Learn | Do | Become

Alia hosted a Friday night working session inside our STEP Coaching membership a few weeks ago, and when she emailed out the replay, I clicked to watch the video–curious to see how it went (if people were engaged, if these kinds of sessions are helpful, etc.).

I ended up grinning from ear to ear as I watched because I was so touched and so impressed with what was happening with this amazing group of people!

I have two main purposes for today’s podcast:

IDEA #1: That task you’ve been putting off will likely be easier than you’re imagining.

Alia was hosting the call, but she also brought a mini-project to work on–a birthday photo album for her father-in-law, complete with photos the family had selected. Now, we set up the call so there would be at least three 10-minute working sessions. (They ended up doing four.) And each time Alia put the timer up on the screen, she worked on the album and monitored the chat in case anyone had a question or got stuck.

After the first 10-minute microburst, Alia showed how she had organized all the photos into her selected categories, and it took closer to 8 minutes. Way faster than she’d expected. Then she went on to load the photos into the album during the other microbursts.

Honestly, if you set a timer and just get to work, you’ll likely surprise yourself!

This timer (click here) our team has been using has beautiful nature scenes, if you want to try it yourself!

IDEA #2: There may (likely) be money in your piles.

One of our STEPpers was going through paperwork, bills, etc., and she was shocked when she found two refund checks, totaling around $700. She said, “I found not one, but two refund checks. And one is for $250 and one is for $486… I am stunned, and it is such a blessing… This is my first coaching call I’ve been able to be on, so YAY! And on a Friday night! So thanks, y’all!”

We have a whole ebook we’re putting together with people’s “finding money” stories, and even though we can’t guarantee your piles are holding cash, checks, gift cards, etc., when you keep your life pile-free, it pays you back, big time.

IDEA #3: There is power in clear space.

One STEPper was clearing off her desk during the microbursts–making a beautiful canvas for her organized life. She showed her space on video, and it was lovely! When you’re used to living in piles (like I was for the first 2-3 decades of my life), you assume that clear space is kind of a threat. It means you’ll forget to do things (because they aren’t laying right in front of you), or you won’t be able to find things (because even though the piles can get unruly, at least you know if you dig long enough, what you need will likely show up). Clear space makes a lot of people nervous because they feel like they should fill it with something.

But when you learn to build a system that your brain can trust, that’s the game changer! You won’t forget to do things because your lists and your routines will take care of you. You can find everything you need because you deliberately gave everything in your life a resting place.

Taryn calls it the “ice cream in the freezer” analogy. When you go into your house and want to find the ice cream, where do you look? Obviously in the freezer. That’s how you want to feel about every item, file, message, etc. That’s what STEP does for you.

A Few More Testimonials from our STEP Coaching Members:

I hope these ideas are helpful for you today! You can do a lot in 10 minutes, clearing your piles may very well uncover money, and you will feel a new energy in your life when you learn to clear space! If you’d love a community to do this kind of work alongside, we’d love to have you in STEP Coaching.

Nature Timer:

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

The post [PODCAST 330]: 10 Minutes, $700, and a Clear Desk: Lessons from a Friday Night! appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

At the top of our LearnDoBecome website, you’ll see the phrase, “Architect a life of excellence.” Now, if you had spoken with me early in my adulthood–especially when I became a mother–and told me that I could “architect my life” instead of living in overwhelm, I would have had a few words for you.

I was doing my absolute best. Barely sleeping. Trying to love our children and keep the house clean and build a strong marriage and work on the computer at night before collapsing into bed. Do you really think I needed life architecture?

Well, yes. I actually did.

I understand if the concept of life design feels too theoretical right now, especially if you’re in an intense phase of life, but please hear me out. “Architecting a life of excellence” isn’t just a catch phrase here at LearnDoBecome. We believe it’s a life-changing concept that can help each one of us to breathe and create a life where we wake up excited and go to bed content.

Of course there are days that feel really difficult. We’re human, like you are, and there are some seasons of life that are particularly heavy. But the things I’m sharing today are the exact things that help me out of those low moments. I’m hoping that these specific examples will give you a lift.

I recently read a book called Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. (You may have heard one of his many online interviews.) The book is all about his experience running the top restaurant in the world, and although my life and goals are very different from his, the concepts in the book were incredibly insightful.

When 2008 hit and the economy was struggling, fine dining became an expense most people cut out of their budgets, but he didn’t want to lay off his employees—and he wanted his restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, to survive.

First, they played “defense” by cutting any costs that wouldn’t hurt the customer experience. The chefs started wearing reusable cloth caps instead of the tall disposable paper ones, they didn’t replace a specific tablecloth near the serving area during each shift, etc.

But then they went on offense (and he said that was the fun part). They asked themselves what they could create in order to stay in business, given the economic conditions. Lunches had typically been $35 or more, so they came up with a $29 two-course option that people loved! Desserts often took too long to wait for and eat during the busy lunch hour, so they made a dessert cart with instantly-ready options people could purchase to go.

I love that they didn’t just sit and hold their breaths–or give in to the mounting pressure. They got creative, and they took action. They wisely played defense, but they put their best energy into playing offense.

That is a lesson for life.

The process is simpler than it sounds. It’s the kind of thing we talk about all the time here:

My hope is that as I share a few examples today, you can think of some ways that life architecture can alleviate any pressure you may be feeling.

Creating Practical Solutions for our Physical Spaces

These could include big things like reorganizing the house–including closets and furniture.

Or they may include simple things–like the bungee cord Eric recently attached to the top of our trash bin in the garage, so we can easily open it from the staircase, or the tension rod he moved to the other side of the laundry area so clothes wouldn’t keep falling down every time I opened the washing machine.

We even added a narrow laundry hamper that fit behind the bathroom door because that’s where our kids threw their clothes every night when they took showers. And I moved a section of our upstairs couch downstairs by our fireplace because, even though it doesn’t look beautiful, it’s become one of my favorite spaces to work.

Julie Morgenstern’s “Organizing from the Inside Out” is a great book to help with this!

Removing everyday friction and making slight improvements in our physical spaces might not seem that important, but they create a foundation for the things that truly are.

Protecting Our Time and Mental Space

We live in an interruption-rich environment, but there are things we can do to allow more time for more calm or more connective relationships or more focused work.

One simple example is putting our phones on “Sleep mode” or “Do not disturb” more often–and then not looking at them for even 30-60 minutes.

