I want to end this series by talking about how I'm planning for the next trimester and beyond and what is different now than what I was living with before I started this journey.

The beginning of this journey started with trying to get naps in, still working a bit on days that I planned to do school, but it has moved to no naps and no work on Mondays and Thursdays. Looking at my past trimester will help me to better plan my next trimester.

This has been such a joy being able to verbally process this change with you. Whenever you take on something new, you are changing your identity, adding to the person you already are and the person you are going to become.

I have recently gotten to the point where I identify as a PhD student and that I am thinking what it will be like when I am actually Dr. Woodruff. That was the first time I said that out loud!

Join me thinking about what it is going to be like when I finish this PhD journey. What journey are you on that you can imagine where you will be at the completion of that journey?

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

There are times when getting organized is going to be easier. I call these Golden Windows.

Some Golden Windows are given to all of us - like January (new year), spring and fall. The new year is all about starting the year off with a fresh start and achieving new goals. Spring and fall are both times of the year when there are big season shifts and you get a burst of energy. The spring energy lends itself well to planning and the fall energy lends itself well to productivity.

Common Golden Windows include:

• Expecting a child
• Moving or selling your home
• When your youngest child starts school
• When your youngest child starts middle school
• When your youngest child starts driving
• Milestone birthdays

If you want to hear a more in depth definition of Golden Windows, listen to this podcast.

Today's episode is going to focus on a question I get a lot - how long do Golden Windows last?

This depends on the type of Golden Window you're experiencing. There are long and short Golden Windows. A long Golden Window is something you can anticipate. A short Golden Window is one where you don't realize you're in a Golden Window until you're already in it. In a short Golden Window, you don't get to plan ahead so the energy fizzles out fast.

• An example of a long Golden Window could be pregnancy. You know you are going to have a baby so you have months and months to plan, re-organize, nest and prepare.
• An example of a short Golden Window could be adoption. When we adopted Joey, we got a call at 5 pm and by 7 pm we had a baby!

Each Golden Window, no matter whether it is short or long, is an opportunity not to be overlooked! And while the length of time that Golden Window will be open for you depends on a lot of factors (outside of your control) there are certain things you can do to get the most out of it.

Here are my three recommendations for making the most of a Golden Window:

1. Anticipate
2. Optimize
3. Extend

Understanding your Golden Windows allows you to get so much more out of these amazing bursts of energy. Listen in to find out how to anticipate, optimize and extend your Golden Windows for maximum impact.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Golden Windows Podcast

• Organize 365® Home Planning Day

• The Productive Home Solution®

• Complete Home Organization Bundle

• Embrace - Self-Guide Retreat - now available on-demand

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

In this episode, I introduce you to Pamela A. to discuss her organizing journey and transformation. Pamela spent many years looking for her solutions to get herself and her home organized. With two small boys and a husband, she was on an endless search for organizing solutions.

She found the Organize 365® Podcast through a Google search. She was hooked and binged all the old episodes while driving to and from work. That's SO many episodes. If you are also new around here - I highly recommend using our Organize 365® Podcast Playlists to find what you're looking for.

Flash forward to today - Pamela's boys are now 27 and 33 years old. Pamela works full-time at a hospital. She has been living in the same house for the past 29 years (similar to me). There are upsides and downsides of staying in the same house for so long. When you move, it forces you to make decisions about your stuff. Pamela and I discuss that over the years she has accumulated a lot of stuff - that's not hers.

Pamela's house is home to all her sons' stuff, her grandparents' stuff and now her own mother's belongings as well. It's a lot. Pamela watched the video I made where I show the process of organizing a storage room and she said she's going to need a dumpster like we used in this video. Watch it for free.

Listen in to this interview to hear our in-depth conversation about:

• Why do we keep all of this stuff?
• How much should we realistically be keeping of things like children's artwork, books, American Girls, Legos, etc?
• How to organize a storage room and how long will it stay organized?
• Why we use our basements and storage rooms for delayed decision making and how to avoid this in the future.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Process of Organizing Your Storage Space Movie
• The Sunday Basket®
• The Friday Workbox®
• The Productive Home Solution™

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

I’m excited to announce that the Education Friday Workbox® now includes Education Camp! Today’s Coffee Chat will help you understand what this new inclusion means for educators and how you can get your own Education Friday Workbox with Education Camp this summer.

