Podcast
Organize 365 Podcast
Hosted by Lisa Woodruff · EN
Lisa Woodruff is a home organization expert, productivity specialist, and author of multiple books including The Paper Solution.
Lisa's research-based teaching shines a light on the invisible work being done at home and in the workplace. Lisa's sensible and doable organizing tasks appeal to multiple generations. Her candor and relatable style make you feel she is right there beside you, helping you get organized as you laugh and cry together.
Lisa believes organization is not a skill you are born with. It is a skill that is developed over time and changes with each season of life. Lisa has helped thousands of women reclaim their homes and finally get organized with her practical tips, encouragement, and humor through her blog and podcast at Organize365.com.
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Episodes
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672 - Audience Q&A 11 Work Organization (Invisible Work)
Aug 2200:53:17Tap to summarizeIt’s another Q&A episode and we’re diving into Sunday Baskets® and Friday Workboxes® and how to make it all flow together because it was asked in many different ways. The Sunday Basket® and Friday Workbox® can support a lot of operations, this episode was so great for exploring multiple ways to run your home or business. As a Household Manager As a household manager it is easy to get multiple Sunday Baskets® going. Multiple people asked how to manage them all and make them work together. Honestly once Planning Day focuses on both home and work at the same time this will be more seamless. You need to take roughly 90 min to three hours to fully process your Sunday Basket®, ideally on Sunday afternoon. This opens the opportunity to go through other Sunday Baskets®. I have some that I process monthly and there maybe some actionable papers that move to my weekly Sunday Basket®. I have active papers in Sunday Baskets® for trips I’m planning, Abby’s wedding, and whatever else. The final thing that pulls all the Sunday Baskets® and Friday Workboxes® is the weekly tear sheet where it all comes together, it’s one plan for the week, including home, work, and sometimes homeschooling priorities. There was also a nurse who wrote in about how to best utilize the Friday Workbox for a service line she’s in charge of. She’s a blue slashpocket person; a worker. She doesn’t own the business but there’s still a lot of responsibility. I offered ideas on how to involve the rest of her team, establish checklists to keep them on track and understand the time it takes for that checklist. I offered color coding ideas to best communicate with her team and have information at her team’s fingertips. I offered similar ideas to a mama who homeschools. As a “CEO” role There was a minister and a direct sales audience member that asked about how to best use the Friday Workboxes® because they don’t see themselves as running a business or a CEO. If you are in direct sales or in charge of an organization, it’s like you are the CEO. As a CEO you need lead generation that produces purple work with deadlines and such. Once you complete those deadlines, you get paid which is your admin/green work. And in that mix is the people who make it happen wish is your blue slash pocket work. There are all kinds of practical applications for whatever line of work you do! This episode was chalked full!! For the minister we talked about two Friday Workboxes®. Once for her and one for the church. For the church workbox, pink can be upcoming projects in the works like a new addition to the building that hasn’t been finalized or ideas for outreach during Christmas or Easter. The purple work is the projects that are set in motion and repeat events like how Organize 365® does the planning days routinely. And then of course staff is blue and a church is a business so green is admin, payroll, and any other financial responsibilities. Her personal workbox could have pink work that is all about her sermons or pink work could be future plans she’s exploring, and purple work can be things she’s personally responsible for, blue the people or organizations she’ll need to accomplish the project or idea, and of course green for money. You get the idea. The Entrepreneurship Journey Got junk? We had a great conversation about the mindset of the guys who opened 1-800-GOT-JUNK. And I was able to offer some advice to someone looking to open a special needs daycare. We talked about a few books and what I learned from them as far as my skill sets, who I should hire, and how a visionary and implementor work together to run a company. Organize 365® is what it is today because of what I’ve learned along the way…I want to always be learning. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!
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Transformation with Verna R
Aug 2000:40:50Tap to summarizeIn this episode, I introduce you to Verna R. and her husband are empty nesters. You may remember Verna and her daughters coming on the podcast in 2020. It was the first timeI got to talk to a whole family who was using the Organize 36® systems. And the second time just Verna and I talked about her organization journey. Verna was referred to Organize 365® by her daughters to get organized since it didn’t come naturally to her. Her mother and mother in law were natural organizers so Verna appreciated systems and organization but none of the systems she tried stuck until she tried Organize 365®. In 2002-2004, Verna had cancer. Once she finished treatment she decided it was time to hire an organizer because she needed help due to low energy from recovery. Yes, I pointed out that the organizer can help with all the visible work. And the second thing I pointed out was that over the span of you get a home, then probably add a spouse, maybe some kids. As we get older, the complexities of daily life build on each other and there is no break time to reset for middle school years, Sports years, or heaven forbid a time with an illness. Everything still had to get done. But Verna had been sick. A professional organizer help in the short term but Verna desired a system for a lifetime. The last point I made was that the organizer cannot deal with the invisible work. Verna agreed with me and we talked about offloading to the external brain, the Sunday Basket®. I added that as our executive functions decline, starting as early as your 30’s or 40’s, the calendar with the external brain and planning helped to prolong the speed of decline. How can we do that? Have a system like the Productive Home Solution™ that provides training!! And we all want to be independent as long as we can! Verna shared her three purple slash pockets are for making gifts, her house, and volunteer work. She uses planning day to process those activities. She also credited her husband, Bruce, to being a good partner and sharing the daily tasks. We had a little side discussion about retirement and how much work the wife gains once her husband retires. I’m making Greg think about what he’s gonna do with all his time once he retires. Bruce kept himself busy for a couple more years after he retired. Now they are teaching together in Nepal from time to time and even have started to bring their grandchildren. Verna has more calmness and purpose. She took the time to really observe herself. She paid attention to what she was saying yes to and directly then what that meant she was saying no to. She extends herself a lof grace knowing she can’t change the past and really loves who she is today. She’s looking forward to setting a S.M.A.R.T.I.E. goal for her storage and getting her grown kids stuff out of her storage. That will free up some of her cognitive load to think about what their future living situation may look like. Verna’s advice is, “Notice what you do. Pay attention. It will show you what you value and what you prioritize.” EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® The Productive Home Solution® Home Planning Day Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!