I often find that when I work at home, I have a harder time focusing because the dog needs to be let out or someone drops by or Eric and I get chatting (which I do love, but we need boundaries sometimes!). If I have deep work to do, getting out of the house is often my best bet, so I’ve been scheduling a few hours here and there at our local public library, and it’s been amazing.

When our children were little, I established two “quiet times” each day when the children would play with toys or nap while I did my work, read a book, or took a nap, as well. (I’ll link to it at the bottom of this post. It gave us all some much-needed down time.)

Prioritizing Relationships

When I live life “on default,” people seem to get pushed to the side. It takes effort to make time for the ones we love.

Weekly date nights have been a gift for our marriage for the past 28 years, for example. And I’ve found if we can schedule at least one time out in nature each week, it gives us both an energy boost!

Sunday dinners/cooking nights with our young adults give us at least one time a week when we know we’ll be together. Our youngest sleeps over on Sundays and stays up late with Eric talking about investing, finances, and entrepreneurship. I go to bed by 10:30, but it’s sweet to see them just chatting away!

Every few years, my sister coordinates a few hotel rooms in Palm Springs for all the girls in the family to gather for a weekend. We love the chance to talk, sit by the pool, go out to eat, and just have time together. One Saturday morning, we all walked to a nearby hotel that our late father’s architectural firm designed. Standing inside the beautiful atrium, knowing our dad had been a part of that, is a sweet memory.

Eric and I also review our “couples date night list” during our weekly planning session, and we reach out to friends in the area to see if they can join us for a meal or an activity.

Again, these things aren’t always easy, but they’re worth it. In Martin Seligman’s book, Flourish, he said that if he could explain positive psychology in two (other) words, he would say, “other people.”

Adjusting Professional Responsibilities

Eric and I recently recorded a podcast about our story and the origin of LearnDoBecome. This was definitely an example of life architecture because we really wanted to work together from home. Our first business attempt didn’t work out at all, and it was a bit of a painful process to get here, but we kept architecting because it really mattered to us.

Even recently, the “architecting” hasn’t stopped. We’ve made the decision to structure our work so it’s mostly asynchronous.In the early days of LearnDoBecome, we sometimes went live on video 6 days a week–even on our anniversary or if we were traveling or when I had a slight concussion. (That’s a story for another day…) Financially, we felt we needed to “push it” at the beginning, and that was the only way we knew to do it. But because we serve a global community and want each Becomer to have flexibility, we’ve now created a structure that works better for everyone. Our webinar is on-demand, our STEP Coaching serves a percentage of the people live and then provides recordings to those who can’t make it, and we’ve created a powerful text and email coaching process. ARISE gathers monthly and is super engaging with people on the call, but then we provide time stamps and the chat log so people can easily catch it later.

We’ve made some very difficult professional adjustments over the years–some of which were incredibly stressful to me and resulted in health problems, but if we hadn’t made those adjustments, we wouldn’t be in our current spot, where we are truly doing work we love in a way that genuinely works for us and our team.

Closing Thoughts

I know that “playing offense” in our lives isn’t easy. It requires energy, creativity, and bravery–and sometimes things don’t work out on the first try. But if we don’t architect our own lives, others will architect them for us. (We’ve all been there, right?)

In order for change to actually happen, however, we need to be hungry for it. We need to decide that the old way of doing things—just going with the flow or staying in unhealthy situations in order to keep the peace—isn’t worth it.

I know you are likely carrying some heavy demands right now. We are, too. And while we can’t always publicly talk about the challenges we’re facing, I firmly believe that this concept of life architecture isn’t just for the peaceful, easy times. It’s especially important when we’re in the middle of the hardest struggles.

I encourage you to try this process with a few of your biggest pain points. You’ll see that your efforts DO bring results, and you’ll be excited about “what you can architect next”!

Sending lots of love and always cheering you on,

April

Some Community Highlights:

Tammie’s “Before” Picture

Tammie’s “After” Picture

Another fantastic message and set of “before and after” photos from one of our community members:

Books:

Podcast – Mommy’s Quiet Time 101

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

The post [PODCAST 329]: What It Looks Like When We Actually DESIGN Our Lives appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

I recently healed the digestive problems I’ve had for the past six years and the plantar fasciitis I’ve been struggling with for the past two months, and it happened practically overnight by reading one book. (It’s called Pain-Free You, and it’s linked at the bottom, but stick with me, okay?)

One reason I’m sharing this today is because you might also have a health condition that can be healed by this book, or you may have a loved one you’ll want to share it with.

But another reason I’m sharing this is because the principle of learning, doing, and becoming applies to everything that we do here in this community. When we learn the right information at the right time, it will change our lives. Our brains have more power than we even understand, and I want you to feel the same energy, hope, and optimism that I am feeling right now.

I don’t want to make this whole podcast about my medical issues, so I will cover that part fairly briefly. I am also not giving medical advice, so please simply listen to this as my personal story, and then work with your own medical team to decide what is best for you.

I’ve shared multiple times on this podcast how, back in 2020, my body stopped digesting properly. I went through an intense time of stress, as most of us did during COVID — losing my dad before the shutdown and then having all the family here at home for so long. Then our business doubled (because people couldn’t handle being at home with their messes and finally had time to get organized) and our team expanded. But, subconsciously, the stress was just too much for me.

I kept going, and I didn’t know what was actually happening inside of my body, but all of a sudden, I got sick while eating pretty much everything/anything. I had every test done for gastroparesis, gallbladder issues, SIBO, swallowing difficulties, and on and on. I spent months and thousands of dollars trying to figure out why I was so sick, and every answer was that I was just fine.

I finally figured out that oil and butter were the main challenges, and I switched to an oil-free, plant-based diet and have been able to feel really good for the past several years.

The problem was that I couldn’t even eat at a restaurant if I wanted to. Every restaurant uses oil in their foods (even their plant-based foods) so I have been carrying thermoses with me everywhere I go, freeze-drying food to take with me on trips, and feeling a huge amount of stress every time I left my home because I didn’t know if I would be able to find food to eat. Traveling with Eric was always very stressful because I needed to have a kitchen, a refrigerator, a grocery store, and lots of time to food prep in the mornings before we went anywhere. And if we had a date night with friends, I would be pulling a thermos out of my backpack while they were all ordering food, and then we would have to explain why I couldn’t eat anything. It was fine, and it was worth it because I felt so good, but it’s been really hard to feel like every bite of food I ate would be dangerous.