What is the difference between the Business and the Education Friday Workbox®? 

The Business Friday Workbox® is to support you in a financial endeavor in business, whether you are the employer, the manager, or the employee. Education is completely different. People come into education with the skills needed for the students/teachers they support or in the administration they serve to support the students and teachers. 

The Education Friday Workbox® doesn’t teach you to be a better teacher, it helps you with all of the other work that is required to be in an institution. We have identified seven kinds of work in this Workbox, none of it your lesson plans; it is the administrative work and red tape you need to do so that you can do all of the things you love. 

The Education Friday Workbox® now includes your first year’s Education Camp. Education Camp is held each year in July. 

Note: Current Education Friday Workbox® customers will get  Education Camp at no charge this July.

Join us for Education Camp July 10-14, 2023 by purchasing your Education Friday Workbox®! 

Organize 365® makes visible the invisible tasks that are weighing you down and keeping you from the amazing instruction that you are qualified and capable of providing. The Education Friday Workbox® is your partner in success for organizing all of those extra administrative tasks, papers, checklists, and the thing that you need in order to hit the ground running and save time so that you have more time for yourself and your family or to invest in more education. If you like teaching, you love learning.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week and thank you for all you do!

Episode Resources:

• [email protected]

• Education Friday Workbox

• Education Camp

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Proactive versus Reactive

Listen in to how I map out someone going from a completely reactive life to a proactive one.

Since I don't have a lot of margin in my life right now, there are things I used to do regularly that I'm unable to do. I now have a 2-week break from school and I will be sharing how I plan to continue my proactive living without the additional margin in my life.

At first I thought I would take the additional time off from school and put it to working more, but SURPRISE, I have decided to take some additional time off from work to do more personal and family related things. I want to have the flexibility to do whatever my energy is in allowing myself the freedom to do all these things in whatever order and be even better prepared for my next school semester.

Here are some of the things I plan to take care of during my break:

• Reorganize the storage rooms
• Clean out the family room and toys
• Move into outside living
• Personal organizing - closet, bathroom, purse, car, supplements, and personal care
• Stock the house for the next 4 months
• Deep cleaning
• Catching up on podcasts
• Listen to audiobooks
• Sunday Basket® deep dive
• Binder updates
• Photo printing
• Puzzles and TV watching with Greg
• Fun family outings

I am in a season where I am running really fast and I love it! What season are you in and how are you planning for these areas of your life?

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

This episode answers a question I get a lot. How do you know when you are organized? What does it mean to be fully organized? Does anyone ever feel finished? Is there an organization finish line?

Let's get into it!

First, you're going to want to follow along with the Organize 365® Research - get a FREE copy of our newly released research magazine here.

Our most recent research study aimed to answer these questions about what it means to be organized and where the finish line might be. In order to do this, we broke organization up into the four categories we defined - personal, storage, family & communal spaces and paper. This allowed us to zero in on different areas and give people an opportunity to rank if they felt organized in any of these areas of their lives.

• 15% of respondents felt they were personally organized
• 14% of respondents felt that their storage rooms were organized
• 18% of respondents felt that their paper was organized
• 13% of respondents felt that their family & communal spaces were organized

This is a huge problem because our research has already revealed that 87% of Americans believe organization is a learnable skill. So the majority of people believe this to be learnable, but yet they have not achieved it. My concern is that people start to think they are the problem. When in fact, the real problem is that we don't have a good way to learn the skill of organization or know when you've accomplished it.

Listen in to hear more about how Swiss Cheese Organizing is only exacerbating the problem. Which leads to one of the most important points of this podcast:

The order in which you attack organizing your home is MORE important than the amount you get done in any one area.