Transcribe →Organize 365 Cycle of Organizing: Step 2 Organizing
Jan 4, 2024Tap to summarizeLast week we went over the first step to the cycle of getting organized; decluttering. I shared that decluttering leads to organization. I defined organization as lasting change in your home - not like housework that needs to be done daily or weekly. In this episode, I take that definition one layer deeper. Your rooms should not be talking to you…what does that mean? There IS seasonality to our homes; our choice of shoes, meals we cook, our diets, activities we enjoy. Naturally, we need different items for each season. This is why here at Organize 365® we have divided the year into trimesters; 4 month segments to plan for the next phase of seasonality your home and life will be facing. Now that we are done with the holidays, when is the next time you'll be making a turkey? Likely in 11 months. So you could put that turkey pan and the lifters in your storage...but you can't because your storage area is a hot mess like every other storage area I've seen ever. THIS is why it's nice to be organized. You can tailor your spaces with the seasonality and have an appropriate organized storage area to do that! Each planning day helps you to anticipate these seasons and the "unexpected" events that come our way with each season. Did you know that this year Easter is in March?? Yes! Our last planning day we talked about that, which will change spring break for many of us. How do you "Spring Break"? You may need to make hotel reservations or talk to people you travel to for Easter. It's inevitable that after Easter our brains switch to summer - but the reality is that we have a lot of weeks left in school until summer. I also brought awareness to taxes. Yes, they are coming!! It's funny how these "unexpected" events come out of nowhere and can throw everything off track. This is why we have the planning days. For this reason, you get the first planning day included when you get The Productive Home Solution®. We want to give you all the support we can to get you organized and stay that way even if an unexpected or routine "unexpected" event comes your way. Year One After a year of going through all your spaces (15 minutes at a time) decluttering and organizing, you will no longer have rooms talking to you. No room is reminding you to change the light bulb, order a backup of a product you use daily, or a repair that is needed. You have backup of products you use and systems in place to resupply. You are no longer using your decision making allowance on what you are going to wear, what is for breakfast, or other simple decisions throughout your day. This process of decluttering will result in organization. This will not look like everything is labeled and "pretty." This kind of organization will look like more time and more free thinking space in your brain. You can start to mentally prepare for your day as you get ready or drive to work. You can focus on accomplishing your goals. You may not be organized now, but you could be a year from now. So where do you start? I always advise starting in your personal spaces and storage, and then you get to choose your own adventure. You can choose your paper, family spaces, or kids spaces. I will note that kids' spaces need to be done in the summer; so consider where you are in the year when you choose where you will organize next. Once you get to fall, you need to do the spaces you didn't do in summer. This will take you about a year. If you think about how much time you spent on just your bathroom, you can expect your full home to take about a year! Year Two Now that your spaces aren't talking to you, it's time to refine. You get life long access to The Productive Home Solution® and can really go through it as many times as you'd like. This time you will go through all of your spaces again…but during this round you will get rid of some things you didn't last time. You may have set up your Sunday Basket®, but you may find that you are not really making everything wait until Sunday. This year, you will start to understand the importance of waiting until Sunday to free up decision making and time. You will also start to better utilize The Paper Solution® Binders. You will find yourself going through the free blitzes at a deeper level. You are a productive planner. This is the year most people will add the Friday Workbox® too. You have seen the impact of the Sunday Basket® at home and you desire that same level of organization at work, too. Year Three THIS is the year you recognize "I am an organized person." You finally feel it. No rooms are talking to you. You know the visible and invisible work that needs to get done and you have systems in place to support you in work and life. Work is in control. Life is in control. You can flux when unexpected life events come your way. Your home and work will not fall apart. Now you can gather all the time from both areas and think about whatever you want to all the time. You can now start to do what you are uniquely created to do! I'm not going to lie…you are going to want to quit sometime in these three years. So make sure to catch next week's episode on what to do when you get the urge to quit. EPISODE RESOURCES: The Productive Home Solution® The Paper Solution® The Household Operations Binder The Sunday Basket® Friday Workbox® Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!