On a totally unrelated note, I started walking a lot more a few months ago, and I was feeling so great! But then one morning I woke up and my left arch was super sore. It hurt with every step, so I did some online research and started stretching and using all the tools I could find to alleviate the pain. I bought new shoes and rolled my foot on a water bottle and did all the things the internet said to do, but finally I went to the podiatrist for support.

For the next month, I did my physical therapy every other day, walked less, and iced and heated my foot regularly. It helped a little bit, but still, every single step was painful. I finally went and got a cortisone shot, hoping that would help, but it hurt so much I couldn’t even walk for a whole week, and once that wore off, my foot was still hurting. I started wondering if I was going to need surgery and if I would ever be able to move without pain. I watched dozens of videos on YouTube about how to cure plantar fasciitis, but it was just taking all my energy, and I could not figure out what to do.

Meanwhile, Eric is wondering why his 48-year-old wife seems more like an 80-year-old. He’s super patient with me, but he stopped even trying to plan trips for us because it was so stressful to take me away from my home and my comforts.

So that’s my situation. One day, as Eric and I were walking Sunny and I was limping along slowly, he was thinking about how I had come out of post-viral fatigue through brain training. You can listen to my podcast with Raelan Agle and I talk about it (linked below), if you want to hear about that. He asked if maybe my other health issues were related to that — maybe for some reason, my body kept coming up with reasons to make me sick or stuck.

When he said that, of course I felt a little defensive, because the pain and my symptoms were not just “in my head”. But I did wonder if that were true.

I had read the book The MindBody Prescription, and I had a thought that perhaps I should read it again. I went onto Spotify and clicked on the book, but then I noticed there were some related books, and one was called Pain Free You. I liked the title, so I started listening. I actually started skipping around in the first few chapters because I didn’t want the backstory (even though I did go back and listen to all of it eventually) — I just wanted to know what to do to get rid of pain.

It was this book that has healed my six years of digestive issues and my plantar fasciitis. As of today, I can eat anything, and I can walk without any pain. And it’s only been a couple of weeks since I found the book.

I definitely want you to go buy the book and support the author, because he has changed my life. But I’m going to give you a brief overview so you can get a picture of how it actually works. I’ve been telling my sisters and friends about this, and everybody has the same questions, and then they tell me I should share this as widely as possible in case other people need it too. So here’s what I tell them.

The core message of the book is that pain and symptoms are created by the brain to keep us safe. We have to teach our bodies that we are safe. I honestly don’t know exactly why I went into a quasi-fight-or-flight mode for so many years, but I think it’s mainly because of a lot of factors that were going on behind the scenes here in our business. I can’t go into detail because a lot of the information is private and involves other people, but anyone who runs a business can probably understand what I’m talking about. And given that my personality is more of a people-pleasing, accommodating one, it was not a great match for the challenges that I came up against. (That’s actually one of the reasons why I’m going to be talking more about entrepreneurship and business-building inside of our ARISE membership — because I want to show people how they can make adjustments to the way they run a business and earn an income in a way that doesn’t need to be stressful.)

Back to the book, Pain-Free You, I started in chapter 6, where he outlines how you can know if something is a real health issue or if something is caused by your brain. He has a checklist. He does have a caveat that you do want to get checked out by a doctor to make sure there isn’t something serious you’re missing, but if your doctors tell you there is nothing wrong, and if the criteria he outlines are true for you, you can feel pretty confident it’s something in your brain. In my case, I’ve been through all the medical testing and everyone said I was fine. My foot had been X-rayed, and the doctor said there was nothing wrong, and I fit many of the criteria that Dan outlined in Pain-Free You.

I won’t go through all of them here, but two of them were (1) that the pain or symptoms started out of nowhere — there wasn’t a specific injury or one event — and (2) the pain went on longer than was typical for healing. The author emphasized that the body is made to heal, and when pain becomes chronic and lasts for years and years, it’s not consistent with how the body actually heals. That made sense to me, and it explained a lot, because I’d been feeling so frustrated about the years I was suffering with no relief.

He then talked about visualization and believing that you could actually heal yourself. With eating, I started by putting some butter on a corn cob. I’d been eating dry corn for years, and I really just wanted some butter and salt and pepper. So I visualized myself multiple times throughout that day eating the corn and having no problems. With my walking, I visualized myself walking the dog with no pain.

Then he recommended that we start slow, and if we feel the symptoms or pain, we act indifferent — unbothered. We thank our brain for trying to keep us safe, and then we let our brain know that we are safe and that we don’t need the pain anymore. We also have to be consistent about it. We can’t relax and be confident on the first walk, and then freak out on the second walk when we have pain. We have to consistently teach our brain that we’re okay.

The night I ate the corn, I had a couple of symptoms pop up, but I just took deep breaths and told my brain that I was okay. My family was watching me carefully — I think they were all scared for me because of the years they’d seen me sick. They even asked me the next day if I was okay, and I let them all know I was able to eat the corn with butter without any problems at all, whereas in the past I would have been up most of the night completely sick.

With my walking, the first day I told my brain I wasn’t in pain, I probably had about 30 to 40 twinges of pain in my arch and my heel as I walked. Each time, I acted indifferent and unbothered, and I told my brain that I was safe and that everything was okay. The second day, I had about 12 twinges of pain, and the third day about 6. For the rest of the week I may have felt a little twinge here and there, but then the pain completely went away. I’ve been walking about 6 to 8 miles a day now with no pain at all.

Once I ate that corn, I told Eric I wanted to go out to lunch with him at a local restaurant where I hadn’t been able to eat for years. They have a special salad with rice and beans, both of which are prepared with some oil, and they have a salad dressing I love, which also has some oil. I was so excited to get to eat it. I pictured myself eating it without symptoms all morning, and then we went to lunch and I got my order and sat down.

After eating about a third of the salad, I just started crying at the lunch table. Eric said, “People might think I’m being mean to you.” But I just couldn’t stop crying because I thought I would never be able to eat at a restaurant again. And I also felt like the world had opened up to me — that I could actually travel without carrying every meal in my suitcase, that I could go out with friends again, and that any other pain or symptom that came upon me could be healed as well. It was like a rebirth, while eating a salad. I still mostly eat my oil-free, plant-based menu because it just makes me feel great. I don’t love eating heavy meals, and I actually don’t go out to eat very often. But there’s been such a difference in just knowing my body doesn’t have to be afraid of eating food.

