Learn | Do | Become

Today’s podcast is all about routines and segmenting them into our “must-do” and flexible routines. (I sometimes like to call these my “would-be-nice-to-do” routines.)

I have been thinking a lot about this topic of must-do routines vs optional routines because we just recently had our second baby, and our lives are looking very different than they were a couple of weeks ago.

Our time and energy are not able to go to the same things that it went to a couple of weeks ago–and that’s totally understandable. However, being able to segment our routines has allowed us to have so much more patience with ourselves and really focus on the essentials right now.

So whether you’re in a busy season at work, with community obligations, family, friends, navigating health issues, or a combination of all of these categories, this podcast is for you!

I first learned about this concept when my parents told me about a “multiple-choice perfect day.” This is essentially where you write out a list of every flexible routine that you would like to do in a given day, and you select a few things that you can reasonably accomplish or fit into your schedule. No matter what you are able to accomplish from that list, the day can still be “perfect” because you chose for it to be perfect! And you get to be the one who decides whether or not a day went “perfectly.” I included a link to a great podcast they recorded on that topic at the end of this page.

At LearnDoBecome, we encourage everyone to write down a list of their routines, called a Routines List. We recommend starting with the categories: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly. You can add additional sections to your list if you have routines that fall in other categories, such as Semiannual.

Then, under each category, create two sections. One for the must-do, essential routines, and another for optional, flexible routines. Here’s an example of mine:

When you have a list of your non-negotiables, it becomes so much easier to see what you have to do every day, week, month, and so on. And then the other routines can be folded in as appropriate when time and energy allow.

When I look at my week, I know that I absolutely need to meal plan, grocery shop, and do the laundry. I also know that I must pay bills each month to keep up with our apartment, electricity, and so on. Those things can’t be missed.

Some of these essential routines have a calendar reminder attached to them so I don’t forget. For example, I have a reminder on the first of the month to pay rent. I make this an “all day” task on my Google Calendar app, and then I check it off that day when I complete the task.

This has been an absolute game changer for me! I am able to be very mindful about what routines end up on my “must-do” list, and then I end up only having 2-4 things that I need to do on any given day. I’m not overloading my list or stressing myself out. I feel so light when I look at and create my daily and weekly lists.

On my “flexible” routines list, I tend to put several cleaning tasks that I obviously want to get to (such as mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, and vacuuming), but I know that our house won’t completely fall apart if I am not able to get to these tasks on a strict, regular schedule.

When I do my Weekly Review each weekend, I take a look at my Routines List and identify any routines on this “flexible” list that might have been forgotten about. If any routine has been forgotten about, I can add it to my calendar as an event or appointment with myself to make sure that it gets done.

I invite you to start creating your Routines List if you haven’t done so already–and split it up into these two categories so that your routines don’t feel overwhelming.

And if creating this type of list feels new or scary, follow the advice of Taryn, one of our LearnDoBecome team members. She recommends following yourself around during the day (and the week) to see what your routines actually are. Start the day as usual and have a paper or digital note handy to record routines that you’re already doing. And as you go through the day, make a note of the routines (the essentials and the optional ones) that you would like to start doing on a more regular basis. This is a great place to start!

We’d love to hear from you in the comments section about how you’ve set up your Routines List. Excited for you!

Routines Made Easy Course with Alia and Josh

Podcast: Your Multiple-Choice Perfect Day

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Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

One of the first things we do when planning a project is establish an outcome vision. Sometimes this feels very “official,” but it’s essential to know what we’re actually shooting for. When I first learned about project planning from David Allen, author of Getting Things Done®, I realized how important it was to know what “done” means.

When we’re planning out our lives, we don’t necessarily know when the end will take place, but we can identify what feels like an ideal outcome.

Recently, I shared the following list with a small group of “All-In Becomers” here at LearnDoBecome, and I thought you might want to review it and then weigh in, as well. Is “what I think you want” what you actually want? Would you add anything? Edit anything?

I almost decided not to publish this episode because the ideas seemed too “pie in the sky” in some cases. But as I thought further, I realized that even though there are definitely things that will happen that are out of our control, there’s a lot we can control. And I hope that these ideas can at least spark some good conversations. Okay, here we go!

What I think you want:

First, there are the “basics” we already describe in our ARISE community:

Obviously I love those 6 categories, as they form the foundation of what we do in ARISE and at LearnDoBecome, but I want to go a little deeper:

Thank you!!!

This first message comes from Teresa:

“I’m so excited about building my Command Central. In clearing my space I found $125 in an envelope a gift from a few years ago!! I have started to declutter at work as well. The microburst is definitely a game changer. I’ve been listening and watching videos so I’ve started using my calendar more but can’t wait to get where it comes natural. I even listen to videos and podcast on my drive to and from work. I’m hooked and ALL IN!!! I was so excited to hear about the emails to zero. I went to work and got my emails to zero w/o the training…I just had your voice in my head. My personal email…I will definitely need the training. I could go on and on about how the system has helped me. I’m looking forward to all that it has to offer. Thank you soooooo much!!”

