MUST begin working on them, add a calendar reminder. That way you’ll know they are safe.

Step 6: Populate your Next Actions List. This is a weekly list organized by where you are when you’re getting the list done. (Home, Computer, Errands, Phone, and To Discuss.) Here I suggest you write about ⅓ of the number of tasks you think you can do. I know it feels weird, but trust me. You’ll be grateful when your lists actually get done.

Step 7: All additional Next Actions go on a “Next in Line” list at least until next week.

I know from personal experience how satisfying it feels to make a really long list and give ourselves a ton of stuff to do.

But I also know–from many painful personal experiences–that when we do that over and over again and perpetuate that lie that a long list means we get more done, we end up feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and sick. We won’t sleep well, we’ll feel cranky when things “get in our way,” and we’ll feel down about ourselves.

It isn’t easy to lighten our lists. It often feels incredibly counterintuitive. I had to do this a couple of weeks ago when I had too many expectations for myself and didn’t even realize that was the problem until my incredibly insightful doctor pointed it out. As soon as I lightened my load and visibly made my lists smaller, my body responded, and I can’t even explain what a gift that is.

Your next steps:
Go through the process I outlined here and then PLEASE let me know how it goes or if you have any additional questions! I am cheering you on, and I am so excited for you to feel that relief I know is possible!

To close, I wanted to highlight a couple more community members!

Erin shared this recent experience with us:

Gina shared this incredible “win” with us:

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Have you ever played the game Chutes and Ladders (or Snakes and Ladders)–and had to take the longest slide down, when you were almost at the end?

Or have you almost reached King Candy at the end of Candyland, and then you got the little gingerbread guy, and you had to go all the way back to the beginning?

We help people to get organized here at LearnDoBecome, but we often hear things like this, “I was doing so well, and then ‘life’ got in the way!”

I completely understand–I go through setbacks and frustrations a lot, as well (because I’m a human, too!), but my goal with today’s podcast is to emphasize the idea that the whole point of creating systems and getting organized is so when something unexpected DOES come up, you can quickly adjust, take a pause, and address whatever needs your attention, but you won’t have to slide all the way back to the beginning and start from scratch.

Let’s walk through a few ideas–inspired by our LearnDoBecome community members who participated in a GREAT discussion inside our organization program–and my promise is that you’ll feel more optimistic about what’s possible for you and more committed to setting up the systems that you need in your life.

I want to start by sharing 3 benefits to having your systems in place when “life gets in the way”.

And when I say “system” I’m referring to the STEP Command Central we talk about all the time here at LearnDoBecome. More details can be found in the “Related Links” section below, but essentially, these are daily, weekly, and as needed items that work together as a system–kind of like how all the parts of the car work together so you can drive.

(1) When you have systems in place, you can move forward on what makes sense–even when you’re not feeling 100%.

Some of our community members have chronic illnesses, some are undergoing cancer treatments, most have had colds, flus, injuries, trauma, grief, or loss.

Here are some practical ways we can keep going during difficult times:

Current Projects can move to “Next in Line” or “Someday” and you can quickly communicate with people who are expecting things from you so they know there will be a delay.
You can relax and JUST check your calendar–which will have the absolute deadlines (bills and things like that), so you won’t need to worry about a costly error while you’re recovering.
There may be low-energy tasks on your Next Actions List or a Someday List that you can finally do when you’re not feeling great. We don’t have to be “productive” when we’re sick, but there are often minor tasks that we don’t do when we feel healthy and strong because we want to prioritize the “bigger” stuff. Keeping optional lower-energy things (for me, those are things like sorting old papers, cleaning up my digital photos, going through my mom’s box of journals, etc.) can help us feel a sense of purpose and progress, even during rough patches.

(2) When you have your systems in place, you can simplify, but still do what’s most important.

Just like I mentioned earlier how you can JUST check your calendar, you can also do the bare minimum when you don’t have the time or energy to do what you’d REALLY like to do.

For example, we encourage our community members to create a Routines List. This is awesome, with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly routines. But there’s a wide range of acceptable actions that can “check the box” for most routines.

Walking Sunny, our dog (If I don’t have the energy, I can just take her outside and play with her toys/let her run for a few minutes.)
Meal preparation (A community member shared, “meal making may be more time intensive recipes in one season and more ‘throw it in the slow cooker and go’ or even grab some deli meat, cheese, and cherry tomatoes and call it ‘done.’ But either way…we’ve got to eat!”)
Weekly Review (I usually like to thoroughly process the inbox, but sometimes I just peek through everything and pull out the urgent things–leaving the rest for the following week.)

(3) When you have your systems in place, you have more confidence because you always know you can go back to the tools you’ve learned to use.

At the beginning, this is definitely tricky because if you’ve never consistently used a calendar, a Next Actions List, a Routines List, and a Current Projects List, for example, when a crisis hits, those are not automatic in your life. Our community members agree that it’s easy to fall back on old coping mechanisms and habits.

But as you LEARN, even just a little bit (hopefully by listening to our podcasts or watching our YouTube videos), you may feel like this community member who said, “I will never start from ‘0’ again! I will have internalized the tools AND I have the confidence that I’ve done it once—I know how it do it again! For me, I had emails to 0, and though my inbox is not currently at 0, I know I can knock that out again. I am so happy about these tools that I’ve learned so far! That confidence helps me get back into it easily, knowing it has ALREADY helped me so much. I don’t have to feel overwhelmed. I feel confident instead, and that translates to action after ‘life happenings.'”

I love that.

Let me share a very specific example about projects. Earlier, I mentioned that Current Projects could go into “Next in Line” or “Someday” categories. This is honestly one of the fastest ways to give ourselves a mental lift.

Sometimes we hear things like, “My projects list is growing far faster than I am crossing things off.”

This can often be frustrating because we want to get things done quickly, and no one likes a project to drag on and on.

But having a tiered projects list is an amazing tool that can give us relief because it’s a visual way to see what we are expecting of ourselves.

Let’s say that this month, you have 7 projects you think you can complete.

Then you get 3 unexpected new ones, and you’re so busy dealing with those that the other 7 don’t even get touched. By the end of the month, you have 10 incomplete projects, and that feels lousy.

But, if when you get the 3 new ones, you can take 3 of the previous 7 and move them to Next in Line or Someday, now you still have a doable list of projects. You’ve just broadened the time horizon for the completion of the previous ones. And if a project takes longer than you hoped, you can keep it on your list for the following month (or get extra help–or slow things down in other areas so you can put more energy toward those important projects).

I love renegotiating with myself and actually being wise with how much I expect of myself. There are some occasions where deadlines are firm, but in general, we have a lot more control than we think.

A community reminder to celebrate the “wins”:

“My dining table was overflowing AGAIN and I was so frustrated but last night I set my timer for 15 minutes and got a good chunk of it cleared. I made my bed again this morning. I’ve got these tiny things going for me and I just keep telling myself that it will grow If I just don’t quit! And somehow, this is giving me the confidence to take on a class for fitness instructor training that I never ever intended or thought I would be doing! So SOMETHING’S working/shifting in my brain!

“No matter where you are in this process, FORGIVE YOURSELF and pat yourself on the back. We spend so much time criticizing ourselves. Be proud and excited you’re here learning. It has taken me 2 years to really dig in. I wasn’t ready before. I’m ready now. And when you’re ready you will schedule the time you will make the files, etc! 1 file is progress. An Inbox is progress. Be proud you even want to do this. Be gentle with yourself.”

Another message from a community member:

“For me, ‘Life gets in the way, moments’ are bridges to how I ‘used’ to navigate daily life. In moments of overwhelm, I ‘used’ to shut down and do nothing while piles got bigger and I got more and more behind. My other go to was the ‘All or Nothing’ mentality. Seeking perfection, which is impossible, and then when I failed, feeling utterly defeated. Giving myself grace and remembering that I’ve had my ‘Go To’s’ longer than I’ve had these resources helps me to be patient with myself and if I take the bridge to my old habits, remembering that placing guilt on top of everything else is NEVER helpful. Inch by inch, life’s a cinch!”

We hope that these ideas are helpful for you, and we hope you feel encouraged on those days you’re not feeling 100%.

Sending so much love!

Related Links!Video: Customize the Way You Organize

Video: “I Can’t Make Myself Do the Things On My List”

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Would you love to go to sleep with a calm mind, instead of a whirlwind of thoughts?

That’s what we’re covering in today’s podcast. So glad you are here!

If you search online for, “How to turn off my brain so I can sleep,” you’ll get these kinds of suggestions:

Read a book
Take a hot bath
Limit screen time at night
Try deep breathing and muscle relaxation
Make sure your room is cool, dark, and quiet
Limit caffeine and sugar
Get good exercise early in the day
Set a consistent sleep schedule

All great ideas!

You’ll also hear, “Write down all your thoughts, to-do lists, and worries.”

THIS is the one we’re going to diver deeper into today. Because, while it often DOES help to write these kinds of things down, it’s still common for our brains to say “you have so much to do, and you probably won’t have time to do it, and there is a mountain of stress waiting for you when you wake up!”

Our team member, Taryn, found this thought, and it made me smile:

I used to struggle with that all the time, but after learning a few simple practices, I can finally turn my brain OFF, and I can’t wait to show you how!

To make this incredibly practical, I asked a group of our community members what kinds of things currently keep them up at night. They gave me an awesome list, so I’m going to walk through their responses and show you how you can actually give the things in your mind a logical “parking space” (kind of like VIP parking) that makes it easier for your brain to relax.

Imagine that the regular “list by the side of your bed” is like a huge parking lot that you FILL with cars that need your attention.

We’re essentially going to segment that huge parking lot into distinct sub-lots, following the pattern of our STEP Command Central–so we can work WITH our brains and finally feel peace and relief.

It’s kind of a parking lot party, and it’s changed my life, so let’s dive in, and I’ll show you how it works.

Here’s a list of the main things our LearnDoBecome community members are actually dealing with:

Emails/calls/tasks they need to remember to do
Processing major life changes
Distorted thinking patterns about the next day. (Fortune-telling, self-blame, magical thinking or things we didn’t do well enough)

(1) Emails/Calls/Tasks I Need to Remember to Do

Here are a few examples from our community:

List-writing in my head of the “done” and “not done” lists–from work and home life.
“I worry if I’ve forgotten to write something down that needs to be done and it’s going to hit me in the face later and need to be done right then or having needed to be done already and I’m late on it.”
Do I need to pick up that grandchild? Is my dental cleaning this week? Did I remember to set the sprinkler to turn on again Thursday?
“I am a caregiver from 3000 miles away! If my mind starts to wonder to thoughts of mom suddenly I am running thru lists in my head of things that need done, were they done, did I remember to review and order meds, what appts are coming up, do I have a substitute aide tomorrow that doesn’t know the routine, do I need to update the brothers on anything……. My goal is to ‘trust’ the system and these thoughts will quiet down.”
I worry if I’ve forgotten something on the schedule or forgotten to coordinate something between my mom, husband, and nanny for my children.
How will I learn to get organized while I still have so many things to do? (Get taxes done, schedule clients, collect payments, take down the pool, wash towels, feed the dogs…)
Which transition effect should I use for that presentation I’m working on? Would a new plant stand work better than the one we have?
Worry I’ll forget to bring stuff I need for the next day (lunch, paper signed for a child, paperwork for the License Office, library book to return, etc.)

These are typically date-specific, week-specific, related to a project, or they’re routines.

And if it’s coming to you while you’re trying to go to sleep, it’s probably not the first time you thought of that. Getting in the habit of writing things down right when they come into your mind will take all of these off your brain.

If it’s date-specific, you could add it to your calendar as a scheduled event, or as a task that could be done any time that day. For example, making a call about picking up grandchild or scheduling a dental cleaning could be flexible or time-specific tasks.

If it’s week-specific, add it to the appropriate section of the Context Based Next Actions List. You could add “update brothers on mom’s health” to the Phone section of the list. And “take down pool” could be added as a Home task.

It it’s related to a project, you could list the item as a sub-task with your Current Projects and work on it during your project time. Hopefully you have project time as a regular routine in your life. Something like “figure out the transition effect for a presentation” is a subtask for one of your Current Projects.

If it’s a routine, it belongs on your Routines List. The more solid our routines, the less stress we’ll feel about the day-to-day demands. (Review and order meds, set sprinklers, schedule clients, collect payments, laundry, feed dogs) Plus a good evening and morning routine. Here’s an example:

Evening Routine:

Clear counters/do dishes/close up the house
Pack lunches
Check calendar for next day and lay out all items that need to go with you the next day (clipboard of your papers, items for kids to take to school, sticky note with any other reminders of one-off things you need to prepare)

Morning Routine:

Tidy up beds, dishes, etc. as you go
Gather lunch items from the fridge
Check calendar/schedule/sticky note to make sure you have what you need
Coordinate with family members

Once you start implementing these strategies, you’ll get to the point where you’ll think you forgot to write the item down, you’ll go to write it down, and then you see it’s already there!

(2) Processing Major Life Changes

Others’ health and mental health–and related crises, new phase of life for you or a family member, etc. Some of these are incredibly hard, and some of these are happy, but adjusting to change still requires an adjustment.

Here are 3 ideas to help:

Put these on your Current Projects List. Some examples are:
- Helping children transition to new apartments
- Physical therapy/healing my broken shoulder
- Figuring out new schedule–with a baby, after retirement, with a new job, etc.
When you think of them, know they’re on your Current Projects List, which is posted in your office or at the top of your digital projects manager and gets your attention each week.
These might also go on a “to pray about” list. You could create a section of your Next Actions List for these kinds of things.
OR if you want to designate a 15-minute “worry routine” each Wednesday at 8am, for example, you can add it there and worry your heart out for those minutes.

(3) Distorted Thinking Patterns About the Next Day

This might look like the following:

The weather might be bad, so I can’t go on a walk.
“There isn’t enough time.” or “Tomorrow’s events are going to completely deplete my energy.”
I didn’t get enough done or use my time efficiently.

I highly recommend checking out “Feeling Great” by Dr. David Burns. I learned that there are some really common thinking errors.

Here are a few final ideas of things we do like to think about as we fall asleep:

Gratitude
Gains/what went well and why
Just focusing on breathing, relaxing, mantras or quotes that make us happy, etc.

We need to take care of ourselves so we can be there to serve others.

The next step for you?

Put these ideas to the test! I encourage you to write down the kinds of thoughts that might keep you awake, and then implement at least one idea from this video. Let me know how it goes in the comments!

Related Links!Our LearnDoBecome Holiday Planning Workshop

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How would you like to have 4 simple criteria to help you know how to get the most important things done?

Let’s say you have a bunch of flexible tasks that need to be done some time this week:

Oil change
Order prints of photos
Get registered for online program
Call auto-insurance to renegotiate
Schedule day with family to go to park
Call guitar teacher
Reorganize toys in family room
Fold up camping supplies
Discuss new finance process with spouse
Return library books

These are the kinds of things people end up procrastinating, They’re all “important,” and they’re essential to keep our families, homes, and jobs going, but it often feels like our list keeps getting longer and longer and longer.

Some people use ABC-123. That’s how I learned to manage tasks, but I couldn’t usually get these things done in one day, and since they are all flexible for the WEEK, I ended up rewriting them over and over.

Others use methods to gauge the urgency and importance which again can be really helpful, but I still ended up using a lot of energy looking at my lists and trying to figure out how to get everything done.

Today I’m sharing 4 criteria I learned from David Allen. I’ll share how these criteria will make this list feel practically effortless, and I’ll help you get started today creating your own!

The criteria are:

Context
Time
Energy
Priority

Let’s start with Context. In this image below, you can see how I’ve segmented my list into 5 categories. My cartoon images represent:

Things to do at home
Phone calls
Errands
Computer tasks
To Discuss (things I need to talk about with someone else)

When I segment my tasks into these categories, I know exactly where I’ll need to be while doing the tasks. For example, if I have free time at home, I could choose to do tasks in the home, computer, phone calls, or “to discuss” categories. If I am across town for a meeting, I might look at my list and decide to complete a few errands while I am already close to the store.

Next is Time.

We typically want to add things to our lists that will take 10 minutes or so to complete, but sometimes we need to give ourselves more buffer.

Perhaps we need to call our insurance, complete a lengthy computer task, or have an important conversation. These are all things that will take longer than 10 minutes, and we need to give ourselves plenty of time–maybe even blocking out time on our calendars.

In the image below, I wrote the time required (in minutes) next to each item. That way, when I have some open time to complete tasks, I know exactly what can fit into my schedule.

The next category is Energy. This is my favorite because my energy tends to fluctuate.

In the next image (below), I am writing H, M, or L (High, Medium, Low) next to each task.

This helps me know whether or not a lot of energy is required for a particular task.

For example, if I need to have a very important conversation about a new finance process with my husband, I need to recognize that this will take a lot of energy. This isn’t a task I should try to complete if I’ve slept poorly or if I am in a bad mood.

The final category is Priority.

Why is this one last? If the task is on the calendar, it is high priority, so I look at my calendar before the Next Actions List. I need to complete any date-specific tasks before moving onto the flexible tasks on my Next Actions List.

Everything on the Next Actions List is important and should be completed some time this week. If it doesn’t belong on this flexible list, it should be written on my calendar or have some kind of calendar reminder attached to it.

4 More Suggestions

(1) I also encourage you not to just put “HAVE TO” items on your list. We can also add things in that increase our fun, strengthen our family, build our faith, and really give us something to look forward to:

Guitar chords
Find dates to go to an amusement park
Shop for new plants
Set up lunch with work friends

(2) Keep this list simple–just a few items, with calendar reminders or a next-in-line list for things that can wait.

(3) Remember you can customize this list–we have a video explaining how this works that we’ll link below!

(4) These Next Actions work alongside our calendar, routines, and project work.

I also want to mention that I don’t segment my list with each of these four categories every time. As I’ve practiced this process over the years, I am able to determine the length of time, energy, etc. needed for my tasks just by looking at my list.

If you are just getting started and your to-do list feels kind of overwhelming, I highly recommend trying this method out! Let us know how it goes in the comments section of this post!

Related Links!Video: Customize the Way You Organize

Video: “I Can’t Make Myself Do the Things On My List”

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Do you ever feel like your life is so full and unpredictable that you just can’t keep up with the regular routines? Let’s say that you want to do a financial check-in every Wednesday afternoon, laundry Thursday evenings, grocery shopping on Fridays, cleaning the house on Saturdays, and have family meetings on Sundays.

But then your kids have a bunch of extra sporting activities, you have guests that come into town, there’s a community event that you want to attend, and all of a sudden, those great routines that you put into place just don’t happen. What do you do?

Today, we’re talking about how to tailor your routines for your unique life. That means even when it’s unpredictable and crazy, you can still get the most important things done. The reason I’m even recording this podcast is because one of our community members named Rebecca sent me this message, and I thought all of us could relate.

She said, “How do you embrace the season of life you’re in and make routines that work for it? For example, I teach high school full time, my husband works an hour away, we have two teens that play travel hockey and school sports… We are bound to an ever changing schedule of running around… practices conflict with night routines and meal times… it’s difficult to find quality family time unless it’s driving to a game etc… hard to schedule in weekly routines… difficult to find time to meet with my partner to go over or even establish financial check ins etc). We have been in this stage for about 6 years now, with about 5-6 more years of it. It’s pretty much burying us and we are living in a constant reactive mode.”

I really feel for Rebecca because we’ve had times in our lives that felt just like that. If that’s you, first of all, I’m giving you a big hug. Second, I want to provide you with some tools that can help you know what to do in the middle of all of that, so you don’t feel like you’re just buried and that there’s no hope–because there absolutely is.

Idea number one is to distinguish between must-do routines and optional routines.

There are some must-do things like we need to pay bills, we need food, we need clean clothes, and we need the home to at least be healthy enough to live in. But then there are a lot of optional routines, like dusting the ceiling. If you could see my corners right now, you would see that I do consider that to be optional. Washing the car is another one of those optional routines. There are some things that don’t have to be done. Also, a lot of our must-do routines can be stretched.

For example, if you don’t have time to do a full menu plan and get all the groceries for the week, you could just grab some milk to at least get through breakfast tomorrow or something like that. Recognizing that there is a spectrum of things that have to be done and things that are optional is going to help us focus. When times get super busy, we can just do the bare minimum or the minimum viable to get by.

Idea number two: If you are constantly stretching and doing the bare minimum with your routines, create some protected time to catch up and get your feet under you.

Last week, we had so much going on; Eric and I were going to a lot of events that were happening in our community. We had things happening with our family, big projects we were working on, and a conference coming up. It was kind of a lot, and I found that I had just been doing the bare minimum with so many things. Our fridge needed attention. There were items all over the house that needed to be put away. We’d had active messes that had turned into passive messes, and I was starting to feel stressed every time I came home because I could just see things piling up.

I took one evening and just stayed home. There was something else I could have attended, but I said, “You know what? I need to catch up.” I spent the evening cleaning the fridge, putting stuff away, turning on some music, and getting the house caught up. I could tell that I was feeling a lot more calm and present.

The thing is, sometimes it’s tempting to say, “Oh no, but I have to keep going.” But part of being an adult is looking at our lives, our schedules, and our commitments and recognizing that if you keep going, it’s coming at a cost. If you’re willing to pay that cost and it doesn’t stress you or your family out, that’s totally up to you. But I’ve found that I can only stretch so much before I need to take care of some responsibilities that need my attention.

Idea number three is to experiment and find the best time for your routines.

For something like a financial check-in, you want to be in a good mood and well-rested, able to give it your full attention. So maybe that’s something you schedule for an early morning when you and your partner can get up early and do it then. Or maybe it’s a Zoom call during lunch from your different workplaces, where you can focus together for a bit. Or maybe it’s Saturday night, where you have a late nap and then put the kids to bed and sit down together to go over things briefly.

With housework, you could combine laundry and cleaning. Instead of doing laundry one day and cleaning the house another day, say, “Hey, we’re going to do it all at once, and the whole family is going to get involved in a big cleaning party.” One of my friends has found that the family will plan meals together briefly, buy the ingredients, and then a different family member cooks each night, depending on their schedule for the week.

There are many ways to experiment and find out what works, but it’s also important to talk with the family, make this a family council, and have these conversations. It’s important to get some of these basics going in a way that doesn’t feel stressful.

Idea number four is to get creative, considering the people in your home and their ages and stages, and how you work together.

If you live alone and it’s totally you doing your routines, you can get creative with making phone calls or listening to audiobooks as you move forward on those routines. But if you have others in the home, often I find that the person who has the least tolerance for the mess ends up doing all the work. I hear things like, “Well, I could involve the family, but it’s easier if I just do it,” and I get that. But when you invest in teaching and training in positive ways, it alleviates the pressure on you as you move throughout the years and helps train your family members to do this for themselves.

For example, when our children were little and couldn’t work independently, I did what I called chain-link routines. We would clean, and I would tell each child, “Okay, you come to me, and I’ll give you a little job.” They would complete it and then come back for their next task. As they got older, I started doing rotations. I would say, “One of you is going to play with the baby, one will do a job independently, and one will do a job with me.” This way, I could help teach them if they needed to learn how to use some cleaning tools. Now that our children are older, I just text them a little list. They do their jobs, and we usually unload the dishwasher together or do basic cleaning together.

I encourage you to think creatively and not give up on the people in your home. If you can communicate clearly what you’re going for and everyone can learn that we all make the mess, then we all help clean it up. This can take a lot of pressure off you and create an environment where everyone enjoys being together.

Idea number five is to focus on the frequency of the routine, but be flexible with the time and day.

One of our community members made a routines list in a glass frame, printing everything on paper and using dry-erase markers. Throughout the week, as they got things done, they would mark it off. It wasn’t a strict Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday thing; it was just, “Hey, this week, here’s what we need to do,” and they could see their progress.

I do this often, saying, “I’m going to vacuum or clean the bathrooms sometime in the next few days.” If something comes up or I don’t feel like it, I just look at my calendar and see where I can move things around. I leave some block of time to get it done but don’t feel stressed about it.

The key is to avoid letting everything pile up for a single day, leading to stress and crankiness. As long as you give yourself some general time for these tasks and maintain flexibility, you’ll feel more relaxed and less resentful about events, family members, or interruptions.

Idea number six is one I often hesitate to share because I don’t want it to come across as critical, but I strongly consider simplifying your life.

If you feel like your job, commitments, or external factors pull you away from what truly matters, ask yourself: Is there a different job, or could you move closer to one? Are there some external commitments that could be simplified? Could you do fewer extracurricular activities? Could you not leave the house as often?

I know we all have unique lives; maybe someone loves their job and it’s worth it, and everyone loves their sports—it’s non-negotiable. That’s obviously up to you. But Eric and I have had countless discussions about this topic over the years. We always wanted to live close to his work or started working from home so we could have more time together. Our children didn’t do many extracurriculars; we encouraged them when they were excited, but we didn’t push it because we liked being home together.

Most of our decisions have created a life that is more home-centered and family-centered and a lot less externally focused. There are still many things pulling us out of the home, but we do a lot together. I encourage you to ask the hard questions, have those conversations, and brainstorm.

Imagine, “What if we did it like this? What would that do for us?” When it comes down to it, your values and what you truly care about—like family dinners, hanging out together, and building relationships while doing what you need to do—are essential.

I believe there are often ways to make it easier and lighter if we get a little creative and brainstorm together.

Next steps for you: I encourage you to take a few minutes and write down the routines that are most important to you. Identify the ones that need more attention and then go through the points we discussed. Ask yourself, “Are there ways I can be more creative? Can I block out time to catch up? Can I stretch some routines occasionally? Can I involve others?” Do some brainstorming. This will help you feel empowered and excited.

As you take on a leadership role in your home and family, open your mind to how these routines can get done in ways that feel great. You could also join our LearnDoBecome free community Facebook group to share the routines you’re working on and get ideas from other members.

Let me know how things are going! I’m so excited for you to wake up excited and go to bed content. Thank you for being here with us!nIf this has been helpful, please share this episode with your friends and get them involved so you can build amazing routines together.

We’ll see you soon!

Community Stories!I wanted to share a few of the amazing, inspirational stories we received recently from members of our STEP (Steps to Everyday Productivity) program.

The first message and set of before and after photos comes from Bonnie:

This next message comes from Stacie!

And this final testimonial comes from Pamela:

Related Links!And if you’d like some extra support with your holiday planning this year, our ARISE topic for October 2024 is: The Hands-On Stress-Free Holiday Planning Workshop!

(We have a 60-day free trial of the membership and would love for you to join us and come check it out!)

Here’s what we’ve been sharing with our community as we prepare for this fun monthly topic:

Get ready to easily transform your holiday experiences, create incredible memories, and eliminate the stress with this fun ARISE workshop! This year, we’re breaking free from the exhausting patterns of procrastination, indecision, and jam-packed schedules–replacing those with advanced planning, wisdom, and simplicity! How would it feel to get your holiday hopes and dreams organized now, so you can actually ENJOY the season and end the year refreshed?

This isn’t just a “class.” It’s a chance for you to take care of your future self and make decisions early (with tons of friends and support!), so you can truly find joy in the holiday season—feeling relaxed and energized. Can’t wait to see you there!

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I have fond memories from my childhood of our family holiday planning sessions.

We would sit down at the kitchen table, talk about what we envisioned for the upcoming holidays, and brainstorm things that we were excited to plan into our breaks from school.

I didn’t realize it in the moment, but my parents were not only identifying the specific activities that we would actually be excited to participate in, but also alleviating a TON of the pressure and stress that can arise during the holiday season.

In today’s podcast, I’m sharing the audio from one of April’s (my mom’s) YouTube videos titled: Simple, Fun Way to Plan the Holidays.

I’ve personally used the LearnDoBecome Holiday Planning Workshop with my husband ever since we were married three years ago. We typically start our brainstorming in late September or early October so that we can really solidify our vision of the holiday season and be on the same page when it comes to extended family plans, budget, and other important factors.

It might seem early to some, but by communicating our expectations and “wants” for the holiday season early on, we’re able to create a solid plan (and several Current Projects with smaller Next Actions) to make our vision a reality.

Now, all this organization still comes with lots of flexibility. We aren’t giving ourselves rigid plans or high expectations. A couple years ago when I was pregnant, we decided to not decorate the house because I was too sick and he was too busy with school. We found other ways to make the holiday meaningful. Last year, we decided to not worry about attending all the family/community holiday parties because we had a six month old and were exhausted. Again, we still found ways to connect with loved ones and make the holidays meaningful to us.

That’s what I love most about this holiday planning workshop (totally free–click here for the full details!) –there’s no pressure at all and it’s 100% customizable! I hope you have a wonderful time going through the steps of:

Identifying your “why” for the holidays
Brainstorming the things you’d like to do, see, or make together
Breaking down these items into Current/Next in Line Projects and Next Actions

And if you’d like some extra support with this, our ARISE topic for October 2024 is: The Hands-On Stress-Free Holiday Planning Workshop!

(We have a 60-day free trial of the membership and would love for you to join us and come check it out!)

Here’s what we’ve been sharing with our community as we prepare for this fun monthly topic:

Related Links!Our LearnDoBecome Holiday Planning Workshop

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Sometimes when we think about “getting organized” and “being productive,” we imagine perfect closets and pantries–and projects that could very well be featured in magazines.

But when our efforts don’t turn out as we imagined, it’s common to get down on ourselves, right?

I’ve fallen into this trap, as well, but I’ve come to believe that the real joy of organization isn’t perfection. It’s creativity…. Creativity AS we organize, and creativity with the free time we’ll have once we ARE organized.

We’ve received some fun updates from our community members lately–like this homemade planner, these cubbies made from cereal boxes, this lovely homemade dress, and this awesome summer plan for a busy household of children.

So today I’m sharing four ways to enhance our creativity–inspired by our amazing community members here at LearnDoBecome! By the end, you will hopefully have all kinds of ideas on how you can unlock YOUR creativity–and you’ll feel that joy that comes along with it!

As a quick back story, I wasn’t okay with imperfection as a child, and it really stifled my creativity.

In second grade, I kept “Sammy the Seal,” a clay figurine that went with a story I’d written) in the back of my desk and pretended I hadn’t done my assignment.

In fifth grade, I threw a talk I’d prepared for a public speaking assignment in the trash and pretended I hadn’t written it.

And even through high school, I would give up on piano pieces that were too hard for me–even if consistent practice would have yielded better results.

I didn’t like being “bad” at something.

Today, however, I make all kinds of mistakes, but I don’t feel embarrassed about them. The community here at LearnDoBecome inspires me, and here are four concepts that were a huge help:

(1) Prioritize Function Over Fancy Several of our STEPpers have created support cubbies for their Command Centrals out of cereal boxes. Not only is this a great way to reuse materials on hand, but it also helps them figure out whether or not they would like to invest in more permanent supplies for their STEP System setup. I absolutely LOVE seeing these homemade components of the Command Central!

This idea of function over fancy is something that we now now emphasize over and over right at the beginning of our STEP program.

It has made a huge impact on the number of people who actually complete the program.

It reduces the commitment. There’s no worry that you’ll waste money on supplies you’ll never use. Use the supplies you have on hand and to start with–you can always change things from there!

(2) Find “the Hole in the Bookshelf”We all want to live a life of purpose, and I loved this concept of finding the “hole in the bookshelf.” I learned about this in a creative writing class I took in college. My professor asked us to consider what we could write/create that didn’t already exist. Or if it did already exist in some form, what could we do to create something that was unique to us and the way we approached a certain topic/idea?

Here are a few examples of this kind of creativity in action:

Brenda (one of our STEPpers) created her very own planner after she wasn’t able to find what she was looking for in stores.

I found a great creator on the internet called Broccoli Mom, and she shares fun and easy recipes that don’t have to be perfect. She has helped me find SO many great recipes that are healthy and fun!

At the end of the day, everything you love was started by someone…

LearnDoBecome, for example, was something that Eric and I created out of a love for the topics we focus on, as well as not being able to find this same kind of content on the internet already.

Other examples include nonprofit organizations, book clubs, and businesses. Each individual behind one of these groups had a vision or idea that they were excited to make a reality!

When you create your Current Projects List each month–or perhaps when you’re mapping out your annual goals, it’s a great time to ask, “Where is the hole in the bookshelf that I can uniquely fill?”

(3) Focus On the Joy of Making Something with Your Own Two HandsWhen our team saw the picture of Marina’s dress that she created and wore to an event (pictured above), we were so thrilled to see that she was able to use her creativity in tandem with projects that were important to her!

I joined a painting group started by my friend, Jen, and I was able to use her instruction videos to complete my very first painting! I was a little nervous to work on something like this, but every time I see the completed painting, it makes me so happy!

I have a sister who has such an eye for photography. She finds the most amazing scenes in nature and frequently shares her pictures of the moon and other beautiful spots in her area. I love seeing how she is able to capture the world around her and share the beauty with all of us!

We received this amazing testimonial from Karen about how STEP allowed her and her husband to invite people over to pursue their creative interests:

Online, it’s become so much easier to watch people make things than to make them ourselves.

I read a book recently that really stood out to me called How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. It’s so good and references how we often work and then get tired and spend the rest of the evening watching TV. (And in many cases, I would say “scrolling our phones.”) Instead, he shares some great ideas for replenishing by creating. (Piano, art, etc.)

When we’re in the driver’s seat of our own lives and when we remove the clutter, we have more energy to build in more fun and creativity.

Something pretty magical happens when we create something on our own!

(4) Spread the LoveThere are a lot of ways to create connection and spread your influence.

Natalie recently shared how she created summer activities and a plan for all of her children. We loved seeing how she was able to create a great system that worked for all of them!

That’s why I love having a website, youtube, podcasts. It would otherwise just be me sitting here giddy with my Command Central. But now we’re all here together having a great time!

Organization isn’t about controlling your family or being admired or winning the award for the best living room.

I believe it’s about unlocking our creativity.

Sometimes creatives come to me and say, “I can’t stick to a system because I like to fly by the seat of my pants.”

But I think you can fly WAY better by the seat of your pants when you have a solid system keeping everything going while you’re away.

My hope is that we can continue to create a culture that is more about joy and creation–and less about internal angst and feeling like we need to conform to the way “everyone else” says is perfect.

Great things are in store for you, and I am so grateful you are here!

Related Links!LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

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Before we get started today, I just want to share a couple of beautiful stories we received from our community members:

Tonja shared this:

And Dione shared this:

Having clear space makes such a difference, but sometimes there’s a fear that the things we move off of our flat surfaces won’t be accessible to us when we need them. Today we’re diving into how to solve that concern, and I want to provide a few case scenarios.

Let’s say that you need to do the following three things:

Call Rose at the phone number listed on her business card sometime Friday
Mail a big envelope sometime in the next 20 days
Finish a big project at work by Tuesday (that has screen shots, files, and papers all over your desk and computer desktop)

Currently, the way you might remember to do these things is by setting the related items (the business card, the big envelope, and the project-related papers and files) on some flat surface in your home or office–and all over your computer desktop.

It’s comforting to see them all out in front of you, right?

But now imagine someone comes and hides them. Maybe they put them in a stack in another room because they needed to set something ELSE onto this space.

How do you feel when you come back and see that the items are gone?

Are you freaking out because you’re sure you’ll forget to do those things?

“Out of sight, out of mind” is a real thing. That’s why people pile things up all over the place.

But today I’m going to show you how you can have clear, flat spaces – without worrying that you’ll forget anything.

This out-of-sight, out-of-mind challenge is dear to my heart because I spent years laying things out in neat, organized piles and then “reviewing” those piles for tasks to do.

I could never walk around my home with a calm, quiet mind, because everything was “telling me something.”

On a more personal level, my mother passed away from Alzheimer’s several years ago, and I witnessed her declining memory for seven years. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind was her every day. In the early stages, I went to her house for a full day while Eric stayed home with our children and helped organize her whole room–putting clothes, cards, towels, etc. neatly in drawers and boxes. I came back a week later, and everything was out again.

If it wasn’t right in front of her, it didn’t exist.

But living with clutter and piles is overwhelming to many people, so I want to share a few techniques that can help. Essentially, these are new habits that will replace the habit of “constantly scanning our piles.”

Habit #1: Check lists instead of flat surfaces.* The lists need to be few in number (see the daily/weekly/as needed sections of our STEP Diagram and pay attention to the Calendar, Next Actions List, Tiered Projects List, and Routines List).

The lists need to have only a few things on them. (Long lists don’t get done–learn to plan less than you think you have time to do and then have “next in line” lists ready to go.)
The lists need to be trusted (meaning you don’t use them “sometimes”).

Habit #2: Put items in logical places–and, if there are associated tasks or projects, record the locations of those items so you can easily find them. The book “It’s Here…Somewhere” taught me to keep items close to where I would use them. Sounds obvious, I know, but I had never even heard of that concept. Once I implemented it, my kitchen, for example, had “centers” for lunch-making, baking, etc. When you’re organizing, focus on “centers of activity” and not just container size/type of material. * Julie Morgenstern wrote a great book called “Organizing from the Inside Out” that taught the same concept. If everyone takes their shoes off 10 feet from the place you actually have the basket/shoe holder, then move the basket/shoe holder there. If everyone drops mail in a certain space, create a mail center there, etc. Work with the flow of the household! * When you’re working from a task list or projects list, you don’t want to spend time looking* for things. With the written task/project, simply note where you will go to find the grouped support materials. For example, I will soon be sorting my parents’ papers, journals, and keepsakes. There are two projects on my Next-in-Line Projects List in the family section related to that sorting. My dad’s bins are in the garage, my mom’s bins are in my office closet. I simply make a note, so when the time comes, I won’t have to look all over the place and try to remember where I put them.

Habit #3: Stop the Dropsies* That was my mom’s term for what we did at the front door with all our stuff! * When you get home from a busy day, with a car load of things, take just a moment to empty the car, bring things in, and put them in their appropriate places. * This doesn’t just happen. We need to reserve energy for this. (Get home when you still have 20 minutes of energy left…) * When you have to stop working on something mid-project, clear the space, put it where it makes sense, and note the location, if needed/desired.

These 3 habits might take a little time to implement, but you’ll notice over time that your mind will feel calmer when your surfaces are flat. You won’t be panicked because you’ll know that everything is in a logical place–and, as you use your whole STEP Command Central, the tasks and projects will come to you when it’s the right time.

Let’s go back to the tasks we discussed earlier:

Call Rose at the phone number listed on her business card sometime Friday — Put this on your calendar as a flexible task for the day. (Keep that list short!)
Mail a big envelope sometime in the next 20 days — Add this to your Errands List and put it in the car so it’s ready the next time you are out.
Finish a big project at work by Tuesday (that has screen shots, files, and papers all over your desk and computer desktop) — Put this on your Current Projects List–and perhaps schedule time to work on it between now and Tuesday. Keep all related items in your Support Materials (paper cubbies or digital project manager/digital file manager).

And you don’t have to be a mean person to make this happen if you have a busy family life. Someone made a comment recently that people who have clean houses are uptight and cranky with their families. I don’t believe that needs to be the case at all. Some of my family members prefer to have things out on their desks and personal flat surfaces, and I don’t go around making them move everything, but we do keep the main surfaces of the home clear. It feels better to all of us, and it’s simply a matter of creating new habits.

Hope this is helpful! Please share your comments, suggestions, and questions below! (I’m so excited for you!)

Related Links!LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

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Do you ever find that there are SO many great ideas for “getting organized”? You can access incredible amounts of information on YouTube, in podcasts, on social media, in magazines, etc., but do you ever feel like your brain can get cluttered with all those ideas–to the point you feel like it’s just too much?

Today I’m going to share a simple and effective way to organize the great ideas you have learned or will learn from the great organizers out there, and I hope this will bring you relief and help you to feel empowered as you more fully organize your spaces.

I thought it would be fun to highlight three videos from some wonderful organizing experts that our community members talk about all the time. I’ll embed their videos here on the page, so you can watch them, if desired! And then I’ll share how “organizing” their great tips and tricks can actually help you get things done–so your home can FEEL just like what you see online!

Now, as we go through these three examples, we’re going to utilize a few key parts of our STEP Command Central:

Current Projects List
Support Materials
Next Actions
Routines

I’ll explain them briefly as we go, but we have lots of videos on our YouTube channel explaining how they work, so please make sure you’ve subscribed to LearnDoBecome’s channel over there to get the most of what we have to offer you, okay?

A quick back story:I grew up moving piles of clutter around in circles and never really feeling “organized.” And while I loved learning new techniques, skills, etc., I found that once I became an adult and had my own home and family, “learning things” caused me to feel really stressed. It was like I was just getting more ideas I wouldn’t be able to implement.

But now I LOVE learning because I have a system where everything can go–and that’s what I want for you, too.

All right, ready to jump into the three examples?

I love all the great recommendations our community members send to me. That’s how I found each of these organizers, and I am so grateful for the wonderful work they do!

