Try this at home: The 20/20/20 (with freebie!)

It can be SO hard to stay on top of the daily clutter in our lives. We spend all weekend getting the house “just so” only have it all fall apart by Tuesday.

There’s a simple tool that can help. It’s called the 20/20/20. Here, I’m going to teach you how it works AND I’m going to give you a worksheet that you can print out to create your own.

Here’s how it works. Each day, around the same time, you’re gonna set a timer for 20 minutes for three separate chunks of time: Reset, Prep and Rest.

Chunk 1: Reset from the day (20 minutes)

Take this time to “reset” and clean up from the day’s activities. This might include things like:

• Putting folded laundry away

• Washing the dishes and wiping the counters

• Emptying lunchboxes

• Putting dirty laundry in the hamper

• Taking paperwork out of backpacks

• Putting bills in your “needs attention” folder

• Putting toys away (Tip: I tell my daughter that I will donate whatever she doesn’t put away. #truestory)

Chunk 2: Prep for tomorrow (20 minutes)

Take this time to mitigate any snags the next day. You might do things like:

• Pick out outfits (like work scrubs or your work-at-home sweatpants for the next day)

• Pack lunches, or get the lunch supplies ready

• Put out cereal bowls and cereal

• Take out something to defrost for dinner tomorrow

• Check the calendar and the weather

• Put any important paperwork or supplies in backpacks and purses

Chunk 3: Rest and/or primp (20 minutes)

This is where everybody gets to reap the rewards. The kids have been a big help, so reward them.

• Make yourself a cup of tea or pour a glass of wine

• Take a hot shower

• Do some relaxing skin care, like a face mask or exfoliating face wash

• Give your nails some love

• Let the kids play some video games or have a favorite treat

• Do some reading

• Surf Instagram

And that’s it! On paper, it may seem like a lot, but once you get moving, time flies. And, if you think about it, if you start at 7:00 pm, by 7:40 pm, you have a clean, clutter-free house and a steaming cup of tea in front of you.

Pro tips:

• Get the family involved. Decide who does what during the 20/20/20. Print a separate worksheet for each family member.

• Make it fun. Put on music. Try to beat the timer.

• Don’t overdue it. When the timer stops, you stop. You can do the rest tomorrow.

By the time Friday rolls around, you will have kept on top of things and you won’t be planning to clean your house ALL WEEKEND.

Soooo, what are you waiting for?! Download your worksheet now! Please note that it’s THREE pages, because I’ve included a sample 20/20/20 to give you lots of ideas, plus some tips to make it work for you.

To download, just enter your email below. (If you’re already on my list, don’t worry - you won’t be added twice!)

Send me the 20/20/20!

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Want MORE tips like this? Watch my FREE masterclass and learn all about my new Organized Every Day course. Let’s simplify life FOR GOOD.

Get a one-way ticket out of Should Land.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve heard me talk about “fun & easy.” Here’s the basic premise:

When we spend too much time doing things that: a) we hate doing, or b) we aren’t very good at, we expend a lot of energy that could be going to much better things. We are living in the Land of the Shoulds, the land where you are supposed to just suck it up, and the land where you bang your head against the wall a LOT of the time. 

Get ready to ditch the “shoulds”

But what if we didn’t subscribe to that idea? What if we got a little bratty? What if we asked instead - what do I LOVE to do? And what am I actually pretty GOOD at? What if I spent MORE time on those things?

That’s what the ol’ “fun & easy” concept is all about. It’s about figuring out how to spend MORE time doing the things that really light us up and spending LESS time on the things that drag us down. 

Brain dump your way to “fun and easy”

The tool I’m sharing today is going to give you a shortcut to finding YOUR fun and easy.

Here’s what you’re gonna do:

1. Head on over to this link to download your worksheet. (If you are new to Indigo Organizing, you’ll be added to my mailing list. If you’re already on it, don’t worry - you won’t be added twice! Just fill in your email and it will take you to the download.) 

2. Brain-dump all of the pesky tasks and projects that you’ve got on your mind. This might be something as simple as “unload the dishwasher” to something bigger like “renovate the kitchen”. (There are categories so that you can divide these into 4 areas: Work, Home, Self and Others.)

3. You’re going to ask yourself a simple question: Is this fun & easy? Go with your gut. Do you love doing it? Is it fun? Are you really good at it? 

4. If it’s NOT fun and easy, think about how you can downsize it, using Julie Morgenstern’s brilliant 4Ds. 

   1. Diminish - What is the minimum effective dose? (You might decide that you can just get the kitchen cabinets painted vs. gutting the whole kitchen.)