The next message comes from Paula:

“Recently re-engaged with Step. Had my command central setup, finished a major project, and then got sick for over a week. Guess what, for the first time ever my house didn’t get messy when I was sick. I processed my daily mail and bills and reset the rooms when I left them. I had plenty of time to rest and didn’t worry about the house. #STEPwin”

Daisy shared these great “before and after” photos and wrote:

“I am not done but my daughter is excited to start her projects and paints! And play with her toys!!!! I still need to sort the bins but I’ll send the before and after when that part is done. So far, thanks team!!!!”

And last but not least, Karen wrote the following post in our Facebook group:

“LIGHTBULB MOMENT: Realizing my overwhelming to-do lists in the past was actually a mindsweep without a plan.”

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Free Resource: Emails to Zero Training

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Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

Welcome to the podcast! You can click “play” above for the audio, the written version is below, and the community highlights I shared at the end can be found at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

The other day, a member of our Steps to Everyday Productivity community posted this in our group:

Hey friends! I have a friend that is extremely overwhelmed mentally with all that she has to do. She is a very busy professional, now a student in a graduate program, a wife, etc and can’t figure out how to unravel her mind, which has never been an issue for her before. I would like to send her a video or a podcast to encourage her and give a brief overview of what the program can do. But her issue isn’t “stuff.” Any of our admins or other members have an idea of a not-too-long media piece that fits the bill?

I LOVED that question, and so I thought I’d take a few minutes today to provide a very specific answer.

This is actually my very favorite question TO answer because it was my own pain in this exact area that brought me to teach organization online. I’d learned how to declutter and create an organized space, so anyone who dropped by would probably think I had it all together, but my mind was never calm.

I couldn’t be fully present with my husband or children, I couldn’t calm my brain when it was time to sleep, my shoulders were constantly tense, my mind would be spinning in circles–even when I “should” have been relaxed, and I didn’t see any way out of that situation.

But I learned how to create that “calm”–with the help of books like Getting Things Done®, and now I want to do the same for you.

Let’s start with a few suggestions that came from our community:

Then Taryn, one of our wonderful coaches here at LearnDoBecome shared a couple of resources listed in our directory. (Come get access to that by signing up for our Welcome Kit!) I’ve listed her suggestions in the related links….one is a podcast featuring two ways to solve the constant churning in our minds. The other is a YouTube video featuring one of our members named Claire who truly thought she could never be organized, but then she built her full Command Central, and it changed her life.

I also want to feature a third recommendation that was posted in our group:

Now, that comment included multiple parts of what we call the STEP Command Central, and in essence, we help you to build a system that has 15 parts, and then we show you how to process everything into it. That includes things like papers, digital files, tasks, projects, messages, goals, errands, and every idea that is currently floating around in your head. It’s amazing. But “processing” isn’t the end. We then show you how to maintain it with a solid Weekly Review and great routines moving forward.

A quick note: we talk about ALL of this on our podcast and our YouTube channel. Nothing is a “secret,” and if you dive in fully to LearnDoBecome, you can build your system and get relief. I want to make sure that’s clear because this information is literally available to everyone. Our Welcome Kit (linked below) is a great place to start. We do have a signature program here at LearnDoBecome called “STEP,” which walks you through bite-sized assignments in order, offers a community forum, provides live group calls with our coaches, and even features an on-demand accountability program that sends you texts, emails, and social media posts where you can report back on your progress, so that is definitely an option if you want to move more quickly and get coaching along the way, but we are here to serve you in the way that works best.

All right–now going back to that last comment from our community member, I want to dive deeper into the mind sweep, the capture tool, how to use a project management software to track projects and routines, and how to create a Context-Based Next Actions List.

These are skills I first learned from David Allen, author of Getting Things Done®, but then I adapted the principles to make them visual, step-by-step, and family-friendly. If you’re balancing an active family or personal life as well as trying to build your professional or volunteer work, this is exactly the road to a peaceful mind.

All right, so where do you go from here?

I recommend you first learn about all the parts of the STEP Command Central. If you sign up for our free Welcome Kit, you’ll get our LearnDoBecome Directory featuring all of the free resources we have here–plus you can immediately get started identifying your Current Projects and Next Actions.

We have programs and coaching available, if you want more. And while our free training, “How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles” is designed to help people out of physical clutter, you’ll love what it does for your mind, as well! You can sign up below!

Essentially, I want you to know that you don’t have to live in overwhelm. If you feel like too much is in your head, too much is expected of you, and too much is slipping through the cracks, you can completely solve that. I didn’t believe it was possible for most of my life, so I didn’t even LOOK for a complete solution. But now my mission is to help you out of overwhelm so you can do what matters most!