(1) Dawn – The Minimal MomI’ve never met her, but she feels like my friend! Here’s a great video about decluttering your whole house in a year. She goes through, room by room and shares mindset shifts, practical advice, suggestions on bins, etc. It’s great!

If you want to do this, how will you remember?

If now is not the time, you can simply write “Declutter the House in a Year – See Minimal Mom Video from _____ date” on your Someday Projects List. You can review that list whenever you have bandwidth–or you could create a calendar reminder to check it/consider that project on a specific date in the future.
Or, if you’re ready to do it now, add it to your Current Projects List. This is one list for the month, divided into the categories “Me, Family, and Beyond,” with no more than 8 projects on the list–total.
- You COULD do one project titled “Declutter House” in the family category of your Current Projects List, but I personally like to see my projects getting completed more quickly so I can feel that greater sense of progress.
- I would break that bigger project into several smaller projects (perhaps each room could be its own) and add them to the project pyramid–with “Current” on top, followed by In Progress, Next in Line, Someday, and Finished. (We have a video all about this that I’ll link at the bottom, if you’d like to see how that works!)
I would also keep related inspirational materials together for decluttering/organizing each space in my Support Materials–linked inside a digital project manager (like Asana), bookmarked together, printed/written out in a paper folder in my “Home” cubby, gathered into a digital notebook, or put into something like a Pinterest board. Then they’re always accessible when I’m working on my current projects!

(2) Dana – “A Slob Comes Clean”She created this awesome video called “The Container Concept” where she shares how we often buy more and more stuff–and then keep buying more and more containers, shelves, etc. INSTEAD of putting a limit on ourselves and saying something like, “I am only keeping as many pens as fit in this one jar.”

This is a GREAT video, and once we learn it/watch it, how do we make sure that we actually apply it?

You might want to go into your Someday or Current Project we discussed above, and in your general notes for decluttering the house, write down, “Remember the Container Concept from Dana’s video on ______ date–set limits in each area of the home.” Ideally, you’ll have a focused list of reminders and suggestions to review when you start on each sub-project/room, and it’s a nice way to help the future you to recall the ideas that inspired you in the past.
This could also be a great item to record on your “To Discuss” List. This is a section of your weekly Next Actions List, where you record items you need to discuss with your spouse, family members, roommate, close friend, etc. (Reference the video name and/or date on your list so you can quickly watch it together. In the comments, a woman shared that she showed it to her son, who then went and cleaned his bedroom in 5 hours.)
You might also decide to apply the idea to one major place in your home right now (maybe it has pens like the ones she shared in the video), and you think, “I’m not cleaning my whole house right now, but I can apply this video by just decluttering my pens this week.” Simply add “Declutter/containerize the pens in the art cupboard” to your Next Actions List in the “Home” category.

(3) Cassandra – ClutterbugIn her video, “My Daily Speed Cleaning Routine and My Cleaning Must Haves,” she shares how she spends 30 minutes or less doing the following:

Make Bed
Do Dishes
Clean Kitchen
Clean Bathroom
Tidy Tote Pick Up (where she gathers things into a big tote that has smaller containers inside and sorts by family member or room)
Surfaces
Spot Mop
Laundry

It’s great! So how would you make this happen regularly in your home?

You might want to add this to your weekly Routines List. I remember that the Fly Lady would do a Weekly Home Blessing that was a nice once a week clean-up. Maybe you do regular cleaning on Saturdays, but then you do a “Dirty 30” mid-week.The STEP Command Central features a Routines List that holds everything we do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc. You review it weekly, but if anything is time- and date-specific, it is also on your calendar as an event, and as you are establishing a routine, you may also add it to your Current Projects List or create calendar reminders.
Or maybe you just want this as a tool to use when the house feels crazy or company is coming… It doesn’t need to be written down as a routine, Next Action, or task, but you could create a note in your phone (Google Drive, Evernote, Notion, etc.) with the checklist she offers stored as part of your Support Materials. The key to optimal Support Materials is to have things organized so well that you can find what you need within about 30 seconds. I personally would keep something like this in a notes app that can be easily searched, and I would title it with as many keywords as possible. Words I would probably search would be “Clutterbug,” “Dirty 30,” and “Quick Cleaning Routine.” Or I could just put the printout in my “Home” cubby in the “Cleaning” folder. (I’ll link a related video about my cubbies below, if you’d like more information on those!)
Of course, you could always add this to your Someday List (or add the video to a playlist or something simple like that). You don’t have to do everything right now…

This comment that came in from Tracy made me smile, and I wanted to share it here so you can feel the excitement that is ahead as you build your STEP Command Central:

“I feel like I’m pretty organized HOWEVER while speaking with my wonderful friend, Valerie about the “tidying” I was doing following Marie Kondo’s book, she then shared that she was excited to begin her LearnDoBecome program and she offered to gift me her other program. Well, I accepted her gracious offer and boy am I glad I did!! I will admit that I have already had a good portion of the command central already intact, but I was able to apply a few key elements you suggested. The REAL aha moments came in the Current Projects list portion and I have to tell you . . . it completely changed my world!!!! I have gotten more done in a weeks time and FEEL amazing!! Projects that I was going to get to 6 or 7 months ago, that were stressing me out, were done in 2-3 days, other projects are lined up for the future projects, my filing system has been gutted and the clarity I have is incredible. I am also creating an online program, just about to launch in fact, and I will be mentioning your program LDB to the crazy busy moms I’ll be serving! So, thank you for being so thorough and so fabulous!! Oh and by the way, I’m not waking up in the middle of the night thinking I forgot to do something and it’s really only been a little over a week!”

It is AWESOME to learn new things–for home organizing, family-raising, marriage-strengthening, business-building, etc. But sometimes all the learning seems to just go into our minds for a moment–and then it disappears. For many people, it becomes entertainment to watch other people thrive. We watch them clean their homes, exercise, cook nutritious foods, and spend quality time with their families. However, my personal goal is for YOU to thrive.

I’m so glad you’re here with us! I hope you’ll want to build your STEP Command Central and have a calm, organized mind forever–so you can keep learning, doing, and becoming!

Please share links to favorite resources–or ask questions/leave comments below! We’re cheering you on!

Related Links!Video: Project Overwhelm Solved – Projects Pyramid

Video: Your New Paper Pile Solution (My Cubby System)

Resource Post: Start STEPping for Free!

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How would you like to have a “machine” that could turn chaos into order?

Today I’m sharing exactly how I did that, and by the end of this podcast (or article, if you’re reading!), you’re going to see the vision, learn the general PARTS of the machine and see exactly how it works. (And if you’ve already built your system, please share this with your friends so they can create one, too!)

Although helping people get organized and out of overwhelm is my passion, I didn’t always know how to do this. I literally grew up hiding piles under my bed, in my closet, under blankets, and in stacks of boxes. I could create clear space by moving things around, but I had no idea life without piles of stuff was possible.

And even after I learned how to declutter–and all my piles were gone, I still had MENTAL piles.

I can now say, however, that I haven’t had a pile in my life in over 15 years, and it’s because I built a machine (or a simple system) that made the process effortless.

And if you’re thinking, “This is way too good to be true!” Please listen to this episode because this has become’s my life’s work.

The details for building this machine are not a secret. You can find descriptions, instructions, and tons of examples throughout the podcasts here at LearnDoBecome Radio, all over our social media, and in the videos I post to YouTube. I truly want everyone to know how to create peace of mind.

And if you’re new here, we do offer additional programs and support for people who would like that–and who are excited to have community, coaching, and extra printables, videos, audios, etc., but you don’t have to buy a program or office supplies in order to build your own machine and get totally organized. (I’ll link details about our Steps to Everyday Productivity program at the end, in case you’re interested, but we are genuinely here to help you–with whatever level of support you would like!)

A few reasons we have chaos in the first place:Sometimes it’s just a lack of systems–so we pile up dishes, shopping bags full of household goods, gifts, knick knacks, and other physical items that we could sort and organize in a better way.

Sometimes other people in our homes and offices are contributing to the disarray, and we don’t have clear boundaries.

Other times, we inherit things or feel a lot of emotion when we even think about parting with certain items, so we keep them in order to protect ourselves from feeling sad, angry, guilty, or frustrated.

But today I want to focus on the stuff that’s related to work we actually need to get done. These include papers, digital files, and physical items that have actions associated with them.

Essentially, our piles of “stuff” are holding information that we need, but we don’t know what to do with all of those items in order to create order in our brains.

One common solution is to divide the piles into smaller piles that have some kind of meaning–like things for a bathroom remodel will go together, financial documents will go together, school items can be kept in one pile, work things can be kept in another, etc.

But when we look at those smaller piles, our brains need to go through a thought process for every item over and over again. “What does this mean? What do I need to do?”

You’ve probably experienced this as you’ve scrolled thousands of emails and tried to connect the subject lines with what actions we need to take. That takes SO much energy when you multiply it by 10, 50, 2000, 5000, or 100,000 things, so our minds (as David Allen says) “go numb” to the piles.

Differentiating all of the projects, routines, tasks, etc. that are involved with getting the piles to go away makes you have to think too much, so you don’t go deeper.

Then the piles grow, and more things are coming at you. Perhaps you take a class for your business and get new ideas. Or you see a social media account and get tons of new recipe ideas. Then you decide you need to exercise more. Pretty soon, you don’t even know what to do with all those ideas, so you end up spinning in circles a lot–thinking it is your fault.

The Machine solves that problem.I know it’s weird that I call my organization system a “machine,” so I looked up the definition. It’s “an apparatus using or applying mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task.”

So while what I’m describing may not be mechanical power, there ARE different parts with definite purposes, performing a particular task…getting YOU out of piles.

Here are a couple of fun before and after photos that came in recently.This is Tracie’s:

And this is Lynette’s:

Beautiful, don’t you think? It feels so much better to walk into a space that has purpose instead of piles.

Ready to go a little deeper?This machine I’m talking about–the STEP Command Central–has 15 components, and I explain them all over social media and, specifically, our YouTube channel, but just knowing them doesn’t help by itself because you end up just trying to stick things into those components–and you then have 15 places to scan and decide what to do.

Instead, you need to learn where to put things, how often to check them, and how to know that they’ll come back to you at the right time.

So we put the 15 components into 3 categories (daily/weekly/as needed), and this simplifies the categories.

As needed – these will just sit there, but the daily/weekly reminders will take you to those items when appropriate.

Weekly – you’ll have a scheduled weekly review to pay attention to all of these. Maybe Fridays at 4 or Sundays, in order to get ready for the week ahead!

Daily – this is a simple list so every day you can just focus on a few things. And as new things come into you, there is a very specific way those things can go into your system.

Here are a few examples:

1–Administrative tasks

A company where I made a return says “it should be processed in 2 weeks, but call back if not.”

I write down all the details, create a calendar reminder referencing that information, and keep that information in your Support Materials, Tickler, Project Management Software, or Digital/Paper files. Then I know it will come back to me.

2–Managing a big project with hundreds of parts

This past year, I did a huge revamp of our Steps to Everyday Productivity program. There was a lot of information to consider, revise, look at, keep in mind, manage, etc.: a photo of an outline for the program, all the pages in our existing program, suggested new video scripts, team brainstorms, testimonials to add in, handwritten ideas, etc.

We created a project in Asana, our project management software, made a section for each module, added and linked relevant details in the appropriate places, and put “STEP Revamp” on our Current Projects List.

I broke my shoulder during the busiest part of the project, so I typed with voice to text while I couldn’t use my arm.

I had to learn how to make it so easy that I could sit down for 10 minutes and get right to work. (Think about a big project you have and ask yourself if you can do that…)

The principles are the SAME for something like cleaning a closet. Whether you’re organizing items or projects, the steps are the same.

3–Parking spot for my dreams

There are a lot of things I want to do, but the timing hasn’t been right for all of them. I’m sure you know the feeling! There are books I want to read, skills like “playing ragtime music on the piano” I want to develop, and places I want to travel, for example.

I simply put these on my Someday List and check it every few months. (That can be part of a quarterly routine, if you need a reminder–or you could just say, “I’ll check this whenever I have bandwidth.” Your brain simply needs to know it can rest, without “losing” that option.)

We often look at messy rooms or messy offices, and we think that we just need a big block of time to dive in and clean up the mess, but what we really need is this machine, with distinct parts, that can help us to make decisions, pull things out of piles, and create clarity.

If you’re feeling excited about building your own, please click the link at the bottom of the page to learn more about STEP!

I’ll also link to our YouTube channel, so you can subscribe there and enjoy the videos we release each week!

And, of course, please share your comments or questions here so we can support you as you get your system in place. Getting out of overwhelm is totally possible, and I am so grateful for the chance to serve you!

xoxo

April

Related Links!Resource Page: Start STEPping for Free!

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There’s something so special about getting organized, but there’s something even more special about having a supportive community behind you to provide encouragement!

I compiled some best practices from teachers and educators that have been shared over the years in our STEP Mastery group, and I hope you enjoy listening to (or reading through) them! It was so fun to go through the group and see how teachers have lifted one another up over the past seven years.

As mentioned in the audio, our first-ever STEP Momentum accountability group is starting on August 28th, 2024! If you’re ready to set up your own Command Central with check-ins and support from Team LearnDoBecome, please check out our full information page here!

Here are a few messages that we’ve received from teachers going through the STEP program:

I teach in a different location each day. Without STEP, I would be a wreck.
I set my Command Central up at home over the summer and then took aspects to school and started weaving them in little by little. So far I’ve kept them separate. School gets enough of my time and I’m trying to keep my life my own.
I am a teacher of multiple classes, I coordinate work study for the students, do scheduling, discipline, and counseling, and manage multiple students and support staff. The first thing I learned when I started this program is that I could not keep up all the work that I have and be effective as a teacher. I’m actually supposed to have another teacher but I can’t seem to get that support in place from my school. I almost quit this program because it showed me the truth what I’m doing is not physically possible for anybody. The truth hurts! But I’m slowly trying to do is delegate and expect more from other people. It was fun to read this from Karen (one of our STEPpers) and see how her system is supporting her life as a teacher: “HUGE WIN. Because I added class periods folders into my school Command Central, I can ask sub teachers by email to put papers for my review in them. I am so grateful for this class.”

Another STEPper recently shared this response to a post from a brand-new teacher in our STEP Mastery Facebook group:“I’m not a teacher but have had multiple locations for work / volunteering. I have had physical work areas at all locations with a physical and digital inbox at each. And then I also did weekly reviews at each location (Fridays for work location and Sunday afternoons for Home location). Weekly reviews are where I have gotten the most momentum in STEP. For example, on a Friday (or whichever day works), schedule an hour of weekly review for the high school, schedule a break and then schedule an hour for the Jr High. Add this time to your calendar so that it is blocked out and prioritized. For your weekly reviews, this is where a portable container will help you – just throw everything from the physical inbox into your container slot for that location, and then process at your centralized location (wherever you decide you will have your home base). I have a main Context-Based Next Actions List in an app. I have used prefixes for contexts to help me ID tasks per location. So for work, I’d use ‘Work – Desk’, ‘Work – Phone’, etc; for volunteering I use ‘Volunteering – Bookstore’, ‘Volunteering – Email’, etc and similarly for Home contexts.”Several STEPpers shared their thoughts and ideas on a post from a busy, homeschooling parent who was wondering how to implement the STEP program when there is so much going on.

These are such great words of wisdom, and I think they apply to teachers in all capacities:

“Homeschooling mom here! By the end of the day I know I was generally completely physically intellectually and emotionally tapped out. One suggestion: consider if you could institute say a 30 minute quiet time, maybe right after lunch or mid afternoon, where the littles get to do something they can do without your direct supervision, maybe something they really like that they don’t get to do except during that time, maybe even just watch a video or a program. If that gives you a 20 minute window for STEP training, that will really add up over time. And what you are looking to do initially is begin to retrain your mind to some new ways, before you even do any steps. Slow but steady, you can begin to shift this…”
“Do STEP first thing when you wake up and they haven’t yet. That’ll give you a chance to listen and do a microburst & help you feel motivated throughout the rest of the day. I’m currently doing that with STEP and it makes a world of difference!! (From a mom of two, teacher of 4th grade, & a single married parent because my husband works opposite shift!) We got this!!! You can do it!”
“I am homeschooling and understand your longing to boost productivity and incorporate April’s genius STEP strategies to simplify much of the complexities of life. Even the smallest step in the right direction is progress. We are generally creatures of habit. It takes time for us to process change. Give yourself time to adjust. Remember… Some goals may be learning goals. Letting new ideas like STEP principles sink in to my mind for a bit is helpful for me. Watching a module five times may be helpful. Not all goals have to be ‘I climbed Mt. Everest’ action type goals. Maybe one of your kiddos would volunteer to check up on you every morning to see if you finished a STEP related job the night before. Or just once a week. Saturday may be a good day if you don’t have homeschool teaching that day.” Here are a few more ideas from teachers that were shared in our STEP Mastery program:
I have a Google calendar just for teaching related stuff, connected to my personal calendar.
My routines are printed and sit on the front cover of my binder (bell schedule and a few “remember to items.”)
I keep several lists in my phone. I’m learning that “day of the week” lists work best for me. “Siri, add copies for a specific subject to my Tuesday list.” And then it is there during my office time Tuesday.
When it comes to paperwork, consider your classroom procedures for turning in and returning assignments. What is your grading routine? When?
I have a separate list for school projects.

Supporting Students with STEP Principles:

One of the most life-changing things I was taught as a 10-year old was how to break down a large project into Next Actions.

I received a science fair project packet when I was in 5th grade and it just about consumed me. I hated having a looming deadline and feeling like I couldn’t make enough progress to make an entire science fair project, experiment, poster board, etc. happen.

My mom sat down with me and showed me exactly how to break this project down. We sorted my Next Actions into things I could do alone, things I needed my mom’s help on, and things that needed to be done on the computer/errands (things I could sometimes do on my own, but more often than not, I needed help with them).

For any teachers out there, if there’s just one thing you’re able to share with your students that relates to STEP, this is what I would recommend sharing first and foremost!

This approach to projects completely changed my life and is what I continue to use to this day!

You are amazing, teachers! If you have any other best practices or favorite STEP principles you’d like to share, please leave them in the comments below!

Related Links!STEP Momentum is starting on August 28th, 2024! Ready to set up your own Command Central with accountability and support from Team LearnDoBecome? Click here for the full details!

How Many Command Centrals Do I Need?

[VIDEO]: College Professor Completely Transforms His Workspace

How to Help Students Break Down Projects (A Special Resource from April and Alia)

Routines Made Easy Program from Alia and Josh

STEP for Students Program

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Today’s podcast is all about establishing new habits and staying consistent. I want to share a couple ways that my husband and I have created some really important routines in our brand-new stage of life.

And just a heads up! At the time of recording this podcast, our brand-new STEP Momentum accountability group is just a few days away! (Starting August 28th.) If you’d like to build your Command Central alongside Team LearnDoBecome and receive opportunities to check in and assess your progress with accountability, this is an amazing time to do so!

Click here for all the details!

We recently moved out of state for my husband to start medical school. He spends 9-hour days on campus and I take care of our son and work as a team member at LearnDoBecome. We both have very full days, but we have made time for some crucial routines in our lives.

I received a great question from a community member the other day: How do you determine what your routines should be and how to turn them into consistent routines that get completed on a regular basis?

Here was our process:

Do a mind sweep to get all the routine ideas out of our heads
Figure out which ones were day or time specific (like our weekly planning and budgeting routine)
Create a vision for how we wanted each day to feel/go overall
Put any new routine items into our calendar so there would be time blocked out for them
Pay attention to how these routines feel–are any getting pushed to the side or forgotten? Are we needing additional reminders or support materials to make them a reality?
Review our Routines Lists weekly together and do a personal check-in daily to ensure our own routines are being completed
Some of our example routines include: Exercising together, meal prepping on weekends, planning kids’ church music time, doing homework/work, resetting the house together each evening, and doing a budget and calendar review ever Sunday.

Starting any brand-new routine is truly a project, so if you are wanting to make some substantial change(s) in your life, please treat this as a project and give yourself the support materials and/or calendar reminders to make it a reality. Habits don’t form overnight and when we give ourselves the necessary tools to make these routines “stick,” we feel so much more confident that they won’t be forgotten!

Another community member asked, “I know that we should ‘reset the room’ when we’re done, but I’d love to listen to more about that. How can you remind yourself? How can we train our kids to do it? What if we’re coming back to the same task soon and don’t want to put it all away, but want things tidy? I need all the help!”

Such great questions! I’ll do my best to answer them based on what I personally grew up doing and how I do this now as an adult.

And as we dive into these questions, I want to note that we all have different baselines. What is our home looking like at the start? How “put away” do we want everything? How much time and energy do we have available? What does “consistent resetting” look like in my home?

What works best for me might need to be adapted by you. And that’s totally fine! The STEP principles we teach here at LearnDoBecome are meant to be adjusted to make the most sense in our individual circumstances.

How can you remind yourself?

My husband and I have a dedicated calendar task every evening from 9:30-10 PM called “Reset the Apartment.” It’s literally built into our day and we make sure everything is reset for the next day before we go to bed.

Some days we are able to reset super quick after our son goes to bed early and then that calendared block of time opens up and becomes free time.

I love having this planned time because this is when we do a lot of our talking one-on-one. I wash dishes, my husband picks up toys, and we find other ways to split up the final responsibilities to “close up” the house.

Of course, if one of us were sick or if something more pressing needed our attention, we could change this. But for now, it’s working!

Others might find that using a sticker chart or simple checklist could be helpful to motivate those living in the house to pitch in and help reset.

When it comes to smaller rooms that we’re resetting, you might simply make it a family/household routine: Whenever we are about to leave the room, we spend 2-5 minutes making it look better than we found it. That’s simple enough and leaves room for flexibility if every family member is still getting on board with routine resetting.

How can we train our kids to do it?

Practice, practice, practice! I can’t tell you how many evenings my mom spent training us to routinely clean up the kitchen, tidy up our toys, get our school supplies ready and lunches packed for the day, etc.

We had simple whiteboard charts growing up that had 3 sections: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. We had to complete certain routines in each of these times of the day and we were responsible for checking them off every day. (These routines were connected to the way we received a small allowance, so it wasn’t really a matter of choice whether or not we got to do these routines. Either we did them happily and received our allowance, or we did them late/grumpily and didn’t receive an allowance. Up to us, but the routines had to be done!)

The biggest impact in my own routine-completing process was really the consistent example of my parents. They modeled how our family resetting-the-home routines went and they still do them to this day! Even when we have a family movie night now (with all kids 17-24), we still help do a room reset and make sure that blankets are folded, snacks are taken back downstairs, etc. It’s really just a part of our family culture and everyday lives at this point!

What if we’re coming back to the same task soon and don’t want to put it all away, but want things tidy?

I think this is task-dependent.

As an example, I LOVE doing paint by numbers. My materials usually include 20 ish colors of paints, a few paintbrushes, the canvas, and materials to clean the brushes. I keep all my materials in a little to-go takeout container (repurposing for the win!) and when I’m ready to paint, I just need to fill up my cup of water for the brushes and everything else is in the takeout container. I try to keep all my support materials in the smallest, most simple space possible so that I can get them out at a moment’s notice, but they aren’t hard to put away either.

For computer work/office work, I have 3 items that always stay out on my desk–the mouse, my headphones, and glasses. Those never get put away completely because I use them every time. However, the computer charger and all other tech accessories sit in a little basket on my desk (out of sight, but super easy to access).

I personally try to limit how many things I take out, or I try to keep them consolidated in one place so that the items don’t spread around.

This will look unique to you and the things you’re working on, but you could try following the same principles to see if that makes an impact/helps make the process of getting items out and putting them away just a little bit easier.

Hope these ideas helped you to see how you might be able to implement some new routines in your life! Any favorite routines that you’d like to share? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Related Links!STEP Momentum is starting on August 28th, 2024! Ready to set up your own Command Central with accountability and support from Team LearnDoBecome? Click here for the full details!

Routines Made Easy Program from Alia and Josh

If you search “Routines” on this site’s search bar, you’ll find dozens of helpful podcasts and resources on the topic!

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When it comes to handling all the incoming texts, emails, messages, and other pieces of information I receive each day, I feel excited to do my end-of-the-day processing routine!

My STEP Command Central has a place for everything that comes into my life, and after many years of practice and using these resources, this daily routine takes 10-20 minutes and leaves me with:

All my text messages answered
An email inbox at (or almost at) zero
A clear idea of what is on my calendar for the next day
Solid projects, Next Actions, and routines that I am excited about
A sense of calm and assurance that my personal and work responsibilities are managed and taken care of

And we want the same to be true for you! While we all have different email/text/processing preferences, the principles are the same across the board and can be modified to meet your exact needs.

Here are a few examples from the audio of the things I process and where they go in my STEP Command Central:

Texts:

As texts come in throughout the day, I do a quick check to see if anything is urgent. If not, I leave it in my text inbox until the end of the day when I typically respond. (Sometimes I have time during the day to respond, but it really depends!)

I received a video via text that needed to be posted to our LearnDoBecome social media pages and sent to our ad manager. I spent two minutes or less sending that video from my phone to my computer and then added “Post video on Facebook” and “Send video to ad manager” to my work Next Actions List.
Another text was from a friend checking in and sharing an update about her life. I used the 2-minute rule to text her back and share a quick update on our family.

Emails:

An email came in today about how our insurance rates will be increasing on January 1st. Instead of letting this stress me out when I received it around noon, I skimmed the email–nothing was urgent–and left it for my evening processing. I spent two minutes checking out the links they included and decided to add this to our couples planning weekly agenda. I put this email in my Tickler email folder and noted on our little agenda that all the details could be found in the Tickler. This is totally off my mind now and I know exactly when we will discuss this and where all the support materials are located!
I had one email in my inbox that had been sitting there for about a week. I realized that just talking through why I felt “stuck” helped me to process it and get it out of my inbox! This email related to a work question that I had researched and tried to find a quick answer for, but I wasn’t able to. I think that deep down, I felt like I needed to figure some kind of answer out in order to mark this email as “done.” I sent a simple reply back and let the person know that I had researched x,y,z but was not able to find a good solution. I let them know that I’m happy to research alternatives and I looked forward to hearing what their next ideas were.
I checked in on the other emails in my work inbox and saw that most were 2-minute or less tasks that I could complete. I blocked out time during my work time to answer these emails and make sure everyone was taken care of.

Capture Tool:

I wrote “Add car registration to budget” because we just redid our budget, but I forgot about our car registration fees when we set it up. Even though they’re not scheduled for renewal for 11 more months, it feels great to know that we will add this to our budget during our Sunday couples check-in. I added this to our Sunday agenda.
I ordered something from a store, but they canceled the order because it was out of stock. I wrote “check in on refund” on my Capture Tool. I quickly checked my card and saw that the charge was already being reversed! If it hadn’t already been reversed, I would have put a task on my calendar for 3-4 days in the future and written “Check in on ____ refund.”

Work Texts:

One message asked me to check in on a payment question and I was able to do that in 2 minutes or less. All set!
My mom (April) sent me a message with two small project assignments and instructions. I was able to go to my work Current Projects List and add these two small projects (since I had room to add them–we recommend having no more than 8 TOTAL projects that you’re working on each month in all areas of life–personal, family, and work). I copied her written instructions into the projects list (mine is stored in Asana) and now I have everything stored where I can access it when I am ready to do some project work time in the next couple days.

Calendar Check-In:

I checked the date-specific tasks for today and made sure that they were all done.
I looked at the calendar events for tomorrow and made sure everything looked good.
I saw that I was going to go to a local toddler time in the morning and sent two quick texts to friends with small kids to see if they wanted to join us.

I hope these examples were helpful! This end-of-day processing usually takes me 10-20 minutes and leaves me feeling SO good. I totally trust my STEP System and I know that all of these details are safe in my system. Do you have a favorite routine or way to check in on the different details coming your way each day? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Related Links!STEP Momentum is starting on August 28th, 2024! Ready to set up your own Command Central with accountability and support from Team LearnDoBecome? Click here for the full details!

[PODCAST 197]: To-the-Point Questions to Assess Your Level of Organization

[PODCAST 230]: Three Characteristics of an Optimal Command Central

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If you knew there were a handful of simple, specific things that were scientifically proven to help you feel happier and more connected to the people in your life, would you do them?

Today’s podcast is going to walk you through 5 incredible, actionable ideas shared by Martin Seligman in the book Flourish!

I have been enjoying this book so much, and I can’t wait to share.

We all want to feel good, but sometimes suggestions like, “think positive” feel a little hollow. And even suggestions like, “be grateful” often feel unclear when it comes to implementation.

I’ve personally been implementing several of the following suggestions and they absolutely work!

Positive psychology is about “other people.” A quote from the book that I enjoyed is as follows, “Other people are the best antidote to the downs of life and the single most reliable up…Scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well being of any exercise [they] have tested.”

The suggestions? I’m sharing each suggestion below and how you can implement them using your STEP Command Central:

(1) Find one wholly unexpected kind thing to do tomorrow and just do it. Notice what happens to your mood.

If you want to show kindness to others more often, you could put it on your Routines List as a weekly or biweekly routine to remind yourself to do it.

When we put things on our Routines List, we look over them each week during our Weekly Review. This can help us decide whether or not to add calendar reminders or make this routine one of our Current Projects for the month as we are implementing the practice.

I personally try to do these acts of kindness around my loved ones’ birthdays and special days.

You also might add this practice to your goal sheet and review your goals periodically to check in with yourself and make sure your actions and life are in line with your personal goals. You could decide on a project that you could complete that would move you closer to this particular goal.

As we strengthen the world, we feel stronger.

(2) Read a gratitude letter out loud.

In the book, the author suggests writing a gratitude letter to someone and then calling them to share what was written. (Either on video or reading it to them in person.) This sounded a little uncomfortable at first, and I haven’t personally done this yet.

But I did have this happen to me one time. This same suggestion was taught at our local university, and a student in our neighborhood messaged me and asked if she could come complete her assignment by reading me the gratitude letter she had written for me.

We did a video call and she read this beautiful, simple letter thanking me for some comments I made at church that really impacted her.

This was so touching to have someone read something they had written, and I want to do this as well for someone! To put this into practice, you might consider putting this task on your Next Actions List under the “home” or “computer” section. It wouldn’t take long, but once it’s done, you could use the 2-minute rule to text the person and coordinate a time to share it with them.

(3) “What went well?” and Why?

At the end of the night, write down 3 things that went well and why.

I love this focus because we can always find 3 things that went wrong, even if they’re tiny.

The question “Why?” helps us identify what we did that day that made a positive impact on ourselves and how we can replicate this.

Using our Command Centrals, we can set up a nightly routine to complete this practice.

(4) Celebrate with your people!

This was fascinating to me! I think the skills that we’ve been taught about communicating together, resolving disagreements, and addressing issues is great, but this practice is a step beyond what we typically do in the relationships in our lives.

When we learn how to celebrate really well with a spouse or loved ones, this is even more powerful than learning how to “fight better” (aka, resolve conflicts in a positive way).

As an example, imagine your spouse gets home and says, “I just got this new promotion!” or “I found this book at the store and I’m really excited about it!”

There are either positive/negative responses or passive/active responses. The worst is a negative, active response (to the book example): “Well, you shouldn’t have spend money on a book and you probably won’t read it anyways.”

The best is a positive, active response. Something like, “Oh my goodness! That’s amazing you’re so excited about it–tell me what inspired you to pick that one out!”

Asking some question that invites them to share more opens up new doors. And of course, there is a time and place for this kind of excitement. If you have been budgeting for something important and money was spent on something unnecessary, you could still respond politely in the moment and have a budget conversation later.

But I like the idea of genuinely celebrating and being excited. At the end of the day, our loved ones want to know that we care about them and that we will take an interest in what matters to them.

Command Central-wise, we might put this on a goals list of something we want to work toward. We can individually take steps to create a project or routine that makes the most sense in our lives.

(5) Improve our ratio of positive to negative statements.

This one was fascinating to me because they shared some statistics about these kinds of ratios.

In a business, companies flourish when they have a ratio of positive to negative statements that is higher than 2.9 to 1.

However, in a marriage, you need a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative statements. I think this likely applies to our children as well. I’ve been working on this 5 to 1 ratio in my own life whenever I think about something negative or critical that I want to address.

It was also interesting to read that this ratio shouldn’t be above 13 to 1 because then the person can’t trust you because you are being too nice–maybe not as genuine about things as you could be.

These suggestions aren’t necessarily very hard, but putting them into practice can be made so much easier when you utilize your Command Central. For example, you could put this practice on your daily Routines List. Maybe it would help to look for an app that helps you track habits and keep on top of your routines.

Even though our community is digital and we span all across the globe, I am so grateful we are here together!

Related Links!Book: Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being

Video: Build Your “Multiple-Choice” PERFECT Day

[PODCAST 144]: Your Multiple-Choice Perfect Day

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If I were to ask a random person on the street the best way to improve their financial situation, what do you think they would say? Maybe something like:

Get an education
Invest in real estate
Win the lottery
Use coupons

There are a LOT of ways to impact our finances, but today I’m sharing one key idea that is often overlooked–but the effects are huge!

There are 5 specific ways “getting organized” will impact your bottom line, and I am optimistic that you’ll feel more empowered no matter your financial situation.

I kind of can’t believe I’m recording a podcast like this because about 15 years ago, I was sitting in a conference where the speaker invited us to contemplate our greatest weaknesses (so we could ask God for help), and the one I selected was “Finances.”

Fast forward 8 years from that moment, Eric and I were able to do a “Debt Free Whisper” to Dave Ramsey at his office in Tennessee. (We’re pretty private and didn’t want to do a “Debt Free Scream” where we share all of our details with his listeners.) These 5 ideas I’m sharing today are what really impacted all of that.

(1) Solid Routines will strengthen your financial foundation.

Many money-related improvements require consistency. Here are 2:

Tracking what I spent (I used a planner, others may use a favorite app or digital tool)
Budgeting – Eric and I sat down and figured out our already-decided expenses and then those that we had some control (or a lot of control) over. We did a check-in once a month.

(2) A clean environment will prevent money from getting buried.

We have an amazing community we help stop drowning in piles. They share what they find–insurance checks, cash, gift cards, and SO many thousands of dollars buried here and there. We even had someone find a lost life insurance policy that was worth over $17,000!

Plus, with this kind of order and system in place, you won’t buy duplicates of unneeded items or have any late fees.

(3) An organized, focused list of projects will enable you to do things that directly add to your income.

Multi-step tasks (projects) often get postponed and put on the shelf. Maybe you’ve been wanting to learn how to invest, start a business, establish a rental property, or create a new product.

When we first started offering higher cost programs with direct coaching and resources from our team, we used this same Current Project model to add value to our STEP program and create an amazing experience for those joining our Four Weeks to Finished coaching program.

(4) An organized mind creates space for additional education.

Books, courses, certifications, a degree, and beyond can sometimes help you earn a higher paycheck. And sometimes further education gives you ideas that will allow you to grow in this area of life.

(5) When your goals are defined and you know how to wisely manage your time, money, and energy, you’ll make more deliberate, wise decisions. You’ll:

Buy what you actually need and plan ahead
Set boundaries so you don’t overextend yourself
Have confidence in your planned projects and routines
Not constantly be jumping from thing to thing to thing

A weight comes off your shoulders when you have your financial life under control. You can donate, support, and do more–without worrying.

And I know that is sounds weird to say a Command Central “solves all your problems,” but I promise that it really helps.

Related Links![PODCAST 16]: Budget Training for Couples–With Rachel Ramsey Cruze and April & Eric Perry

Book: The Simple Path to Wealth

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Ready for a simple way to customize the way you organize?

As humans, we like to customize our things–everything from license plates, bobbleheads, bathtubs and showers, toothbrushes, stickers, bicycles, camper vans, etc.

But have you considered how powerful it could be for you to customize the way you organize?

In today’s podcast, you’re going to learn a little bit more about the Context Based Next Actions List (also known as the CBNAL). It’s going to be a LOT of fun!

I’m going to give you 3 questions to help you customize your list, and then I’ll share some examples that will hopefully inspire you to get started!

It’ll kind of feel like magic as you realize that most of the tasks you might want to procrastinate can actually get completed as you live your “regular life.”

I used to let a lot of time slip by and I would end up checking my phone 50 times a day. But once I applied the ideas I’m sharing today, those little “pockets of time” became easy to use for the things that REALLY matter to me.

We teach David Allen’s methodology for a Next Actions List:

The list is compiled and completed weekly
It holds Next Actions, which are 10-minute tasks not dependent on anything else. These are usually related to projects or can be one-time tasks.
They are organized by context: Home, Phone, Errands, Computer, and To Discuss

But sometimes people crowd this list and don’t check things off. Maybe it needs to be customized.

Here are 3 questions to ask yourself:

When do I typically have an open space? (Where am I? What is they typical time of day when I check my phone or zone out? We don’t need to be productive every minute of the day, but these are helpful things to keep in mind.)
What kinds of tasks could I do during that time?
Is there any prep work I would need to do to set myself up for success?

Examples of Custom Contexts:

If you travel a lot, you might create an “Airport” or “Airplane” context of things you want to do while in these settings.
If you have a young baby or child that naps, you might have a context of “When Child is Asleep”
If you find yourself with a few minutes of open time each time you prepare to meet with someone, you might create a context of “Waiting for Someone:
To Pray For
Reading
Low Energy at Night
While Watching TV

Recommendation: Keep the number of contexts on your list reasonable. The goal is to have all tasks checked off by the end of the week so you don’t have to rewrite them. You want the optimal number of contexts and the optimal number of Next Actions. It will feel like your work gets done without any extra effort needed!

I hope you enjoy creating your own customizations! I’d love to hear what you decide to creat in the comments.

Related Links!LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

Ready to join our full Steps to Everyday Productivity program and get all the coaching and support from LearnDoBecome? Click here!

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Things always take longer than I think. In today’s podcast, I’m sharing how you can get things done in the time you have allotted.

Imagine you need to do the following items:

Make a phone call about an insurance issue
Work with your child to clean their room
Outline the main points for a presentation you’re giving

You might guess they’ll take 15 minutes, 2 hours, and 30 minutes, respectively. But you may end up being absolutely wrong and then that will throw off your plans.

I’m excited to share my personal secrets and methods for getting things done in the time I HAVE, and I know that these same principles will give you the tools to jump into the work you need and want to do without the stress.

And if you’re feeling a little unsettled as you read that–thinking, “April, you have no idea how much is on my plate,” I want you to take a deep breath and trust me.

I used to make super long lists for each day of tasks that all felt very urgent, but I would overestimate what I could do. I ended up forwarding everything to the next day, and I would go to bed highly discouraged.

This went on for years. Now, my lists get completed every day, I have zero piles, and I’m more productive–while also having time to take a nap each day and enjoying life without anxiety.

Let’s dive in!

First, we’ll review some key principles and then apply them to the 3 scenarios I introduced.

(1) Create Buffer

Plan fewer things into your day, using the 1/3 rule. I typically plan 1/3 of what I think I can do each day into my schedule and this ends up working out really well! If I end up completing everything ahead of time, I can decide to do more. But more often than not, this fills my day perfectly.
Have options ready to go each day. This is where the Next Actions List comes in handy–the list of items that you can flexibly complete in the different contexts of your life.
Get places early and do a few of the day’s tasks (and Next Actions) while you are waiting).

(2) Be a “Time and Focus” Leader – Especially in Meetings

Ask those participating in the meeting about their outcome vision, key points, and help prevent going off on tangents. You can add any tangent items to a next-in-line list and politely do occasional time checks.

(3) Plan for the Open Loops of the Project/Task

There’s no shame here–it’s normal!
Identify: is it a project or task? Who owns it? When will it get done? How will we follow up?
Keeping track of these details will ensure that the projects and tasks have a clear owner and will get done by those responsible for those items.

(4) Work in Microbursts

We highly recommend working in 10-20 minute bursts of time. This helps us work for focused periods of time and allows us to make progress on our tasks even when time might be limited. (Or we don’t have the energy/ability to do a lot all at once.)
Some have found the Pomodoro method and timer to be helpful.
These microbursts feel easier on our brains and help us avoid depleting ourselves.

(5) Turn Off Your Notifications

We can get easily distracted with all the notifications and messages that come our way, and sometimes need to remove any other distractions so we can complete the tasks at hand.

Now let’s see how we would approach our 3 scenarios!

Make a phone call about an insurance issue
- Create buffer at the end so you don’t need to call back or feel pressed for time.
- Be a “Time and Focus” Leader – Keep the call on track and figure out the best course of action to be directed to the person who can fully answer your question or help find a solution.
- Plan for the open loops – there will likely be unanswered questions or new tasks that need to be completed once this question is answered. Be prepared to put these items back into your STEP system so they can be completed later
Work with your child to clean their room
- Work in microbursts and plan to do several over a few days (or longer as needed).
- Create buffer–cleaning with a child is often really therapeutic and may take longer than planned.
- Plan for open loops.
Outline the main points for a presentation you’re giving
- Be a “Time and Focus” leader and establish your outcome vision.
- Turn off your phone so you can really focus.
- Work in microbursts so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

When it came to completing tasks and projects, my mom always said, “Begin! The rest is easy!”