   2. Delegate - Is there a person, service, app or machine that could do this? (You might decide to ask your teenager to take over dishwasher duty.)

   3. Defer - Can this wait? (You might decide that now is not the time for any major renovations.)

   4. Delete - Do I need to do this at all? (You might decide that you like hand-washing dishes instead! It’s weird - but that’s what I do!)

5. Make some notes, like “Delegate to Sammy”. Make sure the notes section spells out the EXACT action you are going to take, like “Call contractor to cancel estimate.”

6. For the things that ARE fun & easy, get crackin’ on those! Make time in your calendar or to-do list to GET IT DONE.

Observe “fun & easy” in the wild

Here are a few examples of my own examples:

• Work: I LOVE giving talks, but I DON’T like planning events. So, I just talk at OTHER people’s events. They plan the event. I show up and talk. That’s Delegate (letting someone else to plan their event).

• Home: The interior of our house needs to be painted. DIY-ing it would be so NOT “fun & easy”, so I was ready to hire a pro. I was getting estimates, etc. but then I realized I’m just not up for this project right now, so I’ll revisit it again next spring. That’s Delegate (to a pro) and Defer (to next spring).

• Self: My nails look like they belong to a 12-year-old boy. I used to try to paint them myself. I hated it and they looked terrible. Then I tried getting them done. I hated it, and they never lasted. Now I just keep them unpainted, short and neat. That’s Delete (no more painting nails).

• Others: Most of my friends have little ones at home so it’s hard to have long phone conversations or Zoom calls. Instead, we send each other voice memos on Voxer or Whats App. That’s Diminish (we find a the minimum effective dose to connect). 

Give me the details!

Sooo, tell me, tell me, tell me! What did you learn? What got the boot? What didn’t? What’s gonna change? I’m all ears, so tell me in the comments below.

Don’t forget to download your worksheet right here! Here’s a few hot tips:

1. If you are new to Indigo Organizing, you’ll be added to my mailing list. If you’re already on it, don’t worry - you won’t be added twice! Just fill in your email and it will take you to the download.

2. You can either print out the form and fill it out by hand OR you can fill it out right on the PDF.

How to pack for your summer trip (even longer ones!) with nothing but a backpack

Last summer, I got radical with my packing. I was sick and tired of dragging half of my earthly belongings with me on every trip, AND (back when we were still flying), I was sick of paying extra money for luggage.

SO, I challenged myself to pack EVERYTHING that I needed into one large-ish backpack. I even did this for a TEN-day trip to Florida.

Here’s how I did it:

• I picked one color palette. I’m already kind of a minimalist dresser, so this one wasn’t too hard. In the summer I wear mostly navy, white and gray, with the occasional pop of color. That way, everything mixes and matches AND you don’t have to bring so many shoes. I ended up taking:

  • 3-4 short-sleeved shirts/tank tops

  • 1 summer dress

  • 1 cardigan

  • 2 pairs of shorts

  • 1 pair of jeans 

  • 1 light jacket

  • 1 pair of dangly earrings, 1 pair of stud earrings

  • 1 pair of gold flip flops (these are my all-time favorites - pricier but totally worth it), one pair of taupe sandals and one pair of sneakers

  • 2 bathing suits

  • 2 pairs of light pajamas

  • 1 cute fanny pack or cross-body purse

• I wore my bulkiest stuff on the plane. I felt a little like Joey in that Friends episode when he wears all of Chandler’s clothes. I get chilly on airplanes anyway, so it made sense to wear my heavier clothes.

• I picked things that could do double duty, like:

  1. A tinted moisturizer with SPF

  2. My Olio and Osso lip balm that’s also a blush. (This is a splurge for me, but it’s SO worth it.)

  3. A dress that could also be a bathing suit cover-up

  4. Sandals that were cute but also comfortable enough to walk in all day

  5. A fanny pack that doubles as a cross-body bag and a wallet, with credit card slots, etc. (I found one just like this at a consignment shop for $12!)

  6. My iPad so that I could read on the Kindle app and do some occasional work if I needed to

• I used a 34-liter backpack with 2 main compartments so that I could pack clothes in the big part and then stuff that would normally go in a purse in the front one. Mine is a pretty inexpensive Coleman backpack that’s since been discontinued, but I’ve got my eye on this bag that avid backpack travelers rave about. (And right now, it’s 60% off!)

• Each family member does their own backpack challenge. Help them pick easy outfits and make sure the bag isn’t too heavy for them to carry on their own.

This works best if:

• It’s warm weather where you are going, since summer clothes are much smaller. 

