A graphic of a personal organiser working with someone to declutter and organise their home
Episode 219 – 10 things organised people do

In this podcast we are talking about 10 things organised people do. Can people who are naturally disorganised learn to overcome their challenges? Let’s find out!
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Transcript of this podcast episode
[00:00:00] Ingrid: In today's podcast, we're talking about 10 things organised people do. Can people who are naturally disorganised overcome their challenges? Let's find out.

[00:00:12] Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid. And I'm Lesley. If you're new to the Culture Hub Podcast, thank you so much for being here. You're so welcome. What you'll find here is reality, empathy, and advice by the bucket loads. And of course, remember that on our show notes, you can find lots of. Other additional information, just go to declutter help.com/ 2 1 9 for this podcast and you'll find resources and links to the YouTube and everything that we've talked about and it can really help you on your way forward.

[00:00:44] Also, don't forget, you can watch our podcast on YouTube and it comes out every Friday morning. So thank for being here. Lesley, a nice podcast today about 10 things organised people do. But how did this whole come about, this whole idea to do this podcast? 

[00:01:02] Lesley: Well, we were having a discussion about whether you and I feel that we've always been organised or whether we learned that.

[00:01:09] I guess that's the way it came from. I think I, I can't really remember. No, because I'm an only child and because I didn't have siblings. I feel that if you've got siblings, I don't, this might be wrong. Tell me. Cause I don't know. Cause I've not got any. But you might be like, oh, they're the organised one, or they're the this one or they're the that one.

[00:01:26] But I was just the only one. And so I was all of the things or none of the things that would, depending on which way you look at it, do you know what I mean? So I don't really have any memories of being the organised one. And because my mom passed those, uh, early, uh, you know, she died when she was. 59. So it's not something that I've ever really had a chance to say was I really organised as a child.

[00:01:45] You know what I mean? And so I dunno whether I was always organised. I feel that I've learned strategies along the way to be more organised. I feel like you have definitely came out of the womb organised Ingrid. I 

[00:01:57] Ingrid: think so. I think it's because my mom and both my uh, actually my dad as well, they were both very organised.

[00:02:02] So I grew up in an. organised household things were done on the same day every week because that's just what we did. So I grew up with that around me, and I don't think, for me, I didn't think that was normal or not normal. It just was just the way it was. But then later people told me, wow, you're actually really organised and you're always very well prepared and you're always, but for me it was just, How it was, but then later recognized that actually a lot of people are not very well organised and really need help with that.

[00:02:35] So I I, it, I have never questioned it, I think. 

[00:02:39] Lesley: So you putting yourself at a 10 out of 10, where would you put me on the scale then? 

[00:02:44] Ingrid: Oh my gosh. Uh, well, I think you're very organised as well, but you're a different personality than I am, but I think you're very organised. Thankfully. Thankfully,

[00:02:56] Lesley: it would not be good enough. It would not be a good thing to have two Ingrid's around, that's 

[00:03:01] Ingrid: for sure. Or two Lesley's or two Lesley's. I'm fighting back here. Do you hear that listeners? I'm. Fighting back. 

[00:03:08] Lesley: Anyway, we need to get into the reason for the podcast. And so yeah, that's how it came about. But really what we know whether we were born, organised, or whether we've become organised over the years, is that there are certain things in life that go a long way to helping you be more organised and consequently, Taking the overwhelm away.

[00:03:28] Yeah, because we don't just have to be organised just because it's because being organised helps you so much in your daily interactions with people in terms of what you've got to get done in a day, and it takes away that panic. It makes you feel more in control and consequently is all around a good thing.

[00:03:45] So what we're going to talk about, we're going to do a quick fire, 10 things today. We're going to talk about some practical things. We're going to talk about some digital things as well, and we're going to go give you some ideas about some of the types of things that we believe are going to help you to take the overwhelm away.

[00:04:00] So let's go for Ingrid. Yeah. Number one on the 

[00:04:03] Ingrid: list, it has to. To be the daily reset. It has to be, we, we, I know we talk a lot about daily resets, but I tell you, Lesley, if I don't do my daily reset, and that means tidying up my house in the morning and in the evening after dinner, I, I things just start crumbling at the seams.

[00:04:21] I think it is really important that I do that because I feel in control of, Of my life. When I do my daily reset, when I've got clear kitchen counters, when my recycling is in the bin, when my dishwasher is, is on, when I'm doing a load of laundry. Once all of those things are done, it's, it's a couple of things.

[00:04:38] Then I'm like, okay, we're good. We're good here. 