I would say, “Begin! Apply the 5 principles we covered today. The rest is easy!”

Related Links!Podcast 43: Real Life Before and After – Melanie Maxwell’s Story

The Great Courses

LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

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What kinds of things are you excited about right now?

If you have a deer-in-the-headlights expression right now and are thinking, “I’m not excited about anything.” I’m inviting you to start your Butterfly Project.

A while back, I received a message from Celeste, and she wrote that she was looking for a way to pursue her purpose and use her talents and skills to help other people. But she was really trying to balance that with her family and other responsibilities.

She noted that as she watched me build my websites and do my work, I didn’t sacrifice my family in order to do this. It seemed as though my family became stronger as I did my work. She asked if I had any advice on how she and others (especially those in caregiving roles) could pursue something that lights them up and is exciting–in addition to family, home, and responsibilities.

My family, especially my husband and children, matter so much to me. I love being a wife and mother and it is so important to me to create strong relationships with them.

But this doesn’t mean that I can’t do things like podcasting, reading books and telling people about them, doing a YouTube channel, creating programs, and doing things that benefit other people outside of my family.

In today’s podcast, I’m sharing ideas for finding the balance between creating something you’re excited about while also focusing on personal values and important relationships.

First, I don’t want to pretend that my path has been easy or optimal. There have been (and still are) lots of ups and downs and lessons, but I have felt excited about my purpose for about two decades now. I want to share a few ideas and stories that may be helpful to you. (And I’ll explain why this is called a Butterfly Project at the end!)

The biggest piece of advice I have is: Just Start Exploring.

(1) When I became a mother, I knew I wanted to help families, but wasn’t sure how. There was a big identity shift during this time.

I started making friends with women and mothers in my area and interviewed them to learn more about their experiences and lessons they had learned. I started compiling a Knowledge Binder with the things I was learning.

I began to write articles about motherhood–even though I didn’t know how, where, or even if they would ever be published anywhere. We lived in a really small apartment after Eric finished graduate school and in the early morning hours, I would sit on the floor of our bathroom (the only place in the apartment where no one was sleeping) and write. These simple circumstances gave me the chance to put my thoughts together and start creating things that really mattered to me.

(2) Do something tangible that you can “complete” that may open an opportunity.

When our youngest son was just a few months old, I began filling out an application to speak at a conference for teenagers. I worked on the application while he nursed and was able to film my teaching audition with a youth group from church. I was able to be a teacher at this conference for five years and it opened up so many doors and helped me learn how to be an engaging and interactive teacher.

I also did a weekly writing night where Eric would do the evening routine with the kids and I would go in our room and write. I began submitting book queries and articles for publication, but these were not accepted. This leads into my next point:

(3) Keep the power in your hands.

Collaborations are great, but no one can tell you if you are allowed to serve or create. There was a year where I didn’t do any writing or creating because I got rejected.

It was so discouraging, but there was one day where I was really praying about my purpose and what I was meant to do, but I didn’t know how to answer this call.

I then had the impression that I didn’t need to wait for someone else to publish me. I could publish myself. So I started a little website and began teaching people what I had learned.

This was my very first time online, but I would not be where I am today if I had not had these lessons and experiences prior.

(4) Keep your work sustainable and flexible so there isn’t too much pressure.

When I stated my first website for mothers, I started so simply with no expenses. For those in caregiving roles, especially, if you go too big too fast, you’ll resent your loved ones or get overwhelmed/sick.

I liked to use the pull vs. push approach. I only bought software and other business tools when it was easy to pay for it. We didn’t do a huge push to become a big business. We never went into debt, and we didn’t try to rapidly scale. We kept things super small and simple and still maintain this mindset today.

(5) Remember that your purposeful work matters, but not at the expense of your people.

I’ve seen the sad stories too many times where relationships fall apart because the business or other projects take priority.

I’ve had to make some difficult, conscious decisions about business and how we will move forward with our family. These decisions have been completely worth it in the end, but we had to work really hard to create a balance and ensure that our family connections came first.

So why the Butterfly Project?

Let me tell you a story about a caterpillar named Yellow.

Yellow the caterpillar was walking around one day and saw a cocooning caterpillar. He asked, “What are you doing?”

And the cocooning caterpillar said, “I am becoming a butterfly!”

When Yellow heard this, he thought, “I want to become a butterfly! How do you do this?” His heart leapt and it sounded amazing.

The cocooning caterpillar said, “You have to want to fly so badly that you’re willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

This story really resonated with me when I heard it because there were so many places in my life where I was a caterpillar. I wasn’t expecting much for myself and I was letting other people make decisions for me. I was feeling pretty frustrated in a lot of areas.

When I heard this story, I decided that I wanted to go through my own Butterfly Project and I decided that I was willing to give up being a caterpillar.

You don’t “have” to do something big or extra to be important or valuable. But if you feel a call for more, and you don’t do anything to answer it, you are going to feel that sense of loss.

I believe God has something specific for me to do, and I wake up every day excited to do it. I hope you can feel excited about your unique purpose as well!

We have a special Butterfly Project Worksheet for you to fill out and utilize, and you can click here to get your very own copy!

Related Links!LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

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Do you ever start a little project and think it will be “no big deal”? And then it balloons, and pretty soon you’re in way over your head?

Today’s podcast will walk through specific steps we can take to tame the chaos and bring “calm” back to our lives.

First, WHY do projects balloon? Here are at least 3 reasons:

As you start working, you realize there was way more involved than you knew.
- For example, this scenario reminds me of Boston’s big dig when they wanted to put more roads underground to create additional green park space. It turned out that all the pipes and wires were underground, but they were like spaghetti. It all had to be sorted out before any roads could be created and it went WAY over budget.
The domino effect happens–where errors or challenges end up creating more work.
- This reminds me of the movie “The Money Pit” and the scene where the bathtub falls through the ceiling–creating a new project of needing to fix the ceiling.
More ideas or opportunities come into play.
- “As long as we are already traveling to [this city], why don’t we also plan a gathering with all our old friends? Oh! And one has a birthday–let’s do a bigger surprise party with everyone we ever knew!”

We can’t control everything (and that’s okay!), but here are a few ideas to help if you’re in a situation like this:

(1) Prioritize simplicity and create “buffer.”

It’s tempting to schedule ourselves to the minute and leave no extra space or bandwidth between our commitments. But things usually take longer than we think. My rule of thumb is to plan 1/3 of what I think I can do. Then I have options to fill in open time, if there is any. But I usually feel ahead of the game.

For example, we recently completed a full revamp of our STEP program. We had a ton more ideas we could have implemented, but we went for the minimum viable product. A lot of those “extras” went on our Someday Projects List and we were able to create an amazing, concise STEP program that has been perfect for our STEP community.

(2) Divide your “ballooning” projects into a series of smaller projects, listed by priority. Utilize the Next in Line and Someday Projects Lists.

Imagine a giant balloon that represents a HUGE project you have in your mind and heart. Now imagine that we take this giant balloon and break it up into 6 smaller ones. A project is multiple steps with a beginning and an end. Typically, they can be segmented into sub-projects.

2 of those projects might end up on your “Current” list and you’ll focus on them this month. 3 of the projects will go to your “Next in Line” list, and the remaining one will go to the “Someday” list. You’ll still be able to make progress on this HUGE, original project, but it is more manageable now. You might realize that some sub-projects aren’t actually necessary at all, saving yourself some time in the process!

And if the project can’t be divided up?

(3) Take other “Current Projects” off this month’s list to make room for this ballooning project.

We don’t recommend holding onto other projects in the hopes that you can do them all. We recommend having a maximum of 8 projects on your list each month.

This really helps me to delegate, delay, or delete projects once I hit my cap.

I imagine an elevator with maximum space for 8 balloons/projects:

Let’s say you’re holding onto your 8 balloons/projects in the elevator (shown in the image above) and one starts growing. Your space begins to run out in the elevator.

If you leave everything as is, something is going to pop. (And this means that “the ball will be dropped” on one or more of your projects.)

To fix this issue, you simply need to take a few balloons out and put them in your “Next in Line” basket. Sure, it might feel discouraging to leave a few behind, but you know that they’ll be safe and sound in that basket until your next trip up the elevator.

The unexpected happens–sometimes for the better! I encourage you to use your discernment on what you decide to do, but then adjust your workload as needed. Remember that you are human!

Related Links!LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

Ready to join our full Steps to Everyday Productivity program and get all the coaching and support from LearnDoBecome? Click here!

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Our community at LearnDoBecome is full of individuals who serve others. Whether it’s caring for your family, friends, and local community–or contributing to a national or global organization, SO much good is happening because of you.

This month in ARISE, we’re focusing on the exciting, motivating, incredibly satisfying elements of giving back in ways that will help us to personally wake up excited and go to bed content. You won’t want to miss it, and we truly believe the world will be a better place because of this month’s focus. Give back, ARISE together.

As a special bonus–for every active ARISEr in the month of July, LearnDoBecome is donating the monthly membership payment (or its equivalent, if you are part of a free 60-day ARISE trial) to Village Impact to help them to build and sustain schools for children in Kenya.

As a community, we donated a LearnDoBecome classroom to one of their schools last year, and we are hoping to do the same (or even more) in the near future. We would love for you to be a part of that, and you can do so by simply being an ARISEr!

Full details about this exciting opportunity to give back can be found below. If you’d like to learn more about ARISE and start your 60-day free trial, click here!

Here is the video version of our bonus podcast (with lots of pictures!):

Here is a copy of the document we shared with our ARISErs this week in preparation for our live community call on Tuesday, July 16th at 10am Pacific. Everyone is welcome to join–with your 60-day free trial of the membership, you’ll receive all the join links, recordings, and bonus resources.

In this message, I (April) shared:

What I have learned from Martin Seligman’s book, Flourish
The power that comes from being lifted and encouraged by others
The classroom in Kenya that was built last summer (donated with funds earned from the ARISE membership)

Click here for the special message!

Can I share this with my friends?

Absolutely! The more the merrier! Feel free to send them the link to this page and podcast. You’re also welcome to share our 4-minute information video with them. Here’s the direct link (click here!) that you can post online, text to a friend, watch with a loved one, etc.

Where can I learn more about Village Impact?

There are so many great images, information pages, and details on their official site (click here!).

Where can I learn more about ARISE?

Our information page (click here!) is a great place to start.

Additionally, have you ever taken our free ARISE assessment? The goal of this 15-minute personal assessment is to provide a positive way to see new possibilities, acknowledge your great accomplishments up to this point, and create simple goals that will help you build momentum.

Click here for your own ARISE assessment!

Is there a catch when it comes to the ARISE free trial?

Nope! We have made it super easy for you to manage your own subscription within the members’ area. If now isn’t the right time for you to stay in the ARISE membership, there’s no obligation whatsoever. We hope you’ll take full advantage of the 60-day free trial, though, and check out all we have to offer!

Can’t wait to see you inside ARISE!

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Would you like to have more energy, joy, and a greater sense of “lift” to each day—instead of feeling worn down and stressed out? That’s what I’m covering today!

I used to feel pretty tense and at least slightly anxious all the time. It was like I was on guard—ready for someone to come punch me in the stomach—even though there really wasn’t anything threatening that I could articulate. It was just my mode of operation. Eric even lovingly said one time, “April, even if there’s nothing to be stressed about, you’ll FIND something to be stressed about.”

It’s certainly been a process, but I don’t feel that tension at all right now—and I haven’t felt it in months—and I want to explain 5 Mental Shifts that were incredibly helpful.

#1: I decided I wanted to go back to my 20s.

I know that probably sounds crazy, but there’s an amazing Harvard researcher named Ellen Langer who performed these “Counterclockwise” studies.Two groups of elderly individuals in their 70s and 80s gathered at a retreat for a period of time—and everything there took them back to the past. The newspapers, magazines, music, activities—everything about their environment would make them think they were younger, and there was a rule that they had to speak about all of those historical events in the present tense, as though they were happening right then. At the end of the study, their vision, hearing, memory, and strength had improved—and they looked younger.

Well, when I heard that, I thought, “I want to be in my 20s, too!” So I found a couple photos from college when I felt most youthful and energetic, and I added them to my “Daily Reminders” List. Eric and I then went through the top hits from the years we met and got married and created a “20 Again” playlist on Spotify. I also started a new health program that eliminated a bunch of issues I was having, so my energy continued to go way up. It’s amazing what a difference it’s made!

#2: I chose to crave adventure.

I was listening to a presentation by an author named Joe Dispenza, where he mentioned that many people don’t like “the unknown.” They want to have control, and they want to be able to predict what is coming their way, so they hold onto as many “knowns” as possible.

As soon as he said that, I immediately thought about myself—and how I didn’t like traveling or going through the day without a plan because everything felt so out of my control.

Wanting to be less worried about controlling my environment and more open to opportunities that were most likely passing me by, I decided to adopt the motto, “Crave Adventure.”

Then, for example, in the morning, when I would wake up and feel a little nervous about the day, I would say, “I crave adventure!”

We even had this funny experience while our family was traveling. There was a little zip line in this beautiful forest we were driving through, and I asked our children if they wanted to do it. A couple of them did—and then they asked if I wanted to, as well. At first, I thought, “No—it might be too scary for me.” But then I realized, “Hey wait! I think this could be fun!” And here’s a little snippet from that day.

That phrase helped, but there was one more level I needed to go in my subconscious. The reason why I like being in control is because I feel safer—like I am avoiding threats that might be out there. So then I decided that God would protect me from whatever might come at me—and even if something bad happened, I would be able to grow from it. So the second level (after I said, “I crave adventure!”) was, “I’m excited to see how God is going to come through for me today.” That thought has been a game changer because I have always felt supported by God, and this helped me feel curious and full of faith for the day ahead.

#3: I started making a daily shift from fear to gratitude.

Have you ever heard that you can’t feel fearful and grateful at the same time? Try it—think of the scariest thing in your life, and then also think of your biggest blessings. it just doesn’t work to feel the competing emotions simultaneously. So I started catching myself whenever I started to feel fearful, and I would shift as soon as possible to thinking of something for which I was grateful.

I pictured the fire swamp from The Princess Bride while I did this. Have you seen that movie? Wesley and Buttercup are trying to escape the fire swamp, and these huge plumes of fire keep popping up all over the place. But then Wesley discovers there’s a clicking sound before each burst of flame, so he can swing Buttercup around and avoid the fire—as long as he listens to the clicking.

So whenever I started to feel fearful, I would think, “Click, click, click!” And then I would shift to gratitude, and nothing ever caught on fire.

This might sound funny, but the more I practiced, the easier this became, and now I rarely feel fearful at all.

#4: I dug deep to find any foundational beliefs that weren’t serving me.

Several years ago, when I was very new at business, but LearnDoBecome was beginning to take off and became the full-time employment for me and Eric, I started working with a business coach. During one of our meetings, she said, “I was telling my husband about you the other night. I said, ‘April has the numbers, but she doesn’t know anything about business.’”

Now, I’m not 100% sure what inspired her to tell me that or what she was hoping it would do for me, but I held back tears during that entire call and let her words sink in that “April doesn’t know anything about business.”

I didn’t even realize how much that affected me, but 5+ years later, I found I was signing up for business programs I didn’t even like and letting other people call the shots when it came to how things were to run at LearnDoBecome. Why? Because obviously I couldn’t make those decisions. I didn’t know anything about business.

Well, I finally got to the point where I realized she didn’t know what she was talking about. It’s true that I don’t know EVERYTHING about business, but I have been able to serve this community at LearnDoBecome for nearly 10 years. And it just isn’t true that I don’t know “anything.” Eric didn’t know how deeply this had been embedded in my beliefs, so we had some great conversations, and I have eliminated that from my identity.

It wasn’t easy for me, and it took some digging, but maybe you might have beliefs deep inside, as well? Maybe that you’re not an organized person—or that you’re a “hot mess”—or that you can’t be counted on. I invite you to change those.

#5: I learned that if I feel guilty taking care of myself, I’m probably doing something right.

This came from Dr. Gabor Mate—an incredible doctor, author, and speaker. He has tons of videos online where he teaches how the mind and body are connected, and he shares healthy perspectives that have helped me become less of a people pleaser.

There have been so many times in the past where I have needed to take a break—or I wanted to slow a project down—or I needed more quiet, but I just kept going because I felt everyone needed me.

Dr. Mate notes that often those who are most selfless are those who end up with chronic illness, and if we feel guilty as we do something to take care of ourselves, we’re probably doing something right.

Not that I needed permission, but that gave me the incentive to actually sit down and rest, not to feel guilty taking my hotel nights, where I check into a local hotel for 24 hours and just sleep, read, think, and do work that matters to me, and not to push myself beyond what feels healthy just to get one more thing done. Yes, I’ll sacrifice when it makes sense—I love my family, friends, and neighbors, and sometimes it’s okay if I’m a little stretched, but that is no longer my default because it isn’t sustainable, and I want to be around for many more years.

I hope that these ideas are helpful for you. Maybe you might want to be 20 again, or maybe you might want to crave adventure or learn to make that shift from fear to gratitude. Maybe there are some beliefs you could toss out—and maybe more frequent self-care might be just what you need right now.

I share this because if all I talk about on this podcast is being more “productive,” I’m doing a disservice. There’s no award for who dies with the cleanest house. There’s no requirement to carry around false beliefs. There’s no good reason I’ve found for deliberately choosing a life of fear, pain, or resentment. And I hope that as we improve our own lives, we can each reach back and improve the lives of those who are following us.

There’s this beautiful painting called “Ascent” that hangs right at the base of our stairway. Every time I climb the stairs, I think about how it’s a privilege to help those who are coming next. I’ve certainly benefited from the amazing people out there who have shared their knowledge, and I am grateful you are here as part of this LearnDoBecome community!

Related Links!Ellen Langer’s Book The Mindful Body

Joe Dispenza’s Book Evolve Your Brain

Self-Assessment for the ARISE Membership

LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

Ready to join our full Steps to Everyday Productivity program and get all the coaching and support from LearnDoBecome? Click here!

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Do you have a ton of random one-off tasks that aren’t routines, don’t have a deadline, would take more than 2 minutes to complete, and aren’t related to your Current Projects? And do you feel like these are really weighing you down?

We typically recommend using your Next Actions List and Current Projects List to manage the tasks in your life, but we’ve received several questions lately like this:

Where do I put something like a survey that I need to fill out?
How about “returning a keyboard I borrowed”?
I need to find a place to bring a few boxes to be shredded. What’s my next step?

The good news is you have a lot of options to choose from!

(1) The first answer is that you generally put them on your Next Actions List. This is a weekly list that you look at each day. You decide what tasks you’d like to work on to move projects forward before the week starts and then your Next Actions List is segmented into the different contexts of your life.

If you need to find a place to shred boxes (from the example above), you could put on your “Computer” section of the list: “Spend 10 minutes searching online for a local recycling center.” But if you have tons of these kinds of tasks, see option 2 below!

(2) Create a second layer of your Next Actions List and review it during your Weekly Review. THIS WEEK’s tasks go on the Next Actions List, but the bigger list of random one-off tasks can sit on the “Next-in-Line” Next Actions List. We do this with projects all the time. We don’t recommend trying to complete more than 7-8 projects each month on your Current Projects List, so any other projects go to the “Next-in-Line” or “Someday” lists.

If you keep the list digitally or have it in a paper planner, you could potentially work on it during the week (if you have extra time in one of those contexts). I would be careful not to pack your list full of tasks because this can make it hard to prioritize things. Some of these tasks could even become part of a “Someday” list. This means that they can sit on the shelf for a while without any issues at all.

(3) As you continue to organize your life, you’ll typically have fewer random tasks that aren’t routines and projects. I personally find that my Next Actions List does the trick–or I put tasks directly onto my calendar on a day that makes sense. I add them to “My Tasks” in Asana and set a due date. Then in the morning, I add the day’s tasks to my paper planner.

(4) Simplifying, delegating, and creating routines also makes this easier. Back to our three examples:

For the survey, you could create a routine to complete small tasks each day related to paper or email. This way, you know you will complete these kinds of tasks because it’s just part of your daily (or every other day) routine.
For the keyboard return, you could have a routine to load items in the car and drop them off while you’re out and about. You could have an “errand day” where you drive things around and drop them off–from returns to stores, items to take to friends, things to mail, etc. You can keep a box of items in your car that relate to your errands, but I would personally recommend making a note of each of these items on your “Errands” list just so you can keep track of them.
For the shredding example, I would try to delegate this if possible. Our teenage son loves to drive and help run errands, so I could do the researching portion (or even ask him to help) and then he could do the actual drop off for me.

I’ve found that getting better at delegating has really helped to alleviate all of the one-off tasks that come into my life.

These are just a few ideas of very manageable solutions for one-off tasks. If you have any other situations regarding one-time tasks that I didn’t cover, please leave them in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!

Related Links!Asana – My Digital Project Manager

LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel!

Ready to join our full Steps to Everyday Productivity program and get all the coaching and support from LearnDoBecome? Click here!

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Are you the kind of person who always feels busy? Like you’re jumping from thing to thing, and there’s never enough time? Does the concept of relaxing with family and friends feel like a dream that will never happen?

(And maybe you’re not…maybe you’re like my sister who is really relaxed about things. If that’s the case, perhaps this podcast will help you understand the people in your life who are like that.)

I’m simply here to help you to be more calm, if that’s not your natural inclination, and I’m doing this by sharing five mistakes (or life lessons) that have made a difference for me.

Mistake #1: I used to think my value could be measured.Imagine two people standing side by side. I used to think that there were a series of metrics that determined each person’s composite “value.” So in order to increase my value, I did a lot of things. (Because, you know, people who do a lot of things and check off a lot of tasks, are more valuable, right?) But that just left me feeling exhausted.

There’s an amazing Facebook Live video with Dr. David Burns and Mike Christensen that changed my perspective in a big way, so I’m linking to it below–and there’s an option to get my personal notes on their 2-hour conversation in the links below, as well.

I’ve learned that there isn’t a metric when it comes to determining our value, and I’ve learned that there are awesome benefits to being normal and average. Here’s one example of how I’ve changed. In the past, if I was going to a party, but I didn’t “look good,” I felt stressed and wouldn’t go unless I felt totally put together. Now, I still get ready, but I don’t worry if I’m having a bad hair day or if I just woke up from a nap and my makeup is smudged. I just spend a few minutes doing what I can to look nice (to show my respect to those coordinating the event), but I’m not worried about being judged.

Maybe that’s obvious to you, but it was big to me.

Mistake #2: I thought it was wrong for me to be happy if anything was wrong in the world.Therefore, keeping myself busy and overwhelmed prevented me from being “too happy,” which therefore made me “selfish.”

One day, I was walking in the hills with Eric and Sunny (our dog), and I thought, “Wow, I feel so happy right now.” But I immediately gave myself a list of things to worry about so I wouldn’t feel that way for too long.

Now I know that being happy, healthy, and calm enables me to serve. My heart is geared toward alleviating suffering, and I can’t do everything, but I can play my small part.

Mistake #3: I used to push my anxiety onto others so they would do more, too.I think perhaps I saw other people as an extension of me, so if my family members or team members were really busy, that showed that I was also “successfully busy.”

Back in 2021, I think I was at the height of my anxiety. Covid had doubled our business, we had a really big team and lots of projects, and I was working a lot of hours–in addition to managing a lot things around the home with our children. Our oldest daughter, Alia, was working with me on one specific project that was causing a lot of stress, and I remember one day–shortly after she’d had a surgery on her foot–I was telling her how I needed her to move faster and get more work done. I still remember that scene because she was in the process of climbing our basement stairs on her hands and knees to get up to the main floor while wearing her boot/walking cast, and there I was–putting more pressure on her.

We can finally laugh about that. I have apologized, and she has forgiven me. But I will never do that again. We can plan in advance, keep things simple, and put our humanity first.

Mistake #4: I used to believe projects and tasks were more important than my health.I convinced myself that others would suffer if I didn’t work myself to the bone. I didn’t want to just burn the candle at both ends. I wanted to burn it in the middle, as well.

One day, probably 8 years ago, I was doing WAY too much, and I remember I was sitting on my bed with my legs outstretched. As I looked down at my legs, I saw that both of them were covered with stress rashes from my knees down to my ankles. Even though I knew they were from stress, I didn’t think I had another option.

In hindsight, I would have told myself that I needed to identify what was most important–and then have those hard conversations I was putting off (because I thought I would upset people).

Mistake #5: I used to think if I didn’t work myself to the bone to alleviate suffering, then I failed at my God-given stewardship.This one was probably the most painful for me. It took me some time and professional coaching to figure out that I actually believed that. But now I know that I can choose the few things that I feel are most important, and I can take that list to God, and then I can move forward with confidence that I am making choices that reflect my values.

I do move slower on a lot of things now, and some of my external metrics have taken a hit, but I’ve learned that it is important to move at a pace that works. Over time, I believe things will turn out.

This hasn’t been an easy podcast to record, but I think it’s important to share how we’ve learned from our past so others don’t need to experience that same pain.

More links are below, if you want to go deeper on this topic or work with us at a closer level here at LearnDoBecome! And please share any additional insights/lessons you’ve learned in the comments. It’s amazing when we can benefit from one another.

xoxo

April

Related Links!Facebook Live (Including the High School Reunion Example) with David Burns and Mike Christensen

My NOTES from the above Facebook Live!

Podcast: “I’m Busy, Exhausted, and Stuck with a Long List. How Do I NOT Feel Like a Failure?” — ARISE Member Training with Mike Christensen

Podcast: Ready to Declutter Your Emotions?

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I didn’t grow up with home systems. It was more like “leave everything in a pile and pull from that pile as necessary.” If you’ve been living like that and you want to make a change, today’s podcast will hopefully give you some ideas you can customize!1. Private vs. Common AreasCommon areas are kept clear–shoes are in one spot, jackets belong in the front closet or garage, backpacks are on a bench, and there are 3 landing spots that the family knows to use. (I used to have 1 drawer per child, but this system has evolved over time as children have moved out and have become responsible for their own papers and items.)

I don’t micromanage private rooms, but I do work with each child to do quarterly decluttering and cleaning.

2. DishesWe have a little clean/dirty magnet (linked below!) that goes on the dishwasher and can be switched to indicate whether or not the dishwasher needs to be unloaded.

Everyone loads the dishwasher when the magnet indicates that the dishes are dirty. Nothing goes in the sink or on the counter when the dishwasher is ready to be loaded. Dishes do not get left around the house or in the dining room–everyone is responsible for their own and pitches in to help with the meal prep dishes.

When the dishwasher is clean, we all unload the dishes together. We created various systems around unloading the dishwasher based on who was living at home.

3. LaundryThere are hampers or simple laundry baskets in each room and clothes go right in the basket instead of on the floor or on the furniture in the room. These hampers are usually separated into light and dark colored clothing for easy sorting on laundry day.

On Thursdays, Eric washes and folds the laundry. When our children were young, they helped sort and bring the clothes downstairs on laundry day. As they got older, they did their own laundry on assigned laundry days.

We have a separate basket in our closet for items that need to be hand washed. We wash these monthly or on an “as needed” basis when the basket is full.

4. TrashWe keep our main trash and recycle bins in the garage, and there are individual bins in each room of the house. On Saturdays, we gather the trash from around the house and take it to the main bin.

On Tuesday nights (the day before trash day), we take the bins to the curb. We have a calendar reminder set for our family so that we don’t forget and need to rush to take the trash out in the morning.

We recycle as we go, and our family has a document from our city posted near the recycling bin to show what items can be recycled and what items do not belong in the bin. We have a little box right outside the door to the house for glass items that are recycled separately. Eric takes this box of glass items to the recycling center once it is full.

5. GroceriesWe keep a magnetic writing pad on the side of our fridge. When someone opens up the last bottle of sauce, for example, they need to write on the list “____ sauce” so that it will be included in the next grocery shopping trip.

I do a weekly shopping trip and generally rotate between 3 local stores depending on the household needs. Before each grocery trip, we take everything out of the fridge and make sure that it is clean and prepared for incoming food. This weekly fridge clean-out only takes 10 minutes or less.

Once the groceries have been brought home, the whole family puts the items away together. We take one or two trips in from the car and everyone knows exactly where to put fridge, pantry, and freezer items.

Items that are purchased in bulk are stored in the pantry or the deep freezer. We write the purchase date on the item before putting it into the storage area. This helps us to use the oldest items first.

6. Blankets and ToysWe have a basket (or neat pile) of blankets in the main living room and in our upstairs family room. Each person knows to refold the blanket and put it back in its original spot when they are done using it.

When it comes to board games and toys, these are organized by type and our family organizes these together so we know where things are located. For example, the train tracks set is in one basket so that it doesn’t get mixed in with other toys. In the board game cupboard, games for little children are on one shelf, and more complex games with small pieces are up high.

Hope this helps! I’d love to hear some of your favorite home systems in the comments.

Related Links!Dishwasher Magnet

Home Cleaning Resources

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I picked up The Art of Power at a local bookstore several months ago, and when I read through it, I was excited about all these new concepts and perspectives on how to truly feel present and calm.

Months later, as I reviewed my notes and annotations, I realized these concepts had become a part of me.

We all kind of know that what happens in our minds and hearts makes an impact on how we feel and on the overall quality of our lives, but today I’m sharing a few very specific ways this book has helped me, and I hope these ideas will give you a lift, as well!

Quick Note: The Apple Podcast app now creates an auto-generated transcription for each episode–which saves our team a ton of time writing out all the details for each podcast, so when you click into an episode there and scroll down a bit, you can click “Transcript” and read/skim from there! I’m sure this will become the default on other podcast apps soon, and I did read that there’s another app called “Castle” that works for Android phones, as well. Thanks for your support as we focus our energy serving in a variety of ways here at LearnDoBecome!)

Back to the book!

Idea #1: If we don’t have time to “breathe,” we need to identify our true boss.

I’ve learned, in my case, that the “boss” is typically pride. Whenever I say, “I am so busy that I don’t have to breathe or rest or spend time with my family or take a break,” it’s usually because I think I need to do something in order to prove myself or be seen in a positive light by other people. This is hard to admit, but this one concept alone is helping me so much!

Idea #2: Nurture the best seeds in our minds.

According to the author, we have two levels of consciousness–store consciousness (which is like our mind’s basement) and mind consciousness (which is like our mind’s living room). There are all kinds of seeds in our mind’s basement–fear, anger, frustration, jealousy, etc. But there are also seeds of joy, peace, love, etc. We want to bring the nicest ones up to the “living room” so they can grow from there!

Idea #3: Don’t eat our projects.

This one sounds kind of funny, but essentially, we’re encouraged not to focus on our projects or tasks while we’re eating, walking, or doing other things. UNITASK–don’t multitask. I love that concept! Being able to do one thing at a time–mindfully–is such a relief.

That’s why having a STEP Command Central means so much to me. It enables me to put my projects and tasks into a trusted system so that my mind can rest. I still have to focus on being fully present, breathing, appreciating nature, and not thinking about my projects, but I am getting there!

Idea #4: Don’t connect true happiness with anything we can lose.

Often, when we have a lot of possessions, we live in fear that someone will come and take those things from us. It can bring a lot of peace if we don’t have anything to lose. And while some people choose to sell all their things so they literally don’t have anything someone could take, I believe each one of us can disconnect our “happiness” from the possessions we have–even things like our health. While I know my future holds some kinds of loss, I don’t need to let the fear of that loss or the pain I might feel impact my ability to be at peace.

Idea #5: Get off the spiral of escalating consumption.

We each get to decide what that means for us, but, in general, I want to live a simple life so I can have more time and energy to serve living beings.

Everything we buy–and every activity or responsibility we accept into our lives is going to require some energy moving forward. Sometimes it’s worth it, but I believe it’s important not to get stuck in the cycle of purchasing lots and lots of items with the hope that all that stuff will make us happy.

A couple reflection questions that have helped me are, “Do I crave being admired or envied?” Or, “Do I crave being available to serve living beings?”

Your questions and perspectives might be different, but these have given me a good way to check myself.

I hope that this episode was helpful for you, and if you have additional ideas or perspectives that have helped you to feel more calm, please share them in the comments!

Related Links!Past Podcast About Going from “Fear and Duty” to Love

Favorite Books on Amazon! (All book links are affiliate links.)

The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh

All it Takes is a Goal by Jon Acuff

15 Parts of the STEP Command Central – Questions/Informal Quiz

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All It Takes Is a Goal: The 3-Step Plan to Ditch Regret and Tap Into Your Massive Potential

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Do you have a pile of stuff you keep adding to–because you can’t get things handled right away? If you’re ready to change that, this episode is for you!

For an auto-generated transcript, the Apple Podcast app currently offers that feature from your phone, when you click on an episode.

I grew up with “Flat Surface Disease,” where every flat surface was completely covered, but now that I’ve learned a new way to handle the things that come into my life, there are no piles anywhere. It’s amazing, and I want you to experience that, too!

Here’s the 5-step process that typically happens when people use “piles” as the solution to the overwhelm:

(1) You have an item that requires action.

(2) You can’t do it right then because there are multiple facets–maybe you need to make a decision, maybe there are multiple tasks, maybe it’s not the right time, or maybe other people need to be involved.

(3) You put the item in “the pile” in hopes it will either go away or you will feel like doing it later.

(4) The pile grows and grows and becomes overwhelming.

(5) You either suffer the consequences of forgetting what you put in the pile or you end up digging through it frantically when you realize you need something by a certain deadline.

But what if we changed what happens between steps 2 and 3? What if items were seamlessly integrated into the STEP Command Central so they would come back to you at the appropriate time?

I’ll walk through three examples that will show you how this works. (You will want to build your own STEP Command Central, so links are below to help you learn more, but this is going to change your life!)

Example #1: Our son asked me to print a shipping label so he could return a hard drive. He emailed the label and brought the box to our house. Our printer was broken, but a new one was coming the next day.

I created a calendar reminder to print the label the day the new printer would be set up.
I put the “support materials” (the email and the box) where I keep those things. Cubbies are where I keep papers/booklets, but I keep emails in a folder and things like boxes/big physical items on a shelf in my closet.
Then once it was printed and we put it on the box, it was on our son’s “Errands List” (part of his Next Actions List) to drop it off.

Example #2: Eric and I needed to review some tax documents. We needed to log in and download the document and then sit down to review them.

We have a routine for a weekly meeting where we review our calendar and important decisions, so I added that to our weekly agenda. (If you don’t have a weekly meeting, you could add this to your “To Discuss List” on your Next Actions List.
I printed the document and added it to my finance folder in my support cubbies, where I keep support materials.
Then we could easily decide when we wanted to work on them and the documents would be ready to go!

Example #3: A friend offered me a free week’s trial of her yoga classes, and so I wanted to do the classes she sent to me and get back to her at the end of the week.

I scheduled a couple of yoga sessions onto my calendar that week.
I put the support items–the yoga mat, computer, monitor, and cord to connect them–in the spot where I do yoga so they would be ready.
I created a calendar reminder to get back with her at the end of the week.

Our brains simply need to know that they will see the item and do the associated task(s) at the right time. That’s what stops the piles!

I know that Flat Surface Disease is frustrating, but it can 100% go away. We’d love to help you build your system and stop the piles for good. Lots of free resources are here on the website, and there are some links below to get you started. So glad you are here with us!

If you have some additional words of encouragement or perspective to offer, please leave a comment!

Related Links!15 Parts of the STEP Command Central – Questions/Informal Quiz

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Sometimes the effort we put into something doesn’t equal the “success” we get out of it.

One of our STEPpers in our program, Steps to Everyday Productivity, shared that she was doing her best not to get down on herself, but, after spending nearly an hour trying to get things organized, she hadn’t made the progress she’d hoped. (We all know how that feels, right?)

But she acknowledged that she did set the time to work on it, she was still committed, and she knew that she would be able to make progress in the future. We loved her reminder that “the mind is the battlefield!”

Join me and Eric in this podcast, as we share what several fellow STEPpers said to encourage this member (and one another)!

For an auto-generated transcript, the Apple Podcast app currently offers that feature from your phone, when you click on an episode.

We hope you enjoy this episode, and if you have some additional words of encouragement or perspective to offer, please leave a comment!

Related Links!Clear the Space Live! (Sign up for this free one-hour class that will help you build a foundation for your Command Central!)

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I’ll give more context in a moment, but in case you’re thinking, “April, what are these three criteria?” I want to make sure I cover them right at the beginning.

In order to feel great about doing a project, these three things need to be true for me:

I am doing the project because I actually want to do it.
The Next Action is clearly identified.
I don’t have too much on my plate.

The whole reason I’m talking about this right now is because I have been reading Ali Abdaal’s book, Feel Good Productivity (great read, by the way!), and right at the beginning, he shares why our emotions matter when we’re trying to get things done. Here are a few takeaways from the first few pages of his book:

“When we’re feeling good, our minds open up, we take in more information, and we see more possibilities around us.” (p.7)
“When we experience positive emotions, we build up a reservoir of mental and emotional resources that can help us in the future–resources like resilience, creativity, problem-solving skills, social connections, and physical health.” (p.7)
“Positive emotions change the way our brains operate. Step one is feeling better. Step two is doing more of what matters to us.” (p.8)
“Feeling good boosts our energy…positive emotions are bound up with a set of four hormones–endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin–which are often labelled as the ‘feel-good hormones’. All of them allow us to accomplish more.” (p.9)
“Success doesn’t lead to feeling good. Feeling good leads to success.” (p.13)

And while the end goal is not “productivity,” because there is no increase in innate, personal value for whoever accomplishes the most tasks/makes the most money/becomes the most famous, I think we would all agree that life feels happier and more meaningful when we can actually do things that matter to us.

So today I want to dive a little deeper into three of my personal criteria that help me to feel great about my projects.

1: I am doing the project because I actually want to do it.This means that I’m not being a “people pleaser,” the project is in alignment with my values, the project is going to bring me closer to the goals I have set and the person I want to become, and I feel excited about the outcome.

This doesn’t mean that the project is necessarily “fun.” When we needed to refinish our entire main floor because of a water leak, that wasn’t enjoyable, but we wanted to do it. We wanted a leak-free kitchen floor, and we were excited to have our home repaired and back in order.

2: The Next Action is clearly identified.We talk about “Next Actions” all the time around here. It’s an amazing should-have-been-common-sense skill I learned back in 2007/2008 from David Allen, author of Getting Things Done®. Essentially, instead of thinking of a huge project all in one chunk, you think of the next step you could do in 10 minutes or less.

Until I have the Next Action truly identified (so I feel a lift when I think about it), I don’t feel GREAT about a project. In fact, when a nebulous project is floating around in my head–like, “I need to decorate some shelves for the background of our YouTube channel,” I absolutely tend to procrastinate. I’m not a decorator. That process feels stressful to me, and I will put it off forever until I get a simple Next Action figured out. In my case right now, I am going to spend 10 minutes looking online for shelf-decorating ideas, and then I’ll write a list of suggestions to share with our daughter, who is helping me organize and decorate that whole YouTube background.

3: I don’t have too much on my plate.This might sound obvious, but it doesn’t matter how much I want to do a project or how clearly my Next Action is identified. If I have too much on my plate, I will not feel great about that project.

The tricky part here is that sometimes “what we have on our plate” is so hidden from our conscious minds that it takes some sleuthing to actually figure it out. (I’ll link to a recent video I recorded about that in the related links below!)

Celebrations from STEPpers!!And now I want to walk you through a whole series of celebrations we’ve received from our “STEPpers” (members of our Steps to Everyday Productivity program). They are doing incredible work, and I hope you can feel the energy and excitement as you read their stories and see their results!

Related Links!Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Podcast (Ready to Declutter Your Emotions?)

Another CBT Podcast with Guests Mike Christensen and Natalie

The 15 Parts of the Command Central – Podcast (15 Questions to Ask So You Know if You Need One!)

YouTube video to help you figure out how much you actually have on your plate (and make your project list more manageable!)

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Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

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Obviously, no home is going to be entirely self-cleaning, but I do feel that I live in a home that is generally self-cleaning–which means it isn’t overwhelming to keep things tidy and organized and there are solid routines in place for me and my family members to keep things moving (without requiring willpower or a lot of mental bandwidth).

Here are the 7 things that have made a difference! (Full transcripts are available through Apple podcasts.)

1—Before we “clean the house,” we DECLUTTER the house.It reduces the time it takes to clean, it visually calms our minds, and it can feel clean—even if it isn’t perfect.

2—We need to see “decluttering and cleaning our home” as a big project.Many people just jump in and clean, but they’re also trying to do a thousand other things, so cleaning never gets “done,” and they feel frustrated. We recommend you create a Current Projects List with 1-8 projects a month, balanced with calendar items, next actions, and routines.

