Meal Planning: Start With What You Know

Last week, we got started on Meal Planning by asking two questions: What does healthy mean to you? And, What are your meal planning goals?

I hope you have had some time to think about your answers to those questions! With answering those questions, you have gained some awareness for and about yourself. Awareness is the first step for progress!

I know Meal Planning may sound like a lot of change and a lot of work, but it is easier than you think, especially to get started. I am not here to tell you what and how and when to eat. Those are personal choices. What I am here to say is that meal planning can help support your intentions and achieve your goals, whatever they may be.

So, as we get started with the HOW-TO for meal planning, let me suggest starting with what you know.

So, what do you know? 😉 Let me tell you, You know more than you think you do!

First, you know you.

You know what healthy means to you, and you know your goals.

You know your preferences, your allergies, your schedule, your finances, and your family situation and who else you need to factor into your meal plans.

Let’s get to it. Starting with what you know, Make a list of your favorites.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes coming up with ideas for what we want to eat is the hardest part of meal planning for me. It’s not checking inventory, or grocery shopping or even cooking – the IDEAS are what stump me. To circumvent that trouble, I have a list on the inside of my cabinet door of 30 of my family’s favorite meals.

What are your favorite meals, or your family’s favorite meals? Favorite doesn’t have to mean complicated, it just means meals I know we will eat. Items included on this list for us are:

  • chicken pie
  • chicken enchiladas
  • chicken soup, with noodles or with rice
  • chicken breasts
  • tacos, ground beef or chicken
  • pork roast
  • pork chops
  • smoked sausage gumbo (crock pot)
  • andouille sausage and grits
  • kielbasa and pierogi
  • BLTs
  • ham and sweet potatoes
  • beef stew
  • meatloaf
  • chili (crock pot)
  • burgers (summer)
  • pot roast
  • fish, shrimp
  • stuffed pepper casserole
  • egg roll in a bowl
  • breakfast for dinner, etc.

Right there, for us, are more than 20 ideas. Now consider that these days I make a big batch of two or three meals once a week and then reheat them, with veggies or a salad. With 20 ideas, that is 6-7 weeks of planning, if I wanted new ideas every week. And, I have to say, knowing that I have ideas for more than a month feels pretty great!

If you want to use meal planning to make changes and therefore are looking at new or different recipes, the same strategies hold true. Start with a list of recipes you would like to try, or foods that you want to incorporate into your plan. Try a new idea or a new food every week, and once you find winners, add them to your Favorites list!

The next two “Start with what you know” steps are related! We look at the schedule, we look at the inventory, we look back at the schedule and match things up, etc.

Take an inventory of what food you already own.

What is in the fridge, the freezer and the cabinets?

For example, on Saturday morning, I was getting ready to batch cook that evening for a few days. So I checked the freezer for what proteins we have on hand, and planned accordingly (chicken enchiladas and some lovely frozen, fully cooked lemon chicken).

The great thing about having a list of favorite meals and recipes is that I tend to have the ingredients for the items we eat the most often already on hand. So, the chicken enchiladas used homemade enchilada sauce, diced chicken, canned green chiles, canned black beans (I used red kidney because that is what was in the cabinet), tortillas and shredded cheddar cheese. All of which I had on hand.

I need to do more batch cooking later this week, and as I planned my batches for Saturday looked ahead at what else we might want to eat coming up, and added those items to my grocery list.

A suggestion that I will plant here is that, as you start this process for yourself, now would be a great time to Pantry Shop! What that means is to review your foods, checking for expiration dates and making sure everything is safe, and then incorporate what you have on hand into your meal plan for the next week or two. It’s a great way to clear clutter in the cabinets and also save some money by not grocery shopping this week!

Once we know what we have, take a look at your schedule for the next 7 days.

Consider, too, if you need to plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, or just 2 meals or even just one. When my sons were little, we meal planned for dinner. Breakfast and lunch were easy and basic, but dinner was a little more complicated.

