Reimagining Daily Organization: Harnessing Small Changes for a Resilient Mind

Embark on a journey to transform your daily chaos into a well-orchestrated symphony with the wisdom of Brett Blumenthal from "52 Small Changes for the Mind." We unravel the secrets to list-making that go beyond mundane organization, tapping into the sweet rush of dopamine each time you tick off a task. Our conversation sails through the importance of the 'Eat the Frog' method—because who wouldn't want to conquer their biggest challenges with the sunrise? And for those torn between the digital world and the allure of pen on paper, we find a middle ground that suits your style. Simplify your approach to avoid drowning in a sea of sticky notes and let the essence of prioritization guide your journey towards a seamless workflow.

As we weave through the notion of resilience, you'll find comfort in the small, yet mighty, daily victories that pave the path to a more optimistic existence. Inspired by the very same book, we share how acknowledging the wins, no matter their size, can be a balm for the weary soul. Closing with an empowering quote from Jean de La Fontaine, this episode is your beacon of light towards not just surviving but thriving in your evolution. So join us, and let's mold our minds for success, one checked box at a time. Namaste.

Transcript

Heather: 0:03

Hello and welcome back to Mindset Monday. I hope your week starts off fabulous, so I'm excited. So this week I got a hold of 52 Small Changes for the Mind with Brett Blumenthal, which you know we've gone over before, but it's always nice to do it again. We are on chapter five, or week five, which is perfect, right? So because we're five weeks into the quarter this week, can you believe it? We're switching into May, so much stuff is happening.

Heather: 0:40

The title of this week is called Making Lists, and I think this is an interesting topic because I've heard some kind of different things about it lately, about making lists and some of the do's and don'ts, right? So the idea is is that, instead of making yourself crazy trying to remember everything, you write stuff down so you can check things off. You give yourself a reward when you check things off. You know it feels good in your body, like to cross things off your list, to get a little bit of happy hormones inside of our bodies when we do it, and then it's supposed to keep us more organized, right? So how does it happen to actually help us be more organized? That's always my question. How does it happen to actually help us be more organized? That's always my question. I've done the to-do list where you know you write out your list and then everything you don't do you put on the top of the next day, and then if you put something up there from the day before, you got to do that thing first. So these are some of the kind of rules you kind of set up for yourself with to-do lists. But there's not a wrong way to do one either, you know, because it's they're all bulls. So don't should yourself, don't get stuck in a loop of being bad. This isn't a bad is. If it's not actually helping you, then then it's not a tool you can use. But how can it be a tool we can actually use?

Heather: 2:03

So there's the book Eat the Frog, right? So you're doing the thing in the morning. That is either the big thing to move things forward or the hard thing, right? The thing that you always avoid, and it gets left to the end. So for me, this might be cleaning the bathroom toilet, right? Like not my favorite task, right? You're here with this. Might be cleaning the bathroom toilet, right? Like not my favorite task, right? You're here with me with that, not the favorite task, right? So you keep putting it off and then it becomes a problem. So if you just do it really fast and then it's done, you know it's done on a regular basis because you put it as the top priority instead of letting it be at the end when you don't have any energy for something you don't want to do, right? So we all have those things in our lives that are the thing that we don't want to do Some people's laundries and people's dishes and some visits, right? So we each have our unique individuals. So there's always more than one way to do something.

Heather: 3:06

So you start by choosing your format. That makes sense to me. You know, are you on a computer? Are you on your phone? Are you using a tool like Trello? Do you have the free time solutions, back office? And you're using the project management system, like you know. How are you keeping track of those things that you want to get done?

Heather: 3:28

And the point is is that you kind of start to make your own system of operations for yourself so that you're doing the things you know you know need to get done, keeping it simple and manageable. You know we have more than one project management system and sometimes it's too complicated and it's harder to use right. But once it's set up it might be good. But you know, in the interim you still got to use the simpler version so that you can still keep moving forward with projects so you don't get stuck. So if you're doing a big transition, you know, think about that and give yourself grace to learn what works great for you. Okay, I love this and I'm excited to talk to you about this. Okay, organize around deadlines. So this is a great way for you to organize that to-do list of what is important.