So hopefully I’ve given enough of an overview that you will go buy the book or listen to the audiobook: Pain-Free You. (I have Spotify Premium, which gives me 15 hours of audiobook listening each month, and I love it!)

But I also hope that what I’ve shared today will get you thinking about your own situation and what your brain may be doing behind the scenes. Perhaps you’ve been wanting to get organized and build your STEP system, but you just never do it because you feel stuck. That’s likely your brain keeping you safe, telling you that once you build a system, too much is going to be required of you because you’ll be so organized. Our brains are often wired with limiting beliefs that prevent us from actually doing the things that will bring us joy. It’s not a weakness — it’s protection. I was somewhat embarrassed to share my story about overcoming my pain because I didn’t want people to think I was just making up a bunch of sicknesses and keeping them in my head. But the fact is, I had no conscious idea that that was what was going on. And now that I feel so good, I just want to share it with everyone so they can feel the same way too.

When our brains try to warn us that we’re not safe, we can override that and say, “I am safe.” And “safe” doesn’t mean that there aren’t any problems.  It can even just mean that I can manage and get by.

I have been going through some of my mom’s old journals, and I found this great quote by Robert Louis Stevenson: “Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all that life really means.”

Seeing that in her handwriting was really sweet to me the other day.

If you’re going through “life” like I am–or like we all are–I hope you’ll feel the encouragement from us to learn, to do, and to become. It only takes small microbursts to reach our goals. And as we join together, we can feel more connected and supported in the process.

Much love!!

April

(These include Amazon Affiliate Links)

Pain-Free You by Dan Buglio This is the book from today’s episode!!

The MindBody Prescription

When the Body Says No

Podcast with Raelan Agle (about Brain Training and coming out of post-viral fatigue syndrome)

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

STEP Coaching Membership Now Open!

The post [PODCAST 328]: Our Brains Have More Power Than We Think (How One Book Healed Me Almost Overnight) appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

Hello friends! Today we’re talking about making change, but not in a scary, high-pressured, fearful kind of way. And that’s because we prefer sustainable change that happens naturally and gradually over time through simple steps we call “micro-efforts.”

Most of us have heard that “the journey of 1,000 miles begins with just one step.” And that’s true in most things, right? Literal journeys, like hikes, flights, trips, etc. don’t happen in one big leap or jump, and we’d never expect that. But when the steps, the feet, and the miles add up, we’re taken to beautiful valleys, vistas, and summits.

Before we go deeper into micro-efforts, let’s do a quick review of the LearnDoBecome journey, which I hope will become more and more familiar (and exciting) to you as you move forward here with us:

LEARN = Utilize the helpful, informative, free resources we have on our website, in our newsletter, and across our social media channels.

DO = Build a STEP System or “Command Central” for peace of mind and clarity. (Lots of free resources can support you, or you can go through the STEP Program and STEP Coaching!)

BECOME = Create a life where you “wake up excited and go to bed content,” (optionally alongside fellow ARISErs!) with balance in these 6 areas: organization, relationships, higher power, well-being, finances, and purpose.

I’d also like to go a little deeper into what ARISE-ing actually means. Some people think we’re here to make them “more productive” or help them pack more and more into each day. Others think we’re offering more ideas that they don’t have time to implement, so they hold off on the ARISE community until “life settles down.” While there is zero pressure to join any of our programs or memberships, Eric and I sat down this year (in several different working sessions) to identify our ARISE Success Milestones. We want to clearly articulate WHY we’re running this community and explain what it will actually do for you.

So here you go:

We hope you feel energized by these, and our goal is truly for this ARISE community to make an impact in your life that gives you a noticeable lift, day after day. We consistently use the phrase, “Wake up excited, go to bed content.” I’m even working on making a sticker for that. Here’s my initial sketch!

All right, now let’s jump into the actual topic for today.

Will you please take a moment and think of one experience in your life where you consistently put energy into a “micro-effort” and it positively resulted in an oversized result for you? You likely already have evidence that this works.

Additionally, there are many books on this topic you may have already read: Atomic Habits, The Power of Habit, The Slight Edge, Tiny Habits, and The Compound Effect.

Each author brings their own take on the subject, but the end goal is the same: Establish regular, bite-sized efforts towards the things that matter most, and over time, you’ll experience that beautiful change you desired in the first place.

As an example from our own lives, Eric and I wanted to “move more,” so we thought about how we could do that in just a few minutes a day. We already walk our dog three times a day, so we decided if we could just make each walk a little bit longer–and perhaps add a fourth walk right before bedtime, we could get in quite a bit more walking without feeling like we were adding “one more thing” to our schedules.

It’s easy to think that just a few minutes of walking won’t make a difference, but it already has!

And as we get ready to close up, we thought we’d share our four ARISE opening reflection questions for this month’s topic that goes deeper into the power of micro-efforts. The questions are in bold below, and then I’ve answered them for myself so you can get a feel for what you might say:

1. What’s one area of your life where you’ve been waiting for “the right time” to make a change—and why do you think you’ve been waiting?

I want to put more time and energy into writing–articles, podcasts, social media posts, books…. I love it and I miss it. I’ve been waiting because I feel like other things need me more or because I need to make myself available to everyone. It’s funny because now that I think about it, I don’t really have a good reason. Maybe I’m scared? Scared that it won’t be received with the same enthusiasm I imagine, and I don’t want to waste my time.

2. If this change had already taken place, how would your life benefit from it? (Give us a peek into the future!)

Ahhh, I feel like it would be amazing. Not only would I enjoy the process, but I think it would help me to reflect on my life in a more powerful way and bring together my favorite books, quotes, stories, experiences, and ideas in a way that could help others. I also think it would bring energy to the business side of LearnDoBecome because I keep a whole lot inside right now that I feel excited to share.

3. Think about a very doable habit or micro-effort that has already created positive change in your life. What is it, and what makes it work?

My nutrition is dialed in right now. I have time allotted each day to food preparation–and time to just sit and eat without rushing from place to place, and by making it a priority, I’ve gotten so much healthier over the past few years.

4. Thinking about the area of life we discussed in questions one and two, what is one sustainable micro-effort you could put into place today that would move you closer to your goal, as long as you were consistent? (And please–make this as SMALL as you can. We want this to feel 100% doable, even during the hardest days and weeks.)