[00:04:41] Lesley: Do you know what's really funny about the Daily reset is that, and I've started to fight back a little bit because I, when I, I do my daily reset, I get up, I'm a little bit, kind of half dead in the morning. I get up, I get showered, and then, you know, the daily reset involves the laundry and the making the bed and all of those different things.

[00:04:56] So a daily reset. It's more extensive to me than it is to my husband now, most of you know, my husband works away. We've got a flat in London that he works in during the week, so he has his own little space where he does, he's very protective over his space, right in London. So when I go, if I try and do anything that he's not used to, he doesn't really like it that much.

[00:05:12] He's quite funny, really. But when he comes home, he gets really like obsessed by it as soon as he is out of the bed. He wants to make it. Whereas I go in the shower first, then do my stuff, then I get myself ready, then I do my reset. He gets to makes to bed before he goes in the shower, and then he gets really quite upset.

[00:05:30] Like the bed's not made, not in a, not in a weird kind of way, but I can see him like huffing and puffing because he is like, okay, I need to get the bed mate. You know? So it's just weird. But what that means is that if we get out of bed the same time, he always makes the bed. 

[00:05:42] Ingrid: Oh no, that's good. That's bonus.

[00:05:44] He doesn't do any other things, you know? It doesn't 

[00:05:46] do 

[00:05:46] Lesley: any other things, you know, he just does the bed. That's it. Like nothing else in his reset, just making the bed. But anyway, I just sort of share that. It just made me laugh and so I think I'm like fighting back a little bit. Like haha, I know that I'm just going to gowan into the bathroom without my shower and really upsetting cause I've not made the bed.

[00:06:01] Anyway. A daily reset is very important. There's more to it than just making the bed is what we're saying. But it's going to set you up for the day. It's going to start your day off in the right. Way, isn't it? And, and yeah. Arm you for what is coming. 

[00:06:14] Ingrid: Well, Lesley, I mean, let's, let's be real about it. We have a whole course about daily resets in our membership because there, there, there are, it's not hard to do.

[00:06:23] It doesn't take hours and hours, but there's components to it that make your life just infinitely better. And that's why we wrote a course. So if you're like, I need to know more about these daily resets, come into the membership and we'll tell you all the ins and outs. Let's go to number two, Lesley. So.

[00:06:40] Lesley: It's a similar one to be fair, and this is more if you're working from home or if you're doing life admin from home. We think it's really important to set yourself up in your working space more. More and more of us are working from home, let's face it, or definitely doing stuff at home. Um, we think you need to have a time.

[00:06:57] Either at the end of the day or at the end of your working session, let's call it, or at the beginning of your working session where you kind of clear down, you know, that whole clean desk, clean mind scenario. We think it's super important. As I'm looking around my desk at this moment, I'm like, okay. Maybe you should practice what you preach a little bit, Lesley.

[00:07:16] I think by most people's standards it would probably be quite orderly, but by my standards, it's perhaps needs a little bit of attention. Well, you can't see that. You can't see my desk, so we're 

[00:07:25] Ingrid: all good. We're in the middle of a working day, Lesley. We got a busy day today, so we are, you're right. That is normal.

[00:07:31] But at, I know that at the end of the day, We, um, and I do it too. It's so funny, uh, like over the years talking on the podcast, we found out more and more how similar we are and how many things we do the same without even knowing it before. But I mean, at the end of the day, I tidy up my desk too. I stack my papers, I take my, my, my cups that I've used throughout the day.

[00:07:52] I, I tidy up. I make sure everything is turned off. And because it feels then mentally, okay, this is. Close down, it's finished now. And you don't want to come back to like an exploding desk in a morning thinking what's what? I just, I just don't like it. 

[00:08:08] Lesley: But I think But you're a nighttime person is what you're saying, so you are at end of the day.

[00:08:12] Yeah, I think I'm a beginning of the day. Oh, interesting. So maybe we're not that similar at all, Ingrid. 

[00:08:18] Ingrid: But we do tidy up both of us. We do, 

[00:08:20] Lesley: but I think, I think I do it cause I think at the end of the day, it's like I, I'm really lucky because the kids will make dinner so they're like dinner's ready. So I'll still be working and then I'll just leave and often go for dinner and then sometimes I come back and sometimes I don't.

[00:08:32] So I think that's why I do it maybe in the morning. But the important thing is at some point, Keep on top of it. You know, some people might do morning and night, do you know what I mean? Which is perfect. Or some people might just do once a week, but don't let it get out of control because it's really impactful on the way that you are doing your work, your chores, your life, admin, whatever that 

[00:08:48] Ingrid: looks like.