Learning to be organized and becoming organized is a commitment. Just like any other new skill or lifestyle choice you may make - getting healthier, getting out of debt, getting a degree. It's going to take time. Probably eighteen months to three years. Once you understand that it is going to take time - there's a relief in that. A release of pressure. Let go of the idea that you can get this done in a weekend. That if you don't instantly start feeling and operating more organized, you've failed. You cannot get a transformation overnight or in the nooks and crannies of your everyday life. This is a commitment.

But here's the really important thing to remember - in three of the four areas of organization we have defined (personal, storage and paper), once you get these areas organized they will stay organized for a long time. Today's episode includes approximate timelines for each area and tips for maintaining them once they are organized.

There is so much organization goodness in this podcast and I want you to take from this that there is no one finish line for organization. There really are four finish lines, but also we are going for excellence not perfection. Create your own benchmarks and allow yourself the time you need to make this transformation and learn this skill.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The State of Home Organization Research Magazine - my free gift to you!
• Watch me organize Michelle's Storage Room
• Excellence vs. Perfection in Home Mangement
• The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day
• The Productive Home Solution™ Course + Planning Day
• Home ALL IN Bundle

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

Today I'm interviewing Lindsey S. She's a high school special education teacher that found me through my podcast with Angela Watson. What's so interesting about this interview is that Lindsey S. was already living an organized life when she found Organize 365®. But her life was speeding up and she had the wherewithal to know she had to implement some new organizational systems and skills if she was going to keep up.

She lives with her husband, twin 5 year old daughters, and 9 year old daughter. Lindsey holds nothing back in the hopes that her story will help others. One of her daughters has a learning disability and one has autism. Her openness in sharing her journey advocating for her children is admirable. Even as a special education teacher of 12 years (knowing the ins and outs of the systems in place), she still needed a system for organizing and presenting her documentation for each of her daughters. She uses the Warrior MAMA Binder!

We talk about parent intuition and observation which is something I've always known (anecdotally) is a thing. But I'm learning more and more about it in my PhD program. Lindsey has thoughts on this also!

Switching topics to how Lindsey organizes herself and her household - you have to hear how Lindsey is "chunking" out her Sunday Basket® time! If you are in a busy season of life and can't seem to find the time to do your Sunday Basket®, this podcast is for you!

I am floored to find out Lindsey also has Sunday Baskets® for each of her girls! She walks me through how these are set up and it is absolutely genius! She gave me some ideas to implement in my own life with my daughter.

Then, she walks us through her Friday Workbox® which has been amazing for her since she has so much administrative work that she's been able to make visible (and pretty) with a Friday Workbox®. The Friday Workbox® helps her easily glide through her day. It's given her more capacity and time.

How is Lindsey using the time she's unlocked through implementing Organize 365® systems and courses? Listen in to find out!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Organize 365® Warrior Mama Binder
• The Sunday Basket®
• The Friday Workbox®
• The Productive Home Solution™

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

We are getting very close to the spring Home Planning Conference on May 6th which means that enrollment in this spring term of The Productive Home Solution™ will be closing, too!

Let the Organize 365® Dream Team help you figure if now is the right time for you to get started and which courses to take! We’d love to hear where you are in your journey and recommend next steps.

Send an email to customer service at [email protected] or schedule a call here.

Episode Resources:

• [email protected]

• Schedule a call

• The Productive Home Solution™

• The Productive Home Solution™ Planning Day

• The Sunday Basket®

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

We are nearing the end of my first trimester and I am now in the mindset to be successful in this 4 year journey. In this podcast, I'm talking to you about planning.

Processing this journey, I am a whole to part learner, looking at the end of the journey to understand what I will need to move through this journey. I am spending time attending webinars and meetings finding out more about the field I am studying and what else I may want to focus on to further the impact I could have.

Once you make a decision, it is not set in stone; you can re-decide, modify, and make changes. As I move forward, I will continue to re-evaluate and plan my PhD experience.

Planning for me is the key to not slip back into a reactive life, but to continually be looking at how I am using my days, weeks, months, trimesters, and the next 4 years, for the most impact possible; for myself personally, for my company, and for the people I am doing the research for.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Follow my journey on Instagram - Check out the PhD Highlight Button

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!