I think I could approach writing the same way I approach food preparation. I could sit down during my Weekly Review and outline what kinds of things I want to write over the coming week (keeping it flexible), and then I could assign time each day–even 10 minutes–to writing. I like that quote by Henry David Thoreau that says, “No day will have been wholly misspent, if any sincere, thoughtful page has been written.” I believe I could do this joyfully, if it were included as part of “creating my day.”

We hope that this podcast has given you a few simple ideas to get you going with consistent, sustainable micro-efforts that will have a powerful compound effect on your life! And if you’d like to join with us and the ARISE community to go deeper into this topic, our live workshop is Tuesday, June 9th @10am Pacific–or you can catch the recording inside the members’ area later.

We are so, so grateful to have you with us here at LearnDoBecome and wish you the very best!

Book Links:

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

STEP Coaching Membership Now Open!

The post [PODCAST 327]: The Power of Compounded Effort – Compounding Change and Growth appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

Going paperless can feel REALLY hard if we focus on all the backlog and try to change everything at once. That’s why Alia (digital her whole life) and I (mostly digital after decades of working with paper) sat down and created this step by step podcast for you. We hope you enjoy this fun conversation!

(Quick note from Alia: While my day-to-day Command Central is only digital, I still have a physical inbox and file box to hold any physical items/papers that come into my life. Although I consider myself fully digital, there will always be a few physical items here and there that will need processing!)

We’ll go through each part of our STEP Command Central diagram and share ideas for creating a digital version:

Please keep in mind that implementing new digital tools might take some time. We invite you to look at everything else on your plate and make sure that you have the room on your Current Projects List before adding digital components to your STEP System.

We also invite you to consider keeping things functional before making them fancy. For example, a Google Doc could be a starter space for a Projects List or Routines List, and then you could move to something like Asana (or another project management tool) later on.

Here’s an overview of our ideas for each section of the Command Central:

Calendar

Next Actions List

A Next Actions List organizes tasks by context, such as errands, phone calls, home, or computer work. Some people prefer a paper version, while others use a notes app or digital task list.

Messages Managed

Moving to digital often means receiving more information through email and online accounts. A reliable message-management process helps ensure nothing important is missed.

Landing Spots & Capture Tools

Inbox

Current Projects List

Routines & Responsibilities

Waiting List

Goals

Read & Review

Filing Cabinet

Support Materials

Tickler File

Someday List

Incubation List

The Incubation List is for ideas that may or may not become projects in the future.

Going digital is not about eliminating every piece of paper. Meaningful photos, handwritten letters, keepsakes, and special memories still deserve a physical place in life. The goal is to create systems that reduce overwhelm, simplify daily responsibilities, and make information easier to find and manage.

By focusing on current systems first and treating older papers/physical items as future projects, it becomes possible to make steady progress without feeling buried by the past.

[Podcast 295]: Let’s Talk About Landing Spots

[Podcast 298]: Let’s Solve “Communication Overload”

[Podcast 69]: Consolidate Your Inboxes To Reduce Time on Social Media

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

STEP Coaching Membership Now Open!

The post [PODCAST 326]: Paper to Digital: Where to Actually Start appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

Brief Summary: LearnDoBecome isn’t here because Eric and I have had challenge-free, perfect lives and “want to show you how to do it, too.” It’s quite the opposite, actually. We have lived through being stuck in repetitive cycles of overwhelm and “just getting by” for years, and now that we have learned and grown through those experiences and are able to focus each day on creating an “architected life” we truly love, it is our hope and mission to strengthen YOU in your journey. Below is a little of our story.

Back in 2006, Eric and I had tried to work hard and do everything “right”–and to others it may have seemed that way. College, marriage, work, grad school, three beautiful children, our first house, and a solid job. From the outside, it looked like we had things pretty well together. But on the inside, that dream we’d created at the beginning–that we’d wake up excited and go to bed content while doing purposeful work that actually made a difference–seemed so far away.

My mind was constantly spinning in circles. So many to-do lists, piles of stuff, never-ending housework, thousands of emails that had piled up, and a little home office that we never went inside because it was so full of boxes.

The TV distracted and pacified us for hours every night, but we both felt a constant, quiet ache inside. We, and our dreams, were like those boxes in the dark, cluttered office. Full of potential, with no true clarity or energy to bring them to life.

Then one day, as I was starting to figure things out with our children, I told Eric I wanted to start writing–things that would bring support to other mothers so they wouldn’t need to feel as discouraged as I had been. From 6-8pm on Wednesdays, Eric handled the children’s bedtime by himself, and I’d lock myself in our bedroom and type essays and book chapters on our old desktop computer.

That surge of creativity brought hope and optimism back to my life. And, while I was somewhat devastated when I discovered that no one wanted to publish my work, God said, “You don’t have to wait. You can publish yourself.” So, with Eric’s unfailing support and a few hundred dollars, I hired a friend to design a website to help me strengthen mothers. I was weeks away from delivering our fourth child at the time, and, of course, I wondered if anyone would visit it. But when the website “went live,” so did my vision and excitement for the future.

That first year running my website was FUN. Hundreds of mothers joined the community, I finally had a creative outlet that could make a positive difference in the world, and the power of the internet felt like magic. (I continued to run that community with dear friends for over 10 years!)

Eric and I even decided to start a second website to strengthen husbands (and fathers). That was going to be our business. Our independence. Our stake in the ground to create goodness in the world. We gathered a talented design team, spent a significant portion of our savings creating an A-plus customer experience, and even ordered 50,000 postcards to hand out so we could spread the word. We were building something amazing together, and we just knew it was going to take off.

With the 2008 global recession, Eric’s company started offering some severance packages. The company’s leaders wanted Eric to stay, but we were excited about what we were building and hopeful it would be our future, so he was able to persuade them to let him leave with a generous package (for which we were grateful).

And then…everything fell apart.

After a number of months of trying (and hoping and praying the business would work), we made the hard decision to shut it all down and put the 48,761 remaining postcards up in our attic (and there they stayed until we moved, years later…and taking them to the recycler brought back painful memories).

The global recession continued to weaken everything around us. The value of our home plummeted to half of what we had paid for it (and to a level far below the mortgage on it), and there we were–with four little children, no regular income, a tiny bit of savings (shrinking daily), and no idea what we would do next. I remember sometimes we’d wake up at 4am and just lie there holding hands–fairly worried, clinging to each other, and praying that somehow we’d figure a way out.

There wasn’t a “quick fix” or an “overnight sensation” that saved us, but over the next several years, some amazing things happened–some that we influenced, and some that came from power beyond our own.