Now that I cook typically for just my husband and myself, our needs have changed. I still don’t plan for breakfast, but I factor in extra left overs because we tend to eat lunch at home more often with remote work. A friend who homeschools her children plans for all three meals every day because that makes her week flow more smoothly. Perhaps you don’t need that much detail. Your choice.

Also, when looking at the schedule, note days that either don’t need a meal, or perhaps need a special one. For example, my college student comes home on Friday for his Spring Break, so I’m guessing there will be pizza from our favorite local pizza place Rosangela’s for dinner, no need to cook that night!

So, before you say – No Way, Colleen, meal planning is way too much work! Or, before you decide you have to make HUGE Changes, which by the way are really difficult to implement and maintain, let’s start with what we know. We know ourselves, we know our favorites, we know our inventory and we know our schedule! Start with what is in front of you. Just start!

The Importance of “Filling Your Cup”

When I started writing this content today, I had just listened to my amazing friend, Sara Goggin Young with Power to Believe. She really is extraordinary, you need to check her out on the social media platforms!  She hosts this really cool thing every Tuesday morning called Vibe High.

I listen as I take my morning walk, and she is just so motivating.

Her topic this week was “filling our cup”. Filling our cup.  As in, how do we support ourselves? How do we fill our cup, metaphorically speaking?

Time is weird. I record my podcast a week ahead. I record an episode on Monday, and then the next morning, Tuesday morning, the episode I recorded the week before drops.  Last week, I talked about ADHD and I have loved hearing from some of you about how that article and episode impacted you.  And thank you.

And this week’s topic is Arriving on time, in five minute increments.

I have been talking about habits around leaving, and also habits around arriving home and then also around habits of packing our bag the day before and things like that.

We can absolutely conquer our transitions in little bits of time. And we should. We don’t not have to make big, huge grand gestures to make a difference. Honestly, it’s better if they aren’t huge grand gestures.

We are much better off with small, consistent, intentional, positive effort.

And all of these thoughts and recent client conversations got me thinking about this habit that I have, this brief and impactful habit that I have that I might not have talked about before.

I find it very helpful and I thought I would share.  It helps me manage my transitions – and getting good at managing transitions makes everything better! – and it definitely helps me “fill my cup”. It helps me support me being my best self.

Here goes – There is a post-it note that I stare at when I sit down at my desk, which I do all the time.  The sitting down at my desk part.

And the title says “Homing.

Did you know, I’m a liturgical musician in addition to being a certified professional organizer and organizational coach. And there’s a song we sing called “Lord of All Hopefulness”. It’s a prayer that you would sing throughout the day. There are 4 verses to the song, ‘be there at our waking’, ‘be there at our labors’, ‘be there at our homing’ and ‘be there at our sleeping’.

And “homing” refers to the time when we arrive home. For me, that’s a very comforting image.  Our coming home at the end of the day after our work is done. The word to me means completion and satisfaction. I did the work, I helped the people, and I’m home now and can rest, relax and reset.

And what is on the Homing Post It Note? It’s a list, in order

  • water
  • playlist
  • snack / meal?
  • nature break
  • shower?
  • change clothes?
  • next event?
  • transition bags and stuff
  • bookkeeping
  • curtains, lights and mail (which are all the same step.)

Those are the things that I need to do when I get home, to take care of me, to ease my transition, to fill my cup after a busy day and or before a busy evening.

I can do these arriving home tasks any time of the day, and even all together they take 25 minutes tops.

This Homing List has a special place because I need to remind myself to start with self care, self management, self regulation first.

Let’s break it down: 

Water: I’m almost always dehydrated.  Here’s a clue – we all are.   I have a hard time staying as on top of my water consumption as I should. So the first thing I do when I get home is have a glass of water because I need one.

Playlist: I love music, and the right playlist can relax or entertain or energize me. I have playlists from bands we follow or have become friends of ours, and those make me happy.  I love to listen to Motown while I cook – I don’t know why! But it makes me happy, too.