[00:08:49] Yeah. Yeah. I want to move on to number three, Lesley, and this makes me laugh so much when you came because you, you were coming up with the, with the ideas for this podcast, and you said, We need to talk about keeping your handbags and work bags clear of clutter. And it gave me a little bit of a giggle because I was at my client on Tuesday and the first thing she told me, she said, Ingrid, you're going to be so proud of me.

[00:09:14] I've actually cleared out four of my handbags because I, I know you've been telling me I need to do this and I've found lots of stuff and I've been doing it. She was so proud of herself. And I was like, so we were like doing a little woo, but it's so important. 

[00:09:29] Lesley: Yeah, when you've got all of that, all of the stuff and people will know who they are, who have jampacked, briefcases, work bags, handbags, and I think it depends on how you go about your day.

[00:09:43] So, you know, I can go and my handbags are clear, which they are pretty much my handbags and work bags are always fairly clear because I don't. Operate my life with a bag next to me all the time. Does that make sense? Yeah. So I don't go out to work at eight o'clock in the morning, then come back at seven o'clock at night.

[00:10:00] Do you know what I mean? I don't do that. I kind of, I'm here most of the time, so if I take a bag, it's normally for a purpose and I'll look and go, oh, I just need my phone and my keys and my, um, you know, lipstick. Maybe if I'm going out and that's it. But some people like more stuff. Some people will reapply makeup if they're, you know, if they want to during the day.

[00:10:18] Some people have got work papers that they need to put in. People who've got kids need extra, you know, like wipes and all that paraphernalia that comes with kids. And so my life's quite simple, uh, in terms of what I keep in a handbag. And my, my handbags are typically quite empty when I go out. You know, sometimes I need to put, um, I've got bigger bags, I need to put like extra bags in there to stuff them, to kind of pad them out a little bit.

[00:10:41] Cause they're a little bit limp. Do you know what I mean? Um, but I think it's really important to keep them clear of receipts and. You know, handies that you've used, that you throw into your bag and, you know, keep on top of that makeup that's in your handbag. If, if that's something that you, you do, and, and put it back and refresh it and bring different ones out.

[00:11:01] because they, it tends to breed, doesn't it? Ingrid? Yeah. And again, you, if you are in and out of your handbag or your work bag all day, it's going to give you that feeling of overwhelm every time you open it. 

[00:11:10] Ingrid: Yeah, I think as well, Lesley, it's things like start to accumulate. It's like, why are there only eight pens in my handbag?

[00:11:17] Why is all this loose change everywhere? Why are they parking tickets from three weeks ago? Parking still in there, dirty tissues a sock. I mean, I've, I've seen everything in handbags, which always makes me, I'm like, how does this soak end up in a handbag? But nevermind, you know? So, Half eaten snacks. I mean, I think if you do keep on top of these little bits and bobs, you're going to make it so much easier for yourself and you're rummaging around in this bag that it is like impossible to find anything in because there's just too much of everything.

[00:11:50] Yes. 

[00:11:50] Lesley: And loads of crumbs. Yeah. You know, when you, you know, when I'm like starving and so I like one, not starving, a bit of exaggeration there. Uh, but when I get a bit peckish, let's call it peckish, shall I, um, you know, and I go and I'm like, I'm just going to try and eat a cereal bar or something, and then someone catches me.

[00:12:07] So I like shove it into my bag. And then there's like a mashed up cereal bottle in the bottom of your bag, that kinda thing. So we find a lot of crumbs. There's a lot of crumbs and kind of de bread isn't there in the bottom of the bags as well. Yeah. But anyway, okay. So. Handbags are work bags, clear of clutter is our number three.

[00:12:22] And we think it's really much more important than you, than you might think it is. Yeah. And it's a very simple decluttering project. And one that you could do this very weekend. Yes. Ingrid, what's number four? 

[00:12:33] Ingrid: Um, write a A list before you go shopping. I mean, I even write a list when I go clothes shopping because I'm just that weird person.

[00:12:43] But we are mainly talking, I'm glad you said it. Uh, but we mainly talk about write a list before you go grocery shopping because we get just a little bit too excited when we're in a grocery shop. We pick up all these things that we think are amazing, are great deals. We haven't, didn't even know we wanted to eat them, but we do.

[00:13:03] And they end up in our trolley and. Actually then some even forget the stuff you actually went out for to go to the grocery shop in the first place. So write yourself a little list. Look in your pantry, look in your fridge freezer. What have I got before things go on the list and you will just save time shopping.