As I attempted to calm my own mind and bring some sense of order to the chaos around me, I discovered David Allen’s Getting Things Done® methodology, and the moment I understood that everything in my head (and life) could have a landing place, I was a woman on a mission to build this for myself. My family was fully behind me, and I spent a week in my pajamas and served cereal for dinner every night while I built a simple system of paper sorters, files, and lists on a little card table in our bedroom.

By the end of that week, I was a new person! The house became and stayed clean, my head was calm for the first time in years, and I found myself walking from room to room–actually looking for something to do because my simple routines were handling everything. One day, our then 4-year-old son asked me if I could play soccer with him in the backyard, and for the first time in his life, I could give an excited and unstressed YES. My brain was finally letting me relax!

Of course I couldn’t keep the excitement to myself. I started teaching friends how to create their own simple systems (customized to how they thought and worked), I wrote about it on my website for moms, and I took photos and videos demonstrating the process. Then people started sending me photos of their systems. It was incredible!

Meanwhile, Eric was building a number of things, too…clearer financial goals and a simple plan to get us there–complete with monitoring our net worth, simpler ways to track and manage our funds (a better approach to budgeting and cash flows), solid, conservative, and well-performing investment practices, new employment and income generation, and creative entrepreneurial ideas to get us completely out of debt.

During this period, he (and we) read many of the classic books on personal finance. On one date night to the bookstore, we bought Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, and when we got home, we created a “debt snowball” chart on the wall. Then, after brainstorming a new platform idea for months, we sat down one evening in July of 2015 and fulfilled a dream by “launching” LearnDoBecome–together. It didn’t look like much, at first, but after all the pain and loss we’d experienced up to that point, we committed to building this online community of new friends and fellow travelers steadily, simply, and with our whole hearts.

My organization system for moms became Steps to Everyday Productivity (the STEP program)–our signature resource that now serves not only moms, but anyone overwhelmed by the details of life. Eric spent some time learning how to run ads online, and together, we have taught over 650 live webinars–and now an on-demand version of that class (How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles)–to more than a million people around the globe.

Tens of thousands of people have joined our STEP community and become STEPpers, and every day, we receive pictures, stories, and notes from community members who have gotten out of overwhelm and who are feeling their lives unlock. We never get tired of hearing their successes!

But we didn’t stop there. As we watched members of our community build their own STEP systems, we heard them asking the bigger, more important questions: What do I do with my life now that I’m organized? How can I create better balance? How do I create lasting financial independence? How do I make sure my marriage, family, faith, and purpose stay at the center of everything I’m doing? We LOVE these questions–these are the same questions we had been asking ourselves along our journey–and we love the personal introspection, efforts, and results they lead to.

Our ARISE community helps people find their own answers to these questions in an incredibly supportive environment. We dive into monthly topics that blend elements of six core areas of successful living, so we can all truly “wake up excited and go to bed content.” As one example, we often fold in fun ways to improve our personal finances by sharing simple approaches and real stories — from our own lives and those of our children, friends, extended family, and even Eric’s mom, Peg. Peg has become a regular part of our financial conversations since Eric began working with her about six years ago, starting around age 70, to build the strongest financial foundation of her life — proof that it’s never too late! We assure you that you can also make progress in every area of your life. It’s NEVER too late!

Overall, my passion for helping people into more clarity and peace (and out of physical and mental overwhelm)–combined with Eric’s passion for helping people architect their own lives of excellence and meaning as well as achieve their own financial successes–combined with our joint passions for strengthening marriages, families, faith, well-being, and purpose—inspires us every day. We LOVE what we get to do!

Serving this community at LearnDoBecome alongside our wonderful team is genuinely our dream come true. We’re still a work in progress, and there are definitely still hard days (we don’t love those…), but because of the struggle to get here, we promised God and one another that we would never take this gift for granted. We strive to continually invest our best efforts into our people and our work–and we are grateful for how our communities connect and do the same!

And now YOU’RE here…which is perfect. We are so, so thankful that our story and your story have intersected here and now at LearnDoBecome, and we look forward to growing together!

Love,

P.S. If you’re looking for a simple way to get started, here’s a quick overview and some key links!

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

STEP Coaching Membership Now Open!

The post [PODCAST 325]: Recession, Debt, 4 Kids, and 48,761 Postcards in the Attic – The Story Behind LearnDoBecome appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

Eric and I just finished Jon Acuff’s “Remarkable You” conference in Nashville. Here are a few favorite takeaways. (There is such power in getting away to think and reflect!)

When you decide to grow, you “awaken the dragons.” Here are 6 dragons Jon referenced:

While I was there at the conference, I met a woman whose friend offered her a free ticket, and she ALMOST didn’t take it because she thought she “wasn’t the kind of person who was good enough to attend an event like that.” Ahhh, that hurt my heart. So glad she made the choice to go!

Eric and I have definitely had to outsmart these dragons in our lives, and we’re still working on it, in some cases! But there are definitely ways to overcome them. For example, being brave enough to be “mediocre” can help us overcome perfectionism. (See podcast episode 323, linked at the bottom of the page.)

Moving forward with “little bets” can help us get past the overthinking. (See video on pursuing dreams without fear, also linked below.)

Yes, being a Becomer takes bravery, but it is so much more satisfying!

Our remarkable soundtracks turn into remarkable actions, which turn into remarkable results.

This has been so true for me. When my self-talk is encouraging and positive, I SEE the results show up in my life. (The Power of Neuroplasticity book, linked below, has been super helpful for me these last few weeks, even.)

In your profession, you want to find something you love so much that you would do it for free, but you ALSO want to get so good that people pay you a lot to do it.

I’ve heard the first part of that, but I rarely hear the second part in regular conversations.

There is power in symbols. It’s ideal to pair a great soundtrack with a symbol we can see and reflect upon regularly.

I wrote more about this in last week’s post about symbols! (Linked below.)

We hope that these ideas strengthened you today–and if you want even MORE, we have an additional 30-minute audio recording inside our ARISE community, where we went through the rest of our notes and shared some incredible insights and ideas that came to us throughout the event. Click here to join ARISE!

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

STEP Coaching Membership Now Open!

The post [PODCAST 324]: Some Favorite Takeaways from Jon Acuff’s Remarkable You Conference appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

Are you a high achiever who is either looking to build momentum or hoping to create life balance in the midst of all the “doing”? We’re diving into some solid solutions for you today!