Snack  / Meal:  Seems self explanatory, but I often need a snack when I get home.  And if I don’t remember to ask the question, it could be a little bit of time before I wonder my energy is lagging, my focus is drifting, my blood sugar has bottomed out and now I am hangry (yes, that is a thing!).  Or, maybe I get home around dinner time and I need to make dinner!

Nature break: Again, this seems obvious, I know.  I shouldn’t need a post-it note to remind me to use the washroom, but sometimes I do.

Next, do I need a shower? Some days I get grubby at work, but this really revved up during pandemic.  During pandemic times, I would only see one client a day and then shower immediately when I got home to keep my family safe. I’m not quite as fanatical about that anymore, but, some days it still needs to happen or I need to shower before my next appointment or event. 

And I almost always need to change my clothes into comfy clothes. Same idea, I don’t really wear outdoor clothes in my house and vice versa.

Next, ask “What is my next event?” This loops back to what I mentioned last week and in the past few months about getting our stuff and self ready to go. As soon as I come home from one thing, is it unpacking from the current day or packing for the next day? So, when I ask the question: next event? I’m answering the question and then:

Transitioning my bags and stuff. I mean, I’ve talked about that recently, with my many-bag-days and making sure that unpacking and putting everything away happens regularly. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure I would be inundated all over my desk or my office floor with bags. Yikes!

Next up is Bookkeeping. And bookkeeping is not necessarily something that everybody needs to do, but I, as a business owner, do need to do it. I have clients who pay me using all sorts of methods and often when I get home, I need to send a PayPal invoice or a Venmo request, or perhaps I need to follow up on scheduling. This also provides an opportunity to file any paperwork that I accumulated throughout the day, put away any receipts, make note on hours that I work today and account for them, etc. This doesn’t take long but it is a very important part of my process.

The final step is “curtains, lights and mail” and that is contingent on the time of day when I arrive home and the season and all that stuff. Sometimes I get home mid-day. And sometimes I arrive early evening and it’s time for me to close the curtains for the night, turn on the lights in my home to make it warm and friendly, and bring in the mail. When I say that out loud, it feels very cozy and inviting. It makes me feel like I’m having a hug, and looping back, that helps fill my cup.

The process itself absolutely fills my cup, gives me a boost and brings my thoughts back to home and family and the things that I find important.

My challenge to you would be to figure out what these steps are for yourself, and how to fill your cup. And how can you make sure it happens on a consistent basis? My example was about habits around coming home.  Maybe you need to head outside to fill your cup, or go exercise or go meet up with friends or go to a class. On the call with my friend and her group, some people loved to cook or be creative with their hands. What is it for you?

And how do you make sure to do it regularly? For example, having this visual reminder for me absolutely helps me to “fill my cup” consistently. Let me know your thoughts!

October is ADHD Awareness Month: More Than Just Awareness

October is ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) Awareness Month.

Last week, I spoke with one of my accountability partners, Laine.  Laine is the ADHD Coach that I want to be when I grow up. She’s amazing. If you’d like to know more, check out her website at http://thinkinganddoingskillscenter.com/.  She is always looking to reach and positively impact more students and adults with her coaching. 

On our accountability call, we discussed that this is the time of year when mid-quarter progress reports go home, and for many students, we find out that they are struggling with their grades and workload.

Perhaps a student hasn’t been diagnosed but the teacher or school administrator may start the conversation regarding testing and diagnosis. 

OR perhaps a student is diagnosed with ADHD but they haven’t necessarily found the strategies or skills, or aren’t using them, or need to explore more to help them do as well as they could in school.

Laine and took a moment to share our own stories about our experiences with ADHD for either ourselves or loved ones.  And I realized that I don’t tell ADHD stories, and that’s a disservice to you and to me and anybody who has ADHD.

Today, I want to talk about what ADHD is and what it looks like in ourselves and the people around us. We will increase awareness around ADHD and some symptoms that go along with it, and mention the strategies and skills that can be used to improve the lives of EVERYONE, including folks with ADHD. 

See what I did there?  I reminded all of us that the strategies that help folks with ADHD to manage their neurodiversity are the same strategies that can help us all on any given day.