[00:13:21] You'll save money shopping, and it's just helpful all around. And you're not going to then run outta stuff. And what then having to go to the grocery shop again, 

[00:13:32] Lesley: because we're being very reliant on memory, aren't we? Yeah. You know, if we shop without a list, you know, I, I, I can't do it very well. I'm like, well, there was things that I needed, but I can't really remember, particularly as we get older, my menopausal brain does not allow for a 30 item shopping list in my head without having it written down.

[00:13:49] Do you know what I mean? So I think, you know, as we get a little bit older and you. Am I right? 

[00:13:55] Ingrid: Uh, my husband is absolutely a list maker. He's been doing a lot of the shopping since Covid and things like that. But before that, I could really shop well without a list because I would always do the same, exactly the same route to the supermarket.

[00:14:08] So I would be triggered by which Isla was to remember what I needed to do. And of course, I would be very cross the supermarkets if they change Al Algebra because I would be like, Oh my gosh, where's the flower gone? It was always here and now I, this disappeared. So, but I think I, I need, I, he always tells me off, you need to make a list.

[00:14:28] You need to make a list. 

[00:14:28] Lesley: Now you've got, got me thinking about, you know, supermarket house. So which way do you go around that? I mean, obviously like there's supposed to be like, do you not go up an aisle down or that, or do you go, if it's a, a dual aisle, you know, like there's aisles at the front and there's a central section and aisles at the back.

[00:14:44] Do you do the whole of the. Back aisles in order and then come and do the front aisles. Is that what, so you do all of the back aisles? I do 

[00:14:51] Ingrid: first, like, so I, I skip the fruit and veg, which is always the first section. Oh. Cause I'm like, I don't know yet. Controversial. Right. Okay. Yeah, because I don't know what a meat and potatoes and pasts and things I want to eat.

[00:15:03] Yeah. So how can I pick my fruit and veg? Okay. So I first do, um, because you've got a list supposedly. Yes. So yeah. But cause this is pre-list. Okay. Pre-list. Pre-list. So I would go. Uh, the makeup and the washing things, and then breakfast stuff, and then do like the sweets things, and then do like the, the rices and pastas and all of that.

[00:15:24] And then I would do the meat and all the fresh things, the milk and. And then I would circle back to the, are you, are you zagging 

[00:15:29] Lesley: around? 

[00:15:30] Ingrid: No, I'm just going like that and then like that. Oh, I'm, I'm like pointing this out to you, but if you're on YouTube, you can see me trying to tell Lesley I'm doing the front aisles first.

[00:15:40] Back and forth, back and forth, and then going to the back aisles. Looks like a whole system. 

[00:15:44] Lesley: I do the back aisles. I do the back house first from right to left. You know, as you go, well that's our supermarkets, like the entrance is on the right. So I would go and I would go all the way across that. And then I would come all the way back.

[00:16:00] Does the opposite way. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if people do you know, it's an interesting concept because of course the supermarkets will absolutely want you to go in a certain order because it will be all marketing psychology, won't it? In terms of what comes first. Beers, wines, and spirits is always at the end.

[00:16:15] Yeah. Um. In order to do, you know, I can't really remember. I mean, I started my life out in Sainsbury's. That was my first job when I was 22 or whatever as a retail manager for Sainsbury. So I should remember this, but I feel like supermarket psychology might have changed in 30 years maybe. Yeah. Yeah, I 

[00:16:33] Ingrid: know.

[00:16:33] Listeners, if you're wondering why we're talking about supermarket out there, it's probably some reason for this. 

[00:16:39] Lesley: But we need to move on. We need to move on. But yes, I'd love people to tell us. I know, like I, I'm, I'm intrigued now. This is, this is the way that my mind works. English says a little thing, and my mind goes off into some tangents somewhere trying to work out the order in which people shop.

[00:16:54] But I think it's very relevant because that is going to impact on your intentional shopping or not, I would think. But anyway, so 

[00:17:01] Ingrid: I think, I think the. Point is I even do my trolley in an organised way to a supermarket. I just don't randomly run, run around different aisles all over the place. There's a structure.

[00:17:11] You would be 

[00:17:12] Lesley: so disappointed. You would be so disappointed with my trolley. It's literally everything's just thrown in. Do you know what I mean? I'm very haphazard in the world of her. I organised, we know Ingrid's so disappointed. Every time she sees what I do and the way I exist, I'm all about the mind.

[00:17:27] Ingrid all about the mind anyway, 

[00:17:29] Ingrid: so yeah, let's do number. Five because I think, uh, we otherwise we're never going to get through this podcast. Alright, number five, open your post daily. I feel a bit like a broken record because I think we've mentioned it many times before, but it is honestly, if you just do this daily, this 32nd job, it will make your life infinitely better instead of kind of leaving it to pile up somewhere.