Our first message comes from Jayme:

This Command Central transformation comes from Daisy:

Pat sent in these images and wrote:

“I cleaned out my office surfaces (not shelves or drawers). Now I have a pile of stuff in the corner of my bedroom, but the office is ready for Command Central. I found 3 tape dispensers and several envelope boxes that I would have tossed earlier, but thought I might find a use for them in my initial Command Central. Tomorrow is the next step!”

And last but not least, Michelle shared the following message:

I am thankful for all the STEPs I have implemented so far.

1.) Especially implementing routines to avoid creating more projects.

When I had read about implementing STEP and watch the piles melt away, I felt it was unattainable, the statement a cliché! But really folks, even if we aren’t STEPping perfectly, progress is progress. Narrowing down our focus to implement the next STEP gives us forward motion. I’m going to keep on STEPping. STEP has given me quality of life in an upset world. When life puts things on hold, I know where I’m at because I have my projects routines and tasks all loaded into my Command Central.

YouTube Channel: Subscribe Here!

VIDEO: 3-Part Framework to Get Out of the Overwhelm

PODCAST: Two Ways to Solve the “Constant Churning” in Our Minds

VIDEO: “I truly never thought that I could be organized.” (Member Spotlight!)

Brand new? Get the LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

A few weeks ago, Eric and I attended author Jon Acuff’s “Remarkable You” event, and many of you asked if we would share our notes.

Eric and I are highlighting several of our favorite, most meaningful takeaways in today’s podcast. If you’d like to hear some of my more in-depth thoughts, ideas, and mindset shifts that resulted from attending this conference, I recorded another podcast and created a written version for all of our ARISErs inside our ARISE membership.

This conference was SO GOOD, and I am confident that many, many of these ideas will resonate with you!

Remarkable You Event Takeaways:

YouTube Channel: Subscribe Here!

Get the brand-new LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

What holds you back when you think about decluttering your life?

I asked members of our ARISE community what specifically was holding them back, and here are a few of their responses:

Can you relate to any of those sentiments? Today I’m going to share eight simple principles that can guide us as we’re decluttering. These aren’t the only eight principles, but they’re eight that I think highlight ways that we can actually move forward when we feel stuck.

We also have a video version of these principles if you’d prefer to watch that instead. Don’t forget to subscribe to our LearnDoBecome YouTube Channel (linked here)!

Principle #1 – Focus on your own space and your own things first.

I know it’s tempting to want to declutter everything that your family members have

I’ve been there. In our family, each person has their own space for sleeping, getting ready, and things like that. There are some shared spaces in the house that we just keep generally clear, but when I’m decluttering, I’m thinking about just my space and my stuff.

Principle #2 – We’re going to be very, very careful about every decision we make bringing things into our lives in the future. We’re going to recycle, donate, and dispose of things as wisely as possible.

If we notice we’re always decluttering a bunch of really cheap knick-knack things, we’re going to commit to not bringing those into our lives in the future.

I don’t want us to keep things in our lives because we are protecting a landfill and so we therefore turn our homes into a quasi-landfill. That’s really not helpful because at the end of our lives, it’s all going to go into the landfill anyway and having trash or items and just holding them all around you is preventing you from doing the good in the world and being able to have that freedom and flexibility to go bless the world in the ways you’re uniquely created to do it.

So there’s obviously balance here because I don’t want to go throw a bunch of stuff away and I want to repurpose things and I want to be creative.

And just a quick example of using things creatively–our son had the cutest fire truck lunchbox in kindergarten and decided he didn’t want to use it once he got to first grade. I didn’t want to part with the lunchbox, so I turned it into the bag that holds all of my travel toiletries. Whenever I travel, I just open this up, and I think about how fun it was to have my little you know little kids and it’s been great. Sometimes if you’re not using something, you can repurpose, and I think that’s great. The point is that every time you use it you want to be something that brings you joy.

Principle #3 – Progress not perfection and see your decluttering as Projects with Next Actions.

The whole goal is to be able to make incremental steps forward because as we do that, we’ll get to a point where everything’s decluttered and then we can just be in maintenance mode.

I recommend having it set up as Current Projects and Next Actions is because if you just try to attack your house or office or whatever in the midst of working, taking care of a family, volunteering, living your life, self-care, all that, you’re just going to feel frustrated.

If you have a Current Project of “I’m going to declutter the kitchen,” you’re going to break that into little bite-sized Next Actions (10-minute microbursts) to clear one end table or clear one drawer or something like that. You’ll come back to this project and be able to make steady progress forward.

Principle #4 – This was inspired by Dana White’s book Decluttering at the Speed of Life. She encourages us to declutter and create the life we’re living right now, not to save everything that we might need in the future.

Waiting for that perfect opportunity to show up where you might need that one thing is just going to keep a lot of excess in our lives.

So instead, if we focus on the idea that we are going to only keep what we are actually using and that we need for this life, not for the life when we weigh something different or we have different hobbies or do other things, it’s going to help us to be able to keep it streamlined and focused.

And there can be a little balance here. For example, I do have dreams of playing some piano music that I’m not playing right now, but I have room for it and I’m just going to keep that music for when I can play in the future.