3—We most likely need to identify all the SUB-PROJECTS for decluttering, cleaning, and organizing our homes.Unless you have a tiny home that can be cleaned/organized in a small amount of time, it’s helpful to divide it up into spaces that can be done in 1-4 hours and then prioritize those. (See the video linked below demonstrating how to do this!).

4—Take one sub-project at a time and establish a step-by-step process for each.We like the 3-box method (podcast linked below!). You’ll put that sub-project on your Current Projects List, and then you can pick a spot and move clockwise through that room, using the 3-box method, until it’s complete!

5—Anticipate the things that are going to stop us.Interruptions, distractions, and sentimental items are the most common decluttering-show-stoppers. (More details are in the podcast, and support links are below!)

6—Be consistent.Recognizing that it took you years to build up the stuff, and it’s going to take some time to get out of it.

7—Maintain it with routines.A few routines that make a difference are “not buying a lot or bringing a lot into your space,” doing a monthly or quarterly sweep of the house, and resetting rooms daily.

I hope that these ideas are helpful for you! (And if you’re reading this, the full transcript can be found inside the Apple podcasts app.)

Here’s the testimonial I shared at the end of the podcast. I am so thrilled for Summer and so grateful she shared her story with us!

Related Links!Video explaining how to create and organize sub-projects for decluttering your home!

Podcast: 3-Box Method for Decluttering

Video About the Psychology of “Stuff”

Podcast: Sentimental Clutter Keeping You Stuck?

Video: Working in Microbursts

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A couple of weeks ago, we held a special event called “Clear the Space LIVE,” where hundreds of community members gathered together to create a foundation for their STEP Command Central. (The Command Central is our seamless system that helps you to manage all the “stuff” of life so you can get out of overwhelm forever…)

I thought it would be fun to do a quick review of what we covered–and then share some of the amazing testimonials from our participants. The party is just beginning around here, and we want you to feel the excitement, share it with friends, and help us get the world organized.

I’ll show you at the end how you can get a free video replay of the full event–plus a special download of curated links to help you build your whole Command Central.

For today’s podcast, I won’t go into all the details we covered in the class (like the 3-part framework for getting out of overwhelm, the 4 levels of stuff, or the grocery analogy–though those are all game-changing!), but I will share the 3 basic instructions for clearing a space.

Here’s the slide we used with all the instructions!

I’m only giving a high-level overview, but if you can picture it, you end up with a totally clear space and a small box of the most important things that need your attention. That’s essentially your “inbox.”

Then you have a larger box off to the side of items that do need your attention–but not now.

You may also have a bunch of things that will go back into that space–like sticky notes, pencils, chargers, decor, etc.

All the trash and recyclables are out.

All the extra stuff that doesn’t even belong in your office is out–to be put where it belongs or donated when you get the chance.

The feeling you get when your space is clear like this may be unsettling–especially when you consider the 2 boxes of things that need your attention.

However, that’s when the STEP Command Central comes in and shines. The reason we get overwhelmed in our offices is because everything in our piles means something to us. We can’t throw them away or burn them or simply move them somewhere else because then there’s no hope we’ll ever get to them.

But when we build the full system–and then we process all of our papers, projects, lists, tasks, messages, etc. INTO that system, our brains don’t have to keep a million plates spinning anymore. We can then work on a few things at a time, knowing everything else is safe and will come back to us at the appropriate time.

That is how we get out of overwhelm for good.

Here are several fun before and after photos and testimonials from fellow LearnDoBecomers who participated in the event:

Related Links!Get the free recording of our “Clear the Space” event! You’ll be able to experience the whole thing and get our list of links to resources that will help you build your STEP Command Central.

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Full transcriptions of all our podcast episodes are now available inside the Apple podcast app (and perhaps others, as well!). A basic outline and related links are below. So glad you are here!

I’ve been working from home and balancing personal/professional work for the past 20 years, and I’ve developed 5 habits that save me time and enable me to love my work. I hope these ideas are helpful for you!

And while I do all of this with my STEP Command Central, I won’t be going deep into the “how-tos” of the system today, but we have a link at the bottom where you can learn how to “Start STEPping for Free,” and I hope you’ll sign up!

Habit #1: I put boundaries around my work time, but I do so with flexibility.If some “work hours” aren’t set aside, they won’t just magically appear, but I think the best part of working from home is being able to have flexibility and decide what my best hours are. I like to be rested and make sure the family is settled, for example, before I jump into my work. Your specific situation may be different, and your work might be more face-to-face, but I personally have found that if I look at the whole week and shoot for a specific number of hours or a specific amount of work that needs to get done that week, it maximizes my creativity and lets me be present with my family.

Habit #2: I make my work as asynchronous as possible.Some work has to be done synchronously, but typically a LOT of things can be done whenever it makes the most sense. For example, with email, Slack, voice memos, personalized videos, polls on social media, videos, audios, Google forms, etc., we can often get the same or better results, without all the time pressure. As you think about your own work, I recommend asking, “How could I get the same or a better outcome [on this project/task/initiative] by working asynchronously?” For example, our team meets once a month on Zoom, but the rest of the month, we use Slack, email, etc. to communicate, and because everyone uses a STEP Command Central, we don’t need daily or weekly meetings to make sure everyone is doing what needs to get done. I also read a Harvard Business Review article that shared how asynchronous work is particularly helpful for women (and I would add that I think it’s helpful for anyone who is balancing family work or caregiving).

Habit #3: I create a short, specific list of outcomes for each week.I used to just “keep busy” and hope my business would profit. But sometimes the things I did to fill my time didn’t actually impact the bottom line. When you use a Command Central, you learn how to have a basic framework for each workday using the calendar and the Routines List, but typically, if we want to move any business or organization forward, we need to work on specific projects that will impact the organization financially.

Each week, as I look ahead and “create my week,” I look at my Current Projects List and identify 2-4 solid outcomes I need to finish by the end of the week that will positively impact LearnDoBecome, and then those get my best work hours.

Habit #4: I minimize distractions.Context-shifting is incredibly common when you’re working at home–and it’s also common to make ourselves ultra-available. I do my best not to shift context (jump from thing to thing to thing) when I’m sitting down to do my work. My phone goes on Sleep Mode, I close my email browser, I don’t open social media apps, I tell my family that I am working, and I refrain from doing things like checking the weather or bouncing around online. Not always easy, but this makes a huge difference.

Habit #5: I create a variety of spaces where I enjoy working.It’s easy to either get interrupted (if I’m always working in one space all the time) or to get bored of being in the same space. Now I create 5-10 “work spots” where I can sit. Sometimes it’s the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, my main work desk, a standing desk, a recliner, the front porch, a patch of sunny carpet, a local park, the library, or even a field in the mountains. It makes a huge difference to me (and helps me stay focused) because the variety in location satisfies that need for something “new,” and then I’m not as distractable.

We all know that the world is becoming more and more flexible with technology and global markets, and when you’re working in a busy family household, it can feel really tricky soometimes. But as we learn to maximize the beauty of working from home, we’ll see that we can use our skills, support our families, and enjoy the process!

If you have other habits that have worked well for you, please share them in the comments!

And if you’re ready to build your STEP Command Central, please check out the links below!

Related Links!Do you think your life would benefit from a STEP Command Central? Click here to start STEPping for free!

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Full transcriptions of all our podcast episodes are now available inside the Apple podcast app (and perhaps others, as well!). A basic outline and related links are below. So glad you are here!

I’m going to show you a 3-minute technique to fix the overwhelm, but first I need to lay a little groundwork.

That tension you might be feeling in your body, the worry in your mind, the frustration with “everything around you getting in your way,” etc. is often caused because we think we have more to do than the time, energy, or skill to do it.

Here at LearnDoBecome, I talk about the STEP Command Central all the time–it’s the system that holds all the goals, papers, tasks, messages, projects, files, and every detail of life so that our brains can focus on being present and creative.

Inside the Command Central, we share how our to-do lists can be divided into calendared events, next actions, routines, and current projects. And we have a lot of podcasts and videos that cover those in depth.

But today I want to focus on a mistake that we often make when it comes to creating our Current Projects List.

This is a list that holds 1-8 projects for the month, and it helps us to see what we have on our plate–in addition to calendared events, routines, and other one-off tasks.

Here’s an example of what mine looked like last month:

Now let’s hop into the 3-minute technique I want to show you…

It’s all about evaluating your Current Projects List and asking, “Is this actually what I’m working on right now?”

If your list is feeling great, and you’re moving forward without stress or pressure, you probably don’t need to do this.

But my personal problem during the first couple weeks of March was that I had those 5 projects written on my list, but I had a lot of tension in my body. There was this constant weight on my shoulders, and I couldn’t figure out why.

Then this thought came into my mind: “April, maybe you think that’s what you’re working on, but you’re secretly trying to do many other things at the same time. Your brain is overwhelmed.”

So I sat down with a notebook and wrote my current projects on the left (and realized I had added a sixth project by committing to finish reading a great book), and then I made a column on the right and titled it, “ACTUAL Projects I’m Doing.”

It turns out, there were 16 projects in the works, and I was subconsciously pretending 10 of them didn’t exist.

It took just 3 minutes to figure this out, and then I was able to make a new plan. This is what my updated, no-tension list looked like:

This took me from 6 projects to 8, but they were 8 real projects, with none hidden in the background.

Here’s what I did with all the extra stuff:

The books I’d committed to read became totally optional. I added them to my reading list, but didn’t put them in front of me with expectations to get through them all.
I delegated our Easter weekend plans to our children–sent a couple of texts and reduced the obligations I’d secretly given myself.
I put “Plan Spring Break” as a calendar reminder for the following week.
I decided to plan the STEP Revamp promotion after the program completion (so that was on a Next in Line list).
I added the YouTube course to my optional list of things to watch/listen to, but made a calendar reminder to follow up with it after Spring Break.
I also decided to work on new ads after Spring Break (moved that to my Next in Line Projects List).
I delegated the preparation for the newsletter sponsorship.

It was seriously amazing to feel the results. I also worked with my cognitive therapy coach to help me get to the bottom of why I feel I need to do so many things, and that was an eye-opening conversation for another podcast, but taking the time to adjust my expectations and simplify my Current Projects List had a physical “lightening” effect on my body.

If you’re feeling like I had been, perhaps this 3-minute exercise will be helpful for you, as well!

You’re doing great work, but you can’t do everything at the same time. Learning to adjust what’s going on in our minds will help!

Sending lots of love!

April

Please check out the links below–especially the one about our new events happening at the end of April.

xoxo

April

More Related Links!Learn about and register for our live events to help you get organized with a Command Central happening April 23rd and 25th!

Alia and Josh’s “Routines Made Easy” Program!

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Full transcriptions of all our podcast episodes are now available inside the Apple podcast app (and perhaps others, as well!). A basic outline and related links are below. So glad you are here!

Welcome to today’s episode, which I hope will transform the way you look at “cleaning the house” and give you a huge lift!

When I was growing up, I rarely cleaned. My parents were amazing, and I had a happy, loving, thriving childhood, but “cleaning” just wasn’t our thing. As I grew up, it became harder and harder to manage my life with all the piles and messes, so I studied, interviewed, practiced, and did everything I could to learn how to live in peace and order. Now I help others to do the same, and I am so glad you are here!

Today’s podcast is a little introduction to what we’re doing inside our ARISE membership this month. Our topic is “When the House Works,” and it is something so near and dear to my heart. I hope the following principles will help you today, and if you want to go deeper–with a live workshop, worksheet with reflection questions, and accountability, we’d love to see you inside ARISE!

First, a Few Principles About Housework, in GeneralAs we introduced this topic, we received a some feedback about the gender stereotypes around housework and the concern that some people (typically women) feel more societal/family pressure to do housework, even though everyone contributes to the work load. There’s obviously a lot of conversation we could have on this topic, but here are three principles I want to share as a foundation here.

There is value in life-sustaining work, and there is a psychological lift available to anyone who participates.
Our job is not to force others to see the value or feel that lift.
Our job IS to decide what amount of work and kind of work makes sense for our unique situation, to have respectful discussions with others in our household so we can cooperatively balance our responsibilities, and to take ownership for our own experience.

And, at the end of the day, whether you agree with my perspective or not, I hope that this podcast will give you the chance to think about your own housework and your own experiences–and perhaps make some shifts in a positive direction.

The 5 Ideas for Changing “Cleaning” from Drudgery to Magic(1) Select Your Standard

This is where we get to look at our current responsibilities, including the size of our home, the number of people for whom we have stewardship, the amount of work that needs to be done to feed, clothe, and nurture everyone in the household, our personal energy level, others who could share the work, and where we want to be on the “clean/messy” spectrum. (We like to say, “Clean enough to be healthy, messy enough to be happy.”) This is also where we can decide what we will leave undone, what work we will hire, and what we could do to alleviate any excess pressure (crucial conversations, downsizing, putting better systems in place, etc.)

This step often takes some serious effort, and often needs to be revisited, but it’s essential.

(2) Clear Clutter and Routinely Reset Rooms

The reason I love decluttering so much is because it makes the “cleaning” part of life SO much easier. Episode 137 of the podcast (linked at the bottom of this page) shares eight decluttering insights that rocked my world back in 2001. As soon as I learned how to reduce the number of my possessions, I’d say 80 percent of my angst around cleaning went away. We have lots of resources in our LearnDoBecome Directory that go deeper into decluttering, so please check that out if you want more! (And, of course, there are tons of decluttering resources online that are amazing…)

“Resetting the room” is just the basic process of making a room look nice each time you leave it. Making the bed in the morning, taking excess items with you when you move throughout the house, loading dishes right away, wiping counters, etc. Eric and I talk about this in a video about how we keep the house clean as a family. I’ll also link that below!

(3) Revisit Responsibilities and Replenish Relationships

No one likes to do housework when they’re feeling resentment, fatigue, or overwhelm, right? This idea about putting relationships at the center of housework is perhaps my favorite of the five. I took a class back in college called “Work and Relationships in the Home.” I had no idea how it would impact my life so deeply, but the main idea is that shared family work is central to the beauty and meaning we find in everyday life. When done mindfully, the mundane work that needs to be done inside a household can actually be the backdrop for building memories, having great conversations, sharing our values, and creating family ties that will truly last.

Sometimes this part looks like “chore charts” or critical discussions with family members about who is going to do what and how the whole household will work together to maintain an agreed-upon standard. Sometimes this part feels frustrating because people have different ideas or preferences, but it’s so important to set this foundation. Once those initial decisions are made, then this is where the beauty and fun comes in because the focus shifts from “clean up the mess” to “let’s enjoy our time together while also nurturing our home environment.”

(4) Tighten Up Your Tools

One of the reasons I didn’t like (or even know how to do) housework when I was growing up was because I didn’t have the tools. We had some towels, a couple cleaning supplies, and a vacuum that kind of worked, but that was about it. Finding the right tools for your home and family–including having duplicates so family members can clean together or so tools are more accessible–can make a huge difference. It might seem like a pain to have to think about these kinds of things, but having what you need on hand is a gamechanger.

(5) Mindfully Create Magic

I now consider “cleaning the house” to be as replenishing as “lunch out with friends.” And I know that probably sounds crazy, but here’s why. When I’m cleaning, I’m also doing one of two things. If I’m cleaning alongside a family member, I’m building a relationship. We’re having a conversation, we’re singing together, and we’re enjoying that feeling of friendship and family. And if I’m cleaning by myself, I’m either listening to a great audiobook, podcast, or music playlist–or I’m thinking about my life, breathing deeply, and having an internal conversation with God. As I move around the home, I’m considering each space–how it feels, if it’s set up optimally, if there’s anything I could do to make it feel more welcoming or peaceful. I’m thinking about how grateful I am for the privilege of having a home and a family, and I’m planning how I can use the gifts I have to support others. It becomes something like a meditation, where I’m resetting my heart and mind and removing anything stressful or overwhelming from my physical environment.

It was sweet because the other day, I was telling my college-aged daughter about this upcoming ARISE class while we were sitting on a picnic blanket in the backyard. We had about 20 of her college friends over for a barbecue, and everyone was playing games, eating, and having a good time. She said, “It’s nice because whenever I invite people over, I don’t have to worry that the house will be a mess.” She’d come over a couple hours early to prepare the food and work with me to get the chairs ready and everything, but the house was clean, and Eric had made the backyard lovely, so it was a place we could all just enjoy our time together.

The point of all of this isn’t to say that you have to like housework or that you have to have a clean house. What you do in your own space is totally up to you. However, there is a beautiful feeling of light, love, and connection that I believe each one of us can feel inside our living space, and while it does take some effort to create that, it’s absolutely possible.

Sending lots of love! And I invite your (respectful) comments! Let’s strengthen one another as we build our homes and families.

xoxo

April

Please check out the links below–especially the one about our new events happening at the end of April.

xoxo

April

More Related Links!Learn about and register for our live events to help you get organized with a Command Central happening April 23rd and 25th!

Podcast: Eight Decluttering Insights that Rocked My World in 2001

Video: How We Keep Our Home Clean (Almost) All the Time

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Quick note! Apple podcasts (and perhaps other apps, as well) now offer full transcriptions of all our podcast episodes inside their app. There’s a basic overview below, but if you want to read every word I speak (ha!), you can do so there.

Today we’re talking about an amazing, exciting, powerful phenomenon that happens literally every day here at LearnDoBecome. And it can happen for you too!

It’s the ability to have your mind totally at ease when you have a lot to do.

Most people don’t know it’s possible. For example, I have a friend who teaches that you just need to get used to being overwhelmed. And I often hear people say just to “rip up your list” or “don’t worry about the things you can’t do.” Or some people WANT to have their minds feel crazy because that is evidence that they are doing a good job and being responsible and worrying about a lot of things.

The problem with the philosophy of “you’re just going to be stressed, so rip up your list” is that you never learn what to do with all the things that are going to go undone. Either your list gets longer or you end up keeping more things in your head–but that causes stress, and so most people just live with stress.

And the problem with the philosophy of “I want or need to feel crazy inside my head so I know I’m productive and responsible” is that you don’t actually enjoy your life because you’re living with constant tension. Have you been there?

I’d like to read a beautiful message we received from Amanda, one of our STEPpers, and I want you to pay attention to how much she has on her plate, but compare that with how her mind feels.

I LOVED this for so many reasons. Hearing how she is finding balance, how she is caring for her family, how she is increasing in her leadership skills…. This is amazing!

You may wonder how this happens. Some people think we are here to teach you how to organize your house, but it’s actually about organizing our minds.

David Allen, author of Getting Things Done,® changed my world in 2008. He showed me how I could have a resting place for everything in my mind.

Prior to that, I had things sitting in piles everywhere. And it all had to be where I could see it. A pile for a book I wanted to write. A pile for the class I was teaching. A pile for every facet of my personal and professional work.

It’s just that I either had “active work” or things in my filing cabinet

He showed me how there were more categories than that, but not an infinite number. Just a handful that if I could memorize, and create as part of my system, would help me finally have a calm mind.

Here are a few tangible examples (detailed more in the audio–or you can search the website using the search tool at the top for these terms and get lots more support!):

Current Project Support Materials – These cubbies, file folders, stacking trays, etc. give you can a spot for all items related to your current projects (and current routines). No more piling things by your bedroom door!
Someday Folder – This took so much pressure off my brain and gave me a way to delay things, but not forget them.
Next Actions List – This stopped me from procrastinating and rewriting things–because I now knew exactly what the next step was, and I had a flexible way to work on all my tasks throughout the week!

And as I implemented these and adjusted some of them to meet my needs as a wife, mother, and business owner, I found that I started feeling so much more peaceful and joyful. Then I started teaching others, and that’s how I ended up here at LearnDoBecome doing what I’m doing!

When your brain doesn’t have to hold onto a bunch of details, it feels calm.

The trick is to create the optimal system that can hold whatever you need, and when that is built, it changes everything.

I hope you are working on your STEP Command Central!!

Please check out the links below–especially the one about our new events happening at the end of April.

xoxo

April

More Related Links!Learn about and register for our live events to help you get organized with a Command Central happening April 23rd and 25th!

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If you’ve been around LearnDoBecome for awhile, you know how much I love our STEP program—and how deeply I want to help create a Command Central on every desk.

But today I want you to hear a few stories from true STEP Heroes—three women who are implementing the principles of STEP in their lives in beautiful, powerful ways—even when life isn’t going smoothly.

When I listen to these kinds of experiences, I am truly at a loss for words. Mostly because I know that their stories aren’t because of me. Many have gone before me and shared principles that have blessed my life, God has given me the energy and bandwidth to share what I know, and each one of YOU are demonstrating an amazing amount of courage as you create order and peace in your individual homes, families, and organizations.

So I hope you will enjoy these beautiful stories! (If there’s any way you can listen, two of the featured STEPpers allowed us to record them personally telling their stories. It’s powerful to hear their voices!)

But either way, I know these stories will bring you hope!

Rebecca’s Experience:First of all, thank you so much! I first found out about you guys eight years ago after my first son was born. I joined the STEP program and it has been this backbone that I have come back to in different formats over the years.

I had a pretty intense initiation into motherhood where my first two kids had serious hospital stays and our third child–we actually lost him two years ago. He passed away and–oh, I’m gonna get emotional–I got so behind in life. Everything stacked up and it became so overwhelming to prioritize to figure out what to do day to day. Also in my grief, in tending to this community that tended to us, saying thank you–I just felt like there’s this mountain at my back forever and I came back after spending the last two years in deep grief.

This Four Weeks to Finished program was such a game changer because it really was able to map out that mountain of: “What is it gonna take to get current and what do I need to let go of?”

I think so much of it–weaving through the emotional parts with the tangible, practical parts has been really, really useful.

I’m so grateful that every time I kind of come back and work the system, I get a little bit further. Sometimes I start a new app or start a new digital situation and then I have another project to go clean up the last one. I think it’s a huge win that I landed on Evernote and Asana here in Four Weeks to Finished.

The other huge part comes from motherhood and if I was gonna talk to any moms coming into this, particularly with young children, if you’re the person that is the CEO type person of the house, you need a system. It’s just bananas with children and school age children. I am just finding that it’s so crazy to not actually treat it as if it’s a business in some ways with all of these things and to try and act like I can hold all the routines and all the tasks and all the things in my head. It’s too much and you actually need to treat it like this–beginning professional mothering with all of these details.

My (April’s) Response:

First of all, I just want to acknowledge you because you took time to grieve you, you know, recognizing that you can’t do everything all at once. And that makes sense because in any human situation, we aren’t here to just do a bunch of stuff, right?

There’s so much meaning and so much connection in wanting to to honor the relationships. I love that you did that, but I love that you said, “Okay, what can I do to make sense of this mountain?” There was a lot that I’m sure as you’re going through you thought, “Oh man, I wish I didn’t have to do this or I wish that this had taken care of itself.”

But you went and you faced it and you figured out the map and you did it! I think what one of the things that drives me the most is knowing that there are other individuals who are living with these circumstances every day for their whole life because they don’t know what else to do.

I think particularly as a mother, that’s when I first started doing this and started teaching, I used to just teach mothers how to do this because I felt like in business, there’s so many opportunities to learn things. They have whole teams in charge of organizing projects and then you’ve got a home and you’ve got all these people and everyone is tiny and busy.

Then they tell you, “Oh, don’t worry about your to do list! Just enjoy being a mom!” And you’re like, I would love to enjoy being a mom, but someone’s got to figure out all these things.

It really touches me to see you and what you’ve done and what you’re continuing to do. It’s a big deal and whether it’s raising children or running a company or helping with aging parents, there’s this beautiful purpose that we have in our lives. When you can have a system that’s going to help you, it makes a difference.

We adapt it to our families and our lives and our work needs. It’s amazing when you find that system that will help you progress toward the goals and dreams you have.

Suzanne’s Experience:(Suzanne was also in our Four Weeks to Finished program. We do a reunion call at the end of the program and invite people to share their stories–that’s how we get these beautiful audio interviews.)

I am so grateful for this! I’m trying to find the words and language for the transformation that’s happened in my life. It really is transforming the way I manage and process the details of my life in a brand-new way after 60 plus years.

I’m extraordinarily grateful especially in this maturing eldering process of realizing that I can’t multitask in the same way and I don’t want to. The bigger thing is that I want to be more present and more focused.

I recently spend a month prepping for a month-long trip. I really was able to set up a Command Central before we left on the first trip. While we were gone, I was able to keep up with emails and incoming messages, move them into the boxes they needed to be in, throw something in my calendar and put it in the Tickler File, etc. I definitely have catch up, but I’m not stressed by the catch up.

Prior to other trips, the night before was always very stressful–with very, very late nights. Why is it that we think that we need to get so many projects done before we go? It’s not really possible, but then we get stressed by that. I was also able to just say, “These projects don’t have to get done before I go. They will be here when I get back. I haven’t lost the details. I haven’t lost the prioritizing.”

And it let me just relax! I still had some late nights, but I literally could go to bed thinking, “It’s handled, it’s handled.”

My Response:

I think you hit the nail on the head because you wanted to get all the projects done because you were afraid the details would be lost. I think that’s something really common that all of us would feel like, “I have 885 details for each of seven projects in my mind. Once I go on vacation, there’s no way I’m going to remember everything for every project. I’m going to lose ground so it’s better for me to just get it all done and exhaust myself so that it’s not harder and I don’t have to dread it the whole time I’m on the trip.” Learning how to put the details somewhere where you wouldn’t miss them when you go back is key!

Suzanne:

And also the permission–this isn’t new but this is where we get it at deeper levels. The permission to not get it all done to, to be ok with only completing a couple of the 100 projects I’ve captured each month.

I think the biggest transformation for me is before I used to hold everything as urgent, important, and must get done. And now I’m able to let go of things that aren’t going to serve my life or my family’s life. And that’s successful!

And not only my stuff, but kind of having an eye and an ear out for other people’s stuff, like my spouse’s things. The things on my radar are good enough.

Thoughts from Eric:

I think what Suzanne touched on just now is universal to most of us. How many of you are getting ready to get on a plane or in a car to go on a trip and you feel this weird human urgency to jump in and do a bunch of projects you weren’t urgently trying to do before?

It is it the weirdest thing where you’re about to go do something fun, but you think, “Before I go, I must do these seven projects I haven’t been working on for six months.” It is such a funny human phenomenon.

I think this mind sweep helps us get all the details out and know that they’re captured, knowing the details are there and you can pick up when you get home. This is such a tranquil, peaceful, and comforting type of thing.

Suzanne:

If I may just add, the major project in my life is cleaning out my mom’s home and preparing it for sale. Because this is my commitment to Four Weeks to Finished, I was actually able to say comfortably, “I am not going to get anything done on that project this month nor during October and I will return to it in November.” When I give the permission to not do it, it allowed me to be lighter. If I got grumpy, the “grumpies” were shorter.

Most of my adult life is a belief in incrementality. Everything you do is incremental and we’re not perfect. We don’t have to be perfect. I love whoever makes their inboxes out of cereal boxes–I’m so inspired by those folks.

Every little piece of this moves us forward and as you have so well showed us, begins to rewire our brain to do things differently. That doesn’t happen overnight–especially when our brains are older. Just start and take the first step. Give yourself permission to not be perfect.

Laura’s Experience:Laura shared this beautiful experience and images with us, and when we asked permission to share them with our community, we received this message:

We are so inspired by this transformation that occurred in Laura’s life!

I am incredibly grateful for each one of you, and I hope that you will all “keep on STEPping!” (Links are below, if you’re wondering where to get started!)

xoxo

April

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Hello and welcome! Ready to get out of the overwhelm?

If you’re new to LearnDoBecome, we teach a very specific way to build a “Command Central” inside our Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) program that will hold all your tasks, papers, ideas, files, messages, goals, dreams, etc. so you don’t have to live in overwhelm.

But it’s not just a chalkboard, mail holder, and file box (though those can be part of one). Instead, it is a complete system that will serve you for the rest of your life. (See links at the bottom for more information!)

Today’s podcast is diving deeper into three characteristics of an optimal system, and we’re so glad you’re here!

I have a dream of “a STEP Command Central on every desk” because I know it will change the world, and I’m so glad you’re here!

The main reason I’m talking about this is because people often say, “If I had more willpower, grit (etc.), I would be organized.” But if your system requires willpower, you’re going to get tired, and the Command Central won’t be sustainable. Instead, let’s talk about how to create something that will require no willpower–but will last for your whole life!

Characteristic #1: An Optimal Command Central Has Automatic RoutinesRoutines are things that we do over and over again. They’re not “projects,” which are done once and then checked off for good. And the reason your STEP Command Central will last you for your whole life is because the automatic routines keep it going–effortlessly.

For example, the “Someday List” is a place we put things that we want to do, but we have decided not to do them right now. This can include books to read, movies to see, projects to work on, etc. But we’ll create a routine to check that Someday List so that things don’t go there to die. You may want to check it monthly, quarterly, or whenever you have bandwidth for something new, but the point is that a simple routine to review that list will give you the confidence to trust it.

Having a routine to create and act on a Next Actions List is also a game-changer. According to David Allen, author of the bestseller, Getting Things Done®, a Next Action is the next physical, visible activity that will lead a project toward completion. We organize those Next Actions on a weekly list that is divided into contexts–where we are when we’re getting those things done. (Phone, Errands, Home, Computer, and To Discuss.)

This is amazingly helpful when it comes to breaking down big projects. For example, right now I have a podcast I want to edit featuring testimonials from our STEP program, but it includes two audio recordings from our members who are sharing their stories. This felt a little overwhelming to me because I need to go find the audios and download them and add them into my audio editing software. But if I ask, “What is my Next Action?” I could just go into Dropbox, search for a couple of minutes in the folder where I believe they are stored and see if I can find them and download them easily. That’s doable!

Another routine is filing receipts. If you have a simple way to scan or store or record them, receipts will no longer be an issue for you.

If right now, I asked you to drive across town in your car, you probably wouldn’t say, “Oh, but that will take so much willpower!” You’d probably just get in the car and listen to music and relax. Driving is just a routine. That’s how I want you to feel about your Command Central.

Characteristic #2: There’s a Logical Processing System for Some of Those Bigger ItemsFor example, if you have a really big project that requires some solid decision-making power and multiple dynamics, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But if you have a logical process that takes thousands of details and puts them into a solid, predictable framework, you’re going to feel calm, peaceful, and confident.

David Allen explains his Natural Planning Model (which I love!) that makes it incredibly simple to focus on and complete big projects because you’re focusing on the Purpose and Principles, Outcome Vision, Brainstorm, Organization, and Next Actions. (No more hacking at branches!)

LearnDoBecome would not be here if I hadn’t learned this logical way to process all the tasks, routines, and subprojects that were involved! And recently, we just revamped our entire STEP program, and all of those details were managed with our Command Centrals. All the new videos, audios, images, PDFs, short codes, random ideas, etc. were simply organized, and while it still took time and effort, it was step by step! Here’s a sneak peek at the new modules and the program homepage:

Characteristic #3: It Enables You to Move at a Pace that Makes Sense for Long-Term SuccessSo many things today are about quick results–perhaps making long checklists that are hurriedly checked off while you run ragged, giving you the illusion of productivity. Sometimes, however, checking off the list is totally abandoned, and we’re told to just tear up the to-do list and have a bonfire in the driveway.

But when we can move at a pace that makes sense, we’ll be able to do what’s necessary, delegate when we need help, follow up appropriately, or deliberately delay things–without it becoming “out of sight, out of mind.” We would utilize the Next-in-Line Projects List, the Someday List, the Incubation List, or calendar reminders, for example, to hold ideas that are wonderful…just not practical right now.

We all know how it feels to work as hard as we can each day–but then see that our list only became longer. That’s pretty demoralizing, right? But when we can put things onto the appropriate list and trust that it will come back to us at the appropriate time, our minds can rest because those ideas, projects, tasks, goals, etc. are safe.

It’s also amazing to be able to look at our Routines List and see exactly what’s on our plate. Do we get a “lift” when we see what we expect ourselves to do each day, week, month, etc.? Or do we feel sick to our stomachs and totally overwhelmed? Creating expectations for ourselves that also provide plenty of buffer is a game changer.

Having this predictable, sustainable, beautiful system puts us in the driver’s seat of our lives.

Closing ThoughtsI’ve noticed some commonalities among the people who gather here with us, and this is what I would guess about you:

You want to feel personally replenished, rather than flustered and sick. You want strong relationships, and you want energy to do good things. You don’t just want to check off a bunch of tasks so you can be super-important somewhere. You want to do great work so you have the bandwidth to build relationships, volunteer, host those who drop by, have time to learn and read, and become more capable each day. You also know that you have a unique purpose. The experiences from your past have created the person you are today, and there are others who need your wisdom, support, and energy. You want to give that to them.

That’s why I’m so passionate about what we do here. I know it sounds like I’m talking about “lists” and “filing,” but it’s so much more than that. It’s what unlocks your ability to take care of yourself, replenish, strengthen your family, and fulfill your unique purpose.

I hope that as we’ve talked about these three characteristics of an optimal Command Central, you’ve had the chance to gauge how things are going for you with your current system. If it’s all moving along smoothly, that’s awesome! But if you’re feeling frustrated, not sleeping well, your mind is spinning, your desk and kitchen counter are covered with stuff, and you’re going to bed at night feeling like you’re failing, I just want you to know there’s another option for you. We are so, so glad you’re here! (Links are below to support you as you build your Command Central!)

More Related Links!Command Central Quiz! (Learn about the 15 parts of a STEP Command Central.)

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Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) Program

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Do you struggle to “get organized,” and you’d like some encouragement from some members of our community? We have a treat for you today!

Our team member, Candice, recently posted “What would you say to a struggling STEPper?” Inside our Steps to Everyday Productivity community group. STEP is our signature program here at LearnDoBecome (more details linked at the bottom!), where we help you stop drowning in piles and build a seamless Command Central that holds all your projects, routines, tasks, goals, papers, messages, files, and more!

But sometimes it feels complicated. And sometimes our members get stuck. Whether you’re in our STEP program or participating in a variety of free resources here at LearnDoBecome, or simply using your own methods to get your life in order, here’s some awesome advice from five of our STEPpers who responded to Candice’s question with love, grace, and wisdom!

These suggestions are specific to the STEP program, but the principles can apply to other sources of instruction, as well!

From Carmen:Progress, not perfection. Habit stacking. Watch the videos just to watch, not to act or do. This helped motivate me and helped me understand how everything ideally works. I then decided that “Emails to Zero” wasn’t a priority for me, so I skipped that step until much later. I took it slow, adopted a couple steps at a time. Worked on those and made them work for me. When life got in the way and I paused, when I was ready to get back to STEP, I never thought of it as starting over or failing. I was just picking up where I left off. Each time I “pick up where I left off,” I realize how far I have come and the habits that I have learned and have become automatic.

From Lindsey:There will be periods where you will feel overwhelmed and can only get 1-2 things done. There are other periods where you feel totally dialed in. Then there are times where life takes over and you feel like you fall off the wagon. Take a breath, give yourself grace, and remember that the WHOLE process, including the feelings of overwhelm and failure, are all part of it, and the entire community goes through it. Try to work on just one element at a time. For me, when I feel like I’ve fallen back, I do a mind sweep, throw all my thoughts on Asana [my project management tool], move them to the Context-Based Next Actions List or projects (sometime in the future) and move on. I haven’t done a full Weekly Review in months because I feel so overwhelmed, but I try to do one more little thing at a time. I made a plan next weekend (after we return from vacation) to sit down with my husband and try to get back to zero emails (as an example). It’s all a process and the buggiest aha moment for me is to realize I don’t have to be completely through the program and firing on all cylinders in order to feel successful in STEP. Hang in there. We are all here as a family to help and lift each other up!

From Gwen:It’s okay to take a day off and rest! It’s okay to be sad. A lot of us use staying busy, shopping, and collecting as a way of avoiding grief or difficult emotions. Going back through and cleaning out will likely be a journey through grief that has not been processed. Let yourself feel it. Let yourself cry. You are strong enough. Don’t be mean to yourself. Don’t let anyone else be mean to you either…even the voice in your head. [Referring to the STEP Mastery Facebook Group] Search the group for “STEP win” and take a moment to celebrate with others. We will be celebrating with you, too! Envision your success as a series of smaller wins, and celebrate them! Share what you’re struggling with in the group. Even the act of typing it out can be a help. But you’re sure to get a bunch of encouragement here.

From Christyle:I know the feeling. I decided to start back over and do baby steps. [After an initial video she watched] I had more questions than answers so I just told myself tomorrow is another day. I will keep going and ask the community. Yes, I took some deep breaths and I can see my piles of paper slowing disappearing. I can tell you that I have a new perspective on projects. Its not the big scary projects that trip me up, it’s the little ones that I didn’t allocate time for and never saw them as projects. And they needed to get done!!! You will get there. Go for a walk or just breathe and come back to it.

From Ellen:Deep Breaths! Look back at how far you’ve come (or if you’re just starting, what excited you and gave you hope in the original video promo?) and celebrate those successes! Stop and choose ONE LITTLE THING—focus on it. Take life and STEP one small thing at a time, then move on to the next. So much great advice in these comments. Don’t worry that what you’re choosing to do today isn’t the best decision or the first choice. Do what you can and accomplish just one thing–then celebrate your success. Then choose another small thing and repeat. I’d add: repeat aloud frequently “YOU can do it”—this focuses your brain on positives and helps you get into action.

Closing Thoughts:I appreciate each of these STEPpers for being willing to share their support and guidance! I hope that as you come either into our free community or into our official programs, you’ll be able to feel the encouragement, hope, and energy that is available to you.

Getting organized is worth the effort. Building a Command Central and having a place to put everything that’s currently swirling around in your brain is going to be such a gift–to your present and future self…and all those you love.

It’s easy to “give up” and think that getting organized is possible for everyone else, but not for us. However, learning a predictable system that will help you to prioritize and assess what most deserves your attention at any given moment is going to bring so much relief!

Thrilled that you’re here–and so grateful for you!

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Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) Program

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In last week’s podcast episode, I shared how my personal motivation is making a shift from fear and duty to love–and how that has made a really positive impact on my life. There were lots of beautiful comments submitted–where you shared your own experiences and identified ways you are making that shift, as well! Thank you so much for participating in the conversation!

A question soon popped up in our STEP Mastery Facebook group that essentially said, “I’ve listened to the podcast episode, and I want to make a shift from mostly duty to love, but how do I do that?” She then went on to explain that she has a lot of “duties” on her plate, and she wants to feel more peace and love, but it’s not always easy.

I absolutely agree–and while I don’t have all the answers, I thought I would share some questions that I’ve started using as a pivot point whenever I find myself slipping back into the fear/duty mentality. This is important for all of us because what we often think is an issue with time management or organization often has much deeper roots. It comes back to why we are doing what we’re doing–and how much we keep heaping onto our plate of responsibilities…even when it’s already full.

You might want to create a totally different set of questions that are tailored to your needs, but I think it’s important that we each have some way to assess what’s going on and remind ourselves where we want to go.

My Personal Questions: Is there somewhere in my life that I’m burning out–but I feel I can’t stop, so I’m just “taking one for the team”? * Do I expect more of myself than I would reasonably expect of any other person? (I’ve learned that is a form of “superiority.” If I think I should be able to do more than others, it’s subconsciously because I think I have some superior capabilities or responsibilities….) * Is there a path I’m taking that is too demanding? * Am I giving myself “requirements” that aren’t even real–or obeying “rules” that don’t actually matter in the end? * Do I feel fearful because I think only one outcome is acceptable? (Dr. Ellen Langer’s book, The Mindful Body, is incredibly helpful here. She explains that we can’t predict whether one outcome will be “good” or “bad.” So it’s better to take all outcomes and make them “good.”) * Am I blaming myself for a lack of results in a specific area? * Am I blaming others? * Am I worried about what people will think of me–so I make decisions that will please them*? * Am I making certain choices because I think I have no options? * Am I saying yes to things I really don’t want to do–and that I do not have a God-given stewardship to do? * Am I complicating things in an effort to achieve more or feel more important? * Am I letting peers or other people “make my decisions”? Am I just going along because it’s easier than standing up for myself?

(These next questions are focused on finding solutions…)

What would need to happen so that I don’t burn out? (Because, really, if I destroy my health and well-being, I’ll simply have to stop all these extra activities.)
Do I allow adequate rest for my mind and body?
How could I adjust the expectations or requirements I set for myself–in a way that honors the work I’m doing, but provides bandwidth for me to maintain my physical and mental health?
How can I look at what scares me in a different way? How could something really good come out of the worst-case scenario I envision?
How could I give myself and others more grace?
How can I more clearly see my value as something independent of my achievements?
What can I do to actually find out God’s perspective on this? (Please insert your Higher Power, if you see this a different way.)
How can I open my mind to see more options–ones that don’t require me living with fear or resentment?
What are some ways I can respectfully say no to things that need to be removed from my life?
How could I make my life more simple?
How can I become more of the “actor” in my life–rather than one who is being acted upon?
What changes can I make today so that tomorrow I will “wake up excited and go to bed content”?