[00:18:00] Lesley: So we're saying 30 seconds, right? Yeah. Now, I want you to be realistic. Now, is it 30 seconds? I want you, I want you to quantify it and say, does it take you 30 seconds to work on your post and do what you need to do with that 

[00:18:12] Ingrid: post? Okay. Maybe two minutes. 

[00:18:15] Lesley: Okay. Two minutes. So we're talking. Okay. Cause you know that I, I'll say that.

[00:18:19] Not, not to pick you up, although that is my one, but I, I say that because. It's really important for us to quantify the reality of how long these things take. Yeah, because I think sometimes people underestimate or overestimate how long they take. True. I think two minutes would be a good shout for most.

[00:18:37] You know, it depends on what you've got coming through your door. But for most domestic arrangements, normal families with an average amount of posts coming through where you've got quite a lot of stuff of your things are digital. You know, you're probably not getting more than 20 letters in a week, are you?

[00:18:51] No. No, you're probably getting two or three a day max. Yeah, I would say. Yeah. And so we pick it up, we bring it to the recycling, oh, recycling bins. We open it up, we throw the junk mail away straight away. We, um, discard the envelopes. We discard terms and conditions and all that jazz that we don't need. And then we look at what needs action and we put it somewhere where it's either going to be action straight away, or it's going to go into our kind of to-do later in life admin.

[00:19:17] And that is probably a two minute process. So important to do that two minutes there and then so that it then doesn't become a two hour job of opening posts later. That's what we're saying. So we definitely open up, open our posts daily because we just need to do these little tasks that they don't build up into something overwhelming.

[00:19:36] Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's really, really important. You just don't want to have bags full of post because it's just, it gets a horrible job to do and you're going to find all these surprises in there that you're not going to be happy about. And um, yeah, you really save yourself lots of jobs late and also reminders and all that kind of thing.

[00:19:56] So yes, please just open your post daily. It will really, really help. Yes. 

[00:20:04] Lesley: Sounds like we're going to go for a break now, 

[00:20:05] Ingrid: aren't we? Yes. Let's go to a break, and after the break we're going to come back with another five things of the 10 things that organised people do.

[00:20:14] Hi everyone. Welcome back. We are talking about the 10 things organised people do, and before the break it was all very practical things we need to do daily or weekly practical things. But now we're going to talk more about kind of five things that can really help you with your digital life. Don't, aren't we, Lesley?

[00:20:34] Yeah, 

[00:20:35] Lesley: things that are, things that are digital. When we, when we sit down at that computer, how can we get technology, not always technology actually to help us to keep on track. And the first thing that we wanted to talk about, Ingrid, is we wanted to talk about bringing unsubscribing into your life, into your daily or regular life.

[00:20:54] Ingrid: I think I've really upped my game recently. We've been, we've been doing some more podcasts about digital, um, recently as well, Lesley, and I've been really more vigilant about unsubscribing a lot more. And it is nice. It's really nice because you just don't want to open your inbox and just see. 67 emails to deal with.

[00:21:16] You know, you just want to kind of go, oh, or have a backlog of 8,543 emails. You want to kind of get control of that, and that doesn't mean you need to go completely in book zero, that is maybe, uh, five steps too far. But when you're starting out with tackling your inbox, just start with. Unsubscribing. If it doesn't come in, you don't have to look at it, and you don't have to click that delete button all the time and you save yourself from work.

[00:21:45] And that's basically what this is about. So, Now, 

[00:21:47] Lesley: many of you listeners are kind of cluttery people, and what that means is that you, you love stuff. You love buying things, you love acquiring information. And so what we need to do, sometimes we need to take that temptation away. If we didn't know that it was on sale, we wouldn't buy it.

[00:22:04] And so unsubscribing has loads and loads of different benefits. It takes away the overwhelm at that level in the email inbox, but it also takes away the overwhelm in terms of clutter because it takes that temptation away and stops us from buying things that we don't know about and that we don't need. So unsubscribing is probably one of my favorite things to do.

[00:22:25] Ingrid: I think also, Lesley, it's not only, um, the temptation, but I think it's also indeed exactly what you said about. The information overwhelm. It's like we, we sign up, you know, we, we go through life, we sign up for things, but things change. And if we still get a newsletter for, I dunno, a baby group, while our kids are teens, we don't need that stuff.

[00:22:47] We don't need to have that information because we're not there in our lives anymore. Unsubscribe from it, and then it doesn't come into your life, which is another decision that you have to do because the cluttering and organising is all about decision making and making plans. And if you got all the surplus information whizzing around both, both in your house and in your inbook, it's just all too much.