But let’s not keep all the what-ifs in our brains thinking, “What if I need 15 vegetable peelers all at the same time?”

Principle #5 – Work wisely.

Maybe it’s working in microbursts, maybe it’s scheduling time on your calendar

The point is that you want to be very thoughtful about how you’re doing it so that as you jump in to declutter a spot, instead of getting distracted by all the psychological stuff going on or regrets or any of those other things that may happen, you’re just going to focus on completing a ten-minute microburst.

Principle #6 – Photograph sentimental items that you do not use, want, and have room to store.

This gets easier with time. I have a podcast I recorded with Julie Morgenstern who helped me to recognize that keeping an old makeup bag that my mom gave me was not the best way to remember my mom. It was okay for me to let that go and save things that were better memories.

Sometimes we inherit a lot of things from loved ones or we have experiences with

Now sometimes people really want to save sentimental items and that’s great. If you have room for it, if it brings you joy to store it somewhere, awesome.

If you can just take advantage of the opportunity that we have now to take digital photos so easily and store them by keywords so you can go find them when you need them, it’s going to alleviate a lot of that physical pressure that otherwise could be all over your home and office.

Principle #7 – Recognize that the feelings that await you after you declutter are things like peace and joy and having more energy even though your brain is going to tell you differently.

For example, I went into the closet the other day because I know I need to declutter maybe 10 shirts or something like that that I have hanging.

Every time I think about decluttering them, I think I’m going to feel sad, guilty I spent money on them, frustrated that I didn’t wear that more often or didn’t turn out the way I thought, etc.

I have all these thoughts that as soon as I declutter, I’m just going to feel terrible. But I know as soon as I actually donate those shirts, I’m going to feel light and peaceful and happy. I know that because this is happening time and time again.

I want you to just visualize one pile of stuff that you know you don’t use, want, or need, but you’re like holding on to it for some reason. How do you think you’re going to feel once it’s donated?

Right now your brain is saying it’s going to be the worst. I’m going to feel so awful. I want you to just pause and maybe think, “Well what if I did take those things and I put them in a little incubation box for a couple weeks? If I don’t think about these things for two weeks they’re just going straight to donation. I won’t even open it again.”

You could do something like that, but I want you to recognize that it’s going to feel so good.

Principle #8 – If you get stuck, quickly brainstorm with friends, but go find a solution.

I was chatting with my daughter the other day because she had created this cute

This is where having a community, an online group, a good friend, or someone you could text a photo to and ask is great because as you can come up with different options, then you can choose the one that feels best for you.

In this case, my daughter decided just to take a picture of what was unfinished and then she’s not going to worry about keeping it.

It gets easier as we go, but typically the reason why we want to hold on to all of these things or the reason when we have clutter is because we are compassionate, care about a lot of things, and there’s meaning in our lives and to our possessions. And that’s a beautiful thing.

But when it starts to overwhelm us and stops us from having that energy that we need in order to be with our people, do our best work, and thrive individually, then it’s time to let the clutter go.

I really want to emphasize the “why” is that I want you to wake up excited and go to bed content. I want you to step into this newer, exciting life that you’ve been dreaming about, knowing that clutter doesn’t need to hold you back.

When you can give space for the things that are important, you’re going to feel that lift. So glad you’re here!

Book: Decluttering at the Speed of Life

Video: You Don’t Need a CLEAN Home to be ORGANIZED

Podcast: Secrets for What to Do When You Want to Keep EVERYTHING–With Julie Morgenstern and April Perry

YouTube Channel: Subscribe Here!

Get the brand-new LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

(All the awesome written and visual testimonials shared at the beginning of this podcast can be found at the bottom of these show notes.)

If it takes a full hour to plan your week–and the house must be dead silent, your family members need to be happily occupied with other things, and you need your best energy to think–how often will that actually happen?

Maybe you’re in a stage of life where you have total control of your time and this is a regular occurrence (yay for you!), but today I’m sharing a few ideas to help identify your ideal planning spectrum, which means that you can stay on top of things and maintain a general sense of calm, whether you have tons of time or you’re simply squeezing in a few minutes of planning while a frozen dinner is in the microwave.

What would you need in order to feel TOTALLY calm, organized, and ready for the coming week?

For me, it looks something like this:

I actually shouldn’t call it “lower” because it isn’t “worse.” It’s just going to take less time and won’t be as thorough.

I actually DID have an ideal planning session this past Sunday. Here’s the photo:

But my planning sessions during the five prior weeks were super simple.

Our daughter Alia and grandson came to visit, so I was in full “nana mode” the first week. Eric and I took a little trip together for 5 days during the second week. Then Alia had an emergency surgery (which she spoke about in episode 283), so I flew out to help her Monday through Friday of the third week. During the fourth week, I went into “catch-up mode” here at home, and then Eric and I went to a business conference out of state for a few days during the fifth week.