To get us started, I want to share a conversation I had recently with a friend about her grown child with ADHD.  And keep in mind – we are not doing an in-depth study of ADHD today, because that would be impossible in one day. 

Today, we are increasing awareness!

This grown child, this young adult, is doing great, professionally speaking. They recently graduated from college, they have a new job in their field of study, they’re really excited about it, they’re just doing great.

But this young adult struggles beyond that.  In addition to a new job, they also have a new living arrangement in this new stage of life. And they are really struggling with all the change, the expectation to set up a home and to manage themselves. 

Of course I can’t coach a person who’s not there, that’s not how that works.  But I can increase awareness with this young adult’s loved one who is trying to understand where their young adult is coming from, and how to help.  And I respect that.  We can all start by recognizing there is more going on with every person than we may be aware of.

First, I asked “is the young adult diagnosed or not?”, and the answer was yes. Next, I asked if they received counseling or therapy specifically around their ADHD and where they may struggle, and the answer was no.

So this friend and I simply worked on ADHD Awareness together.

First, I want you to click over to and read an article I wrote for the basics, ADHD Awareness Month, For Yourself and for Others.

It’s not necessarily that people with ADHD have symptoms that are completely different than anybody else in a busy time of life or any other time. What makes it troublesome and what leads many of us to either get tested or get our loved ones tested for ADHD or other neuro-diversities is if the struggles happen more than occasionally, or are negatively impacting a person’s life. And by life I mean relationships, how they succeed or excel in school or professionally, or in whatever it is that they’re trying to achieve.

So we all have challenges some days with achievement or focus or productivity or motivation, but it’s when those challenges negatively impacts life for a certain amount of time, those are the red flags that say, okay, there’s more going on here, and we need to ask if perhaps this person is neurodivergent. Again, many of us display these characteristics. It’s the severity and the comorbidities, like folks with ADHD also suffering from higher rates of anxiety or depression, that make ADHD troublesome.

Back to my friend and her young adult.

For this friend and her grown child, we discussed that this young adult is able to excel at work but their home life and relationships suffer, and they are exhausted all the time.  I mentioned that, whereas I might have a busy day at work and I need to come home and take a half hour to shift gears and decompress before staring my next activity, someone with ADHD has worked much harder to be productive at work and to manage their challenges and may need much more time to regroup.

Let’s understand Masking.

People with ADHD and other people as well learn to cover up what may be considered culturally undesirable behaviors.  So little ones learn to not blurt out answers in the classroom or hop out of their seats when their energy tells them otherwise.  And they learn to manage and mask, but it also takes effort to NOT act this way.

Let’s understand, too, a different type of masking:

Children with ADHD are often not diagnosed until they reach transitions like elementary school to middle school, or middle school to high school, or even high school to college.  Strong and supportive parenting and learning environments are AWESOME but occasionally ADHD goes undiagnosed until a student reaches the point when their external coping supports (parents and teachers) no longer make up for the challenges from their ADHD.

Let’s understand Hyperfocus

Another characteristic of ADHD is Hyperfocus. ADHD is often misunderstood and underdiagnosed because people with ADHD may be able to hyper-focus on something that is interesting to them.  This is why ADHD is not a full enough name, because “Attention Deficit” is not always true.

And, for many people with ADHD, they are paying Attention to EVERYTHING. Did you know? When a person with ADHD looks like they’re not paying attention, it’s actually very likely that they are paying attention to absolutely everything in the room.  If they’re listening to their teacher talk about math or to a friend tell a story, or they’re trying to focus on the email in front of them, they are also hearing every background sound there is.

They are noticing how their clothing feels at every point that it touches their body.

They are noticing the temperature of the air around them, and the smell of the space.

They are noticing everything. Any pains that might be in their body. They notice it all. It’s not that they’re not paying attention. Attention deficit is actually a misnomer in some ways, because they’re processing input from everything.