And Just a Heads Up…This process hasn’t been pretty for me. And it might not be pretty for you.

I have been thinking hard about these questions and scenarios lately–and wondering the best way to share the changes I’ve been going through over the past couple of years. And the reason I am sharing all of this is because I wish someone had shared these with me.

What we mostly get from books and videos and podcasts are expert solutions–from people who seem very polished and put together. And, of course, you want to show up as a “professional” when you’re standing in front of people and putting yourself out there.

But there’s a whole world of hurt, pain, anger, frustration, and struggle going on behind the scenes that we rarely talk about in a productive way. And so, while I’m teaching “organization” and helping people manage their projects, tasks, and emails, I think we also need to be discussing what’s really going on behind the scenes. That’s what our ARISE membership is all about, and that’s the kind of sharing I feel specifically called to do at this point.

I won’t go into every aspect of my life, but here’s one story I’m feeling brave enough to share–just so you know that you’re not alone if this shift from fear/duty to love feels really hard.

There was one night when I finally let Eric know how frustrated I was feeling about some of the processes, travel requirements, and coaching decisions for our business. Prior to that conversation, I’d mostly kept those frustrations to myself because I felt I didn’t have any other options and had to just endure the hard stuff in order to have the privilege to live my purpose. But because I knew I needed to change some of my decisions for the sake of my health, I decided to speak up.

But along with the “speaking up” came a lot of tears and really uncomfortable feelings as I addressed these topics–and at one point, as we were sitting in the car in our driveway, I couldn’t breathe through the tears very well, and Eric started getting worried. He calmly said, “April, I’m listening to you. And we can figure all of this out, but I need you to breathe. I’m worried about you. I’m going to drive to the hospital right now unless I can see you breathing.”

So I tried to take some deep breaths, and then I said, “I’m afraid to calm down because I don’t want to push all of this back inside me. I’m afraid if I don’t say it right now and let you know how much I am hurting, I will just keep doing things the way I’ve been doing them and nothing will change.”

We didn’t have to go to the hospital that night, and, gratefully, we were able to talk through the situation and make the necessary changes, but it was one of the hardest conversations I’ve had. Not pretty. And in hindsight, I could have gotten the same results without all the crying, but it was a learning process for me.

And sometimes when I share my weaknesses, I get some unkind comments, but I’ve decided that LearnDoBecome starts with “learning” for a reason. We all have areas where we’re strong and areas where we can use a lot of help, and I would rather let you know that I struggle than pretend that I have no problems.

So if you’re currently in a spot where fear and duty are driving your life–and you’d like to feel more of that love, peace, and joy, I encourage you to reflect on some of the questions above, and perhaps come up with some new ones that will specifically help you. Maybe you’ll need to have some hard conversations. Maybe you’ll need to make changes that feel humiliating or traumatic to you right now. Maybe you’ll have to face some mistakes you’ve made in the past or admit you didn’t have a perfect knowledge from the beginning, but it’s okay. Healthy, productive movement in the direction of your most cherished goals is worth the effort.

I believe a beautiful life is available for each one of us–and if life doesn’t feel beautiful right now, I believe we can make some internal changes that will then impact some major external changes.

Sending love! (And a huge hug!)

xoxo

April

P.S. I got the sweetest email the other day from a community member who recommended this awesome book called “The Mindful Body” by Dr. Ellen Langer. She sent along the link to a video interview about the book–which was SO GOOD. And then I started the audiobook and also bought the hardback copy. So many ideas from this book have been helping me, and I think you’ll love it, as well!

Here’s the link to the video interview.

And here’s the link to her book (Amazon Affiliate Link), The Mindful Body.

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Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) Program

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Before I get started today, I want to highlight a couple of LearnDoBecome community members who are doing such an amazing job! We call these “STEP Wins” because they’re members of our Steps to Everyday Productivity program.

This first one is from Judy:

”I’ve been doing STEP for about a week now…. I had really hit bottom when it came to being disorganized and dissatisfied with how my life was unfolding. I have so much to be grateful for but the PAPERS and PILES were just eating at me all the time. I wanted to share that even though I’ve only just begun, the clarity of mind and the ability to actually accomplish so many things this week is blowing me away. So far the most valuable parts are the CBNAL (Context-Based Next Actions List) and the concept of 10-minute microbursts. Instead of looking at my clock and saying, “I only have 10 minutes before I have to leave, so I might as well just scroll through my phone…” I ask myself, “What can I accomplish In 10 minutes?” and then I go do it. I’m knocking off tasks left and right and my brain feels so much clearer. I’ve also done a brain dump of all the projects I had spinning around in my mind, and those are on a white board now, unsorted but categorized as to which of us is responsible for it. If this is all I get from this program (and it definitely won’t be) it’s already been worth it.”

And this one is from Kathleen:

Aren’t those inspiring? I just love hearing the positivity, excitement, and encouragement that comes from our members–and whether you are in our programs or currently checking out the free resources on the site, you can do this, too!

As a little side note, I’m glad to be back with you on the podcast! My broken shoulder has been healing for several weeks, and I just started physical therapy, so things are looking up!

All right, let’s dive into today’s discussion about motivation.

Do you ever experience a constant, perhaps low-grade stress behind the scenes as you’re working to transform your life? But would you prefer to feel light and happy while you’re moving forward on the things that matter most?

Today I’m sharing a little of what’s been going on behind the scenes over the past few years, and I hope that the lessons I’ve learned along the way will be valuable to you.

Whether we’re focused mostly on “getting organized,” or we’re feeling stress around something like parenting, health issues, finances, or relationships, it’s normal not to have everything figured out at the beginning. However, even a slight shift in what motivates us can make a big difference.

In one sentence, here’s what’s changed for me: I used to be motivated mostly by fear–then I became motivated mostly by duty–and now, after several years of reaping the consequences of living like that–and finally doing the personal work to change things, I truly feel motivated by love.

This might sound strange to you, and it’s a little uncomfortable for me to share my weaknesses so publicly. But I’ve been around long enough that I know I’m not alone when I struggle, so today’s podcast is for those of you who might struggle like me.

And while I’m still trying to lock in the “motivated by love” feeling in every area of my life, today I’m focusing on my professional work–specifically building the STEP program here at LearnDoBecome.

Motivated by FearBack in 2015, when Eric and I started LearnDoBecome, we were in a bit of a tricky spot. The 2008 recession had hit us hard, and we were still figuring out how to balance a variety of work-from home jobs, four active children, and some time-intensive responsibilities in our church and community. The city we lived in was at least an hour away from the larger hubs for employment, and I worried that if LearnDoBecome wasn’t a success, Eric would need to commute hours a day to a job he didn’t like–and then our family life would become increasingly difficult.

As I recently spoke with Eric about all the worries I had back then, he was surprised. He was working right alongside me–putting in even more hours on the business than I was–and he understood that we had some decisions to make and some work to do, but he didn’t have the same stress that I had bottled up inside me. In hindsight, I would have told him how stressed I was feeling, but instead, I just worked a lot…out of fear…trying to build the STEP program and take care of our LearnDoBecome community as well as I could.

It’s actually hard for me to say this because I don’t want to imply that I didn’t care about those who joined us during the early years or that I wasn’t passionate about my work. I LOVE what we have created here. It’s just that there were a lot of other factors going on behind the scenes, and I was so, so scared I was going to fail.

Motivated by DutyThe happy news is that, with all that work and effort, LearnDoBecome did turn into our full-time employment. We’ve had nine beautiful years so far, and in my daily prayers, I continually thank the Lord for our wonderful team and community–and for the work we get to do.

But some of the middle years were a little rough.

As our community grew, things became more complex. Our team has had to work with things like email deliverability issues, tech platforms occasionally going down, and often-big decisions that need to be made in this constantly-shifting online landscape.

In fact, the last time we updated our STEP program, it was because the business that created the platform we had used to initially build it went out of business, so they weren’t going to do any further updates–like making it mobile-friendly or giving people the chance to check off lessons and mark their progress. It was a little clunky and difficult to use.

Because I was motivated by duty–and the desire to keep things running smoothly–I spent months recording new videos, figuring out a better platform (that we still use and love today), and working with our team to create a brand new version of STEP. It turned out well and was definitely a worthwhile project, but it was a project we did because we had to do it–not necessarily because we wanted to do it. Have you been there?

Motivated by LoveOver the past few years, the fear and sense of duty inspired me to do a lot of work. I’m guessing you can relate! In fact, right now, there may be several things that you’re doing out of fear or duty…probably very well. And maybe you’re handling it just fine and thinking, “April, why are you such a delicate flower?” But there came a point for me (that I’ve spoken about on previous podcasts), that my body finally “said no.”

I feel like I need several episodes to dive deep into what was happening and how I solved it, but as a quick summary, I got so stressed that I was regularly covered in rashes and could no longer digest my food properly. This led to months in bed each year with one illness or another. I kept working from my bed–because I didn’t know the stress was the problem, but when I finally started figuring it out, I made some big changes–slowing my work hours significantly, carefully focusing my energy, and deciding that I was not going to make decisions based simply on my deep desire to please others.

As I have mostly healed from my “achievement addiction,” physical burnout, and people pleasing, my rashes have gone away, I am enjoying my relationships and my work more than ever, and I feel like my creativity and spark have come back. Sometimes you don’t even know it’s gone until you get that wake-up call.

And the reason this all matters to you is because one of the main projects I am currently working on is our third official version of STEP.

I’m not doing it because of fear or duty–but because I genuinely want to create a streamlined, simplified version of the program–one that is built with the love I truly feel for our community.

Because we’ve had so many tens of thousands of people join us in STEP, we know where the issues are. Yes, we get testimonials every day sharing awesome successes, and the current program works–but we also know its weak points.

For example, we know people will get stuck at the beginning because they struggle to get their emails to zero–and even though the program specifically tells them to skip that part if it requires more time, too many people just stop because they want to do the program “perfectly.” In fact, pretty much every time we’re contacted with an issue about the program, our team says to each other, “The Revamp will solve this!”

So, as a little side note, for those of you already inside STEP, the revamp is coming–and all the changes will be given to you inside your members’ area! (We won’t delete the current version, in case you’re still working through it, though!)

And for those of you who have been thinking about joining STEP, I hope you will finally take the leap! The program revamp is almost finished, as I’m recording this podcast, and I am so excited for you to experience it!

A Few Closing ThoughtsAlthough each of us has a unique life experience, this fear-duty-love trio of motivators actually seems pretty common. I just wanted to share my story in case you wanted to look at your current motivations and make a shift, if one is needed.

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes for all of us–and I want to make sure you know you’re not alone. We’re all Becomers here, and I love that we can be a strength for one another.

Sending a huge hug! And watch out for more announcements about the newest version of STEP!

xoxo

April

And before I close, I want to highlight two more STEPpers:

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Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) Program

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What do you do when you have a lot on your plate, but then there is some kind of hiccup?

Some common solutions include the following:

I push myself harder and get stressed out.
I give up and just check out until things calm down

But what if there were a way to move forward without stressing out OR giving up?

We’re diving into that topic today, and I strongly believe this podcast will change your life for the better.

And at the end, I’ll share some totally free ways you can get started creating a system that will take you out of the overwhelm for good!

I’ll start with a brief personal story:

My husband and I recently took our daughter skiing, and it was a gorgeous day we had been anticipating for weeks.

But at one point, I started skiing too fast (I wanted to see this cute porcupine that was crossing the run), and I ended up breaking my shoulder.

It’s not that big of a deal, I don’t need surgery, and I will likely be healed in a few weeks, but it definitely threw a kink into our plans. Eric, our children, and our neighbors and friends, are now helping me with everything from opening jars to putting my hair up in a ponytail, and I’ve had to slow down a lot.

You might not have a broken shoulder, but you know what it’s like when something unexpected happens and you have to slow down.

Because I had been feeling so healthy prior to this accident, I had put a lot of responsibilities on my plate—particularly in our business—and when I thought about trying to do all those things—in addition to managing the pain and the doctor appointments and the new routines around the house for our family, I started feeling pretty stressed.

Fortunately, I have handled things like this badly enough times in the past that I have learned from my mistakes. So today I want to walk through a few things that I’m doing now—and that you can do, as well—to make any hiccup, accident, or frustration feel a whole lot better.

1–There is a big difference between doing the most important things and doing EVERYTHING.Common logic out there is that if we are REALLY committed or REALLY talented, we will push through and show everyone how strong we are. How many motivational speakers have you heard say things like this? “Keep going. Work through the pain. Don’t rest. Don’t get soft. The goal is worth your blood, sweat, and tears.”

And I think there is a lot of value in persevering when life gets hard, but I feel much better when I move at a sustainable pace and trust that God will help me know what is most essential.

April from the past would have said, No! I must do it all. I must maintain my schedule and never let anyone down and prove how committed and valuable I am.

April right now says, “Some things are most important and some things are less important. I’m going to focus on what—and more importantly, who–needs my love and energy.”

2–Learning the art of renegotiating with ourselves (and others) will change the game.David Allen, author of Getting Things Done® taught me the concept of renegotiating. This basically means that we can reduce our mental or physical load so we don’t become overwhelmed.

Sometimes that means we reschedule appointments. Sometimes we say no to an activity or a project that we no longer have the bandwidth to do. Sometimes we simplify expectations. I’ll give more examples in a moment, but here’s an analogy that has been helpful to me and many others in my community.

Instead of thinking about our task list like a conveyor belt at the grocery store–or the one in the famous “I Love Lucy” episode, where the chocolates kept coming faster and faster, let’s think of it like the baggage claim at the airport. If we miss our bag, it will come around again! And we get to decide how much baggage we’ll accept.

Renegotiating isn’t “failing” or “procrastinating.” It’s a very real, valid method to help our minds feel calm.

3–There are some simple, specific things we can do with our lists that will bring quick relief and set us up for long-term success.Simplify our Current Projects

The biggest project I am working on at LearnDoBecome right now is a revamp of our STEP program. We filmed brand new videos, and I’m making each page visually and logically simpler. I’m super excited about it. But because I need more rest right now, I can make the outcome for this month a little smaller. Instead of “Finish STEP Revamp,” I can say, “Complete the written parts for each page of the program.” And if that doesn’t get done, it’s okay, I’ll just need to evaluate my month, see if I can handle the project in a different way, and set more realistic goals moving forward.

Delaying “extra” projects until next month is also totally fine. If a project is a matter of life or death, then yes–I will figure out a way to delegate or get extra help. But most projects are not a matter of life or death, and when we take the pressure off ourselves, it makes us actually enjoy our lives!

Streamline our Routines

I have a lot of regular routines for my personal, family, and business life, and I try to be as consistent as possible, but most routines can also be renegotiated.

For example…

I love recording YouTube videos for our channel, but I may need to put these on hold for awhile while I recover.
I also love our podcast, but that can go on hold as well.
Eric and I typically exercise together–in our basement or at the local rec center, but for now, we’re just going on a few daily walks.
I’m also usually very engaged with our church community, but some of those in-person visits can temporarily become texts or calls.
Our home can be a little messier, as well. It’s okay if there’s a little more dust or if the floors aren’t mopped as often or if the fridge is cleaned less often. I can coordinate more help from my family or hire help, if desired, but it’s not failing if things aren’t as clean as I’d like them.
Meals can also be simpler. I’ve been batch-preparing super simple healthy meals, and even though they’re a little boring, that’s fine for now. Fancier cooking can wait.

Edit the Calendar

One of the things we teach in our STEP program (Steps to Everyday Productivity) is to keep our calendars simple–like an open canvas. This doesn’t mean we don’t do anything–it just means that we don’t over-extend ourselves. We work from flexible lists like our Next Actions List or our Routines List instead of calendaring everything. This has actually been a huge blessing for me. After I broke my shoulder, I was able to quickly review my calendar, cancel a few appointments, and then give my body a chance to rest.

Before I close, here are two common questions you may be asking right now:1–But what if my life won’t let me slow down?

Most people who come to LearnDoBecome are in a variety of supportive roles. You may have children or aging parents or work that impacts a lot of other people. It may feel like slowing down or “renegotiating” isn’t possible.

I don’t pretend to understand your situation, but I will share some big mistakes that I made MANY times in the past:

I didn’t ask for help.
I let strong personalities control me.
I worked myself sick in an effort to please.

Do with that what you will, but if I could go back and talk with my younger self, I would tell her that running faster and faster isn’t the answer.

2–But what if renegotiating or slowing down means I don’t reach all my goals? What if I become insignificant?

It took a lot of years for me to even notice that this question was subconsciously in the back of my mind, so I want to share what I’ve learned:

If your goals are centered around sustaining life (paying basic bills, feeding and clothing your family, etc.), then those fall into the category of what is most important. No one is suggesting you stop doing those things.

Too often, however, we push ourselves out of fear that is entirely self-created. Our identity becomes wrapped up in how successful we look from the outside and how we compare with our peers. That kind of work has never satisfied me and only led to more regret.

For those here who believe in a Higher Power, I will share the key question that has calmed my mind. Whenever I wake up nervous in the middle of the night or start feeling afraid that I’m not doing enough, I simply ask God, “What do YOU want me to know right now?” And the answer I receive is always full of love and hope. There’s no panic or rushing required when I’m following my God.

I sat down today to record this as a way of “renegotiating” with myself. I don’t like to drop things, and I want others to understand why I sometimes need to take a break (not that I have to have a “good reason”).

But I send you my love, and I’ll be back as soon as I can, but I am going to go heal and spend time with my people, and I will be back when it makes sense!

Sustainable, joyful, meaningful work is a beautiful thing. And living a life where we prioritize our Higher Power, our health, and our loved ones makes that life even more beautiful!

It is my hope and prayer that our culture, as a whole, can move in this direction.

Thanks for being here with us at LearnDoBecome!

Now, we have a special gift for you! If you’d like to learn more about our STEP program–so you can simplify your calendar, projects, and routines (and everything on your plate), click the link ibelow, and we’ll get you started! So happy you are with us!

Click here to start STEPping for free!

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Want to learn about our STEP program and build your Command Central? Click here for our information page!

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In today’s guest podcast, my husband and I share how we’re approaching some huge life changes and trusting our STEP systems to help us make everything happen.

My husband, Josh, will be graduating from college in April (yay!) and will be starting medical school this fall. We are preparing to declutter our whole apartment, establish better family routines with our baby, move several states away, create family memories with some upcoming travel, and accomplish some work/personal goals. It’s starting to feel like a lot! Can you relate?

Instead of feeling bogged down by the details, we did a mind sweep and got everything out of our heads. Here’s a snippet of what was on that huge mind sweep:

Talk to the landlord about moving out a month early
Get quotes on moving pods and learn how we can store our things for two months
Create a budget for our upcoming moving/travel/family expenses
Research what activities we will do as a family while traveling
Have dinners with friends and family before we leave
Finish scanning family photos
Talk to current medical school students and get ideas for moving/prepping for school
Celebrate upcoming holidays and birthdays with loved ones
Attend a few community events before moving
Sell some furniture on FB Marketplace
Use as many ingredients and food items in our apartment as possible before moving
and on and on and on

We then determined how each of these items would fit into our STEP system. Most of these items are large projects (or huge projects with several subprojects), but some of them were routines.

As we determined what category each item fell into, we could start creating a plan and a timeline. All of our moving-related projects, for example, couldn’t be done all at once. We had to figure out details with our landlord first before making plans to move out. Then we could start calling for quotes on moving pods and storage. Then we could start decluttering parts of our apartment that we wanted to start packing up first.

Slowly but surely, we started completing one project after another! By prioritizing our projects based on their deadlines and importance in our lives, we could easily decide what would make it onto our Current Projects Lists. As we broke each project up into Next Actions, we were able to delegate things to one another and share the workload. For example, I like to do more of the phone calls, emails, and online research. Those Next Actions became my responsibilities, and other home, family, and errand-related Next Actions became Josh’s.

It’s tempting to add everything to our list at once–we want to get everything done and see that it’s right there, front and center, on our to-do list. However, this is when we usually start to get weighed down and feel like everything is accumulating into a mountain that is impossible to tackle.

At LearnDoBecome, we recommend not having more than 7-8 projects TOTAL on your Current Project List at any given time. These 7-8 projects span all areas of your life, and when new projects come to mind, they can be added to your Next in Line or Someday Projects List.

These lists have been incredibly helpful for us because we’re human and we know that it’s just not possible for us to do everything all at once. Instead of feeling like we aren’t doing enough or we need to add more things to our lists, we know that those future projects will be waiting for us! They are safe and can be added to our Current Projects List when we have the time and space for them. It’s so freeing!

We’ve also had to be a lot more intentional about our time and resources. While doing our Weekly Review, we try our best to create the upcoming week in a way that allows us to maximize time together as a family, complete lots of Next Actions, work, do homework, and find time for fun/meaningful memories with loved ones.

It’s taken some time and effort to develop good routines that allow us to do all of these things. However, all of the energy that we’ve put into these routines has been worth it because it has brought us closer together as a couple and has helped us take advantage of every moment we have left before moving. As we get ready to move far away from family, our community, and places that we’ve grown to love, we really don’t want to have any regrets.

These big life changes have truly been made easier thanks to our STEP system and Command Centrals. We can confidently move forward into this new chapter of life, knowing that we did our best and that all the important details have been managed. I couldn’t be more grateful for the peace that I feel amidst this very busy time of life.

Of course, there are going to be lots of new projects to work on and routines to create once we get to our next destination and my husband starts school. That’s just a fact of life. But I know that we have the tools to handle whatever comes our way–and we know that we can renegotiate and simplify where needed.

Thanks for joining and listening to this episode of the podcast! Are there some big life changes coming your way? Are you feeling prepared to manage all the projects/details that go along with these changes? We’re here to support you and are sending love your way!

-Alia

Related Links![PODCAST 80]: A Deep Dive into Actually Completing Current Projects and Next Actions

[PODCAST 48]: A Fun, Logical Way to Set Up Your Routines List!

[PODCAST 197]: To-the-Point Questions to Assess Your Level of Organization

STEP for Students Information Page

Free Community Facebook Group

Upcoming ARISE Bonus Class!

Preserving photos and memories is more than just “organizing.” It’s a great way to build relationships, to consider our own lives and purposes, and to create a vision for who we want to become.

This is an ARISE membership bonus class, and members of the STEP Mastery program have the option to join live and/or watch the 48-hour replay. After 48 hours, the recording will only be available in our ARISE members’ area.

More details to come! And for those utilizing only our free resources for now, we’ll share a great podcast/video on the topic that you can enjoy!

Want to learn about our STEP program and build your Command Central? Click here for our information page!

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This might seem like a silly question, but "getting by" actually feels really comfortable sometimes, and "transforming" often feels like it will be way too hard. Today I'm sharing some stories that will hopefully inspire you and give you some new ideas that you can apply to your own life.

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Here at LearnDoBecome, we champion the idea of a “Context-Based Next Actions List” inspired by David Allen, author of the bestselling book, Getting Things Done®.

It’s essentially a weekly list of 10-minute tasks, organized by where you are when you’re getting them done!

Here’s a photo of a Next Actions List in one of my past planners:

The contexts David Allen suggests are “home, errands, computer, to discuss, and phone,” and I add a couple of more now (like “to read” and “to pray about”), but these are essentially the ones I use.

The main question I get, however, is WHEN to do these things.

Most people end up with super long Next Actions Lists, and they don’t get them accomplished, so here are the four criteria:

(1) Context – Look first at where you are! If you know you’ll be out running errands, look at that section ONLY. If you have some quiet time and want to do phone calls, group those. If you’re home waiting for kids to get home from school–or you have 30 minutes before bedtime, look at the “home” category.

(2) Time – Next consider how much time you have. Let’s say your “errands” category has one errand way across town and one down the street, and you only have 15 minutes. Clearly, you’ll choose the one close by.

(3) Energy – I think this one is incredibly important–especially for phone, computer tasks, and “to discuss” items. If you know your brain is fried, don’t make a hard phone call or bring up an emotional item to discuss. And maybe don’t try to figure out something super technical. On certain days of the month, when I am hormonally just more tired, I still “get things done,” but I don’t talk to a lot of people or make really big decisions. Maybe that’s TMI, but I thought it might be helpful!

(4) Priority – You’d think this would be the first criteria, but the reason it’s last is because if you are in the wrong place, with not enough time and energy, it doesn’t make sense to do that specific task. Instead, if, let’s say you have 20 minutes to talk with your spouse, and you have 3 things on your “to discuss” list that you COULD select to discuss (because you have the time and energy to do so), pick the one that is most important first. Same thing with my computer work. I sometimes sit down and think, “It would be more fun to work on my email right now than record a video,” but if the video is my highest priority, I need to do that. The email can be managed later while I’ve got my jammies on and I’m resting on the couch.

When you learn to work like this, it’s amazing how things get done pretty much effortlessly!

Want to give it a try and let me know how it goes?

Sending lots of love!

xoxoxo

Related Links:Four Weeks to Finished – Would you like to work personally with me, Eric, and Team LearnDoBecome to build your full STEP Command Central? We open this special group coaching opportunity once or twice a year, and we would love to have you join us! Our next start date is Thursday, September 7th, 2023! (And if you’re reading this later, click that link to find out when it’s launching next!)

Steps to Everyday Productivity – Our signature program designed to help you build your full Command Central and get out of overwhelm for good!

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Are you the kind of person who puts “everyone else” before yourself?

It’s admirable, in many ways, right? You’re probably described as caring, compassionate, unselfish, thoughtful, etc. And that’s beautiful!

But if you feel guilt when you take time for yourself, that’s actually a problem, and I want to provide a few reasons why:

(1) You’re going to become depleted. We’ve all heard that we can’t give water from an empty well, and we’ve all heard the “oxygen mask” analogy. You know in your heart that self-care is essential, but if you feel guilty/think it’s being selfish to do so, you probably won’t actually take care of yourself. And we all know what happens when our needs go unmet for an extended period of time.

(2) Your body may begin to “say no.” I was recently introduced to the book by Dr. Gabor Mate called “When the Body Says No.” It was EYE OPENING. The premise is that the characteristics that people are most often championed for possessing (being super kind, doing things for everyone else, never putting their own needs first) are the exact characteristics that lead them toward chronic disease. You can read the book/listen to his YouTube videos/social media videos and form your own opinion, but this really resonated with me, and I’ve been making some significant changes in my life to combat this.

(3) You’re going to act out of resentment instead of love. Maybe you haven’t experienced this, but as I’ve looked at my health issues over the past few years, I firmly believe they were based on the fact that I was doing a bunch of things out of obligation–and not because I really wanted to do them. A lot of anger hid below the surface, and because anger and resentment were fueling a lot of my tasks and routines, it was nearly impossible to create out of love. (I still did as much as I could, but “creating out of love” caused more stress for me because it decreased the amount of time I had to rest and replenish in other ways….) Eric and I have had some pretty honest heart-to-heart discussions lately, and while it’s been painful, and I inadvertently caused pain in some other people as I processed my emotions, I think I’m on a good track now, and I’ve decided that I am not doing that anymore.

So here’s the one-sentence perspective that changed everything for me–and I believe it will change everything for you:

If you are taking time for yourself–and you feel guilty about it–you are probably doing something RIGHT.

I keep that thought at the back of my mind now, and I can’t tell you how much healthier I’m feeling. My rashes are gone, I’m healing all of my digestive issues naturally, I’m actually sleeping through the night for the first time in 20+ years, and I feel more hope about my future.

Yes, our stage of life has also changed, so I’m sure that’s helping, too, but the thing is that even though I could have taken more time for myself in the past several years, I didn’t do it nearly as often as I could have. I still believed that me “working so, so hard” was proof that I cared about people and God and proof that I “mattered.” I still put forth quite a bit of effort each day, but I’ve taken my foot off the gas in areas where it really doesn’t matter, and I’ve changed the way I see the world (and connected closer with my Higher Power–using my alignment there as evidence of my “success.”)

I hope this helps you today. A lot of times, when people are interested in our programs, they hesitate because it feels “wrong” to invest time and energy and money in themselves. Of course, I don’t want you going into debt/spending money you don’t have, but if you COULD take the time to build your Command Central and get your life organized and take a burden off your shoulders, and if you know it would serve you, I hope that you’ll make that choice!

Love you!!

April

Steps to Everyday Productivity – Our signature program designed to help you build your full Command Central and get out of overwhelm for good!

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Most people I meet fall into this category. They're talented, doing well in lots of areas, and feeling generally "successful," but when I tell them I help people get organized and create systems that carry all the details of life FOR them, they kind of light up. Here's what I'd suggest, if you find yourself in that category!

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For many years, I exclusively taught people how to use a Command Central at home, and I would occasionally mention how it could also help in the workplace. But now that I've been running my own business for over a decade--and as I've seen Command Centrals truly TRANSFORM the way people work, I think it's time we collectively figure out how to make Command Centrals "the new norm" in the workplace.

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My hope with today's podcast is to give you a few specific things you could start doing TODAY to make a difference in your life. You absolutely can get organized. :) I hope this is helpful for you!

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We all know that feeling, right? When we look at all we need to do, and it's impossible to "prioritize" because they are ALL important? What then? Today's podcast will answer that question. :)

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Most people, when they sit down to "work," end up doing whatever is top of mind. But, if we do THAT, when do we work on the things that matter most? Today's podcast will walk you through a simple way to make projects and routines work together so you can accomplish your goals and objectives without feeling overwhelmed!

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Most of us wouldn't say that we LIKE friction, but most of us have a tendency to keep it in our lives. We struggle with the same frustrations over and over again--convinced that there's no way out because we have no control. But what if we could change that? Today's episode will hopefully inspire you to create solutions that will make a huge difference!

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Growing and learning is a privilege. If you look back 5 years, or even 1 year, you can see at least one area where you've transformed. Yes, the progress doesn't always happen as quickly as we'd like, but in my opinion, if we know we're on to something, and if we feel good as we keep moving forward, it's worth the ups and downs and all the energy that is required.

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I truly believe that the time we are sick can be a type of chrysalis--where we can grow and change for the better, even though it isn't necessarily a pleasurable experience. I'm sending a huge hug if you are currently not feeling well, and I hope that this podcast can send a little extra love and compassion your way.

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If this topic resonates with you, it's most likely because you're responsible, capable, and there's a lot on your plate. I'm excited to share 5 of my best tips with you today!

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We are beyond grateful to have reached 200 episodes of the podcast! Today we're sharing stories from our community members about how they've put the principles of LearnDoBecome Radio into action. :)

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A mind sweep is an incredibly powerful tool, but most people don’t really know when and how to do them—and what to do with the mind sweep once it’s completed. Today, I’m going to share a few principles to help your mind feel even more calm and clear.

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We’ve all had (and continue to have) our share of broken things in our lives. Here’s a helpful framework you can use to decide how and when to process these items.

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A STEP Command Central is like a car—you need all the PARTS in able for it to get you where you want to go. Today, I'm taking you through an informal "Command Central Quiz" so you'll know if you have what you need to build your system and get totally out of the overwhelm.

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We all have those projects on our list that we aren't super excited about, but it is possible to feel joy throughout the process! In today's podcast, I'm sharing how considering the purpose behind projects and breaking them down into next actions makes all the difference.

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When we can "decide once" and reduce decision fatigue, it's amazing how doable the daily routines can feel! Today's idea comes from the great book, "The Lazy Genius Way." Come read or listen to today's post!

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I read an amazing testimonial from one of our STEPpers named Nancy the other day. (And if you’re new, STEP stands for Steps to Everyday Productivity, and it’s our signature program here at LearnDoBecome that will help you get totally out of the overwhelm. Links are at the bottom of this post!) As she shared her success story, she also pointed out one of the most common stumbling blocks–that I struggle with, as well, and I thought it deserved its own podcast.

Here’s what she said:

There are so many things I love about this….

First, she recognized that there was a problem–more home responsibilities, a new job, a general feeling of “frittering her days away,” and an acute awareness of how precious our time really is.

Second, she took the leap into STEP. I know it’s an investment, and I know that “starting a program” can sound scary, especially when you’ve “tried things before,” and nothing seems to work, but she gave it a go.

Third, she changed her environment and moved her workspace. I’m sure there were really good reasons why she originally set her office up in a space that she hated. We all do things like this. We sub-optimize our experiences because maybe we feel like other people need the resources/room/time/etc. more than we do, or we think we’re going to take one for the team and simply get by–because we’re strong and we don’t need any special treatment. I don’t know the details behind Nancy’s experience, but I love that she is honoring her need for mental clarity and a healthy environment.

And finally, I love that she identified her biggest stumbling block–that she was treating projects as tasks. THAT is what so many of us (myself included) tend to do, and today I want to focus on why we do this and how to get out of the habit.

Why do we treat projects as tasks? It initially feels easier. Writing down one phrase is simpler than taking time to do a full planning session, where we identify the purpose, principles, and outcome vision, sketch a complete brainstorm, and then organize all the next actions by priority. * It gives us the sense that we can do more. Because if we just have 2 things written on our list, we’ll probably be able to get a whole lot of other things done, as well. That visual simplicity sometimes feels like an abundance of time, but it’s actually just hiding all the work we’re committing ourselves to completing. * It speaks to the part of our ego that wants to believe that we’re so capable and quick that we’ll be able to do superhuman things if we just have enough strength and willpower.* This one is a little hard to write because I am speaking directly to myself. Sometimes, when I’m feeling depleted and spread thin, I take a hard look at what is actually on my physical (or hidden) list of expectations, and I am ASTOUNDED at how delusional I am. It’s human nature to believe that we are above average. Wikipedia says, “In the field of social psychology, illusory superiority is a condition of cognitive bias wherein a person overestimates their own qualities and abilities, in relation to the same qualities and abilities of other people.” Ouch.

But it’s okay! We can change.

How do we change? Remember that we’re human, and that’s not a bad thing. Dr. David Burns (one of my favorite authors) refers to this as radical acceptance. If our internal voice says something like, “You are so slow,” we can respond, internally, with something like, “You know, you are so right. I am a human, and I need time to complete things–especially complex projects. But that’s really normal, and it’s healthy for me to only take on responsibilities that I have the energy to carry.” * Create a solid, simple Current Projects List. We talk about this in the STEP program all the time, but the idea is to have a very, very simple list of which projects you’re committed to doing that month. The way you know it’s “just right” is if you feel a lift when you look at it. I know it sounds too easy, but it works. When we’re focused on what matters most and we’re deliberate about which projects we choose to put on our lists, we can move through life with a light, happy feeling, and we’ll actually get things done. * Evaluate each task you write down–as you write it down*. Tasks belong on our calendar (typically as flexible things we want to get done that day), and they also can go on our Next Actions List (which holds tasks to be done sometime that week, organized by where we are when we’re getting them done). As you add things to your list, learn to ask yourself, “Is this truly a task?” If it can be done in about 10 minutes, or if it is one distinct errand, or if it is totally independent from any other tasks, and you can absolutely see that it can be checked off with relatively little effort, then it’s a task. If it has multiple parts or will take several hours or requires a lot of brain power over time, it’s a project.

I hope these ideas have been helpful to you today! There is so much peace and mental clarity available for us–if we can just learn how to navigate our projects and tasks with the right mindset.

Sending lots and lots of love!

Related Links:Are you a STEPper yet? Learn more here!

Each month, our ARISERs join together to apply principles of productivity to real life, so we can wake up excited and go to bed content. Join us in the ARISE membership!

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Have you heard about the concept of a “Weekly Review” for years, but you rarely, if ever, do one, and you’re wondering how to make it feel simple? Let’s dive in and talk about that today!

It’s helpful to think about your Weekly Review like cleaning out your refrigerator. Hear me out…

Principle #1: We want to decide on the standard we’re working toward. On one end of the spectrum, our fridge is spotless, with nothing moldy or expired, and everything is in tidy, matching containers, organized in rainbow-color. On the OTHER end of the spectrum, our refrigerator is more like a science project, and we just open and close the door as fast as we possibly can.

The Weekly Review can either leave you with a totally organized calendar, up-to-date lists, a clear desk, appropriately-filed digital items, and zero stray sticky notes—or you can just jump in and do the bare essentials that will allow you to get by.

Given what’s on our (metaphorical) plate, what matters to us right now, and how much bandwidth we have, we’ll set our own standard for what feels “just right.”

I’m going to move forward, assuming we’re going for a middle-of-the-road Weekly Review

Principle #2: We want to get a clear view of what we’re working with.

I personally do a 20-minute “deep clean” of our refrigerator twice a month. I take EVERYTHING out, and I do a quick sort—items on the left of the counter are things that need to be cleaned out/tossed. Produce from the drawers go on the right, and all the other items that are still good go in the middle.

For a Weekly Review, I also like to see the big picture:

What projects am I working on right now? Has anything suddenly come up? Have my priorities changed?
What’s on my Next Actions List? Am I procrastinating anything on here? If so, why?
How many routines am I trying to do? Am I feeling spread too thin, or do I have more bandwidth?
Does my calendar have white space, or am I cluttering every minute of every day? Is there anything from the past week that needs a follow-up? Anything coming next week that requires preparation?
How many papers, emails, messages, etc. need my personal attention?
Have extra piles/unneeded items built up in my planner or on my desk?

Principle #3: We then make space for what’s most important.

Once I’ve wiped down our fridge shelves and drawers, I put back all the produce and other items that are still good and that our family will eat in the coming week.

With a Weekly Review…

I typically start with my Current Projects List—what am I trying to accomplish by the end of this month?
Then I create a fresh Next Actions List and only put a few tasks that I truly want to accomplish.
I make sure that my auto-pilot routines are actually supporting my goals, and if there’s something I keep forgetting to do, I might make some reminders to help me throughout the week.
I look at my calendar and make sure that I’m carving out time for my self-care, family, work, and community engagements, and I make sure I’m not accepting too many commitments/setting myself up for overwhelm.
Then I tidy up—my desk, planner, computer desktop, email, etc., processing items from my inbox, removing anything that is unnecessary, and making sure I have time set aside to do the work that’s required, but NOT DOING THE WORK at that time.

Principle #4: Make sure we’re prepared for the week.

I typically clean my fridge right before a grocery order/shopping trip so I don’t buy too much/duplicates. Once the fridge is clean, it’s easy to make my shopping list and plan for any family meals, lunch items, staples, etc. that we’ll need.

With a Weekly Review, the goal isn’t to have a clear desk or to do a bunch of tasks. The goal is to have a calm mind.

By the time we’re done with an optimal Weekly Review, we can describe our state of mind using the following words:

Focused
Calm
Clear
Confident
Excited

My goal is for you to get a little “lift” when you think about your coming week.

That doesn’t mean that everything is easy in your life. You’re likely dealing with some pretty difficult challenges. But when you can turn problems into projects, and when you know that your efforts are at least going to move you in a positive direction, that feels really, really good.

I hope this has been helpful to you! I’d love to hear how your Weekly Review goes this week!

Related Links: Start a 7-day free trial of ARISE membership! You’ll receive immediate access to this month’s “Establishing Healthy Boundaries” resources, as well as our ARISE archives with our past monthly topics. * When you build an optimal, fully-functional Command Central, the piles simply go away. Join us in the STEP Program (or learn more by clicking HERE). * If you have not yet attended our free training, “How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles,” we would love to have you join us!* In this simple and powerful class, we teach four steps anyone can use to get a better handle on life, home, goals, projects and tasks.

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Do you have dozens (or even hundreds) of unread texts that you need to do something about, but you feel like you aren’t ever able to get to them? You’re not alone!Here are 3 simple tips for having a clear mind and extracting tasks from texts so that they will actually get completed. (And the best part is that these tips apply to emails, phone calls, and in-person conversations as well!)

Today, we’re talking all about a Next Actions List. This is a list of items that are NOT calendar specific and can be completed at any time during the week. It is important to not overload this list–we want it to be manageable and we want to be totally confident that the items on this list are the very next, most simple action that cannot possibly be procrastinated or put off.

#1 – Create a Physical or Digital Next Actions List

We recommend creating a space for these contexts of your life: Home, Texts/Calls, Computer, Errands, To Discuss, and Work.

You can customize these categories based on your needs, but we suggest not having more than 7 or 8 contexts. How would you categorize the different areas of your life?

This is an example of a Next Actions List that can be printed or created in a physical format. For even more templates and ideas, click here!

This is an example of a digital Next Actions List. I keep mine in my Notes app, and it is pinned to the top of of my app. I really like using this system because my phone is always with me and it is really easy to add and delete tasks.

#2 – Intentionally Open Text Messages & Extract the Next Action

Life is busy, and sometimes texts come to our phones when we are in the middle of something else. When we are intentional about opening up texts and extracting the necessary information, things won’t be forgotten or missed. If you can wait until your messages are not competing with other daily tasks for your focus, it will be much easier to extract the next action at hand.