During that whole time, my planning system looked something like this:

This is obviously a personal decision, but I encourage you to ask yourself a few questions:

(1) In an ideal world, what kinds of things could I do during my planning sessions and what kinds of routines could I create so my mind and home environment could feel completely calm and I can feel present? (This will be your top line.)

(2) If I choose not to do an “in-depth” planning session one week (or several weeks in a row) because something else is a higher priority, how will I keep track of my appointments, tasks, projects, papers, and basic routines so I don’t abandon organization altogether? (This will be your bottom line.)

(3) Are there any habits or perspectives I need to change so I don’t end up overwhelmed when life gets busy?

These are just a few questions to get you started, but hopefully you can tailor these to meet your needs. The goal is to work toward your ideal, while never going below your minimum requirement, but being happy and content anywhere in the middle.

I wanted to share these thoughts on a podcast because even though we had a busy few weeks, I didn’t feel stressed, and everything that needed to get done did get done.

I did deliberately postpone several projects, I wasn’t able to be in multiple places at the same time, and I had to let go of some expectations I’d set for myself, but being organized isn’t about doing tons of tasks. It’s about knowing what your priority is and then having systems in place so you can actually focus on that priority while everything else is safely waiting for your future decisions.

Sending lots of love, and if you have a comment or questions, please submit it below! Happy planning!

April wrote, “Processed a pile, found missing new Health Savings Account cards AND 3 checks totaling around $850!!! On a positive note I demonstrated to hubby the processing step and its relevance!! At least all were from end of August and are still good to deposit!”

Book: Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself

Get the brand-new LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

Would you like to be inspired on your journey to organization? And would it be extra amazing to receive that inspiration from someone who didn’t know it was possible for them?

In today’s podcast, we’re sharing an interview with Jill Adams from Team LearnDoBecome and Claire Crawford.

We recently featured this beautiful testimonial from Claire in one of our podcasts:

“I am doing some reflecting on the changes that have happened in my life since joining this community. Over the last decade of my life, I have heard many of the principles that are taught in this program. I have read many books about these principles. What this program did was give form and function to those ideas. It gave me a way to put all those ideas into action. I truly never thought that I could be organized. Completing basic tasks and routines felt impossible to me. Now I am completing project after project and working on building new routines. That’s because in those little windows of time that I have during the day, I have my next actions list there to reference. I can knock some things out on the list and keep moving forward. Before this program i would have these pockets of time and not know what I should do. I remember thinking I could do something right now, but what? There were so many things swimming around in my head head I couldn’t decide. I mostly worked on my house but even that wasn’t under control. My house is now east to maintain and my mind is at peace. I’ve heard so many stories here about people being able to be present with their children, not worried about all the things that are left undone. Last night that happened for me. My eight year old daughter asked me to sit down and chat with her for a little bit. We did. I left my phone in the kitchen and we went in the family room and sat and talked. Before, I would’ve thought I need to get her to bed so I can work on things in my office. Not last night. It was so sweet. That thing that I heard about in others’ testimonies in this program became a reality for me too. Thank you so much to everyone that’s here, each of you matter so much. And a special thanks to April, Eric, and Alia. Your guidance has changed my life.”

Isn’t that beautiful? We were so excited to dive deeper into Claire’s journey in this community spotlight.

Here’s the video version of the interview if you would prefer to watch:

Claire joined us after attending an online organizational summit, where she immediately connected with April’s teaching style. What started as a friend’s invitation to join STEP Mastery turned into a life-changing journey of clarity, calm, and confidence.

Claire and her friend Mindy were both drawn to the principles April shared at the summit. Mindy joined the Mastery program and gifted Claire a free invite—something Claire says was a total blessing, especially as someone who hadn’t seen long-term success in similar programs before.

Claire shared that the biggest difference was how approachable the system felt. The small, well-laid-out steps helped her finally build a Command Central—something she had always struggled to complete in the past. Once it was in place, productivity started to flow.

“I used to want to skip straight to organizing the piles, but I learned that the productivity I wanted would come from building the system first.”

She uses a compact accordion folder for on-the-go organization and relies heavily on tools like:

She emphasized the mental calm the system has brought to her life. With her projects clearly outlined and her papers organized, she now approaches life with peace and patience.

She also touched on an emotional breakthrough: learning to trust herself to complete projects by breaking them down and following through step-by-step.

“I didn’t realize I was putting projects on my task list. No wonder I was getting stuck! Now I see those pieces clearly—and I have a plan.”

Although life got busy, Claire and her friend Mindy remained accountability partners—checking in and encouraging each other to keep going, even after time away from the modules. The flexibility of STEP allowed them to pick up wherever they left off, which was key as homeschooling, working moms.

Claire’s story is an inspiring reminder that lasting change doesn’t come from rushing—it comes from having the right tools, support, and mindset. With STEP, she’s not only found a way to manage her home and tasks but also gained confidence in her ability to follow through.

“The STEP system respects your time, brings peace to your mind, and helps you move forward—one intentional project at a time.”