[00:23:11] Lesley: Definitely so unsubscribe. So it's, it's just making that conscious note. You know, it might be, it might be that you need to put a post-it note on your computer. You need to do something that's going to start getting you into this habit of unsubscribing when you see things that you don't need. So, um, I have very, very little that comes in.

[00:23:28] I'm very conscious about what comes into my personal inbox and sometimes my, um, My business inbox as well. You know, you, we have to sign up for things. We see things all the time. It's like, get this free thing. And, you know, then things start coming in. You know, it's being really conscious about that. The emails need to serve you well.

[00:23:46] That's really important. You know, they need to be adding value to your life. We send emails out, uh, you know, several times a week, and we hope that they add value to people, you know, that's what, and if, if they don't add value. Unsubscribe. Do you know what I mean? That's what's important. You know, unsubscribe from us as well.

[00:24:03] If that is not serving you well in your current life, it's really important for you to think, what does that offer me? You know? So we're all about that. Hitting that unsubscribe button where it's not serving you well. 

[00:24:13] Ingrid: Let's go onto number six, Lesley, use a digital. Or paper to-do list. Write a list. It is so helpful.

[00:24:25] You can do that on a notebook or a notepad. You can scribble it somewhere. Don't use tiny post-it notes, and then have 1200 lying around your desk because then you get really overwhelmed. But use one good solid list or use a digital list or a digital. Thing in your calendar that maybe has a to-do list or anything like that.

[00:24:48] Get it all out of your head because all this information clutters up your brain and just makes it really difficult Then to make decisions to prioritize as well, get it out of your brain onto a list. 

[00:25:02] Lesley: Now what you do with a to-do list is, Complex and how you manage a to-do list. But I think it's really important that you have a small number of places where you gather that information.

[00:25:14] So don't have too many lists. Don't have too many things. I mean, English talked about not using Post-it notes. If you are, if you are somebody that's living with A D H D, sometimes post-it notes and using the Kanban method is perfect cause you can move things around. But if, but it has to be. Very intentional how you're using those post-it notes and using them to your advantage.

[00:25:36] So we've done a podcast right on to-do lists. Have we? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've think the podcast all about todo. We think so. We can't remember. We've got too many now. 

[00:25:44] Ingrid: Podcast Lesley. I dunno exactly what 

[00:25:46] we've, 

[00:25:46] Lesley: we've definitely talked about to-do lists somewhere in our lives, and so I. Feel that there's going to be a podcast on to-do list and Ingrid will pop it into the show notes afterwards.

[00:25:55] And so, because there's a lot more to it, but it's really important to think about how your to-do list is serving you and making sure that, again, your to-do list doesn't become more overwhelming, but it takes that overwhelming way because it's a. The right to do list at the right time. In the 

[00:26:10] Ingrid: right place.

[00:26:11] Yeah, exactly. And, and I agree with you, Lesley. Just to clarify, um, a canman board with Post-It note works really well. What I'm kind of envisaging Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is have people having like agreed, agreed, tons of post-it notes on their computer, on their phone, on their desk. It's like, I don't even know where I'm coming or going.

[00:26:27] And it was really nice because the other day I was doing a success session in the membership with our members and, um, one of our members at Ingrid. I'm actually, one of my things that I'm going to do in this session is I'm going to amalgamate all my different to-do lists. I've got, I, I've got lists everywhere.

[00:26:44] And I'm going to make one list and I'm going to asterisk what is important and what needs to be done first. And I was like, this is amazing because I think that will really help you forward if you've got a lot of different lists going on. So it was really helpful for 

[00:26:59] Lesley: her. I mean, we use a sauna, don't we?

[00:27:01] See? We use a digital to-do list and we, there's no way on earth that we could manage what we have to do. Is that without a sauna? No, but we are very, we are very, very on it in terms of making sure everything's on there, making sure we communicate effectively. So a to-do list is only as good. As the action that you take with it.

[00:27:19] You know, you have to manage that to-do list as well. Yeah. But it's important to have one. So that is our number seven. So Ingrid, our number eight is something that you have embraced in later life that we've spoken about, which is keeping a calendar or a diary. Not that you didn't have one before, but you've gone into the digital world.

[00:27:36] You've gone in there. Kicking and screaming, I think. But you absolutely love it now. And now you are completely on it to the point of obsession, I would say with your diary, am I right? But it's very important when you've got a lot of things in your week, or even if you've not got that many things in your week or if you forget things easily.