Also, some phones have the capability to preview a text (without marking it as “read”) or mark texts as “unread.” These might be a great option for you to quickly scan a message, gauge its importance or level of urgency, and then come back to it as needed.

Some texts might only require the 2-minute rule. Let’s say you receive a message that says “Hey! Can you send me the group picture from Friday?” That will take 2 minutes or less, so you can go ahead and send the text right away to that person. That doesn’t need to go on your Next Actions List.

#3 – Add the Tasks to Your Next Actions List in the Appropriate Context

As mentioned before, all tasks on this Next Actions List are NOT calendar specific. Anything date or time-sensitive needs to be on your calendar. The tasks on this list will be done some time during the coming week. When you are looking at your calendar for the day and you notice spots with open time or flexible work time, this is a great chance to refer to what is on your Next Actions List and complete a task or two.

Let’s practice together. I’m going to share an example text and I want you to think about where this will go on your next actions list.

“Can you send me 4 pictures from Google Photos for a Mother’s Day card?”

(This would go under my “computer” section since that’s where the pictures are housed and I need to spend 5-10 minutes looking for pictures.)

“I put the Amazon return package on your desk. The return slip is printed and next to the box. Now we just need to go to the post office.”

(This would go under my “errands” section.)

“We are thinking about going to this new restaurant for a double date. Can you ask your husband if he would like to try this food and if you both would like to join us?”

(This is a two-part text! The first task would be “talk to husband” on my conversations section of the list. Then, when I go to check it off, I ask myself, “Am I TOTALLY done with this task?” The answer is no! I need to use the 2-minute rule to quickly text my friend back that we will or will not be interested in joining them for dinner. Or if I don’t have time to use the 2-minute rule right then, I could add this task to my texts/calls section of the list and send the message later on.)

From child: “Can you call the school and excuse my absence from last Thursday?”

(This would go under phone calls.)

“Can you help me change the light bulb in the laundry room?”

(This would go in my home context on the list, but first, I would think, “Do we have lightbulbs?” If not, that next action would be added to my errands or computer list to purchase, and then when I am completing that task, I would add “change the bulb” to my home list.)

Using these three principles has helped me to totally relieve stress around being “responsible and responsive” when it comes to the requests I often receive.Of course, I am also making sure I have good boundaries when it comes to my time and energy. These tips allow me to feel totally stress free when I am answering texts and acting on the different tasks that come my way.I hope these are helpful to you, too! And you can find more great tips on our free training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles.

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I had a hard time titling this podcast–because I want you to acknowledge all the good you do. And I want to emphasize the value in what might appear to be insignificant.

But I also want to emphasize that we don’t need “credit” to matter and to be happy. So take this however it feels best, but my main goal is to offer some perspective and encouragement today.

In our April ARISE call about the nuts and bolts of dreaming, I asked our group of ARISERs to share what helped a dream from the past to come to fruition–because if you look at your life right now, at least some part of that was a dream at one time.

One thing I noticed was that we, as a group, had to define the words “dream” and “success” a bit.

We often think of things like “writing a bestseller” or “doing an Iron Man” or becoming famous or notable. But dreams are often far less tangible, and they often are only noticed by a small number of people (or just ourselves).

And sometimes our efforts might not be clear for years.

So as we organize our projects and tasks and build our Command Centrals here at LearnDoBecome, I want to make sure we see the beauty of what we, as life architects, are creating along the way.

First Story: Juventa and the TreesOne of our ARISERs posted this incredible story of a dream that literally took years to “come true,” and she wasn’t even the direct beneficiary. With her permission, this is what she shared in our group:

“I realized that some dreams take time and are not meant for us but for those who come after us. In a way, I have been a sower most of my life. We have moved every 5 years or so over the last 25 years (our current home of 6 years is the longest we’ve ever been in one place). Our moves always seemed to be just in time for my fruit trees to be loaded as well as my gardens to be at the point of a bountiful harvest. It was hard saying “goodbye” even though I knew that the new owners would benefit from my labor.

“In our first single family home, we backed up to a storm water easement. It was an exceptionally wet year when we moved in and the easement filled up with water, creating a drowning hazard for my little kids. The water remained there for several years, creating a tiny “pond” that ducks would frequent. Unfortunately, it also housed swarms of mosquitoes which proved to be difficult for our family. I spent many months at the city offices trying to find a solution to the filled up easement, to no avail. We even met with a civil engineer but our plans were not approved by the city. Over time, I became bitter that this problem hadn’t been disclosed to us when we purchased the house.

“In addition to this, we also backed up to a highway which was super loud and I felt like we had little privacy and safety. I pondered over our situation for a very long time and worried about it constantly.

“Then one night, I had a dream. A literal dream. In it, I was sitting on my back deck and instead of seeing a highway and a water-filled storm easement, I saw a beautiful forest of trees. There was such a peaceful feeling to the property and I felt overcome with emotion. It was a strong enough dream that it woke me up out of a dead sleep. After I woke up, I couldn’t shake the vision from my mind. I realized that while I didn’t have control over many things, there were things that I could do.

“Having very little money, I decided to get 10 free trees from the Arbor Day foundation. When they arrived, it was a tiny pack of 1′ tall “sticks.” A little disappointed but determined, I prepped the earth and with the help of my husband, kids, and mother-in-law, we planted all 10 trees. I then saved up to get four larger evergreen trees to plant along the back near the easement. I surrounded my property as well as the easement with the trees. I realized that the trees could provide not only a sound barrier, but also a natural way to soak up some of the water and prevent erosion.

“Every day I imagined what the full grown trees would look like and plead for them to grow quickly. They received much love and care. Over time, the water in the easement began abating. Oh how I longed for my forest. But then the day came when we had to move. The trees were still tiny. We left having never seen the fulfillment of my dream. I felt like I had failed.

“We eventually moved to the west coast and as things happened, it had been almost two decades since I had visited my old home. In 2021, I finally had the opportunity to go back and see it. My sister drove me down the highway so that I could see our house from the back. I was shocked that I couldn’t find it! We drove back and forth several times and then I finally saw the rooftop of our old home. Not only had my trees grown up, but many others grew as well, filling up the easement and creating a beautiful forest. While I didn’t want to bother the new owners for a view outside the deck, I was able to see the front of the home. It felt like a beautiful cottage nestled in the woods. The view of the highway was completely hidden and I heard the sounds of nature surrounding me.

“I felt tears well up in my eyes when I saw it. I guess my dream wasn’t for me after all, but for those who came afterwards. (Before and after photos below). Some dreams are hard to visualize or realize, but seeing this property gave me hope that there is a bigger plan than just mine and that my small efforts truly amounted to something great.”

(This is an image carousel below. Simply click on the image to scroll through the before and after pictures.)

I got chills when I read her account and saw her photos–and I wasn’t the only one. I think her experience taps into that part of us that hopes our efforts will make a difference–and the wonder and awe that comes when we see a power beyond our own transform our “little saplings” into full-fledged trees.

Thinking about her experience over the past week or so, I’ve been noticing “saplings” everywhere.

Second Story: Lia’s BookOur daughter, Alia, became friends with Lia back in middle school. Lia was adopted from China, and when she first came to America, she didn’t speak English, she was essentially starting her education from scratch, and she needed to move around in a wheelchair.

But she had a huge smile and so much love to offer, and during lunchtime, the girls would braid each other’s hair, and Lia and Alia would exchange notes in each others’ lockers throughout the weeks and months. We even had the privilege of hosting Lia’s first “friend birthday party,” and it was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever experienced.

Well, Lia has had a dream for a long time about writing a book that would encourage others. Her life, we’ve learned as she’s shared more details with us, was beyond challenging as she was growing up. But we are amazed by her positive outlook and her ability to make something beautiful out of something that could be considered heartbreaking.

Over the past few months, Lia and Alia have been working together (and letting me participate here and there) to write a children’s book. And the other day, Alia let us read the most recent draft and showed us a few of the illustrations they’ve had commissioned.

Here are a couple that Lia said we could share here at LearnDoBecome:

I can’t even articulate how I feel as I see this book coming to life. It’s beyond inspiring to me–so full of beauty and hope and all that is good in the world.

Third Story: A Friend Who Created a Home for Those with No Place to GoEric and I were able to travel with our daughter a couple of weeks ago to visit some friends she met while on her church humanitarian mission.

We were amazed by each family we met, but there was one woman in particular whose story had a profound impact on me.

She had a difficult upbringing and overcame several personal challenges throughout her teens and early adult years. Today she is providing a home for her two brothers, who are now clean from their drug addictions, and she’s caring for her two nephews, whose mother is currently in a drug rehab center.

We sat with her in her home for about 45 minutes–as she coordinated the dinner for her family and snuggled her nephews and provided an update on how things were going. All this has come with a lot of sacrifice on her part–putting some of her other goals on hold so she could be available for her family. One phrase she said went right to my heart: “Everyone needs to know they have a place to go.”

I don’t know if she can see how remarkable she is. She spoke about her work and her efforts as though they weren’t that big of a deal.

But really, when you open your heart and invest your energy in the support of others (whether they benefit now or in the future), that is a really big deal.

I’m sure as I’ve told these stories, you can think of even more examples you’ve seen in your own life.

The reason I wanted to highlight these was because in the productivity/business/organization space, there is so much emphasis on getting more done, being faster, excelling in efficiency, and achieving things that will bring admiration, praise, and status.

And yes, I want you to finish your projects and lists, I want you to feel a powerful sense of progress in your life, and I want you to get out of the mental and physical piles that can so easily weigh us down, but at the root of it all, LearnDoBecome is about moving forward on the things that matter most.

Getting organized and clearing clutter is a beautiful process, and it will free up your time so you can pursue your dreams, live by your heart, and make the contributions that only you can make.

I love you and this community so much, and all of us here at Team LearnDoBecome are cheering you on today!

Two STEP Wins:One of our Four Weeks to Finished members recently shared their experience with breaking down large projects into more manageable steps, and it is so encouraging!

As Liz was just getting started with the STEP program, she was able to see some amazing “wins” from the very beginning. Way to go, Liz! We are so excited for you and the progress that you are making.

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In today’s episode, I’m discussing the question, “What fuels you and what drains you?” This will be a pretty simple exercise and explanation so that the process will feel easy and light, and you can get started on your own list creation.

(1) Why It’s ImportantA lot of us do things that drain us because we sometimes believe that our needs, health, and time for replenishment are not that important. (Not including the essential aspects of being part of a family or a helpful community member.)

Our health often suffers–not because we are doing something “wrong,” but because we truly care are trying to change the world.

I’ve recently taken a step back and come to the realization that certain aspects of our business have been draining me, but I’ve been going along with them because I thought they were required of me. I didn’t realize just how much this was impacting me and my health–and I believe there may be things in your life that will also benefit from being re-evaluated.

(2) How I Did ItI opened a “fancy” spiral-bound notebook (you know, the ones you can get for less than a dollar), divided a page in half, and wrote “Fuels Me” and “Drains Me” as the two column headers.

Then I answered these prompts with a focus on my LearnDoBecome work. You can do the same for personal life, work, family, volunteer opportunities, and so on.

As I sat alone and did some introspective work on the “Fuels Me” side, I thought about the people I’ve worked with, conferences attended, projects worked on, and other initiatives taken. These experiences, people, and items make up the part of my work that I truly love.

On the “Drains Me” side, I had to do some deep thinking. It was hard to admit that certain things drain me, but I tried to be honest with myself during this reflection. I felt nervous that people might not approve of my list or judge me for struggling with certain aspects of work and running a business. Although it was an emotional process, it was so clear when I was done. (I hope it will feel the same for you!)

(3) What I’m Going to Do With the ListAt the time I’m writing this, I’m preparing to head out to a business conference, and I am taking this list with me. I’ll be filtering what I learn from the speakers and presentations through this list of “fuels” and “drains.”

I’m more aware of what’s on my plate and how much energy is required in a variety of situations, and I’ve committed to not take on any new projects that would otherwise drain me. I know that I can figure out more optimal ways to move forward on our goals…

It was pretty uncomfortable to come to these realizations (because I’m naturally a people-pleaser), but I’m feeling so relieved now that I’m making decisions to cut certain things out of my life. For example, Eric was recently purchasing tickets to a conference, and in the past, I would have joined out of obligation because I thought that it was expected of me from others in the business world. This particular conference has always drained me, and as I discussed this with Eric (in tandem with my list of “drains”), I made the decision to pass on this conference and made plans for alternate business training from home that will better suit my needs.

This list has already been such a great filter for me to use in various areas of life.

After making this list, I highly recommend using it as a discussion piece that can be shared with the people or person closest to you. You can ask others for their advice and input to see if there is anything that you’d like to add/remove, or you can simply ask, “How can we best shape our work/family/future based on what I’ve written here?”

LearnDoBecome Invitation:You’re invited to set aside some time (15 minutes to start!) and create some kind of digital or physical note in order to answer the question: What fuels me and what drains me?

Perhaps you could use this list as your own personal filter and as a conversation starter with the people in your life. It might seem nontraditional to share these kinds of discussion items with others, but there is so much power in communicating our needs, energy level, etc. with those who are working alongside us.

And if you have done something like this in the past or taken a different approach on evaluating life decisions, I would love to hear about it in the comments! There are so many ways to creatively focus on what fuels you, and I hope that this exercise can be helpful in your current life situation.

Related Links (including affiliate links): Book: When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté

Video: When the Body Says No — Caring for Ourselves While Caring for Others, by Gabor Maté

STEP Program

ARISE Membership

When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection

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This Before and After from one of our community members at LearnDoBecome recently gave us all a lift:

The “Before” photo is still very lovely. There’s space to sit and move around, and it’s a beautiful space. But often it’s the piles of stuff hanging around and the lack of clear flat surfaces that cause friction and/or overwhelm in our lives.

I recently taught an organization class to a group of 8- to 15-year olds. They were absolutely darling and so excited to apply the skills we discussed–and in the midst, I had a few a-ha moments I thought might be helpful to you.

I’d asked the coordinator to bring a junk drawer or two…something we could actually work through together, so I wouldn’t need to just talk about the theory of organizing. I wanted to show them that they could take a pile of “stuff” and easily transform it into clear space.

Two of the participants each brought a large cube organizer full of miscellaneous items that they wanted to organize. So that’s what we did, and here’s what I learned:

(1) When there are a lot of different items in one space that aren’t united in purpose, our brains feel overwhelmed.As I got started with the class, we put our chairs in a circle with the bins in the middle, and then I asked the students how they felt when they looked at them. There was a tangible feeling of dread. It felt like way too much, and I think they were a little worried to dive in.

This really applies to every area of our lives–stuff on our shelves, random items in drawers, too many thoughts in our heads. When we can’t categorize things like “markers” or “client archive files” or “cooking utensils,” our brains search for some commonality, and it ends up being like when your cell phone is searching for service, but it can’t find any. That drains the battery, even though the phone isn’t functional.

Daniel Levitin in The Organized Mind talks about this quite a bit. Our brains naturally need categories to make sense of the world, and so something like a “junk drawer”–unless it truly is where you put a specific number of miscellaneous items you know how to find when needed–is going to cause instant overwhelm.

(2) The majority of what is in our “piles” is unnecessary.Going back to this experience with the group, in order to start the decluttering process, we dumped everything out of the bins–one was on my left, one was on my right. (In hindsight, I should have put down a sheet or something because one of the boxes had glitter in it, but the vacuum got most of it up afterwards!) Then I told them to JUST pulled out the trash. The whole group helped, and then I asked, as we looked at the very small piles that remained, “What did you notice in that step?”

They all looked at the trash bag and then back at the piles we were sorting and could easily see that most of what overwhelmed them was very easy to toss/recycle.

That’s often the case with most of our random storage areas. If you have a full garage, office, closet, etc., I’m guessing most of it can be tossed/recycled. And yes, the decision-making isn’t always easy, but we can help you with that.

(3) “Eliminate the unnecessary, so that the necessary may speak.” -Hans HofmannI heard that quote long ago, and it still inspires me. We often hear that less is more, but then we keep shopping and gathering and acquiring things like our lives depend on how many physical objects surround us when we die.

I took my group of students through the 3-box method (full podcast about it is linked below), and in addition to the trash/recycle area, we created little sections of things “to donate” and things “to put somewhere else.”

The “donate” discussion was actually really helpful (things that would have gone in the trash could actually be salvaged, in many cases).

As a side note, our daughter had her baby shower here at our home last week, and a few friends from her Geography major in college attended. They studied sustainability in their classes, and so they got her some darling baby clothes and a board book from a local thrift store. It was such a great idea–and a smart use of resources!

The final pile we created in the organization class included things “to put somewhere else,” and it was actually way easier than I thought it was going to be. They could see that art supplies could go “upstairs where we keep art supplies” and hair ties, nail polish, etc. could all go into the bathroom vanity area. Whenever they were confused about an item, I just asked, “Where’s the first place you would go to look for it?” And then they knew!

It was cute because I got a text from the coordinator the next day whose daughter had been part of the class. She said, “[My daughter] went straight to work when she got home and came back with several boxes to donate and put in the garbage.”

I loved that. If I had known how to do this when I was younger, I would have done the same. But I didn’t know how to look at a room and just focus on the trash for 10 minutes. I thought that as long as a piece of clothing fit, even if I never wore it and didn’t like it, it was my responsibility to keep it in my drawer or closet or under my bed in case I desperately needed clothing someday. (I probably only wore 10% of what I owned.) And I felt like the rest of the house already had its own piles to deal with, so putting something “somewhere else” wasn’t being responsible. It was better for me to let my own space pile high in order to protect the items from getting lost or contributing to the overwhelm of the whole family.

Alia and I actually spoke about this in the “Empower Students” class we taught last week. (See the link below to sign up for the replay!)

She shared some specific ways parents can help children 10-20 to organize their lives, and she shared stories from her own growing up. It still floors me when she says, “I honestly have never known the feeling of overwhelm,” because that was my nearly constant-state until I was 30.

So whether you’re helping your children or students learn organizational skills or simply implementing something like the 3-box method as you do your own home spruce-up, I just want to send a huge hug and some love and encouragement.

We don’t often realize how much the things in our lives weigh on us.

But the gift is that when we do remove the unnecessary so the necessary will speak, the lift we feel is typically well beyond what we expected.

Our LearnDoBecome Directory (linked below) that Taryn put together has a comprehensive list of all the posts here that can help you clear clutter.

I recommend you start with the 3-box method, but then you can click around and listen to more episodes, if you’d like additional support!

Of course, building the full STEP Command Central is going to help you not only organize your home, but you’ll have a full system in place to keep your mind calm and enable you to move forward on personal and professional projects without the stress. If you haven’t taken our free training yet, there’s a link below, as well!

I am excited for you and look forward to hearing how your “spruce up” goes!

Thank you for being with us at LearnDoBecome!

Related Links:The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin (Amazon Affiliate Link)

The 3-Box Method

Free Training: Empowering Students

LearnDoBecome Content Directory

Free Training: Learn About the STEP Command Central!

The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload

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Digital photo organization (combined with physical, printed photo organization) is a topic in the back of most people’s minds, and it can sometimes feel daunting to know where to begin or how to tackle such a huge project.

That’s exactly what we’re focusing on here today! I’ll be sharing a few of my personal best practices for digital photo organization, as well as tips for maintaining a solid photo routine and breaking a large project down into smaller sub-projects.

Quick Announcement! This Thursday, April 13th, at 9am Pacific, my mom (April) and I will be hosting a step-by-step training for parents on how to help teach organization to children/students. Everyone is invited, and we are so excited to share 4 simple ideas that have transformed my life and set me up for success as an organized adult. Click here to get the link/replay information!

Let’s get right into it!

I watched how my parents organized our family photos from a young age, and I knew that I wanted to keep and preserve my memories the same way. However, there were also a lot of sub-projects that I wanted to tackle to handle the “backlog” of photos that hadn’t quite been saved/preserved yet.

Step 1: Create a Routine to Organize Current & Future PhotosWe’ll get to the specifics on photo backlog in just a minute, but my first step was creating a good routine for myself to deal with all current and future photos.

The process of creating a brand-new routine is a project and should be on either the Current Projects List or Next-In-Line Projects List.

I’ve outlined my photo process in this video below, and I hope that it gives you an idea of what is possible in terms of long-term photo storage on external hard drives. (All relevant links and favorite tools/supplies are linked at the end of this post.)

Once my photos are safely on my external hard drives (detailed in the video), I upload my pictures to Google Photos so they are easier to access and look at on a regular basis. Google Photos is just one of many great tools for online photo organization, and I have heard great things about those using Dropbox, iCloud storage, Amazon Photos, and so on.

I also love categorizing my photos into photo albums within Google Photos so that I can quickly jump to a specific moment of time.

Step 2: Outline Sub-Projects to Tackle Photo BacklogMost of us have smaller sub-projects that we need to address when it comes to photos from the past or a lack of an organizational system. Here are a few things that might need to happen as examples–these would all be individual sub-projects (under the umbrella of “total photo organization” as the large end goal project). These might go on your Next-In-Line or Someday Projects List depending on your ability to work on them:

Go through old files of photos and assign names/dates for consistency
Purchase an external hard drive (or research the method that you’d like to use for long-term photo storage)
Transfer all digital photos to said hard drive or storage location (this can be done in small, Next Actions!)
Make a copy of these hard drives and give one to each child/sibling where applicable
Research scanning tools or a local business that can help digitize all of my printed photos
Create a process for getting these newly scanned pictures onto my hard drive/online storage platform
Ask parents/friends if they have any pictures that I might not have access to yet–create a plan to acquire these photos in order to “complete” my collection

As you can see, there are a lot of smaller projects that can come to mind from this overall project of photo organization.

When you identify these small, sub-projects, they don’t seem quite as daunting. This is how I’ve tackled my goal of getting all of my favorite family photos onto Google Photos over time. I started this project in August 2021 and am just finishing this project this week in April 2023!

I hope that this was a helpful resource, and I’d love to hear your favorite photo organization practices in the comments!

Related Links: (including Amazon affiliate links)

Empower Students Step-by-Step Training on April 13th
Our favorite external hard drives
My younger brother has been scanning family photos for my parents and has been hired by a few neighbors to help digitize theirs as well. This photo scanner is an investment, but has been extremely well used by our family over the past couple years.
STEP Mastery Program – Digital Photo Organization in the STEP Library
Free Training: How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-Speed Photo and Document Scanning System, Black

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We had a team email conversation this week about some essential mindset principles that need to be understood when diving into our Steps to Everyday Productivity program (the one that helps you to build your full Command Central). We’ve worked with tens of thousands of students over the past decade, and we’ve noticed a common trend among those who start, but never finish:

They haven’t mentally prepared for the obstacles that will inevitably come into their lives.

In theory, we all know challenges are going to occur, but it is too common for life situations to halt our progress and cause us to “throw in the towel.”

Today’s post is meant to encourage you to keep going–because we know that a great “Before and After” photo is in your future.

Coach Jill shared this beautiful thought: “If we can connect their initial ambition and energy to the end goal and result (including the bumps along the way), I think we will see a greater success and long term implementation of STEP. If there isn’t a plan for these obstacles, it can completely derail a person from the progress they have made or want to make in STEP.”

She went on to share this wonderful process:

Identify our excuses.
Assess our excuses to help us foresee potential obstacles.
Once we see the potential obstacles, ask, “What is an effective action to overcome this adverse thought/situation?”
Identify “If/Then” statements for overcoming the obstacle. Example: “If I feel like I am overwhelmed and can’t learn this system, then I will take 3 deep breaths and pick just 1 of my daily STEP routines to check.”
Identify “If/Then” statements focusing on the end result. Example: “If I take the time to implement STEP in my life, my spouse, my children, and I will be able to spend more quality time together.”
Acknowledge how will it feel to overcome any obstacle. (Excited, Proud, Strong, Brave…)

This helpful perspective goes really well with a concept I read from Heidi Grant Halvorson, author of Nine Things Successful People Do Differently–published in the Harvard Business Review Guide to Getting The Right Work Done. She shared, “Grit is all about not giving up in the face of difficulty, even when you’re tired or discouraged. And the best predictor of not giving up is how we explain that difficulty in the first place. When you’re having a hard time, what do you blame?”

She goes on to echo what Carol Dweck shared in her book, Mindset. We can either lean toward having a fixed mindset–which says that if we’re not good at something, we never will be, or we can lean toward a growth mindset–which essentially says that if we don’t succeed at first, there are things within our control that we can adjust (like our effort, strategy, planning, etc.).

Halvorson adds, “The next time you find yourself thinking, ‘But I’m just not good at this,’ remember: You’re just not good at it yet.”

This concept has been helpful for me this past week because I went through some pretty low moments. (You know, one of those “perfect storm” weeks when it feels like everything is too hard and nothing is working out right? And yes, I realize that’s “all or nothing” thinking. I’m doing much better now…. I was just struggling with a week-long chest cold, some specific needs in our family, a couple of other random health issues, some disappointment regarding a project I was working on, and some tricky circumstances that were out of my control.)

But it’s in those moments when “throwing in the towel” sounds like the best option that we have to pay extra close attention to the story we’re telling ourselves.

Some thoughts that have been personally helpful to me this past week are as follows:

Things feel hard right now, but this is a low point. I won’t always feel this way.
These challenges help me to appreciate the good times.
I’m grateful for (filled in the blank with lots of blessings).
This will help me to have more empathy for others.
I’m learning and growing from these challenges.
I know God’s purposes can’t be thwarted by these setbacks.
Once I’m feeling better, I’m going to be extra grateful for my energy and capacity.

Honestly, if you feel like giving up, please know that you’re not alone, but please also know that there’s another option.

I love the quote by Mary Anne Radmacher that says, “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Last night, I popped into our LearnDoBecome Community Facebook group and read this lovely comment by Anne:

I love picturing her building her STEP Command Central. I love the thought of her taking time to focus on her home and family–and creating a system that will help her to calm her mind and take care of herself and feel better equipped to meet the needs of those she loves. And while I don’t do this work because I need people to thank me, I’m grateful to know that my efforts mean something to someone.

I think that’s what we all want–to know that the energy we put into the world and the good we try to do actually makes a difference. And sometimes we don’t see it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that most of the time we don’t see it.

So today I just wanted to send a virtual hug–and remind all of us that obstacles are inevitable, but if we mentally prepare ourselves for them, maintain that growth mindset, and prepare ourselves to endure and overcome the challenges we face, we’ll eventually see the benefits of our efforts and know that all that “trying” really was worth it.

xoxoxo

April

Related Links:How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles – Our Free Training!

The STEP Program

The ARISE Membership

Book Recommendation: Mindset by Carol Dweck (Amazon Affiliate Link)

Book Recommendation: HBR Guide to Getting The Right Work Done (Amazon Affiliate Link–This one is currently only available in a package of similar books)

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Do you often wonder what kinds of things you should keep (for those who come next) and what kinds of things you should donate/clear out of your life? April (my mom) and I had a great discussion together, and we identified 3 important questions to consider as we approach this topic:

1) What do I want to say with my life?

We both feel that above all of the physical items and “stuff” in our lives, the most important aspects of life are the relationships that we created, people we loved, service given, and time spent creating beautiful memories.

There are a few physical items, such as journals and photos, that have allowed us to think back to the special moments spent with loved ones before they passed away, and these are some of our most treasured possessions. My maternal grandparents passed away several years ago, and I return to our pictures together and reminisce about the love that I felt while spending time in their home and the conversations and experiences that we had together over the years.

These memories are most important to me, and many of the physical items from their home pale in comparison to the feelings and experiences that we shared. The question “What do I want to say with my life?” doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have any material items that we care about–instead, it means that there are other things that might mean even more to our loved ones and those in our communities to represent our lives, actions, and endeavors.

2) How do I want my love and values to be passed on?

Eric (my dad) asks this question frequently and is such a great example of passing on traditions and special family-centered items to his children. He has selected a few small, but meaningful, items to purchase and pass on to each child when they become adults and start their own families. This list includes:

a funny Christmas decoration
a crepe maker to continue the Saturday morning breakfast tradition
a Tooth Fairy box
a copy of all of our digital family photos on a hard drive

I absolutely love each of these items, and I was so excited to receive a couple of them during our first year of marriage. It is so special to recognize how intentional my dad was throughout my childhood in creating memories with these small and simple items, and now I get to have a set of my own! Instead of being bombarded with gifts or random items that would ultimately end up as clutter in our apartment, we received meaningful items that will allow us to create our own family traditions that stem from the ones I grew up with.

Additionally, while we were growing up, we got a “memory box” (a bankers box that wasn’t too large) for every 5-year period of our lives. I have a 0-5 year box, a 6-10 year box, and so on, and whenever we had an art project, trinket, medal, special paper, or item that we wanted to save, it would go in this box. If the box got too full before the 5 years had passed, we were encouraged to go through the box and pare down the items so that we only kept the most important things for future reference and memories. I am so grateful for this practice because I have all of these treasures from my childhood, but they don’t take up much space, and only the most important things have been saved for me to access and possibly pass down to my children.

3) Will a physical item actually be wanted, used, and/or helpful?

It’s easier than ever to accumulate items, make purchases (in store or online), and give gifts to show our love or that we are thinking about someone.

I am so appreciative of every gift that I receive, but there are some items that I might not utilize long-term or might not be a great fit for me and my current circumstances. It is so freeing to know that I can love and appreciate a gift, but I am not obligated to store and keep it forever. I can enjoy it for a time (or let it “incubate” in my donations pile), and then let it go to someone who might enjoy it or need it more than me.

When I am giving gifts, I try to think about this principle and recognize that some gifts might end up as clutter and other gifts might not be wise purchases for me to make. When it comes to giving gifts to family members, I will often send them screenshots of things that I would have purchased on impulse and say, “I saw this item and it made me think of you!” That way, they know I am thinking about them, but that item doesn’t need to be purchased or take up space in their lives.

Additionally, there might be some large items (like furniture) that are important to us, but are not the right fit for a loved one. When we can take the time to recognize how the item benefitted our lives and allow it to move on and benefit the life of someone else (through donation, a sale, or other means), we can free up space in our lives and minds for the love, experiences, and memories that we will treasure even more.

This is certainly a process that takes some time, grace, and patience with ourselves, but the outcome can be so freeing and allow us to really focus on what matters most in our lives.

Related Links:

Our ARISE membership dives deep into one topic each month that helps each of us actually do what matters most. This month, on Thursday, March 16th at 10am Pacific, we’re being joined by a special guest speaker–Cognitive Behavioral Therapist Mike Christensen (who I’ve personally worked with on 3 occasions!). Click here to sign up for your free 7-Day Trial to ARISE! (Can’t wait to see you!)
Special Class for STEP Mastery Members – March 21st at Noon Pacific! Join me inside my personal Asana account while I show you exactly how I manage personal and professional tasks, routines, and projects—and teach you how YOU can do it too…inside the digital tool of your choice. This class is will be held on Zoom for all STEP Mastery members, and the recording will be free to anyone who joins (or upgrades to) STEP Mastery by March 31st!

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I know it sounds kind of strange, but I watch people make lists for a living.

A big part of my job is to notice how and why people make lists the way they do—and then help them to transition those lists into a system. (We call it our STEP Command Central, and my goal is to have one on every desk!)

Because I really want you to experience the mental clarity, peace, and productivity that comes when your Command Central is in place, I’m going to walk through the “normal” way people make lists—and then compare that with the benefits of creating a seamless system.

1: A list keeps growing and growing, and there’s never an “end.”You’ve seen these kinds of lists, right? Maybe it’s a notepad, perhaps it’s a digital note, or it might be a digital task manager with lists and lists and lists that are mostly overdue or out of date or so nebulous that no one ever looks at them.

In contrast, a system keeps the daily focus very simple, and anything out of date—or anything that decreases in priority—is moved to the appropriate location (Someday, Incubation, Calendar Trigger for the future, delegated to someone else, added to a “Next in Line” project list, etc.). That movement or adjustment happens during the Weekly Review, where you honestly look at what’s on your plate, and you de-prioritize anything that doesn’t deserve your attention that week.

2: A list—even if it is simplified so it only includes what you’re doing that day—leaves a LOT in your psychic RAM.“Psychic RAM” is a term often used by David Allen, the bestselling author of Getting Things Done®.

And in case you’re not familiar with “RAM,” it stands for Random Access Memory. It’s essentially a computer’s short-term memory, and, unlike a hard drive, it resets whenever the system is rebooted. From what I understand, RAM is particularly helpful in things like computer gaming, so the system runs faster.

Psychic RAM refers to the tasks, reminders, etc. that are floating around in your head. For example, if I asked you to memorize a 10-digit code and give it back to me 5 minutes later, that would be in your psychic RAM. It’s like when you cram for a test, and you don’t really know what you’re talking about, but you have enough in your head that you can temporarily make it seem like you do.

If you don’t have a system in place, and you only want to work from a short list for the day (like, “I’m just doing these 3 things today!”), that’s fine, but what happens to all those other tasks, projects, ideas, goals, etc. that you’re NOT working on? If they’re not written down, they’re most likely sitting in your head.

However, if you have a STEP Command Central, guess what? You not only know what you ARE doing that day, you know what you’re NOT doing that day. It’s all in your system, and it will come to you when you need it.

3: A list typically won’t encompass all the “stuff” that’s sitting on your flat surfaces.We talk about Flat Surface Disease a lot here at LearnDoBecome. It’s incredibly normal, and essentially, it means that you place items in plain sight—on every flat surface—as reminders to do tasks.

That light bulb is there to remind you to buy light bulbs.

That pile of gardening gloves is there to remind you to call your neighbor to see when she’s doing that project you said you’d help out with.

The invitation on the fridge is there so you’ll buy a present and mail it next week, since you can’t attend the wedding.

The pamphlet is there to remind you to take a vacation.

The hydration chart is there to remind you to drink water.

The book is there to remind you to read so you can be a better leader at work.

Does this make sense?

When you have a system, you don’t need the actual items to be your reminders.

You can toss the light bulb and use the 2-minute rule to place an online order—or add it to your errands list.

The gloves can go back into the garage, and you can send a quick text to your neighbor, instead, or add it to your Next Actions List to give her a call.

You can put the wedding invitation in your Tickler File (monthly resources that are linked to your calendar), and a calendar trigger/reminder can tell you when to make the gift-purchasing a priority. (It will then either be a 2-minute VenMo, a Next Action to shop/buy a card, an errand to mail it, etc.)

The pamphlet can go into “Someday” or into your Family cubby for Current Project Support Materials, and you can add “Plan Vacation” to your “To Discuss” section of your Next Actions List.

You could post the hydration chart, if you’d like, OR you can add your daily reminder to your Routines List, which you will review once a week. And maybe you’ll decide to get a new water bottle or something that will make hydration easier.

And the book can go onto a “To Read” section of your Next Actions List—or you can set it where you will most likely read it, and you can add a reading routine to your daily or weekly list.

I could honestly go on and on and on, but the main point I want to make is that it is SO beneficial to build your STEP Command Central. If you like making lists, that’s great—we’ll show you how to make them more optimally. I just really, really encourage you to learn how to build your system and then use it—because even though it feels a bit like learning a new language, it’s going to change your life, you’re going to feel calm and in control (of at least some things…), and you’re going to feel like someone just gave you the shortcut to getting things done.

This month, I’m doing a special class for all our STEP Mastery students! It’s about Personal AND Professional Digital Task/Project Management. I personally use Asana, but if you use Monday, Click-Up, Trello, Basecamp, or any other digital task management tool, the same principles apply. My class is being held on Tuesday, March 21st at noon Pacific on Zoom! We’ll email the link to all the STEP Mastery members!

Are you in STEP Mastery yet? It is truly one of the best groups on the internet, and the resources we have for you in there are incredible.

Plus, this month inside ARISE, my personal coach/therapist is coming to walk everyone through the TEAM-CBT model. He’s taking us through a mood log and helping us understand our self-defeating beliefs, and I know you’ll get a ton out of it, if you want to join us! That’s Thursday, March 16th at 10am Pacific.

But whether you’re part of STEP or our ARISE membership—or following along with the free resources at LearnDoBecome—we are so grateful for you, and we hope you’ll continue to breathe deeply, get more and more organized and calm as you go, and share it with your friends!

And we have three testimonials to celebrate today!

We love this community and are so grateful for the opportunity to work with you!

Related Links:

If you haven’t had the chance to listen to our “The Three-Box Method for Organizing Your Space” podcast yet, you can find the full post and audio here!

Have you had a chance to join our free class that will introduce you to our Steps to Everyday Productivity program? If not, we’d love to see you there! Sign up here!

If you haven’t already, come join us in ARISE and see what this amazing group has to offer! I’ve invited my personal coach/cognitive behavioral therapist to come and teach YOU what he taught me…all about getting to the root of our self-defeating beliefs and getting to the place where we feel totally calm. It’s going to be amazing!

Click HERE to learn more and/or sign up for a free trial!

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity (STEP) program with lifetime access helps you build a seamless system to handle all the physical, mental, and digital “stuff” in your life. We’ve already served tens of thousands of members, and it is a game changer.

Click HERE to learn more and/or join!

And here’s the full STEP Command Central image I promised I’d share in the podcast!

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Some great questions came in regarding the Current Projects List, so I thought it would be fun to do a follow-up!We want a simple, focused list of projects for the month, but what happens when we have lots of little small projects? And how can we accurately see what we have done this month—especially if we find we’re working on lots of “hidden” projects? There are a lot of subtleties in this, and while there isn’t “one right way,” I’m sharing how I personally look at project selection and the management of smaller projects, and I hope this is helpful to you!Principle #1: If your life typically includes several smaller multi-step tasks, it’s helpful to reduce the number of bigger “projects” that you place on your Current Projects List.I don’t want to spend a lot of time editing my Current Projects list. I do it once or maybe twice throughout the month, but I think of this list as the “big rocks” I’m working on.

Even 1-3 Current Projects can be sufficient. Mine usually span the whole month, and they can each take between 3 and 20+ hours to complete.

Here’s what Shayla shared as an example:

A cozy gift exchange in an online community I’m in. It wasn’t planned at the beginning of the month but I am not sure its “big enough” to actually be a project. It did take a chunk of my Saturday that would have been designated otherwise. It involved the ordering of an item, going to the store to pick up another, packaging and writing a note, and going to the post office to mail. Something that could all be listed under individual “errands” and checked off. Or should this be thought of as a project? Then I debate do I really want this to count as one of my eight? lol In that case, I would recognize in my mind that I am choosing to put my energy into this multi-step task, and I would reduce my expectations around other projects or routines, but I would just use my calendar and Next Actions List to manage these things. If the main issue is the need to validate the way you are spending your time—or see a visual representation of what you have accomplished—you could definitely write this on a “Happy Success” list. (Link to Danielle’s post)

Principle #2: Utilize the Routines List for anything that is done over and over.

Here’s the example:* My son’s cub scouts needs to use our neighborhood clubhouse as a meeting spot each week. So I am the one responsible for booking each of these which I have to complete an online form for each date which is about 15 different ones. Is this a “project” or just a “task”? I have already completed the portion of paying for and dropping off the check etc, those were errands a previous week. I would simply create a recurring task in Asana (or a Google Calendar reminder, if you use paper planning resources), reminding me to fill out the form—and I would put the form link right there in the task or calendar event, so I wouldn’t have to go looking for it.

If a routine isn’t absolutely done every single week, you could create a routine to CHECK on it. For example, in our church, the families take turns bringing the bread for the sacrament. The leaders created a Google sheet that was often updated, but I was worried that our family would be responsible, but I wouldn’t be notified.Related Links* Happy Success List * Create Your Year * STEP Mastery – Join or upgrade by the end of March, and you’ll receive lifetime access to our special class about using Digital Project Managers to organize your personal and professional tasks! * ARISE Membership – Our March class features a training by my personal coach/therapist, and you’ll learn how to go through a mood log and identify your Self-Defeating Beliefs. (SO helpful!) Hope to see you inside!

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I’ve been teaching decluttering for nearly 15 years now, and as I’ve worked with literally hundreds of thousands of people–and gone through a lot of growth and introspection–I’ve learned a powerful lesson:

The “stuff” we are trying to organize, whether it’s physical, digital, or mental, isn’t typically the problem…it’s a symptom of the problem.

Today I want to tackle a little piece of this by telling you a story of my own struggles, the week of somewhat-painful therapy I went through in early December, and what has happened as a result.

This is a really personal post, and while it isn’t easy to write all this down and share it with the world, if you’re suffering right now, I want to help you know there’s hope.

My StrugglesI shared some heart-to-heart podcasts and opened up about some of my worries late last year–one of those podcasts was called 7 “Rules” I Need to Replace (linked at the end of this post).

In a nutshell, I was feeling worried about some things, stuck in a couple of key areas, emotionally spread thin, and physically weak–particularly when it came to balancing self-care, family needs, community service, and the details here at LearnDoBecome.