Letting Go of Urgency

Claire used to believe she had to complete entire projects in one exhausting day out of fear she’d forget. Now, thanks to her Next Actions List and consistent system, that fear is gone—and so is the burnout.

Respecting Time & Relationships

Previously, Claire would interrupt her husband with urgent thoughts or to-dos. Now, she uses a “To Discuss” list—creating intentional time for conversations, which she describes as more respectful to both herself and her relationships.

Dream Trips Made Real

Claire also planned and completed a dream birthday trip to LA with her brother—something she says would have remained a “someday” dream without the STEP system. Breaking the trip down into actionable steps made it real—and unforgettable.

Command Central = Peace of Mind

From managing homeschooling to running a household, Claire says her Command Central helps her juggle her many roles. She no longer lives in a constant state of “fire-fighting,” but in forward-thinking calm.

A Ripple Effect

The change isn’t just personal. Claire’s family has noticed the difference—her husband described a newfound “intentionality and follow-through.” She’s now able to model calm, capable organization for her daughters as well.

Growth Through ARISE

Now part of the ARISE membership, Claire is diving deeper into areas like finances and personal development. She loves how ARISE takes big topics and simplifies them through the STEP lens—making progress feel natural and achievable.

Closing Words:

“I thought I could never be organized. My brain felt helter-skelter. What I needed was a simple system. STEP is not complicated—it’s empowering. It doesn’t just change your schedule; it changes your life.”

A Message from April:

Wasn’t that incredible? We have been so touched by Claire’s example, and we want to help you feel this same way!

We have so many free ways to get started, and we’ve created a special, totally-free LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit (linked below) with all of our best resources, podcasts, and other free content gathered in one place.

Get the brand-new LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

Has life ever thrown you a curveball and totally derailed your plans for the coming days, weeks, or months? I had a recent, unexpected experience that left me feeling immensely grateful for my Command Central, and I wanted to take a moment to share it with you!

We planned a fun spring break trip back to visit family during my husband’s break from medical school, but when we got back, I found myself in the hospital for 6 days getting a couple emergency surgeries and needing to spend a lot of time recovering and prioritizing my health.

I’ve had wonderful doctors making sure that I got the care I needed, and I am so grateful that everything turned out positively. As I’ve been recovering at home, my mind keeps going to all the ways in which we prepared beforehand and dealt with all the incoming “stuff” during my time in the hospital. I’ve been able to think of 7 different ways that my Command Central allowed me to rest, have a calm mind, and take care of all my responsibilities–without feeling worried one bit!

(1) We had a very detailed Spring Break Current Project that included space for “after the trip is over” Next Actions.

My husband and I collaborated on a project throughout the month of February to plan our 2-week trip back to see family. The project included lots of Next Actions to secure our travel details, make plans with loved ones, and make sure we packed everything we needed.

We also created a section inside this Current Project called “after the trip,” and we added any Next Actions that came to mind of things we needed to do right after we got home. Things like:

I was able to check in with this list before I headed to the hospital and was able to defer most of these tasks. We ordered a few groceries that a friend helped us pick up, and then I knew that I could rest and not think about these tasks until I was out of the hospital. While I was in the hospital, I was able to add tasks to this list (all the things I wanted/needed to do when I got home), and then they were totally off my mind so I could focus on my healing.

(2) My husband and I have really good home systems and routines in place to keep things tidy on a daily and weekly basis.

We created a calendar event to clean up our apartment really well before we left for our trip–so we could come home to an “almost perfect” home and feel at peace after a long day of traveling.

We also have a good daily routine of “resetting the apartment” where we clean and tidy before we go to bed so we can wake up to a clean apartment.

This routine, combined with our more thorough clean allowed us to get home and not worry about any other details–I was able to head right to the hospital and knew that we would have lots of friends in and out of our place helping out. And I didn’t worry one bit about whether or not we’d have laundry done for our son or a tidy place for him to play and spend time with babysitters.

Of course, our friends wouldn’t have judged us at all if things were not tidy, but it took a lot of the weight off my mind to know that we weren’t going to come home from the hospital to a messy home that needed a lot of TLC.

Is there something you (and those living in your home) can do to make a daily home reset happen? How would it feel to wake up to all the dishes done each morning? Or how would it feel to have all the toys at least picked up and put in their respective places at the start of each day? That’s a great project to work on with your loved ones!

(3) My husband does a Daily Review each morning and helped manage lots of details during my hospital stay.

My husband (and I also do this–but I was feeling too sick to help out in this scenario) does a Daily Review each morning that includes checking his calendar, identifying must-do tasks for that day, checking his flexible Next Actions List, and then coordinating the care for our son for the next day.

My husband stayed with me throughout my time in the hospital and did all of his medical school classes virtually during this time. He was able to stay on top of his appointments and tasks, while also messaging friends and neighbors about helping out with our son. This was so incredibly helpful to me because I didn’t have the energy or ability to help out very much. I am so grateful that he is checking in with his Command Central each day to make sure he is where he needs to be and doing what is required of him each day.