[00:27:55] It's important to keep a diary, what am I doing and when am I doing that? Uh, again, it's the same as the kind of shopping. As we get a little bit older, we kind of forget. And so we need to have things to remind us of what our obligations are. Yeah, so a diary, Ingrid. I know. Talk. Talk about a diary you love now, don't you?

[00:28:14] Yes. 

[00:28:15] Ingrid: I was a paper diary girl all the way. Paper calendars. Paper diaries, paper lists. And I just don't know now why I didn't switch a lot earlier. I talked about it a couple of podcasts ago as well when we talked about the digital, um, digital podcast that came out a couple weeks ago. And I really should have swapped a lot earlier.

[00:28:35] If I'm not looking back at all. I absolutely love my, um, digital calendar. Now. I can color code things, I can plan things ahead. You only have to put something in once. When something changes. You don't have to Mark Cross it out and then. You can just change the date and the times. It's absolutely brilliant.

[00:28:51] So 

[00:28:52] Lesley: not like you lamenting what could have been, what could have been grid, it could have been a completely different person with a digital 

[00:28:59] Ingrid: calendar. But again, it is exactly, I mean, it's only as good as the, uh, as the information you put in. So you're going to have to, you know, if you're going to do a, a digital calendar, embrace it and put in the stuff properly and keep on keep.

[00:29:15] Keep on top of things and I think also as well connected to that, don't over schedule yourself. We all have 24 hours in the day. organised. People don't have magically got more time throughout the day, but just, we make very good use of our time and, and, and we are organised and we don't lose loads of time searching for things, which gives us time to do things.

[00:29:38] Lesley: And I think that helps. I do lose loads of time talking about nonsense there. Like, like you're like, oh, we're really good in that time. I'm like, we can talk about nonsense quite a lot during the course of the day. But anyway, yes. That takes us onto number nine. Now that you've embraced the digital world, Ingrid.

[00:29:57] Well, one of the other things that we're quite good at, and this is also in a work context as well, um, but we're also looking at what that looks like in a social context individually. So we definitely look ahead to what is coming. Yeah. And so ing our schedule. Often we schedule two, three months in advance, in, in a lot of things that we do, but obviously things get pushed in at the last minute as well for the following week, for the following day, and I think it's really important for, for people who are organised or want to become organised to know what's coming.

[00:30:24] So to go. Okay. It's five o'clock on a Thursday night now what does my Friday look like? Or it's Friday at five o'clock. What does next week look like? Have I got a busy week? Have I got a crazy week? Is there anything that I can move out? Is there anything that is not a priority that I can push back to give myself a little bit more space?

[00:30:40] And so it's really important not just to look and go, okay, that's my week, to look and go. Did I over schedule myself in that? Have I made a mistake in the scheduling? Is there something that I can push back? Those kind of things are really important because you need to. Feeling control. And if you've got a diary that is stuffed to the absolute brim, sometimes it's hard to to feel control, 

[00:31:01] Ingrid: isn't it?

[00:31:01] Yeah. And I think as well, Lesley, if you start to think ahead a little bit, you can kind of start to catch things that might be awry or that you might have forgotten. Like if you are looking at your diary and go, oh, we've got a party from, so andSo next week. Your next thought is going to be, all right, how are we going to get there?

[00:31:19] What time do we need to be there? What are we going to wear? Do we need to get a present? Who's going to be involved? Do we need to pick somebody up? Is it going to be a taxi you are driving? Or take the bus, whatever it is, so you can start to think ahead instead of going, oh, we've got a party later today. And actually I got, I'm not organised at all.

[00:31:39] And I think the thinking ahead will help you start to think through. Other things that need to happen to make it all run a little bit more smoothly. 

[00:31:49] Lesley: Now that takes us to number 10 on our listing grid. What I really want to talk about now is when we're really drilling down to people that are organised and we are, as we mentioned before, we can get distracted and we do spend quite a lot of time chit chatting about this, that and the other, not loads.

[00:32:06] We are quite focused. I mean, it gets us through our day. At the end of the day, it's only like being at an office, isn't it? And chatting to someone, you go and get a coffee and stuff. But sometimes we do do it a little bit longer than perhaps we should. No. All right. 

[00:32:17] Ingrid: We could 

[00:32:18] Lesley: have shoehorned in another two podcasts by the time we've talked.

[00:32:21] Haven't talked about what went on yesterday. But anyway, um, I think it's really important to allow yourself time for what a lot of people in the kind of business world called Deep Work. And that involves, you know, where you think, right, I've got to spend an hour on this important project, on this piece of writing, on this.

[00:32:42] It could be a crafting project. It doesn't need to necessarily be work. And I want to have that time uninterrupted to be able to focus. And there are apps out there that can help you with that, aren't there, Ingrid? 