Heather: 4:24

So I recently saw this really cool thing it's really hard for you to decide what is the most important thing for you to do, which is sometimes me. I tend to work on a project it's like inappropriate, like it's not due for five weeks, but I have a project that's due tomorrow and I'm not working on it Right, like I need to set the right priorities. So, using the due date, you can go like project A versus project B, what's the due date? And you can kind of assign them each a number of like what's more important, and then you kind of come out with this like interesting pyramid graph and at the bottom it tells you you come out to a solution. I'll have to see if I can find this, this TikTok I found right, it was either TikTok or a reel. I'm explaining, like, how to set the priority, and this is obviously something I'm working on.

Heather: 5:19

But you, you know, if you're not sure which is the most important thing for you to do, what's going to, this is a process in which you can use to make that decision. Now, other people just naturally know and can see it like in their head. So when I'm working with Charlie, she already knows like no, no, no, this is more priority over this. And and she just knows and I just admire her for that, because I don't, my brain doesn't work like that. It's totally different, right. So not everybody has this. Our brain doesn't all work exactly the same big surprise, right? So we got to be nice to ourselves. If this isn't a skill that we have, it is something we can learn to do for ourselves.

Heather: 6:03

So, prioritizing that list you know, if you're putting stuff on your list that you know you're not ever going to do and have that conversation with, and you know, if you're putting stuff on your list that you know you're not ever going to do and have that conversation with yourself, right, why am I continuing to put this on my list if it's not something I'm going to actually do? Is it something that I actually need to do? Or maybe I need to schedule it? You know, coming up with a plan with yourself and that's what I think the beginning stages of making lists can do for you to figure it out. So it's a really good. You know, I love this book. So I love continuing to talk about mindset and continuing to think about what is important next right.

Heather: 6:48

So I was listening to a podcast, because I do that. I was listening to this podcast and they were talking about you know, you start something and you prioritize the time for it, and now is that still the priority for you today? Do you still feel the same way? So they would do this person would do a time audit in an energy audit, which I thought was a great idea. And I've been hearing Trish Tatarik, life and Coach with Life, life and work with Trish. She. She talks about, you know, that energy, what it, where is your energy being pulled and how to kind of manage that. So if that's something you need to, as you're looking at your to-do list, like maybe it's time to look at these things for ourselves. So I think it's really cool.

Heather: 7:46

So I wanted to tell you a little bit about why I like to do Mindset Mondays. If you're new to the podcast or new to me, it's just a little bit about me and my story. So, okay, get vulnerable. Here we go. Uh, I have got a lot of life experiences that were not super awesome. So in that, let's get those glasses not crooked, sorry y'all.

Heather: 8:20

Um, in that I developed some pretty bad depression and so when I came across the book 52 Small Changes for the Mind, I really liked the idea that there was just like one thing I could work on each week to kind of help my brain have a better life. So I was making all these other changes and this was just one more avenue for me the mental health piece and depression and my son also had a really bad depression and it was a hard time for both of us and just taking one step forward into a new space and continuing to step into my greater self, my next level, knowing that I have light and it's you know it was okay that I was still in darkness like, keep working at it. It's not a one thing and you're done forever. These things are part of life and part of the transitions in life, and grief and sadness are part of being human. And if you love deeply, you're going to be sad deeply and it happens in part of our lives, right? So one of the times I was in counseling, I just simply asked to be more resilient, like, if this is the way life is, how can I keep showing up in more resilience? Because it was so miserable, and so one of the major things we started doing was writing down our achievements. So I feel like this is great for list day writing down our achievements every day, what went right, and start looking for what went right. The more you look for what went right, the more you will see how life is working for you and then your light grows. I think it's bigger and we can show up better for each other, and then it it spreads. So keep showing up for you.

Heather: 10:52

And thank you for joining me on Mindset Monday. So again, that was on lists. Oh, there's always a quote. Let me share the quote with you. One of the secrets of getting more done is to make a to-do list every day, keep it visible and use it as a guide to anchor or to action. Guide to action as you go through the day, jean de la Fontaine. So I kind of like threw that anchor word in there because I was like it's your, you know, next step. You're going to take that day and making them real, things you can do, and setting amazing goals, which we've already talked about. So if you haven't listened to that, go back and catch that episode. We'll talk to you soon, namaste.