I thought the problem was “other people” or “the challenges in front of me”–just like someone who looks at their messy room might assume the problem is “the people who give them things” or the clutter itself.

And because I can’t (but expected myself to) please everyone and immediately solve every challenge, my body went into a pretty intense stress response.

I won’t share all the details here, but I had lots of rashes, fatigue, middle-of-the-night worries, and near-constant tension in my body. It was like I was on guard for most of each day–uptight and worried that if I slowed down, I would let everybody down. My schedule was packed, I had to stop exercising in order to conserve my energy, and I was moving at a pace that was totally unsustainable.

My health struggles went from mid-September until about 3 weeks ago, and because I literally spent months trying to figure it out, I’m hopeful that what I share today can help you get results faster.

I also want to be clear that everything in my life wasn’t terrible. There were lots of really happy moments, a fun family vacation, exciting conferences, meaningful projects, and plenty of beautiful days. It’s just that, behind the scenes, my body was dragging, and, while I was in the middle of it, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

I share this because you may think your life is “fine” right now–or even “great.” But if you are secretly living in “fight or flight” and feeling like any second you’re going to tip over the edge, I want to encourage you to take those feelings seriously and really get to the root of what’s going on.

I am genuinely calm, relaxed, and happy right now, and getting to this point wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I kept thinking, “Oh, I’m sure this will get better soon. It’s just a busy phase of life.” But it was really hurting me. Your situation may be way worse than mine, so I’m not assuming I know everything, but I really hope I can at least point you in a good direction.

The Week of Somewhat-Painful TherapyA few years ago, I met with a TEAM-CBT therapist (stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy–the TEAM method, created by Dr. David Burns) to do some “emotional decluttering.” I talked about it in my podcast here.

I mainly wanted to talk through some mindset issues that were weighing me down at the time, and the session was incredibly helpful. In fact, I didn’t even feel like I needed a follow-up because the therapy was so successful.

However, during this recent challenge when I couldn’t get my rashes to go away and couldn’t calm my nervous system, the best thing I could think of was to meet with my coach/therapist again. I had one appointment on a Monday in early December, and then I had one more on Friday of that same week, and between the two appointments, I probably spent 10 hours doing my homework. I’m going to outline it for you as simply and as clearly as I can here.

TEAM-CBT, founded by Dr. David Burns, stands for Testing, Empathy, Agenda-Setting, and Methods as a four-part process of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

For the Testing part, I did a mood log before my therapy session (you can find them online or in the book When Panic Attacks). Basically, you pick a specific moment in time when you are suffering, and then you identify which feelings you’re having (from a list), how much you feel them (0-100%), and what thoughts you’re having that cause you to feel those feelings.

I basically let my therapist know that I was hiring him to help me stop having rashes, and I explained that I was feeling mostly anxious and frustrated.

During the Empathy part, he did a LOT of listening. I didn’t realize how may thoughts I had inside that didn’t have “a place to go.” This is one of the main reasons I appreciate therapists. Sometimes we just need to talk . And he didn’t try to “fix me” right away. Instead, he validated my feelings and emphasized the good in me that was causing them.

Then we started a fresh mood log, and he asked me to really think about one moment when the anxiety was the worst. We went through the feelings and thoughts I’d had at the time, and then we did the BEST part, which is called The Positive Reframe.

Essentially, we look at each thought and ask, “What does this thought show that is awesome about me?”

I know…it feels weird at first because when you’re feeling anxious, angry, lonely, etc., you don’t feel awesome.

But we came up with 20-30 different pieces of evidence that showed how my negative thoughts and feelings showed that I care about people, I want to show up for others, I want to protect people from being manipulated, I’m willing to serve and sacrifice my own well-being to be helpful, etc.

When we looked at all those good things my pain represented, he asked the “magic button question”, which essentially says, “If we could push a magic button and make all your pain go away, would you do it?”

Naturally, I wanted to say YES, but given all the good represented by that pain, I didn’t want to push it. Instead, he asked about the “Magic Dial.” What if we could dial down the pain–so there’s enough left to honor my values, but not so much that my body suffers. I, of course, agreed to that, so we set goals (that’s the “Agenda Setting”) to decrease my negative feelings into the sustainable range.

At that point, our time was up, so he gave me homework to finish that pattern with all of my emotions and then start identifying the distortions (also from a list) and then start creating the positive thoughts that could replace the negative ones. He also gave me a quiz on my self-defeating beliefs.

When I left the call on Monday, I assumed the homework would take me an hour, and we planned to meet again on Friday.

What happened over the next few days, however, was some of the hardest emotional work I’ve ever done.

Needing some quiet, uninterrupted time to think, and not being able to sleep well because of all the emotions, I started working in the basement in the middle of the night—between 2 and 4am.

I took my laptop downstairs and did my homework the first night, but once I “solved” the feelings around the initial event that had upset me, I realized THAT wasn’t really the problem.

So I started another mood log with a new event/situation I’d been in that felt even more painful, and I wrote down the emotions, the thoughts, the positive reframe, the distortions, and the new thoughts, and I cried hard during the whole process.

Once I finished that one, I realized there was an even deeper issue, so I started another mood log, cried the whole way through it, and then found one more even deeper level.

I think the reason for my tears was because I felt so much shame—like I should have known how to handle these things and I was “a bad person” for feeling upset or not articulating my emotions and perspectives for so long.

But they were also tears of relief—because as I did the positive reframes—and then as I identified the distortions—it helped me to see that whenever I blame myself or blame someone else or have “all-or-nothing” thinking, I feel REAL pain, but it’s distorted pain.

I didn’t know how freeing that would be. It is that process that helps me to see that whenever I’m struggling, that shows something really good about me and my values—but the pain that goes along with it doesn’t need to be permanent. There’s another way to look at it that still says, “Yes, that was not a good thing,” but it also says, “You don’t have to carry this pain in order to prove that this wasn’t a good thing.”

The other tool that was WAY more powerful than I expected was the self-defeating beliefs quiz.

It features 23 “SDBs”, with four questions under each one.

Here’s an example: of one where I got a “perfect score” (not in a great way…):

MAGICAL THINKING – How much do you relate to the following? (0-4)

- My worry protects me and those I love.
- If I’m not anxious, something bad could happen.
- It is important I worry so things work out okay.
- My worry, anxiety, and/or concern prevents bad things from happening

As I’m reading these now, I don’t believe those at all (part of my homework was to do a mood log for each of my self-defeating beliefs—including the positive reframe, the distortions, and the new way to think about each one), but at the time, I got a 4 on every single part.

The quiz was seriously an eye-opener. I realized how much I struggle with things like people-pleasing, emotional perfectionism, and anger phobia. But until I took the quiz, I couldn’t see that there was another option. I kept thinking, “Are there really people who don’t believe these things?” It was like a light turned on.

Eric was an amazing support through this whole thing. Although I attended the online sessions and did the homework on my own, Eric was my champion through the whole thing. Each morning, he’d listen as I summarized my middle-of-the-night homework sessions, and as I opened up and told him about the thoughts and feelings I’d been discovering, he listened and encouraged me. It made such a difference.

When I showed up for my Friday therapy session, I felt like a different person. I had ALL my mood logs to show as my completed homework, but this time, I didn’t need to talk and cry. I wanted to dive in and ask for help on some of the specific thoughts I couldn’t counteract on my own.

But this time, I knew they represented good things, and I knew they were distorted, so my questions went something like, “What would I do with this one so it doesn’t cause me to feel so sad?”

We also went through a variety of tools that taught me things like “how to look forward to arguments.” That one was a game-changer for me because one of my core self-defeating beliefs has been that it is unbearable to have anyone mad at me. Imagine what that belief does to a person…

Instead, I learned how to articulate my feelings in a way that leaves the other person feeling better, as well. Something like, “You know, this is hard for me to say because I care about you so much, and I can see how hard you’re working at this, but I’m starting to feel a bit angry. And because I want to be close to you, I think it’s important for me to share my feelings. I genuinely want to understand your perspective more fully. Can we discuss this further? Could you let me know if there’s something I’m not seeing yet?”

I don’t know if that exact language would work for you, but just having words to articulate what I feel has been so helpful. I’ve used this twice, and it’s like magic!

I’ll close for now, but to summarize the lessons I learned:

The struggles in our lives represent the good in us.
There’s nothing wrong with us…we’ve simply created beliefs that we think will keep us safe.
If we’re willing to open our hearts and “do the work,” we can find relief.

***Also, I asked my therapist/coach to be our first GUEST SPEAKER inside ARISE in March, and he is coming! If you would like to join us, please come into the membership! I seriously can’t wait.

xoxo

Related Links[PODCAST 168]: 7 “Rules” I Need to Replace

[PODCAST 55]: Ready to Declutter Your Emotions?

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Feeling Good Institute (Find a Therapist!)

Books: (The following links are Amazon affiliate links.)

Feeling Great

Feeling Good

Feeling Good Together

When Panic Attacks

Feeling Good Together: The Secret to Making Troubled Relationships Work

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Here at LearnDoBecome, we teach how to have a maximum of 7-8 Current Projects for the month—and to post it or write it in an obvious place.It’s how we focus.We divide them into Me, Family, and “Beyond” (meaning professional or volunteer work), and then we balance ourselves with 1-3 projects in each.If you have a lot on your calendar or routines list, you may want only 1-3 Current Projects. And you know it is optimal if it gives you a lift whenever you see it.Other projects go onto a “Next in Line” or “Someday” list, and then ideally, each month you complete the current list and repopulate it with your next set of projects.But sometimes you’ll want to edit your Current Projects mid-month, which I just did, so I thought it might be helpful to show you what that could look like.Here are a few reasons for editing:* Something unexpected came up, so you needed to switch a project. (Notice I didn’t say ADD a project… You’ll want to move one to Next in Line if you already have a full plate.) * You feel overwhelmed when you look at the list because it’s more than you can actually do. It’s totally fine to whittle it down! * You completed some projects and either want to make the visual list smaller—or you want to bring up additional projects from “Next in Line.” * You want to clarify a project because it is either too vague or not exactly what you need to do. And here’s my experience:This was my starter list for February:

And this is my updated list:

I’ll just explain what changed and why:In the “For Me” category, I put “Nutrition Focus” because I had gotten out of the habit of making my soups and pomegranate delights each week. But within the first week of the month, I got the routine back in place and realized I didn’t need this as a project anymore. It switched to a routine with a couple reminders added to my Routines List.In the “Family” section, I realized “Spencer’s Schedule” was too vague, so instead I switched it to “Life Architecture Plan with Spencer” because there are clearer next steps that come to mind when I see that.And then in the Beyond section, I also transitioned the Emotional Resilience class support (for church) into a routine (we held a meeting and I sent out start-up information via email). I have a calendar trigger to remind me to check in on that each Sunday.The smaller the list, the more creative and optimistic I tend to feel.If you haven’t yet made your Current Projects List for the month, I hope this can get you started, and if you HAVE made your list, I hope this can help you evaluate it so it can truly serve you!

Related Links:

Click HERE to learn more and/or join!

Have you had a chance to join our free class that will introduce you to our Steps to Everyday Productivity program? If not, we’d love to see you there! Sign up here!

If you haven’t had the chance to listen to our “We Love to Be a Family Day” podcast yet, you can find the full post and audio here!

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I had the chance to gather with some of my girlfriends this past weekend, and I came away feeling way more courageous and way less fearful, and I wanted to share a few takeaways with you.

I know you’re most likely here at LearnDoBecome because you want to make some changes in your life, and I also know that change typically feels uncomfortable.

In episode 149, I actually read a bunch of fears that our STEPpers told me they’d had before they got started. Here are a few:

Victoria: I was really excited initially about getting my life together. Once I got into the content, I realized the reason I was procrastinating and enabling my disorganized behaviors was because I was afraid of various things in each task. Am I going to “get in trouble” for doing this task wrong? What if other people won’t like me when I live the life I want to live (still wrestle with that one)? If I try my hardest and I’m not inhibited, will the failure hurt way more than if I remained inhibited? What if someone trusts me with bigger projects than I’m used to and I disappoint them? What if I get past overwhelm and it turns out when I’m not in crisis I’m not that interesting? Many of these things come up still, but I’ve learned how to process them effectively and continue to grow in that practice.

Katherine: I was also worried about the cost and it turning out to fail for me. Things have always been so hard for me for my whole life; what works for others required so much personalizing to make it work for me. I told my therapist about my fretting and she said, “But what if it actually works for you? How good would that feel? You obviously already sense it has some solutions for you or else you wouldn’t even be considering it.” And she was right — I had already found some valuable tidbits in the podcast. Staying in my misery, for free, no longer seemed like such a good deal.

Jody: I too was afraid of not following through. Afraid that I’d have yet another “Unfinished” notch in my belt…proof that I’m hopeless. (I still create big piles throughout the day- but I’m making noticeable improvements and my mind is definitely less stressed).

My friends and I can all relate! We’re trying to make changes in our health, our schedules, our relationships, our businesses, our mindsets, and how big we dream.

Throughout the weekend, we took turns sharing where we are right now—and where we want to go. We asked each other for advice and help, and we created a space where it was okay to admit that we were afraid—or frustrated—or stuck. I can’t even explain how much my heart needed that.

One of my favorite conversations centered around “failure.” We’re a highly-motivated group, and we’re all pushing the edges of our comfort zones right now.

And from the outside, when you see someone stepping into their purpose and trying something new, it looks so easy.

But after spending days in deep conversation, I don’t believe it’s “easy” for anyone.

And as I’ve thought more about it, I identified a few takeaways that will hopefully lift your perspective:

(1) Failure truly doesn’t exist.

We’ve all heard phrases like, “I either win or I learn,” and I know in theory that sounds great, but sometimes in our subconscious minds, we say, “Yeah…I LEARN from my failures, but I still failed.”

This story might be helpful. A friend of mine, who has been incredibly successful in a LOT of areas, is starting something different this month, and she’s been feeling pretty nervous about it.

As a group, we asked, “What are you afraid of?”

Her response? “That I’ll fail.”

First, we talked about how there’s no such thing as “one hundred percent failure” and “one hundred percent success,” but then we pushed a little deeper and asked, “What would that failure look like?”

She paused for a moment and then replied, “Well, I don’t really know. I guess I would be a failure if no one showed up (to her new venture).”

We talked about the logic of that thought for awhile…she literally has hundreds of thousands of people who already appreciate her work, and I think she could see that it was a stretch to believe that absolutely no one would show up.

But then we did explore her worst-case scenario, which was basically that her new project wouldn’t be as successful as she wanted it to be, and she would need to pivot and do something differently.

That’s when the energy came into the room—because everyone started saying things like, “Yeah, and then at least you would have tried. And you would have helped some people. That’s not failing.”

“And even if no one shows up, then you know what doesn’t work, and you can try something new!”

As we all shared our encouragement toward this specific friend, we were actually (secretly) telling ourselves the same things. It was really sweet.

(2) If something happens that was truly out of our control, or because we did something based on the knowledge we had at the time, or if we make a mistake, those also are not failures.

One day, I thought I’d give my two girls (then 9 and 7) haircuts. I’d never given a haircut before, but I figured it couldn’t be that hard. Well, after I trimmed it, it didn’t look even, so I kept trying to “even it up.” Before long, I just had to stop because it wasn’t getting any better, and we were running out of hair.

When Eric got home, the girls ran to show him their “haircuts” and he thought it was a joke—like maybe we’d pinned it up or something?

I felt terrible, and we had to go get it fixed at the local salon the next day.

Not a great success story, but I did the best I could, and I decided it was worth it to hire someone to help us from that time forward. I don’t call that a failure.

A more present-day story actually happened while I was writing this article. I flew home from my girls’ weekend, and due to Eric’s schedule, it made sense for me to take the train home. I actually like the train…there’s good wi-fi, and it’s calm and relaxing, and I don’t have to worry about traffic.

But because I was so tired and had so much on my mind and was so excited to get out of the cold, I got on the wrong train. Then it got worse because I got so absorbed in my writing that I didn’t even NOTICE until 30 minutes later—when I was one stop from the end of the line.

I’ll admit I did shed a few tears as I thought, “I feel so stupid. Who gets on the wrong train? Why do I do things like this?”

But then I reflected on this article (and read a few encouraging texts from Eric telling me it was okay and he’d drive toward me so we could meet in the middle and he could take me home). I realized that I made a mistake, and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get on the wrong train again.

I don’t love the uncomfortable life lessons, but learning to give ourselves grace and take the pressure off is one of the most beautiful skills I think we can learn.

(3) Courage is contagious.

At the retreat, as we were saying goodbye and closing up our last conversation, we were all sharing why this event had been so meaningful for us. And that friend of mine who’d been afraid of failing said, “Being around everyone this weekend actually convinced me that I can do this.”

I get choked up just thinking about that.

We all know she can. She just needed to believe it.

I think it’s the same inside our community here at LearnDoBecome. I go into the Facebook groups just about every day to see what’s happening and to read through the questions and success stories.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read something like, “Okay you guys, I’ve been watching all of your successes for awhile now, and this is my first post! I’m feeling really motivated, and I’m excited to be on this journey. I know I can get organized, too!”

Whenever I read those, I just feel so much gratitude—for that person who decided to take the next step, for the community, who so graciously supports one another, and for the chance I have to be a part of it.

The road to launching LearnDoBecome back in 2015—and the road Eric, I, and our team have traveled since then has been far beyond our comfort zones. Sometimes I ask myself if I would have started all this if I’d known how many challenges I was going to have to face.

Part of me quickly says, “No way. If I could have seen all the struggle, I would have chosen an easier route.”

But the braver part of me says, “One hundred percent.” Yes, I can hardly talk about some of my past experiences without breaking into tears as I relive the painful moments, but I don’t believe that an “easier way” would have had the refining power to get me where I am today.

It has genuinely been YOUR courage that has kept me going. You’ve shown up. You’ve trusted us. You’ve labeled your folders and organized your emails and built your Command Centrals literally all over the world.

And I get a lot of emails and kind comments letting me know that my work makes a difference for you, but I hope that you know that YOU are making a difference for ME.

Sending lots of love as you become more and more courageous—and less and less afraid of this non-existent concept called “failure.”

xoxoxo

LearnDoBecome InvitationThink of that thing that’s scaring you right now, and then write a note to yourself reminding yourself of the things you’ve already come through, about the fact that there’s no such thing as failure, and about your “why.”

And Come Join us in ARISE!

February’s class is all about strengthening your financial foundation, and then in March, I’ve invited my personal coach/cognitive behavioral therapist to come and teach YOU what he taught me…all about getting to the root of our self-defeating beliefs and getting to the place where we feel totally calm. It’s going to be amazing! Learn more/join at https://LearnDoBecome.com/ARISE

If You’re New, We Have a Free Training to Teach You About the STEP Program (and Building Your Command Central!)

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In today’s podcast, we’re answering the questions: What makes our “most successful students” in the STEP program? What are people doing that really set them up for long-term success?

1. Ask Questions

This might sound simple/obvious, but there is so much power that comes from not being afraid to ask questions. Chances are, other people have had the exact same questions as you. If they’ve already asked them, there’s likely to be a podcast/resource on the LearnDoBecome website with an answer or a Facebook post in our free community group addressing the same topic. If you aren’t able to find something that answers the question, don’t hesitate to be the one that asks!

2. Show Up!

Our team members gave advice to new Four Weeks to Finished program members about the importance of showing up to either the live classes or to the recordings. When it comes to the STEP program or any other online course you might be taking, there might not be a “need” to show up and be on a live call or meeting. However, when we prioritize “showing up” for ourselves and committing to making changes in our lives, the same principles apply. When life gets busy, how can we make 10-15 minutes to “show up” for ourselves and give ourselves the chance to learn something new or implement something that we are learning?

I (Alia) have found that dedicating even a small amount of energy or time to self-improvement or a course that will be beneficial for me has the potential to make a huge difference. It might not seem like much in the moment, but the compounded effects of positive change really do add up over time!

3. Give Yourself Grace

If your friend/family member came to you feeling down, discouraged, or confused, how would you respond to them? If their house wasn’t very tidy, would you judge them and tell them that they are lazy and not trying hard enough? Of course not! We would focus on their strengths, let them know that we are proud of how hard they are trying, and look for ways to offer support. How come that doesn’t always apply to ourselves?

We tend to be way too critical of our own shortcomings, and as Jill, one of our team members, pointed out: Disorganization doesn’t happen in one day, week, or month. It is something that happens over time as a result of numerous things going on in our lives, and we need to recognize that change takes time. The STEP program has so many great resources for creating a simple system that will transform physical and mental spaces, but they still take focused effort and time. Be kind to yourself and show yourself patience and grace!

4. Create Bookmarks for Easy Reference

I was working on a big research project for school, and I dreaded working on it every single time I opened my computer. I found that bookmarking all of my essential tabs (the rough draft document, the library page with my sources, and a couple other pages) made the project setup take 20 seconds max. I was able to get working quicker than ever, and I was met with a lot less resistance when I had everything ready to go–making the process as simple and effortless as possible.

Now, while I sure hope that you don’t “dread” opening the STEP program, I know that it can sometimes take mental energy and extra time to get the right pages open and start working. Perhaps it would help to bookmark the 2-3 pages in your members’ area that you visit often or perhaps it would be helpful to bookmark the STEP Mastery Facebook group and any other resources that you plan to spend time working on.

And as a reminder, we have a whole podcast directory that you can bookmark and save for easy access! Click HERE for the directory.

5. Consider How You Learn Best

Do you learn best through podcasts? Or through videos inside the program? Or maybe even by teaching your friend/partner/children about the things you’re learning in the program. There are so many different learning styles out there, and one size definitely doesn’t fit all. If you have gotten stuck in the past, perhaps it would be helpful to evaluate how you best take in information and try to focus on that approach as you build your Command Central.

I learn best by teaching, so I have found it helpful to share what I’m learning/doing with my husband or as a Facebook post to the STEP Mastery community. This helps the concepts to stick and I feel much more confident with the STEP elements that I am using on an everyday basis. I encourage you to try this for yourself!

Related Links:Join our free community Facebook group!

Four Weeks to Finished starts on February 2, 2023! We’d love to have you join us in this personalized group coaching program, and you can click HERE for more information!

If you’d like to receive access to the full recording of this bonus class (and be grandfathered in for all future bonus classes for the Mastery community), you can join the STEP Mastery program by clicking HERE.

Finally, if you haven’t listened to our Organized Mindset audio series or downloaded our free One-Month Command Central calendar yet, you can click HERE for immediate access!

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As a team, we are consistently adding special bonuses to our STEP Mastery program, and this month, we decided to hold a Digital Calendar Class!

I have been using Google Calendar for the past five years, and it has been my absolute favorite digital tool in my Command Central. In the Mastery bonus class, I shared all about how I have used this app (and website) to create a seamless system for managing my events, routines, and tasks.

Below, you’ll find the main points I shared during the call and in today’s podcast. I hope they are helpful to you!

(As a quick note, anyone that joins the STEP Mastery program by the end of January 2023 will receive access to this class AND be grandfathered in to any future classes that we hold for the community. You can learn more and/or sign up by clicking HERE!)

What actually goes on my calendar?

Events – Where does my body need to be physically or virtually?
Date-Specific Routines
- Rent payment on the first of every month
- Take the trash out every Monday evening
- Text a reminder to church youth group every Wednesday
Date-Specific Next Actions or Tasks
- Buy an ingredient on Thursday for dinner with friends
- Call billing office 2 weeks after doctor’s appointment to get my receipt

At the end of the day, the main goal is to have a clutter-free calendar that feels light, manageable, and easy to access/use.

I also shared a little bit about how I like to personalize my calendar and make it extra colorful and fun. While this might not be for everyone, I have found it helpful to color code my personal, work, school, community/volunteer, and family items on my calendar. This can also be done by creating simple calendar layers within Google Calendar, for example, that can be easily switched on and off.

During the call, we also discussed the importance of creating routines around using and updating your digital calendar. There are two important questions to consider here:

Do I have a routine for checking my calendar every day? (I like to check it in the morning and night, but I find myself looking at my calendar 5-10 times a day just to check in and make sure I’m on track.)
Am I updating my calendar regularly? Whether you update your calendar each week during the Weekly Review or daily whenever new appointments/tasks come your way, this is such an important routine to establish, and this ensures that the calendar will always be reliable and up to date.

Finally, I shared a little bit about how I share events and entire calendars with my husband so that we can stay connected. When I hear about an event that I’d like to go to or when someone schedules an event with me (that also includes my husband), I will simply invite him to that one event and it will pop up on his calendar as if he created it himself.

We have also connected our Google Calendars so that I can see everything on his calendar and he can see everything on mine. I have the ability to switch his calendar on and off so that it does not become distracting to me, but I absolutely love being able to see when he’s available and what his schedule looks like each day.

I hope that these ideas have been helpful, and if you have any favorite calendar tricks or best practices, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Related Links:Four Weeks to Finished starts on February 2, 2023! We’d love to have you join us in this personalized group coaching program, and you can click HERE for more information!

Finally, if you haven’t listened to our Organized Mindset audio series or downloaded our free One-Month Command Central calendar yet, you can click HERE for immediate access!

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Hello! I’m Alia, a team member and coach at LearnDoBecome, and my husband, Josh, and I were asked to guest podcast this week to share how we’ve created our Command Centrals together over the past year and a half of being married.

Creating a STEP system has been a huge part of my life from childhood to adult life, and I wanted to make sure that Josh didn’t feel forced into organizing or doing things “my way.” We started with sharing our respective calendars with one another, and over the first few months of being married, we set up our physical Command Centrals, set up some basic household routines, and got our email inboxes down to zero.

This system worked great for us, but in the last couple months, Josh has been preparing for his medical school applications and has taken on a few new responsibilities at work, in the community, and with our church youth group. We are also expecting our first child this summer, and we realized that with so much about to change in our personal lives, it is more important than ever to create a system that will hold all of the thoughts, projects, tasks, etc. that would usually be taking up space in our minds.

A couple days ago, we went through the four weeks of homework assignments from our past Four Weeks to Finished coaching session (more on that below!), and we put the finishing touches on our Command Centrals. Now, with all of these tools at the ready, we feel so much more confident about our many responsibilities, and we know that we can work together as partners and rely on one another as we break down projects, complete various tasks, and accomplish goals that we have set for ourselves.

Come listen to our story and please feel free to type in any questions or success stories of your own in the comments section.

We’re also featuring one of our “Finishers” at the end of the podcast who participated in Four Weeks to Finished in September and has been working alongside his wife to organize the details of their personal lives, family, and professions.

Related Links:Four Weeks to Finished Group Coaching Program (starting February 2, 2023!)

Steps to Everyday Productivity – Our Signature Program to Help You Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

3 Ways to Build Your Command Central in February!

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A few weeks ago, we launched a “Clear Space” challenge inside our free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook group. (Links are at the bottom of this page if you want to learn more!)

It has been amazing to see the results, so today we’re celebrating together and highlighting some principles that can help all of us to clear space, create order, and make room for the things that truly matter most in our lives.

At the end of this post, I’m also sharing the words of one of our recent Finishers who participated in our September 2022 session of Four Weeks to Finished. We hope that you’ll feel inspired and supported as you listen to the podcast (click “play” up above) or read the post below!

This first one is from Robin (and that link will take you right to her post inside our free Facebook group!):

Along with her photos, she wrote, “Baby Steps … so much more to do but I can see progress!” The comments she received were enthusiastic and congratulatory, but all of us could see that this was more than just baby steps.

Yes, sometimes when we look at everything we need to do, clearing off one little desk (or one corner of our kitchen or the trunk of our car) doesn’t seem like a big deal. But it’s that momentum and progress that has more power in our lives than we sometimes believe.

Another comment said, “I cleaned up my command center this weekend. It needed an annual reset. I feel so much less stress! Thank you, community, for sharing encouragement.”

That’s another thing I love–seeing the ripple effect of this community. One little thing to you might be exactly what another person needs in order to get moving.

This next one is from Carrie.

She said, “Took quite a bit longer than 10 minutes but I am so happy with the results. I still need to do the top 2 shelves, but that is for another day.”

A couple quick things to point out about this one:

Yes, sometimes it does take longer than 10 minutes to work on a project, clean a room, move something important forward, but often, when we get started with a 10-minute time commitment, we’ll want to work longer because we’re on a roll.
And I LOVED when she said that the top 2 shelves are for another day. The beauty of working in microbursts (and having a Command Central in place!) is that you can put “bookmarks” in your projects. You can add tasks to your Context-Based Next Actions List and know you’ll get back to them when the time is right. That takes a tremendous amount of pressure off our shoulders! Stephanie’s is next!

She said, “Definitely NOT a 10 minute microburst (even though it probably looks like it shouldn’t have taken long), but I finally cleaned my office cabinet and added some more decor for fun.”

(Again, yes, these clean-up projects can end up taking longer than 10 minutes…)

She then added, “Forgot to mention that I also put aside a pile of stuff to give away to my Buy Nothing group from cleaning out the shelves!”

And when I posted my congratulations, she said, “Thank you! I was glad to reclaim my cabinet (that I also painted myself!) And my space looks so much better when I walk in.”

This seriously makes me so happy. I love thinking of the boost Stephanie will feel whenever she walks into this space, and I am thrilled that she’s donating items to others and enjoying the benefits of her creativity.

This one is from my sister Laura!

She wrote, “Thank you April and this wonderful community for the inspiration to clean out our hall closet. I dreaded it for so long but today was the day. I showed my husband and daughter before and after pictures you all have posted here and they got inspired too! I set the timer and together we did this in 58 minutes. As I am posting this, my husband is vacuuming the house – he’s on a roll!”

Have you ever had a spot in your home–or a project in your mind–or a task on your list that you “dreaded”? I think we all probably have…. The magic comes when we take small steps, make some progress, assess how things are going, and move forward in ways that make sense. Yes, some tasks are more pleasant than others, but when you know you can do what’s needed–and make time for things you enjoy–life feels so much happier!

Next is Licia’s!

She set her timer for 10 minutes after she posted her “before” photo in the group. She later posted that it took 18 minutes, but then she shared this:

“A tidy end to 2022. We spent Christmas in CA with the in-laws. Got caught up in the Southwest debacle and couldn’t fly out of Palm Springs. Flight canceled, no flights available until Tuesday. Rented a car to drive to Phoenix and had flights scheduled to arrive midnight tonight in Austin. On Wed hubby tested positive for COVID. We canceled our flight and extended our rental car, driving 1261 miles to arrive home late last night. I’m sitting here in my clean living room breathing a little easier and feeling peaceful.”

It’s beautiful to see that after a busy vacation, where several things didn’t go as planned, she’s able to breathe easier and feel peace in her home.

Several people commented on her post–feeling encouraged and also offering her encouragement. One person said, “I so feel this. I spent ten minutes tonight working on my own similar area and now things feel a lot less chaotic.”

She also posted her success clearing her dresser and shared this: “My mind has been blown every time I walk into my room because it is so clean I don’t think it belongs in my house. And it’s somehow clean even though I feel like I didn’t clean it. 4 short mini bursts over 3 days and I feel like no work at all turned it from a mess to gorgeous.”

So happy, right? That’s how I want you to feel. I want you to be utterly shocked by how calm and clear your space feels and how calm and clear your mind feels. It’s a little weird. You’ll almost think there’s something wrong. But it’s totally possible–and sustainable!

Nikki then shared how she built her STEP system!

She wrote, “I created a command central Monday. (I didn’t think to take a before picture…just think of piles of papers and random stuff…like a drop zone for all the things…haha!)”

If you’re not sure what a STEP Command Central is, we have a link at the bottom of this post to our STEP Information Page. Basically, it’s a system that helps you give everything in your brain/office/house/etc. a “place.” That means you don’t have anything floating around in piles. For example, you can see her cubbies set up on the left–which are designed to hold current project support materials.

A STEP Command Central also helps you create focus for your life. If you’re working on 50 projects simultaneously, you probably won’t get any of them finished. But if you are working on 8 or fewer, and if you have your Next Actions and your routine “project time” in place, it’s really simple to move forward on the things you’ve identified as mattering most. (If you zoom in, you can see that Nikki has her projects outlined on the board behind her computer…. Go Nikki!)

This one from DaLana made us smile, as well!

She shared, “Might be ‘cheating,’ but my planned 10-minute blasts turned into a 3-hour tour with assistance from my Bestie and also the cleaning lady. I’m so thankful too, as by the time we finished, I thought my injured leg would detach itself and whap me over the head for letting all this clutter come into my life and business in the first place. Feeling fabulous and exhausted all at the same time. Making time to have more time!! Thank you LearnDoBecome for popping up on my FB feed and saving my sanity.”

Ahhh, so many things I love about this:

She got help. I love that.
She understands that “fabulous and exhausted all at the same time” feeling. This is usually how it feels at the beginning, but as you learn to maintain your spaces, the exhaustion goes way down and the “fabulous” goes way up!
She knows that she is creating space in her life so she has time to do what she’s excited about. Sometimes people actually don’t want to get organized because they know they’ll have time. And then what? More pressure? More responsibility? An obligation to deal with hard things? I prefer to think of it as more time to create the life you can’t wait to wake up and live.

This is so, so exciting!!

I’d also like to feature Mique.

She started Four Weeks to Finished when she was working at a non-profit organization in the healthcare industry that was going through a lot of rapid growth. She had been looking for additional tools to help her manage her day, as her responsibilities had increased, but because she’d dealt with some learning disabilities, she had some anxiety around how she would handle so many different projects and roles. By learning the STEP system, she discovered that there IS a system that can help her manage all the details of her job. She’d been successful in college, and she knew she was capable of accomplishing great things, but STEP helped her tailor a system that met the needs of her very demanding job.

Getting the calendar back on track, creating landing spots, assigning an inbox, and having places to put things gave her a boost. She could see that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

That is what I want you to know.

If you have piles of papers, thousands of emails, a ton of tasks swirling over your head, projects you’re procrastinating, a cluttered house, a lot of people who depend on you, etc., there is definitely light available to you–not just at the END of the tunnel, but INSIDE the tunnel, as well.

The links below will give you more information about our programs, but honestly, we hope you’ll at least take one step. Come and immerse yourself in the LearnDoBecome Community, watch the videos, subscribe to the podcast, check out our Directory and all the free resources we have for you. A little at a time, you’re going to notice a CALM coming over you that you probably didn’t know was possible!

Sending so much love!

April

Related Links:Free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook Group

Original #ClearSpace Challenge Training – Episode 175

LearnDoBecome Directory of All Our Free Resources

Four Weeks to Finished Group Coaching Program (starting February 2, 2023!)

Steps to Everyday Productivity – Our Signature Program to Help You Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

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When I talk about the “constant churning” that happens in our minds, do you know what I mean? Do you ever feel that?

It’s when you can’t ever fully relax or be 100% present because your brain is cycling through all the things you have to do or reviewing all the “threats” that might cause problems for you and your family. You probably know the feeling, but you might not know that there’s a way out.

I want to start out with a story from Deb, who participated in our September session of Four Weeks to Finished. Our whole team was touched by her experience, and if you listen to the podcast, you can hear her voice and her own words, but I’ve summarized it below for those who may be reading this instead.

After her story, I’ll give a little more detail on how you can implement these solutions in your own life, as well!

——

Deb felt a constant churning in her mind and could never be fully at peace.

At the time of this recording, she’d completed Four Weeks to Finished and then spent an additional month implementing it. She said for those two months, she’d been able to relax, she didn’t have that constant churning in her mind, and she knew where to find things.

We asked what made the biggest difference, and she identified these two things:

(1) The Mind Sweep

This is where she was able to get all the things in her mind down on paper (and that alone can be helpful!), but then because she had the STEP Command Central in place, she knew where to find what she recorded when she needed them. Nothing needed to stay on her mind.

(2) Building Project Momentum

Because Deb learned how to work with project planning tools, next actions, etc., when a multi-step task needed to get done, she learned that she didn’t have to have all the answers at the beginning. She could get started and build momentum, and then she could go from there.

How has this ability to relax her mind been helpful?

Deb shared that she’d had general anxiety disorder for years–and there were days when she couldn’t even leave the house. Now she’s able to leave the house, she’s gone on two trips, she’s not having panic attacks, she’s creating simple packing lists that ease her stress, and she’s having the BEST TIME at events because she’s actually enjoying time with friends and not forgetting to do things. (You may want to listen to this part of the podcast because it is so thrilling to hear her share this experience!)

The anxiety we feel comes because we care. We’re compassionate and we want to “do things right,” and when we can give our minds a break and direct our energy toward what we are actually excited about, that creates an amazing transformation!

Okay, so what’s a mind sweep, and how do you keep from just losing all the things you swept out of your mind?

We go into depth on this in our Steps to Everyday Productivity program, but the quick answer is that a mind sweep pulls ALL the stuff out of your brain. What tasks need to be done–including errands, phone calls, computer work, household projects? What routines do you need to create? What big projects are on your mind? What books do you want to read? Where do you want to go on vacation? I may just be pulling this random statistic out of the air, but I believe I once read that the average person has between 300 and 500 hours of work in their heads at any given moment.

Once the mind sweep is complete, that’s where STEP comes in. You learn how to process it into the Command Central so everything has a landing space and you know that it will either come back to you through your daily/weekly/monthly systems or you’ll know exactly where to retrieve it, if needed. That gives your brain the ability to relax.

And how do you get started on a project if you don’t know ALL that it will entail or how the whole thing is going to turn out?

One thing we talk about often is how to identify that very next action–that simple 10-minute microburst that will at least get you going.

Multi-step tasks (also known as “projects”) are often easy to procrastinate because our minds lump all the little tasks into one giant mountain of a task, and it feels too hard. Even writing this post or recording podcasts can feel overwhelming to me if I look at the whole thing.

But it’s easy to say, “Let me sit down for 10 minutes and work on the written part.” Then I could do the rest later.

The beautiful thing about a 10-minute microburst is that, once you get started, it feels easier to keep going–or if you do need to stop, you simply identify the next microburst and get to it when you can.

It feels “safer” to know the end from the beginning, but when we learn how to take a step, see that we made progress and the world didn’t come to an end, and then take another step, we build momentum. And then we have confidence in ourselves that we can get things done.

I hope that these ideas are helpful for you today!

Related LinksFour Weeks to Finished — Starting February 2nd (includes lifetime access to the STEP program!)

STEP – Build Your Command Central!

Free Training: How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

ARISE Membership! Would you like to wake up excited and go to bed content–with an engaged community of like-minded individuals?

LearnDoBecome Content Directory

Free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook Group

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One of my favorite lessons I learned from David Allen, author of the book Getting Things Done, is that before we set goals, it helps to clear space.

When we clear space, we can’t help but feel more creative and open to new ideas. So to start out this year, I taught a decluttering class to our LearnDoBecome community and shared a simple process for decluttering in microbursts (10-minute, focused periods of work).

You can click the “play” button above on this page to listen to the audio version (or listen to LearnDoBecome Radio on your favorite podcast player!), or you can watch the class on this embedded video below. A written synopsis is below!

The Facebook Live Video is here, if you’d like to watch from that platform.

Summary of the Class:Quick Intro: I grew up in a very lovely, nurturing home, but I always had piles of stuff. I didn’t even know that decluttering was a thing, and so I would constantly dig through piles, try to organize piles, and just shove piles of things under my bed whenever I needed space. When I learned to declutter, my entire life changed.

Brief Overview of LearnDoBecome: We help people who are drowning in the details of life to create simple systems so they can do what matters most. A lot of our resources are free–see the “Connect” page–and then for those who want to work with us on a deeper level, we have our STEP and ARISE programs. We love working with our community and invite you to check out our programs page here!

Congratulations on Being Here! Because you are showing up here on this site, and because you want to declutter your life, you’re saying that you’re ready to step more fully into your purpose and live a life where you wake up excited and go to bed content. We’re so grateful for the chance to get to know you!

Outcome for Today: Create a plan to systematically clear space in your home–in just 10 minutes per “session,” and even if you’re in the middle of a busy phase of life.

All You Need:

a spot for donations
a recycle/trash area
a commitment to work on this for a couple of weeks

We are NOT:

clearing other people’s things
diving into projects (clearing clutter that requires multiple steps/decision-making, etc.)

In the Future: You can build a full STEP Command Central and really get your projects rolling–and organize every piece of paper and every digital piece of clutter and every random thought in your mind–but for now, we’re just taking care of the simple items that are totally within your control that can be tossed or donated.

Identify Your Microbursts: Because we don’t want this to feel overwhelming, we recommend that you get out a sheet of paper or a digital note and write out all the areas of your home that you would like to declutter in the next couple of weeks. If an area has multiple microbursts, note each one separately. Below is the sample list I created on the class.