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501 - Passive Organizing
Sep 9, 2022Tap to summarizeIt's time to add a new term to our organizing glossary: passive organizing. I've said for years that it really takes three years to get organized, but the first 12-18 months are not easily recognized in that process. The reason is that this first chunk of time is spent in passive organizing. What is passive organizing? Passive organizing is the time period during which you're becoming aware that maybe organization could help you become more productive. Maybe organization could help you get back your time. You're thinking, you're researching, and you're listening. This is passive organization. The change is happening in your mind, in your emotions, in your heart, and in your beliefs. Passive organizing is the "pink" work of organizing. This is the time frame when you're working on yourself. You haven't committed to organizing, but you're gathering information and working on your mindset. You're thinking about the when, the how, and the order. You're deciding who you want your teacher to be. In passive organizing, you're consuming exorbitant amounts of information. Sometimes, this can cause information overload and paralysis. You might struggle to take action because you see the best in all the options. Let's take a little rabbit trail. The Kolbe Assessment is a quantitative test that helps you determine how you think. Among other things, it tells you how you leverage these three areas of thinking and processing in order to complete a project: How much do you need to research something before you can do it? How much structure do you need before you can take action? How much do you need to talk before taking action? I am a "quick start." I spend the majority of my time talking about a project and then the active work portion of the project comes out really quickly at the end. I verbally process everything and I change my mind a lot. My team on the other hand tends to be much higher in research and/or structure. An example of this is how I wrote the book How ADHD Affects Home Organization. I completed the writing of the book in a weekend, but I spent two years preparing to write the book and talking about it first! How much research, structure, and talking do YOU need before you can take action on getting organized? The other obstacle to deciding to get started with organing is having a tipping point. You have to reach a point when the pain of continuing to live in the current state of life is greater than the pain of change and learning a new skill to get the result you want. You have to realize that organization is a learnable skill. Another tipping point is a golden window. These are big life events: a milestone birthday, a new baby, a new house, a new job, a loss, a health diagnosis, etc. Many times, multiple big events happen at the same time. These are seasons of opportunity. Disorganization leads to more disorganization, but when you seize the opportunity, these are major turning points. I want to remind you that I was once where you are. Back in 2012, I quit my teaching job, I was overweight, I was depressed, and everything was falling apart around me. You can read my story in Organization is a Learnable Skill and listen to my depression story in episode #69. I was negative and pessimistic. You would not have wanted to be my friend back then. What you see of me now is the after picture! You must also believe that you can get organized. You must make a decision that you are now going to live proactively instead of reactively. This is where you draw a line in the sand and step over it. And one day, you will find yourself listening to an Organize 365® Podcast episode and you just get up and start organizing while you listen instead of just gathering information! Are you ready to draw your line and get started on your organizing journey? Resources Mentioned in This Episode The Kolbe Assessment Book: How ADHD Affects Home Organization Book: Organization is a Learnable Skill Get Started: The Sunday Basket® System Get Started: The Productive Home Solution™ Related Episodes #69 - My Depression Story #242 - Golden Windows of Organizing Opportunity Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!
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Friday Workbox® Planning Day Orientation
Aug 30, 2022Tap to summarizeTime to plan out the next quarter of your work? Learn more about the Friday Workbox® Planning Day in this orientation replay. Watch the video version and download the syllabus here: https://organize365.com/orientation
Transcribe →Friday Workbox® Orientation
Aug 30, 2022Tap to summarizeTime to your work? Learn more about the Friday Workbox® in this orientation replay. Watch the video version and download the syllabus here: https://organize365.com/orientation
Transcribe →Paper Organizing Retreat Orientation
Aug 23, 2022Tap to summarizeTime to get your paper organized? Learn more about our paper organizing retreat in this orientation replay. Watch the video version and download the syllabus here: https://organize365.com/orientation
Transcribe →The Paper Solution® Certification Orientation
Aug 16, 2022Tap to summarizeHave you been considering becoming a certifed organizer? Learn more about The Paper Solution® Certification program in this orientation replay. Watch the video version and download the syllabus here: https://organize365.com/orientation
Transcribe →111 - Organizing Travel and Organizing Travel Supplies
Jul 29, 2016Tap to summarize5 things I do to make vacation packing easier. 1. Keep a prepacked bathroom bag for each family member. 2. Keep a written packing list from year to year. 3. Keep all prepurchased vacation items in one location. 4. Pack condo staples to save time and money. 5. Get your pet supplies and instructions ready. All that's left to pack are your clothes and electronics! Happy Vacationing! View all the videos that go with this podcast at www.organize365.com/vacation
Transcribe →74 - Organizing Projects
Nov 13, 2015Tap to summarizeI am answering a reader question today about how I organize projects. In this podcast I talk about organizing projects in your Sunday basket. Organizing projects for your work. And how I organize my goals.
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