• It’s a pretty casual trip that doesn’t involve lots of fancy occasions. 

• You have access to laundry, or you’re willing to bring along a small bottle of laundry soap to hand-wash things like bathing suits, bras and underwear.

• You can get access to bulkier things like a hair dryer and beach towels at your destination.

• You don’t mind wearing something a few times before washing it.

What I loved about it:

• You’re hands-free. I sailed through that airport like a pro, and I didn’t have to bat my eyelashes at a stranger on the plane to get help hauling a monster carry-on into the overhead compartment

• It’s easy to unpack. It was SO easy to unpack when I got to where I was going. I emptied the backpack so that it was ready for day trips. AND when I got back home, I wasn’t unpacking for days. 

• Your hotel room or rental stays really neat. The place we were staying didn’t feel overrun with our stuff. No messy suitcases all over the floor. We put our things in a few drawers, and then we had our backpack free for day trips.

Soooo, who’s with me?!?

Leave a comment below and tell me if you’re going to try it.

You’ve got this. 

Find the minimum effective dose.

I’m jazzed about a super practical and actionable article in the New York Times this week. It has videos for how to do 3 full-body workouts - and each of them is only SIX minutes long. 

Now THAT’s my kinda workout.

I know what you might be thinking:

• Six minutes isn’t enough to see real change, or

• Six minutes? I feel like I can’t even get six SECONDS to myself. (Oh, I FEEL you.)

But this article is the perfect example of the “minimum effective dose”. I love this phrase, which I first discovered in Dr. Christine Carter’s book, The Sweet Spot. 

The idea is to find the minimum effective dose for EVERYTHING.

• Don’t have 2 hours to go to the gym and back? Prop up your iPad and do a SIX-minute full-body workout.

• Been wanting to meditate but you want to do it “right?” Download the Calm app and do the Daily Calm - it’s only 10 minutes!

• Been procrastinating on sending a tricky email? Set a timer for 15 minutes and get it done.

• Feeling schlubby? (technical term) Slap on some perfume and lipstick.

• Kids are antsy and you can’t get out to a playground? Have them do laps around the house for 15 minutes with silly music.

This little concept packs a powerful punch. Once you start practicing it, you’ll find a million ways to apply it.

And with THAT, I am going to end this blog here. See?! I’m stopping at the minimum effective dose.

PS - As always, I love to hear from you! Tell me how YOU will be applying the minimum effective dose!

Friction: What they didn’t teach you in high school physics

I am LOVING Atomic Habits by James Clear. Today, I am excited to share one big, fantastic nugget from the book - the idea of friction.

You remember friction from physics class, right?

If there's too much friction, that ball won't roll for very long. If there is little to none, that ball will keep rolling, and rolling, and rolling.

When it comes to having more ease and flow in our days, understanding the role of friction is KEY. 

Here's how it works:

• Do you want to make something easier? REDUCE friction. That is, "decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits."

• Do you want to STOP doing something? ADD friction. That is, "increase the number of steps between you and your bad habits."

“The central idea is to create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible. ”

— James Clear

Reducing friction

Let's look at a few quick examples for how you might REDUCE friction to make things run more smoothly or to encourage a good habit: 

• putting your keys in the same place every day (to reduce the time getting out of the house)

• putting bills on auto-pay (to reduce the influx of paper and stress of paying bills)

• setting things on auto-delivery, like your toilet paper! (to reduce the mental load of re-stocking essential household items)

• having groceries delivered (to avoid dragging three kids to the store)

• putting your dish soap in a pump (to make a daily chore a little easier and faster)

• getting a treadmill at home instead of going to the gym (to eliminate the extra time going back and forth)

• enrolling in TSA Pre-Check (to decrease travel frustrations)

Adding friction

Now, some examples of ADDING friction to deter bad habits or behaviors:

• deleting social media apps off of your phone (to decrease time on social media)

• removing junk food from the pantry (to make eating junk food much harder)

• wrapping your credit card with questions to ask before you buy something (to curb impulse buys at the store)

• removing your phone or computer's auto-fill feature for your credit card (to add one more step to completing that next online purchase)

I am ALL about removing (and adding!) friction to create smoother routines, improve habits and meet those big goals.

What are some ways that YOU add or remove friction to make your days more efficient and easy?

Yes, toilet paper CAN spark joy.

I do this work because I want to help people live simpler, more joyful lives. 

So when I come across a product or company that is doing just that, I CANNOT wait to tell everyone about it. 

(Ad nauseum. To the point where people are crossing the street when they see me around town.)