Office closet* Top shelf * Middle shelf * Bottom shelf * Floor

Desk* Front drawer * Side shelves

Podcast room* Bookshelf

Master Closet* Top shelf boxes * Jewelry box * Shirts * Dresses/coats * General shelves * Exercise clothes

Master Bathroom* Cupboard * Middle drawer

Biggest Challenges When Donating Items:* But it is still useful * But someone I love gave it to me * But I might need it someday

Biggest Challenges With the Process:* If I clear space, I might have to deal with harder things (This is worth it…) * A few minutes won’t make a difference – I need a full week (Microbursts add up…) * It will just come back (Not if you slow down your shopping/impulse buys and focus more on experiences)

Example from My Bathroom Drawer: There were a few things in there I never use, so I removed them that morning while I was getting ready.

And this cute story in our community Facebook group totally inspired me!

Ready for Next Steps?Come participate in this decluttering challenge by joining the free LearnDoBecome Community Facebook group and using #clearspace when you post!

Our Four Weeks to Finished group coaching program kicks off Thursday, February 2nd, and if you want to build your full STEP Command Central and get your mind calm and organized in one month, there is tons of support in this group! Click here to learn more!

Have you become a STEPper yet? Our signature program will help you learn the secrets to creating a seamless system to organize everything that’s important to you! Sign up here!

And ARISE is a membership unlike any other. If you’d like to wake up excited and go to bed content, come join this fantastic community that focuses on one topic per month and provides lots of support and inspiration!

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All right! It’s time for the fourth and final segment of Create Your Year! We’ve covered the yearly, monthly, and weekly planning, and today we’re talking about what we’ll do on a DAILY basis to tie it all together! This is another simple 5-minute process I do on most mornings (but not every morning). It’s simply an optional framework that makes my days flow more smoothly!

The accompanying worksheet (pictured below) and all the Create Your Year bonus templates are totally free AND stored on one single page! Simply click here or at the bottom of this post to sign up!

Here we go!

Step 1:I do like to start with a 30-second review of my vision for the year. It’s a helpful way for me to check in with my goals, and usually I “get to know” this vision really well after a couple of weeks, so it honestly is 30 seconds to reconnect. I have a photo of my vision board inside Evernote in my “Daily Reminders” note, and sometimes I print or draw a copy and tape it to the back of my bedroom door so I can see it right when I wake up.

Step 2: Open (or bring up a picture of) your Create Your Day template and simply go through each section. This can be done on your phone from a Notes app, if you’d like. And just like last week, I’ll explain what each image means below and give some examples. You’ll notice that this is VERY similar to Create Your Week. It’s just looking at the specifics of that day.

Sun = Connection with Your Higher Power

I simply ask myself the question, “What am I going to do today to connect with my Higher Power, and when is the best time to do so?”

Example: This morning, I’m going to read this specific section of my scriptures, and tonight as a family, we’re going to watch this 5-minute video together and have a discussion about faith.

Book = Personal Learning

Considering the things I planned to learn this week, which one(s) will I focus on today?

Example: I’m going to watch 10 minutes of the leadership Masterclass while I eat lunch, and while I batch my soup today, I’m going to wear my headphones and listen to my Spanish lesson #3.

Dumbbell = Exercise

Looking at the exercise schedule I planned, what am I going to do today?

Example: Do upper body weight training for 20 minutes and walk Sunny.

Dinner Plate/Place Setting = Family Meals

Does the meal plan I put together still look good for tonight? (I often write my meal plan on my planner bookmark, so I can just glance at it from wherever I am…)

Example: Yes! I’m making the crockpot meal for tonight, so I’ll get the chicken out of the freezer when I go into the kitchen and put everything together before I eat lunch.

Zs = Sleep/Rest Schedule

Thinking about how I slept the night before and what our schedule is for the day, I plan my rest.

Example: Teach ARISE class, eat lunch, and then take my 20-minute nap. Get ready for bed around 10 so I’m actually ready to sleep at 10:30.

Balloons = Something to Look Forward To

I like to have at least one thing that specifically makes me giddy each day, and it doesn’t take much. It might be something like, “Enjoy the pomegranate I bought” or “Watch Mark Rober’s new YouTube video with Spencer” or “Read my new book in the recliner after dinner.”

Heart = Relationships

This is just a quick, but very important question: “How will I strengthen my relationship as I go through my activities today?”

I think about our daily routines–things like seeing Spencer off to school, exercising/getting ready with Eric, working with our team and community, seeing neighbors while I walk Sunny, going to calendared events, eating dinner with the family, etc. I don’t want to just “do things.” I want to have a relationship component with as many of my activities as possible.

This might mean I try to have good conversations while driving somewhere with our family members or I involve a friend or family member in an activity I could otherwise have done alone. Sometimes it means I find jokes to share at dinner or I call a friend while I walk the dog or I take a little card over to a neighbor. This single question has made the biggest difference in how I plan each day.

Alarm Clock = Appointments

This is where I briefly look at my calendar to see what appointments I have that day. I try to keep these as minimal as possible…

Checkbox = Tasks that must be done today

I also try to keep these as minimal as possible, but I like to see a very short list and make sure I’m aware of any deadlines (pay a specific bill, make a specific phone call, finish something for LearnDoBecome, etc.).

Step 3:Usually, once I’ve thought about each area above, I’m ready to go. Sometimes, however, if the day is particularly full (maybe a few days a month), I write out a more complete schedule on my calendar so all of my goals/desires are recorded in order. Then I work the plan, but if something needs to be adjusted, that’s fine! This is a guide–just a basic framework that feels happy to me.

I’m excited for you to try this, and I hope that this process brings you joy!

Remember you can download the Create Your Day template (printable or fillable!), and you can also get the templates for Create Your Year, Create Your Month, and Create Your Week!

Sign up by clicking HERE or on the image below!

To join and/or learn more about our Steps to Everyday Productivity program, click HERE.

To join and/or learn more about our ARISE membership, click HERE.

To sign up for our next session of Four Weeks to Finished, click HERE.

(If you have already purchased a STEP program, you will find a special discount code in the “Programs” page of your members’ area to apply what you have already paid to Four Weeks to Finished.)

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Today I’m sharing the process I’ve been happily using for the past year to “create my week.” It’s fun and simple, it takes about 5 minutes, and it fits in beautifully with the year and month resources we’ve shared in the past couple of posts. My hope is that you’ll feel a sense of excitement and relief as you see how these little planning bursts can make a big impact on how you feel about your life! (Stay tuned next week for Create Your Day!)

Remember that the accompanying worksheet for Create Your Week (pictured below) and all the Create Your Year bonus templates are totally free AND stored on one single page! Simply click here or at the bottom of this post to sign up!

I’ll jump into my “steps,” but really, the goal is for this to become so quick and easy that there’s no reason NOT to do it.

And one more important note: inside our Steps to Everyday Productivity program, we walk through how to do a complete Weekly Review–which maintains the full Command Central and helps to manage all the calendared events, routines, projects, papers, etc. This can be done as a 5-minute component of that same Weekly Review, or for those not yet in STEP, it can be done independently.

All right, let’s dive in!

Step 1:Briefly review/think about the vision you created for the year–focusing especially on who you want to become and how you want to feel throughout the whole year. (If you completed the Create Your Year template, it would be great to keep a digital version/screen shot/photo in a Notes app on your phone so it’s easily accessible wherever you are.)

Step 2: Open (or bring up a picture of) your Create Your Week template and simply go through each section. I’ll explain what each image means below and give some examples, but remember that this is a high-level plan that isn’t intended to be a “checklist.” It’s more of a happy guide for the week, and then in the next post, I’ll explain how it makes the Create Your Day process super simple.

Sun = Connection with Your Higher Power

Although I personally have a daily time for prayer and study, this is specifically for the Weekly Review. Is there a special place I want to go this week (worship service, event, etc.) or is there an activity I want to do personally or with my family that will provide spiritual strength? Or is there a special book I want to read or service project that I believe will bring me closer to my Higher Power?

Some examples:

Attend temple with Eric
Special Family Night lesson with Eric and Spencer
Focus on increasing my faith in regards to the challenges I’ve been facing

Book = Personal Learning

I like to think about the online courses I have access to, the books I’ve checked out from the library, and any study topics that have been on my mind.

Some examples:

Practice Spanish at the English Connect class and with Spencer and Eric around the house
Listen to Spanish Lessons on Wondrium
Watch Masterclasses about sleep and leadership

Dumbbell = Exercise

I like to take a moment to think about my physical health and upcoming schedule and then identify what a happy week of physical fitness would like:

3 Days of Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series
2 Days of Pilates
Walking Sunny Daily

Dinner Plate/Place Setting = Family Meals

This is a good time to think about our schedule for the week, how many nights we’ll be eating at home, what ingredients we already have, and what we could make for our dinners together. I might also plan to eat out one night or have everyone “fend for themselves” for a couple of nights. As a little P.S., now that we only have one child at home, and since Eric and Spencer are both pretty easygoing when it comes to food, I don’t cook very often. I typically have a smoothie for dinner. Back when we had 6 of us in the household, we had a more formal menu, but we still kept it simple.

Monday – Pick Your Own!
Tuesday – Teriyaki Chicken in Crockpot
Wednesday – Fajitas
Thursday – Pick Your Own!
Friday – Takeout
Saturday – Pick Your Own!

Zs = Sleep/Rest Schedule

This is also a great chance to assess how you are doing sleep-wise. Are you getting to bed at a good time? Are you getting up at a good time? Are you making it a priority to have sufficient downtime during the day?

Make sure I get to bed by 10:30
Try 20-minute naps before 2pm

Balloons = Something to Look Forward To

I like to look at the week’s calendar and have at least one event or block of time scheduled that feels like a treat. Maybe it’s an afternoon at a bookstore, a fun date night, or a phone call I schedule with a friend from college. (We’re going to do a simpler version of this with Create Your Day as well!)

Calendar = Scheduled Social Events

This might overlap with the balloons/something to look forward to, but I like to think about the social needs of each of our family members and see if there’s anything I’d like to schedule.

Some examples:

Spencer/have friends over Friday night
Invite another family over for dinner or dessert
Go to friend’s birthday lunch
Community service project

Hearts = Romance

I’m trying to think more about this because it is SO easy to let “life” take over and then romance is an afterthought. I want Eric to know he’s my number one.

Examples:

Lunch together on Wednesday at his favorite restaurant
Keep my schedule open on Monday and Friday morning so we can relax together
Hide a couple of little notes around the house for him

Smiley Faces = Social Connections

Again, there may be overlap with the events above and/or the “something to look forward to” section, but that’s okay! This is usually when I think about my personal social needs. Do I need more “girl time”? Could I text a friend, make sure I get out a bit more this week, etc.?

Picture of Current Projects List = Deciding on Next Actions

As part of the Steps to Everyday Productivity program, we create a fresh “Next Actions List” each week. This helps us to move forward on our Current Projects with bite-sized steps organized by context (where we are when we’re getting them done). I just take a moment to look at my selected Current Projects for the month, and then I decide which of those I want to move forward this week. (You don’t have to move all projects forward every week. The goal is just to get them completed by the end of the month.)

I might say, “Okay, this week, let’s really focus on Spencer’s Eagle project. Then I’ll work on getting ready for our family vacation afterwards.” Or inside our business projects, I might say, “Let’s fix this tech issue first, and then I’ll work more on content for the site.” Having a moment to picture the week and how all the things I want to do can fold together feels really empowering.

And if I ever have a week where my energy is low or we’re traveling to a conference or an emergency has come up that needs my attention, none of these things stress me out. I just clear my week and know I’ll think about it again the following week when I have the bandwidth.

Step 3:Now that I have a general brainstorm for the week, I plug things into my calendar and Next Actions List. It takes just a couple of minutes, and honestly, as I’ve done this week after week, I’m amazed at how everything folds into place. Certainly there are adaptations made along the way, but the little images and the fact that I am at least thinking about these areas of life that are important to me ends up giving me a huge boost!

Okay! I hope this was helpful!

Remember you can download this template (printable or fillable!), and you can also get the templates for Create Your Year, Create Your Month, and Create Your Day!

Sign up by clicking HERE (or on the image below)!

To join and/or learn more about our Steps to Everyday Productivity program, click HERE.

To join and/or learn more about our ARISE membership, click HERE.

To sign up for our next session of Four Weeks to Finished, click HERE.

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Hello and welcome to Part 2 of “Create Your Year!” In the last post, we created a one-year vision for self-care, relationships, and tangible outcomes. Today we’re talking about how we connect back to our big vision each month in a way that feels peaceful, calm, and happy.

If you have not yet received access to our bonus templates, there’s a link at the bottom, or you can sign up by clicking here!

We’re going to get a bit more granular over the next couple of weeks as we create each week and day. But for creating each month, I like to keep the big-picture approach.

The goal for today is to create an optimal Current Projects List with somewhere between 3 and 8 projects–assigned to the categories “Me, My Family/Relationships, and Beyond”–and then we’ll start a basic monthly routines list. Ready to go?

An Optimal Current Projects ListIn our free training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles (I’ll add a link at the bottom!), we discuss the human tendency to work on dozens of projects simultaneously. That often feels “productive,” but the projects rarely get finished, and we usually end up feeling overwhelmed.

An optimal Current Projects List (the way we teach it) is divided into the Me/My Family/Beyond categories and contains a maximum of 8 projects. That doesn’t mean you have to have 8 projects. In fact, I prefer to have 4-5 total. The idea is that we need to require ourselves to focus on the projects that are the most important.

Me = Projects that will facilitate your self care. Remember that establishing a routine is a project. More on this in a minute!

My Family/Relationships = Projects that are either related directly to a person in your family (“Help Spencer finish is Eagle Project” is currently on my list) or that will directly impact your family or other close relationships (like “Organize the Kitchen” or “Set Up a Book Club”).

Beyond = Projects for work or volunteer activities.

While going through our Steps to Everyday Productivity program, a lot of people discover that their project lists are regularly off-balance. They’ll have something like 14 family projects, 25 work projects, and 0 for themselves. Adjusting this list might seem frustrating or near-impossible, but I promise it’s going to give you a lift when you realize that you personally deserve resource allocation, too!

This monthly process of updating our Current Projects List doesn’t need to feel cumbersome. I’m going to walk through how I do it–considering what we put together in Create Your Year–and then hopefully you’ll feel incredibly excited to do this yourself.

Step 1: Review the Create Your Year template you filled out and do a quick brainstorm of 2-3 projects that could positively enhance your life this month.

As you’re doing so, you’ll want to think about any projects already on your plate, any big calendar-specific events coming up, your current bandwidth, etc. Mine might look something like this:

Me:

Establish a solid 10:30pm bedtime
Finish one painting from my acrylics course

Family/Relationships:

Schedule 4 getaways with Eric for the year
Help Spencer find an after-school job
Update the calendar with “We Love to Be a Family Day” and all birthdays for extended family members

Beyond:

Set up a check-in and training for the church Emotional Resilience program
Prepare Four Weeks to Finished!
Prepare ARISE survey Step 2: I know this step is going to sound weird. But once you’ve created your list, trim it down to 8 MAXIMUM, and then look at your list and assess how you feel.

If you feel excited when you look at it and think, “Wow! Totally doable. I’m looking forward to this!” then that is a great sign. I would say you should move ahead.

However, if you look at it and feel sick to your stomach, pay attention to that.

The sick/overwhelmed feeling usually means one of the following:

You subconsciously know you don’t have time to do all these projects–even in an entire month. Maybe you have a lot of routines. Maybe you’ve been sick. Maybe you need to be more gentle on yourself because you’re carrying some emotional burdens right now.
One or more of these projects is unclear to you. You might not know where to start, you may have made the project too big, you might not be the right person to even do this project, etc.
You skipped over an intermediate project. For example, I have a sample project on there to help Spencer find a part-time job. But what if FIRST, I need to meet with his school counselor to figure out his exact schedule–so we know what time frame he’ll be available to work. Then I need that to be the project.
You actually have “hidden projects” you’re working on that you forgot to write down. Maybe someone in your family has a medical issue, and you’ve been going to all sorts of doctor appointments to try to figure it out. That’s a project. Or maybe something broke at work, and you have to figure out how to get it fixed. That’s also a project.

Important Note: Not every single multi-step task needs to go on your Current Projects List. I’ve been asked this question a lot, and it’s actually super important, so I want to explain it here.

A member of our Four Weeks to Finished group said she wanted to find some new recipes for her family, and she wondered if she should put it on her Current Projects List. It felt frustrating to her because she didn’t want it to take up one of her 8 spaces, but she also didn’t want to put it off until the next month.

For something like finding recipes, if it’s “optional,” meaning there is no specific deadline, but you’d like to do it, I would simply add the “Next Action” to my Next Actions List. (If I end up changing my mind about it, that’s fine, but if I really want it to happen, I’ll make some progress over the course of the week.)

A Next Action could be, “Search Online Recipes for 15 Minutes.” Then as soon as I cross that off my list (and store my selected recipes in Evernote/a Notes app), I immediately add the NEXT Next Action into my system. That could be something like, “Buy ingredients for two recipes.” And that could either go on the “Errands” section of the Next Actions List or, if I can add the items to my grocery app so it’s ready to go when I place my weekly order, I can do that in 2 minutes or less.

Step 3: Once you have a solid Current Projects List, post it in a prominent place.

If you use a digital system, that’s great–just make sure this list can be easily found/reviewed as needed throughout the month.

I personally keep all my Current Projects in Asana, but I also post my list on a chalkboard in my office AND I write it on the weekly bookmark in my planner. It’s like my “stake in the ground” for the month, and it usually takes me about 15 minutes to create at the beginning of the month.

Your Monthly Routines ListInside the Steps to Everyday Productivity program, we have several different resources to help you create your full Routines List.

For today, let’s talk about how we would populate the monthly section of this list–based on what we identified in our vision for the year.

Step 1: Review your yearly vision and brainstorm routines that will support your self-care, relationships, and tangible outcomes.

Here’s an example of my key monthly routines:

Me:

Two-way journal twice a month
Library trip/check out a big basket
Coaching call

Family/Relationships:

Cook a favorite dinner or new recipe together once a month/do a fun activity with all the children
Get-togethers with extended family
2 activities with family and friends (a play, hike, date night, etc.)
Review, clean up, back up, and share meaningful photos from the month with those I love

Beyond:

ARISE Monthly Planning Meeting
Monthly LearnDoBecome Team Meeting
Email/connect with church Emotional Resilience facilitators Step 2: Decide how and when you want to be reminded of these routines.

The Routines List is on our “Review Weekly” section of the STEP Command Central. If you’d like, you can simply review it during your Weekly Review and assess how things are going. (Anything need to be removed? Added? Calendared?)

I don’t think of this list as “have-to” items. I did that for a long time, and it caused way too much stress because I was trying to do everything…all the time.

Instead, I think of this list as a bunch of great ideas–like the “Multiple-Choice Perfect Month” (see the related podcast linked at the bottom!).

Inside Asana, I add calendar triggers to the ones I want to make sure to review (for example “Plan an Activity with Friends” can be set to pop up twice a month on my Asana tasks), and I schedule any activities that are date/time specific (like our monthly Team LearnDoBecome meeting).

When an optional task pops up, I can either check it off–knowing it will come around again soon because I set it up as a recurring task–or I can do something about it. This way, I have a few select monthly routines (that connect back to my annual vision) that are a regular part of my life, but they feel light, happy, and optional.

It is SO GOOD. No pressure, lots of upside, and you can turn off all calendar triggers and stop thinking about them if life gets busy!

Okay, that’s all for this week!

I explained quite a bit in this post, but the assignment is really simple. Using the two templates we’ve provided (or your own system), simply create a Current Projects List for the coming month and a streamlined list of monthly routines. We’ll dive into the weekly and daily planning in the next 2 posts!

Sending lots of love!!

Related Links:Sign up for all the Create Your Year Bonus Templates!

Free Training: How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Part One: Create Your Year [Episode 171]

Multiple-Choice Perfect Day [Episode 144]

ARISE Membership

STEP Program

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I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my goal-setting this year, and as I’ve made some refinements, I felt so excited that I wanted to share the process with you. (You obviously want to do this in a way that is ideal for you, but hopefully this can spark some ideas!)

My criteria as I began was as follows:

I want to end the year “soft”–not pushing myself to “get it all in” before December 31st–but prioritizing rest, replenishment, and relationships
I want to prioritize my spiritual, mental, and physical health throughout the whole journey
I want to focus on being a “becomer” rather than an “achiever” (see Episode 170 for more on that!)
I don’t want to put a ton of pressure on myself or feel like I need to get out there and move beyond my strength in order for an external voice/imaginary judge/checked-off list to tell me I’m successful
I want my goals to be specific enough to activate my brain (reticular activating system that shapes how we see the world)
But I also want them to be flexible enough to welcome changes, as needed, because if life takes a turn, pivoting is welcome! (I believe our job is to get started, and then our Higher Power can guide our moving ship)
I want to “wake up excited and go to bed content,” and have that be the norm each day

Here’s a bit more of the backstory:

I’ve been seriously “goal-setting” every year for 30+ years, and it’s generally served me well. However, I often found myself feeling constricted by my goals. They moved forward when I had control of my time and energy, but what if I got sick? What if my family, friends, neighbors, or others in my stewardship needed extra care? What if an unexpected challenge came up? What if I decided three months in that I didn’t even like my goals?

I also discovered that I struggled to enjoy the moments because my success depended on that last checkbox being completed before the end of the year. I needed a way to satisfy my brain’s desire for progress, but it also needed to be full of grace.

>>>As I walk through my personal process below, I’m also giving you a worksheet so you can tailor this to your needs.

If you’re already on our email list, check your email today–we’re sending it to you! Or you can click the link at the bottom of this page to sign up for the worksheet, and we’ll send it right away!

Quick Introduction of the Framework:

Today we’re starting with “Create Your Year,” which is almost like a vision board that answers a few specific questions. Then over the next three weeks, we’ll go through “Create Your Month,” “Create Your Week,” and finally, “Create Your Day.”

Each of those creations are going to focus on these areas of life:

(1) Self-care: Spirit, Mind, and Body. We like that order because there’s a trickle-down effect

(2) Relationships (Family, friends, service in the community)

(3) Tangible outcomes (work and purpose projects)

All right, let’s jump into Self-Care.My Key Question: How do I want my spirit, mind and body to FEEL throughout (AND by the end of) the year?

In the past, I’ve set very measurable goals for these areas. Things like, “Spend 30 minutes a day connecting with God” or “Read 4 books a month” or “Exercise 5 days a week really intensely.” Then I added those things to my routines list, and I tracked myself throughout the year.

I still have those kinds of things on my flexible routines list, and we’ll talk about how to incorporate specifics into our monthly/weekly/daily plans in the next few weeks, but for the YEAR focus, I’m doing things differently. I’m essentially identifying what success looks like to me in that moment–so I can be “successful” all year, every day.

Spirit: I want to feel calm and aligned with God each day. I want to feel the growth, joy, and love that I know is available for me. I want to look at my life from God’s perspective and be sensitive to those little promptings that come to me each day. This is going to be the key measure of my “success.”

Mind: I want to wake up excited and go to bed content–with my mind feeling unburdened, nurtured, grateful, and alive. I want to feel focused, but never overwhelmed, I want to consistently be learning, but also make time to relax and replenish, and I want to refine my thoughts so I am quickly aware of any distortions, and I can maintain excellent mental health.

Body: I want to feel healthy, balanced, and energetic–so I can joyfully live my purpose in my family and community. I want to feel sufficiently rested, strong and flexible, hydrated, and well-nourished with foods that optimally fuel me. I want to breathe deeply, pay close attention to my body’s needs, and maintain a beautiful connection between my body, mind, and spirit.

Next is Relationships (Family, friends, service in the community)My Key Question: How would I describe my optimal relationships this year–and what settings, routines, or activities would support that growth?

Since the day-to-day activities can often take over and squeeze out quality time with family and friends, this broader brainstorming can be helpful.

On the worksheet, we have a chart with the specific relationship on the left, then a column for where we can describe our optimal experience, and then a column on the right for brainstorming the activities that will support us.

Here are a couple of mine:

Spouse: We feel closer than ever, with a healthy balance of fun and work. Some things that could help? Quarterly getaways, a simpler morning schedule/routine, and an increased sense of calm.

Eric and I work from home together and often host visitors and guests, so making time for each other–away from the house–is really important. We need to get those getaways on our calendar from the start or they don’t happen…. We’ll work on the morning routine when we get into the week/day planning, but what ends up happening is we don’t always communicate super effectively, and then our days feel kind of haphazard. Some mornings we have meetings and need to be “efficient,” but sometimes it’s healthier for us to just relax and hold each other for a bit. We’re also working on being more calm around one another–spending less time talking about the things that frustrate us and more time doing things that will make a difference.

Parent: Optimally, I will feel a close connection to each of my children that respects their space and choices, but provides a solid sense of love and security. We’ll create happy memories together and help one another to live our purposes.

Settings, routines, and activities to support that:

We Love to Be a Family Day
A Family Vacation
Our Daily/Weekly Facebook Messenger Group
Pre-planned holiday and birthday celebrations
Personal texts/check-ins
Little surprises, thoughtful gifts

I’m also going to go through this process for my extended family, local friends, and the people with whom we serve on a local level.

Finally, we’re going to look at the Tangible OutcomesMy Key Question: What specific outcomes could I work on in my personal and professional life that feel exciting to me, but could also be adapted to my needs and circumstances?

In the past, I’ve really struggled with these. I wanted to set big goals that would demand “the best” in me, and I wanted to dream big and get out there and “make things happen.” The problem is that I often put a whole lot of pressure on myself, and then when I needed to put way more time into parenting–or when some close friends went through trauma and needed care–or when unexpected opportunities arose to make a difference in the lives of others, I found myself involved in an inner battle. Projects or people?

We each have a unique value system, so you might approach this differently than I do, but because my number one measure of success is my alignment with God, I’ve decided that it makes sense to identify tangible outcomes that will improve my personal life, our family life, our community, etc. but if an adjustment needs to be made, that is totally okay. As long as God is good with it, I’m going to be good with it.

And I don’t know why I had such an emotional response as I wrote that last line. I think I’ve burdened my heart for a lot of years–thinking that if God gave me these ideas to create, build, achieve, accomplish, etc., then I was a big failure if I didn’t complete them. And it’s really hard to feel calm and happy if you believe you’re letting God down. Ahhh, so hard to admit I ever felt that way.

But LearnDoBecome is all about LEARNING, right? So here’s what I’m changing now.

I’m still prayerfully identifying what tangible outcomes make the most sense for me to pursue over the next year, but I’m not going to be sad if the actual outcome is different than I expected.

Many goal-setting experts would tell me that I’m just setting myself up to fail. Come on, April, you either MAKE it happen or there’s no point in setting the goal. Go big or go home. But I’ve tried that for a lot of years, and I’ve learned a couple of things that are helping me find so much more joy in life:

(1) It’s way healthier to identify a range of possibilities that can satisfy our goals and desires. (Episode 166 talks about these two levels. There’s a minimum level that would satisfy our desires and then a maximum level that we don’t actually expect to attain, and we’re not particularly attached to it. It just serves as that “upper limit” to guide our work. “Happiness” lies somewhere in the middle, and by looking at project results with a whole range of possibilities, we decrease perfectionism and increase our joy.) So in the worksheet, we’re giving you two columns.

(2) Our Higher Power (however you define that) can help things turn out way better than we can even imagine.

For example, several years ago, early in the year, I had an experience that “punched me in the gut.” I spent two days in bed and literally couldn’t see how I could move forward with ANY of the goals I had set for the year. You may have had an experience like that–or there might be one coming. Every goal I’d set on January 1st was “null and void” at that moment, and I was at a loss when I even tried to think about what I would do in the coming months.

Well, then I had a powerful conversation with Eric where he suggested an alternate course. We prayed together and planned together, and I can’t share all the details here because they’re very personal, but I will say that the new course was exactly what we needed and has been a blessing to us every single day. I couldn’t have planned it. I didn’t think I was strong enough to do it. But God has the ability to take something that feels absolutely terrible and turn it into the most beautiful gift.

So as I work on my tangible outcomes for the next year, I’m going to think about the updates our backyard could use and the skills I’d like to learn, and I’m going to dream about the next phases of LearnDoBecome, STEP, and ARISE. I’m going to pray about what changes could be helpful for me and the ones I love. And I’ll create a “minimum and maximum” range I can work toward.

But then as I move forward each month, week, and day (stay tuned for the next few weeks!), I’m going to pay attention to that Guiding Hand that I believe cares even more than I do–and I’m going to trust that my efforts to do good will never be wasted. The course might change, but I don’t believe the purpose is finishing a pre-defined course. I believe the purpose is becoming who we’re meant to be along the way.

LearnDoBecome InvitationWe would LOVE for you to participate in some way in this exercise to create your year. These are the best two options:

(1) Click here to sign up for the bonus templates/worksheets so you can brainstorm your own ideas for the year!

and/or

(2) Join us in the ARISE membership! We’ll be diving deep into un-failable resolutions and sharing more about this whole process. You’ll have a supportive community, live video calls, and access to the ARISE archives (including a new private podcast!). Hope to see you there!

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I’ve spent most of my life trying to be an achiever. (Often successfully.)

It served me well in many ways…. I got good grades, earned scholarships, completed my goals, learned to work hard, protected myself and my family, built websites, wrote books, exercised regularly, kept a clean house, and created a long list of things that can be officially marked as “done.”

But this focus on achievement (which I didn’t really admit/acknowledge until now) has also been the primary source of my internal angst.

I haven’t completely made the transition yet, but I’ve finally realized that I can still reach my goals, live a happy life, protect the people I love, and pursue my purpose without setting my sights on the achievements themselves. It’s time to shift my identity from achiever to becomer.

But let’s step back for a moment.

A few weeks ago, I shared that a community member asked me why I’m so hard on myself. That question pierced my heart, and while I don’t know that I have the whole answer, I think it dates back to when I was in the 5th through 8th grades.

That was the “awkward” stage for me. I struggled with my weight, spent hours watching TV and eating in my bedroom, had some tricky friendships, and essentially felt like I was never going to fit in socially.

However, it was during that time that I realized I could stand out for my achievements. If I got the best grades in the class, at least I was known as “the smart girl.” When I won the election for president of our elementary school, my dad introduced me to everyone as “the president,” and I received all sorts of congratulations. When I started using a planner at age 13 and became really organized, my peers asked for “planner tours,” and I felt really special because I knew how to make lists and get them checked off.

I started seeing myself as a leader, and when I worked hard and got focused, I could get parts in the school plays, earn positions in clubs, win essay contests for things like “Principal for a Day,” and feel respected for being so responsible and accomplished–even though I sat home alone most weekends and used food to replace the loneliness.

Things got better in 9th grade and onward, and I had lots of friendships and happy moments throughout high school, college, and over the past 25 years of marriage and motherhood, but that inner desire to “achieve,” continued to burn. (Sometimes with a vengeance.)

There’s more to the story, and I’m sure I’ll be sharing additional stories in the future, but for today, I’d like to invite you to join me on an adventure–moving from achiever to becomer. (Don’t you think that’s a fun name for our community members at LearnDoBecome…”Becomers”?)

I have a LOT of notes, ideas, examples, object lessons, etc. but let’s start with a simple question:

In the areas of your life that matter most, where do you notice yourself leaning toward achievement–and what characteristics, habits, and perspectives would help you lean more toward becoming?

As Eric and I were talking about this concept, we realized that the specifics will look different for everyone. We can’t make a standard guide defining achievers and becomers because it’s based so much on our past experiences, our personalities, our current circumstances, and our individual goals.

So instead, I’m going to share a few principles I recorded in my personal chart–and then we have a worksheet you can download that can help you personalize these ideas in a way that will be most helpful to you.

Sound good?

Okay, here’s my personal comparison chart (on a computer, these will appear side by side, but on a phone, “Achiever” comes first and “Becomer” is below):

ACHIEVEREnd goal = winning the race

Seeks admiration

Leaves me feeling I’m never enough

Feeds the ego

Results-oriented

Evaluates success based on the general public’s standards

Rigid, controlled

Impatient & frustrated

Checks off the boxes

Manipulation of self and others is encouraged

Achieves a short-term “hit”

Pseudo feelings of elation

Depends on physical health/energy

Impeded by compassion, rest, and replenishment (better not stop!)

Induces chronic stress

Fears being laughed at

Can become obsessive

Fuels addiction

Sees weaknesses as liabilities

Makes me feel superior

Avoids the mundane at all costs

Fears failure (#2 is the first loser)

Ashamed of flaws

Fears rejection

BECOMEREnd goal = being refined

Seeks to be an instrument for good

Keeps me feeling content

Releases the ego

Process-oriented

Evaluates success based on Higher Power’s standards

Flexible, gentle

Patient & understanding

Develops character

Prioritizes mental and relational health

Focuses on long-term happiness

True contentment

Works in any situation (even when sick)

Augmented by compassion, rest, and replenishment

Relieves chronic stress

Can see the humor in daily life

Indefinitely sustainable

Overcomes addiction

Sees weaknesses as areas for growth

Helps me see all people as equals

Sees beauty in the mundane

Knows there is no “failure”

Accepts (even loves) flaws

Embraces connection

What’s interesting to me about this comparison chart is how relaxed and empowered I feel when I read the “Becomer” side. Did you feel that way, too? (I’d love to hear in the comments….)

And before I introduce the worksheet, I want to give an example of how this can apply to everyday decisions.

Let’s say you have 10 more things on your to-do list, but a loved one who is going through something hard reaches out and needs your help. It might be tempting to think that the “becomer” drops everything to prioritize the relationship, and the “achiever” focuses on the list, instead.

But I don’t think that is always the case. For me, the achiever-mentality would stick to the list unless “stopping now” would save time later. “The list” would trump everything else. But the becomer inside me would look at the big picture and ask questions like, “Is it wiser to pause my list and prioritize this relationship, based on my personal values, or is it wiser to create a healthy boundary and give myself a chance to do my work today–and then I can offer support a little later on?”

Achievers and becomers BOTH get things done, but it’s the way things get done and the way we end up feeling at the end of the day that are the distinguishing factors.

Okay, I think that’s enough of a description for today! Here’s what we have for you inside this worksheet:

We’ve created a list of categories that most of us manage on a daily basis. Those are listed on the left.
Then we have two columns to the right–one for “Achiever” and one for “Becomer.”
We invite you to consider each category and record what you tend to do when you’re in the achiever or becomer mode.
Then we encourage you to decide where you want to make changes–and practice doing so throughout the next week, month, etc.
You could store this worksheet inside Evernote/Google Drive/Google Keep/One Note, etc. so it’s available for you to review later! (Fillable) From Achiever to Becomer

(PDF) From Achiever to Becomer

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes!

Related Links:ARISE Can Be Your New “Happy Place”

When we first launched ARISE, we didn’t quite know what it would become–or how much we would love it. Now that it’s been going strong for a year and a half, we’re taking things to the next level, and ARISE is going to be a major focus here at LearnDoBecome moving forward.

Our next live class is Tuesday, December 13th at 10am Pacific (with immediate replays inside the membership!), and the topic is “Success Metrics – How Will You Measure Your Life?” We’ll be pulling the BEST principles from one of our favorite books and helping all of us to end the year with a solid, healthy perspective that will lead us happily into 2023.

AND we’ve just created a private podcast for all ARISERS! That means you can access all current and past class recordings (and bonus audios!) from your favorite podcast app (Apple, Spotify, etc.) and listen on the go, without having to log in! You can even download the audios for off-line listening.

Click here to learn more about ARISE!

Registration for Four Weeks to Finished opens December 13th!

Want to build your STEP Command Central in just four weeks–with tons of support, coaching, friends, bonus resources, and simplified lessons? The official month of training begins Thursday, February 2nd, but here’s why we’re opening registration early:

>>>It could be a great end-of-year business expense if you own a business or work for an employer who’d like to invest in you! We don’t give specific tax advice here, but building your Command Central will bring more focus, order, and joy to your professional work. Our entire team runs on STEP, and it’s amazing to work together when nothing slips through the cracks.

>>>For those who want to ease into the new year, but make progress from the start, Team LearnDoBecome will be going live in the special Four Weeks to Finished Facebook Group each week in January–providing very simple ways to prepare for the group session, clear space in your schedule, and set yourself up for success!

Click here to get on the waitlist/learn more!

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If you’ve been here at LearnDoBecome for awhile, you’ve probably seen lots of “before and after” photos–showing clean offices, living rooms, kitchens, garages, etc. In fact, that may be what brought you here. You want a clean, organized home and office.

But then, as you listen to our podcast, watch videos, etc., you may wonder why we keep talking about building a “STEP Command Central.” We discuss file folders, list-making, digital project management, routines, and next actions, and you might be wondering, “What does all of this have to do with getting my house clean?”

We hear you, and so today we’ve put together a hopefully-helpful resource to show you exactly how a Command Central equals a clean house. You can either click “play” above to listen to the podcast–or you can skim the information below!

Here’s our STEP Diagram to get you started:

It includes all the parts of the Command Central that you’ll want to review on a daily, weekly, or as-needed basis.

Candice (one of our wonderful LearnDoBecome team members) created this list below–showing how each part of the system contributes in its own way to that clean home we’re dreaming about:

(1) A calendar helps you to set triggers so you can remember to take your donate items to be donated, take the trash out, or clean the fridge on a regular basis.

(2) A Context-Based Next Actions List helps you to put the very next action under the HOME section, so when you are spending time in your house and check your next actions list to see what needs to get done at home, you will be reminded to do that cleaning / decluttering / organizing task you have been meaning to do.

(3) An inbox and landing spots naturally equal a clean house as you contain papers in one area, so they are not spread out all over the place.

(4) A Current Projects List supports your home organizing projects because you can focus on one area of the house every month. Example: ”Organize the pantry” OR ”Clean the garage.” Projects that seemed overwhelming and too large to accomplish can be broken down into the simplest next steps, allowing for steady movement towards completion.

(5) If you have a Command Central in place, you will have routines in place that will remind you to do your cleaning tasks, which = a clean house.

(6) The Waiting folder helps with all those papers where you are waiting for someone else to do something before you can move forward.

(7) A goals list supports a clean house as you can set bigger goals like: ”Have a totally, clean, organized house,” and then break it down into different rooms or areas of the house every month as you decide on your current projects.

(8) Read and Review folders/baskets keep your house clean by containing all your magazines and catalogs in one location.

(9) A filing cabinet ensures that all your papers are filed away neatly in their correct binder or hanging file folder.

(10) Your Support Materials will hold all your project-related resources so that you don’t have little mini-piles around the perimeter of your office/bedroom.

(11) Tickler folders keep papers related to an event or future task in one folder.

(12) Someday and Incubation folders keep all those papers that we are not sure about neatly contained in their correct home. Unfortunately, those usually end up in piles, causing our homes to look untidy.

And if you’re looking for some additional resources, Taryn (another awesome team member!) put together this list:

The “Clean a Drawer” Challenge
The Three-Box Method for Organizing Your Space
An Interview with Alice Fulton, author of “It’s Here…Somewhere”
How to Handle Frustrations
Closet (and LIFE) Clean-Up

STEP Mastery Member Bonus:

This full project-planning resource is inside the STEP Library! Simply log in at My.LearnDoBecome.com.

ARISE Member Bonus:

Alia (our daughter who also manages projects and our ARISE membership) recorded a video of her new apartment–showing how she used STEP principles to get everything put together in simple, functional ways.

If you’re already an ARISER, log in at My.LearnDoBecome.com and then click this link!

Or, if you’d like to get started with a 7-day free trial of the ARISE membership, sign up here!

Four Weeks to Finished begins February 3rd, 2022! If you’d like to build your full STEP Command Central in just four weeks–with Team LearnDoBecome by your side, join the party here:

We’re so grateful you’re here with us at LearnDoBecome, and we are excited to serve you and help you get the results you need. Much love!!

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Hello! I hope you’re having a wonderful week (and not feeling too overwhelmed or spread too thin with all the holiday activities).

Today’s podcast is a “from the heart” episode where I wanted to share a few ideas and stories that will hopefully encourage you.

Life is moving along–with lots going on in the background–so no additional notes or summaries today, but hopefully this audio recording will encourage you!

Learn | Do | Become: Recent Episodes

Learn | Do | Become

1: I am doing the project because I actually want to do it.This means that I’m not being a “people pleaser,” the project is in alignment with my values, the project is going to bring me closer to the goals I have set and the person I want to become, and I feel excited about the outcome.

3: I don’t have too much on my plate.This might sound obvious, but it doesn’t matter how much I want to do a project or how clearly my Next Action is identified. If I have too much on my plate, I will not feel great about that project.

2: A list—even if it is simplified so it only includes what you’re doing that day—leaves a LOT in your psychic RAM.“Psychic RAM” is a term often used by David Allen, the bestselling author of Getting Things Done®.

3: A list typically won’t encompass all the “stuff” that’s sitting on your flat surfaces.We talk about Flat Surface Disease a lot here at LearnDoBecome. It’s incredibly normal, and essentially, it means that you place items in plain sight—on every flat surface—as reminders to do tasks.