(4) I continued my daily text/email checking routine.

I check my email about 3-5 times a day and delete anything I can, handle urgent and 2-minute tasks, and appropriately save items that need my attention (flexibly) within the next week.

I also try to respond to all of my texts each day–spending a few minutes answering them in the middle and at the end of the day. I check each text as it comes in to see if it’s urgent or something that can be done in 2 minutes or less. If it can wait, I’ll handle it during those 2 “text answering” times each day.

I was able to respond to the people that offered to help with our son or bring us meals, save important emails so I could write a thoughtful response when I had more energy, and address anything urgent, such as our upcoming lease renewal to make sure that all the details were squared away.

(5) I spent 45 minutes processing and taking action on my hospital discharge papers and instructions.

I got home from the hospital with lots of papers and tasks that I needed to do. We got home on Friday, so I put everything safely in my inbox and enjoyed the weekend.

I added a little calendar appointment with myself for Monday and blocked out 30-40 mins to handle all the “stuff” I needed to look at.

On Monday, I made the phone calls, set up follow up appointments, added a new routine to my calendar, and filed away the hospital papers for easy reference. I have all my upcoming appointments safe and ready to go in my calendar, and all my papers are in easy-to-find spots, such as my Tickler File, so that I can bring them to my appointments.

And now my brain can rest! I don’t need to think about any of those papers or items any more!

(6) We stuck with our calendared routines–and simplified them!

My husband and I have several routines on our calendar that we simplified, but tried to accomplish early so that life would keep running smoothly in the background while I recovered.

We did our monthly budget check-in a couple days after I got home and made sure that all our bills were paid and that we were moving toward our financial goals. We paid our rent early so that I wouldn’t have to think about it–and so all our April financial obligations could run in the background while I recover.

We have a couple other household routines that he took on and that we simplified so both of us wouldn’t have to take on too great of a load during this recovery time. It’s been wonderful to know that our routines are safe on our calendars–and that we were able to get many of them done ahead of time!

(7) I’ve reduced my Current Projects List substantially for the month of April.

As of right now, I only have 2 projects on my list. (We recommend no more than 8 current projects total each month.) One project is for work/LearnDoBecome and is something that I can work on flexibly when I have the time and energy. The other project is “rest and recover” and is my reminder to take it easy right now and not overextend myself.

I don’t need to feel bad about having fewer projects on my list one bit–when I am feeling better and up to handling additional projects, I have them safely stored on my Next in Line Projects List.

I hope these examples are helpful to you and the circumstances that you might be currently facing (or facing in the near future).

Are there any tips you’d like to add? I’d love to hear from you in the comments about ways you’ve been able to use your Command Central or STEP principles during unpredictable times.

Get the brand-new LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

Are you excited to learn how to make digital filing feel simple?

The audio version of this resource is above–just click the “play” button in the header!

The written version is here on this page, and the video version is on YouTube. Click here or on the image below to watch!

All right…let’s dive in!

If your digital world were a paper world, would it look like a desk piled crazy high with stuff everywhere? Or would it be neat and organized, where you could find anything you needed within seconds?

But today I’m sharing 4 rules to get your digital world feeling AMAZING:

They work together like pieces to a puzzle. Here’s an image I drew on my white board with the basic principles outlined:

I’m outlining the process so you can implement this quickly, but I recommend you take just a few minutes to actually pay attention and take notes (paper or digital)! And at the end, I’ll show you where to PUT your notes so you can find them again and actually take action. It’s going to be so fun!

The best thing about this process is that even when technology changes, the principles will remain generally the same. So no matter what kinds of digital resources you use, you can create peace and order.

I like to have just a few spots where I keep my digital files, but they are specific to the file-type. (I’m not talking about things like a jpeg or a PDF. I’m talking about how large they are, who needs to have access to them, whether I want them available from my phone or not, etc.

I invite you to make a quick list of the 3-5 most common types of files you’re currently managing and where it makes the most sense to put them. (Then you’ll want to be consistent so you can rely on your system as you move forward.)

Here are my most common types of files and locations:

Once you know which types of files you put in which locations, you’ll want some general categories that are relatively the same across all of them. Mine generally follow this framework:

If you look at my Google Drive, Evernote, and paper cubbies, for example, you’ll see that they all follow this same general pattern.

Then just as my paper cubbies have folders, there are unique digital subfolders in each one of my locations.

For example, I keep general brainstorms, scribbles, and audio ideas for the YouTube channel inside Evernote in a LearnDoBecome general folder with a “YouTube Ideas” sub-folder.

But I put my actual video outlines into Google Drive–in a LearnDoBecome folder with a “YouTube Outlines” subfolder.

It’s because I use them differently. Evernote can hold audios, photos, and text really well in one note, and I like to keep it private. But my Google Drive folder is always shared with my daughter, Grace, who records with me and doesn’t use Evernote as much, so I like her to have access to the polished outlines, which work better inside Google Drive.