At LearnDoBecome we want to help you out of the overwhelm so you can do what matters most, but “what matters most” comes under attack. Urgent needs of a person you care about, an overwhelming number of texts, emails, notifications, or things that will keep you “busy,” health issues, emotional issues, the entropy of everyday life. I understand because if I’m not incredibly deliberate, my days, weeks, and months can slip away.

In our minds, we know this. Here at LearnDoBecome, even, we talk about “architecting a life of excellence,” but if we aren’t wise, we can think that we are creating excellence by waiting until just the perfect time to do those things we know will make a difference in our lives.

Organize the office? Sure! Once I have nothing on my calendar for 3 consecutive weeks.

Get that certification? Yes—when all my family challenges subside. Start eating right? As soon as my stress level goes down!

Now, of course we can’t do everything at once, and of course we need to honor the pressure we’re currently facing so we don’t overwhelm ourselves with way too many expectations, but we all know that the perfect day, the perfect time, the perfect family, and the perfect circumstances don’t actually exist.

I talk a lot about the STEP Command Central, and that is definitely the tool I use to manage all the stuff of life, but even if we have all the files, folders, and lists set up, our heads can stop us with things like distraction and procrastination. But the secret weapon I’m sharing today truly has the power to help us make immediate progress and simultaneously beat our tendencies towards perfectionism. It’s called “Doing Something Mediocre Every Day.”

I definitely need to caveat this “secret weapon” because I don’t want to be a mediocre wife, mom, neighbor, coach, podcaster, friend, sister, etc. And I don’t want to go to a mediocre doctor or have a mediocre plumber fix my sink. In fact, Eric suggested I replace the word “mediocre” with the word “acceptable”—meaning that we work towards a good standard without getting paralyzed by the goal of being perfect.

That also reminds me of the word “satisfice” that I’ve spoken about several times before. “Satisfice is a decision-making strategy that involves selecting the first option that meets minimum requirements, rather than searching for the optimal or best solution. Coined by Nobel laureate Herbert Simon, it is a blend of ‘satisfy’ and ‘suffice,’ representing a ‘good enough’ approach that saves time, effort, and cognitive resources.” The reason I use the word “mediocre,” however, is because I heard it over lunch with a couple of friends who are family therapists. They work with a lot of perfectionistic college students, and they shared that one key to improved mental health is to do something mediocre every day. Shoot for it. Make that an actual goal—because when you DO, you push the limits of your comfort zone, you give yourself grace, and you make progress.

Steps to Everyday Productivity, our signature program here at LearnDoBecome that helps you to build a Command Central and organize your mind and life, would probably not exist if I’d waited for it to be perfect. Tens of thousands of people have become STEPpers, and we receive testimonials every day about how it is changing lives, but let me take you back a decade and share a little about what was going on behind the scenes. Eric and I had just started LearnDoBecome.

This was our dream—to work together and to build a community online that we could serve. We knew that organization and productivity resources would be part of what we offered at LearnDoBecome, and we knew that we wanted to adapt the program I had made just for moms to a broader audience, but there was SO much going on. We were preparing to move to a different state with our four children, my mom was in the last stages of Alzheimer’s, we had some time-intensive roles in our church community, and I was working with two other organizations online, balancing it all as well as I could.

Then one day, Eric said, “What if we taught a webinar for the STEP program and just offered Module 1? And then we could tell people that the next modules would be delivered, one per week, until the whole program was finished?” Initially, this idea felt incredibly scary. Each module needed audios, videos, transcripts, written instructions, pictures, etc.—and I wanted to feel proud of my work…not like I just threw something up there. But Eric had the energy to organize all the marketing, and I knew if I kept things simple, I could easily make the program in bite-sized piece.

The program has been redesigned several times since then, but if you were to go back and look at my very first modules, you’d see crayon drawings I photographed (I didn’t know how to use our scanner and I didn’t know how to find a designer), simple videos recorded on my phone without a lapel microphone (I propped my phone up on books so I could film myself at my desk), simple audios from me and Eric (I put bullet points together and then we would record from a couple of $20 microphones I got on Amazon), and very, very simple written instructions.

Was the program “mediocre”? By my standards, yes. But did it help people? Did we start getting testimonials right away? Did it launch us on the path we’re on now—where we keep improving, step by step, and where we’re not afraid to TRY? Absolutely. I share all of this because this same pattern has played out in every area of my life. Everything I truly value today got started because I wasn’t afraid to be mediocre.

So let’s roll with that. I’ve been there, too. What if people criticize me? What if I get a reputation for BEING mediocre? What if I stop having standards altogether and turn into a big failure? My personal opinion is that if we are even asking these questions, it means those things won’t happen.

Once you have your STEP System in place, you’ll have more support when it comes to deciding on your projects and routines, breaking down next actions, and setting yourself up for success. I don’t want to ignore the fact that your identity IS going to change. That might feel a little scary (or very scary) because you’re likely known as someone who is impressive, has it all together, and does so much that others have their jaw open when they hear all that you’ve been up to. But we all know that isn’t sustainable, and I promise that changing your identity into something that is truly healthy will be well worth the effort.

Let me give you one more example that has been a game changer for us inside STEP. It’s called “Function Before Fancy.” Essentially it means, “Build your system so it is functional FIRST, and don’t get all stressed out if the pieces don’t match your desk or if you don’t have your walls painted your ideal shade of blue. Use cereal boxes, file folders, painters’ tape… Let it be ugly—even embarrassingly ugly. But get started and build something.”

In fact, I reached out to Coach Taryn, who coined the phrase, and this is how she came up with it:  “It was something that came to my mind as we were preparing for the most recent [STEP] revamp. I kept seeing how STEPpers were getting stuck on wanting to have everything perfect and pretty and they were letting that perfectionism stop them from progressing. They wanted their Command Centrals to look exactly like yours or somehow it didn’t count and wouldn’t work. The phrase Function Before Fancy #FunctionBeforeFancy popped into my head a day or two before Alia and I drove down to brainstorm [with you]. I loved the thought! It’s a way to help our members push through the perfectionism and see that they’ve already likely got all that they need in their homes to be successful. Once they’ve got the flow of how things will work for them, then they can switch things out for “fancy” or pretty items.”

Isn’t that great?  Now our STEPpers use that phrase when they post photos of their first set-ups. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Doing something is what gives us momentum.