So today, my friends, I want to tell you about something that is sparking some major joy for me - my new toilet paper. 

Yes, toilet paper. And it’s made by a company called Who Gives a Crap. 

Hysterical, right?

I discovered this joyful new company in the cozy Manhattan bathroom of my dear friend Jocelyn, who also happens to be the CEO of IDEO.org. Jocelyn and I are friends from my former days working in international development, and she’s always got the inside scoop on the coolest new social innovations. When I came out of her bathroom inquiring about her colorful (and funny!) toilet paper, she told me all about Who Gives a Crap, co-founded by her friend and former IDEO.org colleague Danny Alexander. Fast forward about two years, and I finally decided to give it a try.

I am LOVING it because it’s a perfect example of what I am trying to preach to my students and clients all the time: It's fun. It's easy. And it does good.

It's fun.

Ok, just look at that packaging. Each roll is colorfully-wrapped with a fun, cheeky message. (Hehe - cheeky!) It's a quick shot of joy in your day. And it's also fun knowing that I am supporting an "underdog" company. 

It's easy.

It's on autopilot. Every 5 weeks, it is delivered to my door. Done.

They are doing good. 

Their toilet paper is made with 100% recycled paper, and they donate 50% of the profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world. (To date, they have donated $1.9 million!)

That's it. Fun, easy and good. Simple and joyful. 

So whether or not you decide to delight your bum with this toilet paper, I hope you will see this as an example of how to build more fun, more ease and more impact into the purchasing decisions that you make. 

Do YOU have a favorite product, tool or app that makes your life simpler and more joyful? Tell me! Tell me! 

(I promise not to cross the street when I see you coming.)

PS - This is not an ad. It's not a paid affiliate relationship. The founders don't even know me and might be a little freaked out by how enthusiastic I am about their toilet paper. But if you DO choose to try it, you can use this coupon code that will get you $10 off your first order, and I'll get $10 off mine. :)

PPS - Interested in finding MORE "fun and easy?" Check out this blog post where I share how I found more fun and easy in my life, and how you can too.

Limit your inputs

Happy New Year! I LOVE this time of year because it feels like a fresh, clean slate. BUT, I often fall into the trap of trying to do TOO much. Can you relate?

Ryan Holiday’s new book, Stillness is the Key, has a whole chapter dedicated to “limiting our inputs”. Holiday says, “it’s very difficult to think or act clearly (to say nothing of being happy) when we are drowning in information.” 

Right?!?!

Never-ending news. Unlimited podcasts. SO MANY books. Endless emails, mail, and catalogs. Text chains galore.

Our brains were NOT designed for this.

So this year, I challenge you to limit your inputs. Think about consuming LESS information so that you can focus on what’s TRULY important. 

Here are 3 tips to get you started. 

Make it a habit to un-follow and unsubscribe. 

Be a ruthless unsubscriber of email promotions and newsletters. (Hell, even this one, if it doesn’t float your boat!) Mel Robbins suggests an Un-follow Friday, where you un-follow all the feeds and “friends” that don’t spark joy.

Your email inbox, your social media feeds and your notifications should be filled with information that lifts you up, energizes you, inspires and educates you. Leave behind all the “shoulds” and the “maybe one days” and the “I wish I had thats”.

Get in and get out. 

When it comes to news and social media, do a surgical strike.

Do you need to check a Facebook group? Great, go right there. Check it out, and get out. Do not linger on your Aunt Joan’s cat videos. Do not feel pangs of envy as you scroll through your neighbor’s profile featuring all-blonde children making kale chips in matching homemade outfits.

Want to get a news update? Great, access your favorite site, and read for 15-30 minutes. (When you start reading a story about a cat that got stuck in a giant snowball in Minnesota, your time is up.)

With books, go deep before you go wide. 

Ok, this is my BIGGEST challenge. There are so many good books out there, and I could make it my full-time job to read them all. #dreams

But that’s just impossible.

So this year, I’m choosing a few “bibles”. Instead of reading every shiny new personal growth book, I’m going DEEP on the books that already made a significant impact on me in 2019. I’ll be ear-marking them, highlighting them, doing the exercises, and squeezing every last drop of wisdom out of them. (Spoiler alert: My #1 bible for 2020 is Atomic Habits. There is some real life-changing magic in this gem.)

Sooooo … will you give limiting your inputs a try! Send me an email and tell me how YOU are going to limit your inputs this year.

Because as Ryan Holidays says …

“Knowing what not to think about. What to ignore and not to do. It’s your first and most important job.”

Wishing you a wonderful year of less noise and more joy, friends.