Our daughter, Alia, uses Google Drive for most things, and she has them beautifully color-coded.

The idea is to make the categories incredibly simple, with as many subfolders as are NECESSARY so you can easily locate what you need!

Digital searching is becoming better and better, so it may be tempting not to label files at all, but even some basic keywords and specifications are helpful.

Because I keep things in categorized folders, I can generally find what I need in just a few seconds, but I do love to give the title as many keywords as makes sense. I ask, “What words would I type to find this in the future?” It often takes just a moment to add in a few key words that will aid your search later. For example, we use Christian Healthcare Ministries for our health coverage. But if I’m filing something related to that, I might add CHM as well, so I can find it with the whole name or the acronym.

Whenever I have similar files that are repeated month after month, year after year, I START the naming convention with the year.month.date. This works for Family Photos and my YouTube outlines, for example.

Some digital files can just sit until it’s time to find them (for example, a tree trimmer’s business card…doesn’t need to go in Incubation or Someday…just capture it, label it, file it, and know you can search “tree trimmer” when/if you need it).

If files are related to a project, LINK them where you keep your project information.

If it’s a piece of information you want to review at a certain time or on a certain date, create a calendar reminder (again, with the link to that item). That way you won’t worry if it’s “out of sight, out of mind.”

Clear your computer desktop daily and put things where they belong. I try to clear it as I go along. For example, if I take a screen shot, I’ll immediately text it to my friend or add it to a digital file with the appropriate labels, then delete the screen shot off my desktop). Or when I finish recording a podcast, I’ll put the audio file in Dropbox and in a folder for my Hard Drive that I transfer once a month or so.

This might seem really easy/basic, but how many people have files all over the place?

We also have an entire system for keeping emails at zero, if you want to go even further, so I’ll link that below!

If you have no idea when you will work on this–or if you even want to do so, I would take a photo (if you wrote on paper) and file your notes in something like a Google Drive, Evernote, One Note, Notion, etc. Remember to title it with as many keywords as would be needed to help you find it. (LearnDoBecome, Digital Filing, April Perry, etc.)

If you think you actually want to organize your digital files in the foreseeable future, that’s going to be a project.

Write the project, “Set up digital filing system” on your Projects List–Current (no more than 7-8), Next in Line, or Someday.

Then you’re going to keep the link to this podcast and/or your notes from what we covered WITH that project. If it’s inside a digital Project Manager, like Asana, Monday, Trello, Bootcamp, etc., you can paste the link and your notes right into the project description or include a photo of your notes, if they’re on paper. You could also put all your notes into a Digital Filing System and link to THAT inside your project manager.

If you use PAPER for everything, you create a paper folder for the project, put your notes in there, and perhaps include the written link to this podcast in the folder so you could come back and listen again later.  CURRENT paper project resources go into your Support Materials. If they’re Next in Line or Someday, they can go into your long-term filing.

I know this probably seems a little tedious, but it becomes SO simple to manage once you have the steps in place!

I hope this brings you joy, digital peace, and lots of energy in the future as you realize you have a system to support all the wonderful things you will do!

From Angela:

This one is regarding our free training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles.

And I LOVED this one as a way to plan ahead. 

Get the brand-new LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles

Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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.

One of the BEST ways to get into overwhelm is by having a frenzied mind. But how do we create CALM minds? It’s partly done by creating systems, but without a healthy mindset, those systems can potentially drive us into overwhelm more “efficiently.” These three a-ha moments have had a big impact on me, and I”m excited to share them today!

(1) It’s not my job to make decisions for other people or to bear the consequences of their decisions. (I do help people carry their burdens, but I don’t assume ownership.)

If I “could” jump in and solve a problem for another adult, I ask myself if that is the best way to help them grow and develop–or if that is simply my way to erase the struggle from their life so I don’t need to feel worried for them. (This applies to friends, neighbors, coworkers, adult children, extended family, etc.)

(2) I don’t need to create a life I don’t like in order to create results I do.

This applies to things like exercise, nutrition, scheduling, business projects, and pretty much everything else!

(3) I need to take care of myself 3x better than I think I do in order to stay calm and healthy–according to my personal wiring.

Your situation may be different, but I am wired to be productive. Sitting still, resting, simplifying my lists, reducing my expectations, being okay with mediocre, etc. are all very uncomfortable for me. However, when I do those things about 3x more than I’m inclined to do so, I feel calm and happy, and I have more energy for people–plus I feel happier about my life. I also have found that I “expect more of myself” than God does. That has been humbling for me because I like to think all my activity is serving God, but I’m learning that when I push myself beyond what is appropriate for my energy, time, capacity, etc., I’m actually assuming I know better than God does. That’s a habit I am working really diligently to break.

Any other a-ha moments you would like to share?

Get the brand-new LearnDoBecome Welcome Kit here!

Free Training, How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles Our Steps to Everyday Productivity program!

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. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here!