You might not be building a STEP System right now, but it’s likely that there’s something you need or want that feels so far from perfect that you’re avoiding it altogether. Is there a “function before fancy” option that inspires you? Is there a “mediocre” way you could get started—and could you feel genuinely proud of yourself in the process? I’d love to hear your thoughts (and your success stories!) in the comments.

You know you want more for your life, and you’re taking ownership of that. That’s rare these days, and we are so happy to have you here! You can look down in the related links to learn about our STEP program, our STEP Coaching membership, and our ARISE community! We’re thrilled you’re with us and will see you soon!

xoxo

April

Jody shared a fun “money found” win:

Kay shared this computer desktop transformation after our digital decluttering workshop:

Catherine shared a beautiful desk transformation:

Frances shared this photo and the following successes:

~ Setup Command Central.

Karen shared this message in our Facebook group:

Tammie shared this post in our Facebook group and also wrote that she is sleeping better and feeling more at peace and hopeful rather than overwhelmed by all the things.

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

STEP Coaching Membership Now Open!

The post [PODCAST 323]: The “Good Enough” Strategy That Actually Works for Busy, High-Achieving Individuals appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

You can listen to today’s podcast by clicking “play” above, or you can watch it on YouTube by clicking this link!

I walked through the diagrams on this board to explain that optimal systems are way better than chaotic activity, and I shared some simple systems from my own life–like how I plan, purchase, and prepare food, how we do an annual “We Love to Be a Family Day,” and how systems supported our post-webinar email delivery.

Basic Transcript / Summary:

Do you ever feel stuck in a rut—like life is running you instead of the other way around?

Today, I want to show you a simple shift that can change everything: moving from chaotic activity to optimal systems.

I’m April Perry, and here at LearnDoBecome, we help people who feel overwhelmed by the details of life create simple systems so they can do what matters most.

Imagine five gears spinning, but none of them are connected. That’s what chaotic activity looks like.

You wake up, check your calendar, then get pulled into texts, emails, interruptions, errands, and random to-dos. You’re constantly reacting and jumping from one thing to the next.

It takes a lot of energy…

The tricky part? It kind of works…just enough to keep you going. Maybe you get an hour or two of real progress, so you keep repeating the cycle.

I lived like this for years, making long lists, chipping away at them all day, then rewriting everything I didn’t finish the next day. It’s draining.

Now compare that to optimal systems.

Instead of disconnected gears, imagine just a few gears working together. When things are connected:

That’s the power of systems.

If you want to build systems, start with a Current Projects List.

This is a simple list of 7–8 projects you’re focusing on for the month, organized into:

This creates focus and balance across your life.

And here’s the key:

Once it’s up and running, it can move into maintenance mode. But at the beginning, it deserves focused attention.

3 Simple System Examples

1. Food & Grocery System

Before: last-minute store runs, no dinner plan, wasted food, constant stress.

Now:

Result: We always have what we need, and I don’t have to think about it constantly.

2. Family Traditions (We Love Being a Family Day)

We celebrate a special family day every February, and we’ve done it for over a decade.

Why hasn’t it fallen through the cracks?

Because it’s systematized:

The system makes it easy to be consistent and actually enjoy it.

3. Webinar Follow-Up System

Before: manually sending emails after each class, trying to track who needed what and when.

Now:

Result: Less stress, more consistency, and a better experience for participants.

Other Areas You Can Systematize

Once you see it, you’ll realize systems can support almost anything:

A little upfront effort creates long-term ease.

Why It’s Worth It:

Yes, building systems takes some intentional effort.

But when you focus on one system at a time—and work on it in small steps—it quickly starts paying you back.

As James Clear said: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

We hope that this information is helpful for you and would love to hear from you in the comments section!

Podcast – We Love to Be a Family Day

Free Emails to Zero Training!

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

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.

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

STEP Coaching Membership Now Open!

The post [PODCAST 322]: Get Out of That Rut–with SYSTEMS! appeared first on Learn | Do | Become.

Note from April: I am SO excited for you to listen to this episode with Raelan! You can use the podcast player up above or view it on YouTube by clicking the image below! And just for the LearnDoBecome community, if, after listening to the episode, you’re excited to try out her Brain Training 101 course (which I personally went through, and it was transformative!), there’s a special link and coupon code in the related links at the bottom of this page. Okay, enjoy!!

I experienced post-viral fatigue back in November and ended up in bed for all of December and January, as well. The doctors couldn’t do anything further at that point and said it might take months or years to recover, and that kind of sent me into a panic. But then I found Raelan’s YouTube channel, and she helped me walk out of the illness step by step–because it wasn’t a physical issue, it was my nervous system, and I am healthier now than I have been in years. However, what I learned from Raelan wasn’t just about “recovering from an illness.” It was about how to calm our nervous systems–and I realized that her work and our work here at LearnDoBecome actually go together beautifully. We want to get organized and create clear space so we don’t have to stress about papers, clutter, and piles of stuff. That calms our minds. But there are other facets to achieving “calm” that are often overlooked–like how we view “achievement,” in general, how we care for ourselves while we’re caring for others, and how we incorporate joy into our lives, even when it feels like the to-do list never stops.

I hope you’ll love this interview because it’s about calming down and slowing down–without sacrificing our purpose, living “mediocre” lives, or giving up what matters most. 

Raelan Agle knows firsthand how debilitating chronic symptoms can be. At 30 years old, almost overnight, she became incredibly unwell and was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. It would take a full decade before she finally found her way past it. During those years, one of the hardest parts was how little clear, hopeful information seemed to exist for people trying to understand what was happening to them. That experience sparked a deep passion to share the kinds of insights and resources she wishes had been easier to find when she needed them most.

As she began to understand her own recovery more deeply, that personal journey gradually grew into a passion to help others make sense of their symptoms and find their own path forward. Along the way, Raelan’s professional background helped shape how she approaches this work today. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Work and previously worked as a clinical social worker in medical settings. With training in psychoeducation and years spent helping people make sense of complex health information, she further developed an ability to translate complicated science into practical, actionable tools people can actually use in their daily lives.

Today, Raelan is an author, YouTuber, and the founder of the recovery program Brain Retraining 101, a space where she has worked with hundreds of people to help them move past conditions like ME/CFS and long COVID. Through her popular YouTube channel, she also reaches millions of people around the world with videos sharing recovery stories, practical tools, and insights into the science of neuroplastic symptoms.

We created this Google Doc if you’d prefer to read the interview!

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Raelan’s YouTube Channel

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