[00:32:52] Ingrid: Yeah. I think we all get so easily distracted now by our phones, by our pings, by our.

[00:32:59] Messages that come up. Our phones that buzz all the time. We really miss sometimes the focus to get work done because that phone distracts us. All the time and just put it away, turn it off, turn it around, turn off all those notifications and actually focus on what you're doing. Because the problem with these distractions is that, that everything takes three times longer or maybe even five times longer to get stuff done because you're walking away all the time.

[00:33:33] It's the same as when you are, um, trying to do a decluttering project or an organising project at your house. You've got your phone in your back. Pockets and you're just about to do something and you feel a buzz. You're like, oh, let me quickly see what that is. So your mind gets taken off exactly what you were going to do.

[00:33:51] You're reading the message, you're trying to re deciding if you need to respond. You're probably going to respond there and then, or you get off on a tangent and go, oh, let me look at that. And then before you know it, you're a half an hour on Facebook. You know it happens. But that way nothing will ever get done.

[00:34:08] So it's not only in the business world, I think it's also with people just at home being distracted. That's what of course I love. When I work with clients, I turn off distractions like TV or radio, and I try to kind of get them to a habit of. Let's concentrate on what we're doing because decluttering and organising requires a lot of focus and brain power and decision making.

[00:34:31] And when you've got a TV in the background with adverts popping up and down and people chatting, you're like, half your eye is still looking what's going on, and I think it just does not help you to get things done. Yeah, 

[00:34:43] Lesley: so I think the simple things that you can do, as Ingrid mentioned, you know, turning off notifications on your phone, you know, putting your phone in another room if that's possible.

[00:34:51] Uh, on my computer I make sure that during my working day I've got do not disturb on my computer so that things don't pop up. So I need to make a, a proactive decision to go and look at my emails or to look at my messages or, or whatever that might be. And so I think it's really important. To do things like that.

[00:35:07] So to use the technology, you know, these things are possible. So it's really important to do that. As I mentioned that there are apps, there are loads of different apps out there, and we won't go into what they are, um, because just search it. So focus apps, I think that would probably be the right kind of thing to start looking at.

[00:35:24] And, and you, you'll find there's loads of different ones out there that'll allow you to say, I want an hour. Free and you kind of almost lock your phone. They'll lock your phone and don't allow you, um, to be distracted at all. And so it kind of, where you're struggling with your willpower, it helps you along the way with that.

[00:35:40] So do look for those in your app store or whatever you've got. So yes, it's all about taking that overwhelm away and allowing yourself to be a little bit more focused and a little bit in control. Now, before we leave, after having done our 10 things, we do want to say, Don't do all of these 10 things Yeah.

[00:35:58] Tomorrow. Okay. Because that is going to make you more overwhelmed and more out of control if you try and do Right. I want to get a sauna for a digital to-do list, and I want to have a digital calendar. Like Ingrid and Lesley said, I don't want to do this. I don't want to. Do a daily reset. And I want to, while all the other things that we mentioned about, I want to sort my handbag out, I want to sort my desk.

[00:36:18] Too many things. Okay? So think about incorporating one of these things and doing it well for two, three weeks, maybe get it into your habits. It's all about forming habits and you have to do these things one at a time. Get them into your um, habits every day or every week, and then you can move on to incorporating something else once you see that that works.

[00:36:38] So it's really important to. To pick and choose some of these that are going to work for you, that you feel that you're falling short on at the moment that are going to help you. 

[00:36:46] Ingrid: Yes. So let us know. We'd love for you to tell us what's the one thing that you are going to implement. Tell us in the comments in the show notes.

[00:36:55] Dec cluster hub.com/ 2 1 9. Or leave maybe. Oh, yeah. Uh, but I can also, uh, uh, maybe ask everybody, if you're listening and you're really enjoying our podcast, leave us a review on wherever you're listening. We would love to know if we're, um, if you enjoy listening to our weekly podcast, I mean 219 podcasts in, I mean, I would love to know from our listeners, keep, keep us posted.

[00:37:21] Yes, 

[00:37:21] Lesley: absolutely. So what's happening next week? Ingrid 

[00:37:24] Ingrid: next week is your podcast with a lovely declutter hub member, Laura. Laura has been sharing the details about her decluttering journey. And oh, we always love our member podcast, do we? Because we are so proud of them, of all the good things they're achieving.

[00:37:38] So I can't wait. I haven't listened to it yet, so I can't wait to listen in. But that's coming up next week. So thank you so much everybody for being here today and, uh, was going to see you soon.
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