And so what may look like inattentiveness is actually the fact that they are processing everything all the time. And they might not even know what’s happening. And where you think that it is a character flaw, defiance or something else, it might very well be that they have so many different signals coming in at any given point that they’re just taking a bit of time to process.

And again, that’s not necessarily specific to ADHD, but it is a common trait of somebody with ADHD.

Let’s Also understand Bandwidth, or spoons.

All of us have a certain amount of energy and focus and motivation to get things done every day.  And once those commodities are used up for the day, it’s time for rest.    Some people call these units of measure spoons.  So each of us starts with a certain number of spoons to use throughout the day. 

With me so far?

All of us consume the spoons.  And if we’re sick or sad, we may have fewer spoons than normal.  And some days we have to do hard things, which uses up our spoons faster.

A person with ADHD may have the same amount spoons as you and me when they start their day.  But they may use them faster than we do because they have to make themselves focus and motivate and get things done in  a certain way that isn’t how their brain is wired to work.

Now, let’s talk about recovery.

Just as a neurotypical person needs to rest and re-fuel to face another day, so does, of course, a person with ADHD.  But it may take longer. In addition to using spoons faster than others, a person with ADHD may take longer to replace the spoons.  Even a person with ADHD who is managing themselves well and getting the support they need knows that they MUST employ strategies and skills to rest and replenish.  And we have to respect that.

Somebody with ADHD, because they have been dealing with all of these external stimuli for so long, can absolutely maintain for a bit, and then they’re exhausted. And what takes you and I perhaps an hour or two, or a good night’s sleep, to recuperate from could take them days.

And I think where all of this is leading me to is right here:

Your awareness of ADHD or now doesn’t validate or invalidate a friend or loved one with ADHD.  Yes, there are people out there who believe ADHD doesn’t exist.

But today I want to increase awareness.  I want to show all of us that we all struggle sometimes.  People with ADHD and people without ADHD.

As I started this topic today, I mentioned that we don’t know where people are coming from. But now we know  more.  We know better.  And I was quoted back to myself last week, apparently I often say “when we know better we must do better” (I will credit this to Maya Angelou). 

No one is broken and no one needs fixed.  We just need to understand more about others, be aware there is more happening than we know and be ready to support others by educating ourselves.  More than 10% of the population has ADHD, whether you or they have been diagnosed or not.  You may have ADHD, and I guarantee you know people with ADHD.  Some who struggle and some who manage well.

We need to understand that it’s happening, and support ourselves and others with understanding, communication and education.

There are resources out there to help. Coaching, counseling, therapy. 

CHADD, https://chadd.org/, Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)

ADD.org, Attention Deficit Disorder Association

There are tools to help individuals manage their ADHD and to support the folks who support people with ADHD. The best indicator for success is for everyone to understand ADHD Better. 

Intention: Don’t Leave Important Things Up To Chance

I started composing this content in the car on the way to drop off my son at college.  We took two cars.  I lost the coin flip and had most of the stuff in my car, and my husband and our son were in the other.  And our two different GPS apps sent us two different ways, so we got same place by different routes, different expressways here in the Midwest, around the same time.  Which is good to know, as we’ve often debated which way is faster.

We flipped a coin so my son didn’t feel pressured to choose between my husband or I to ride with, and we didn’t have to feel bad if my son didn’t choose us.  But I digress.

I have a digital document where my editorial content lives.  All my ideas, bits of writings, a schedule outline for the next few months.  In preparation for the solo drive and the thinking time I would have as I drove, I looked at the first two pages of it.  I add new info at the top, and also have the schedule pinned there.  It’s a ridiculously long document, probably close to 50 pages if I printed it, and I will NOT.  Some day soon I need to just delete most of it since I’m shifting my thinking these days. 

But there was a single line at the top left over from the recent Never Be Late Again content, I suddenly realized that yes, that was today’s topic. Not leaving our day up to chance.

So, having left the topic seemingly up to chance, I am going to talk about NOT leaving our day up to chance.

The Sunday we took my son back to school, I spent my time staying out of my son’s way, first, and second, getting my newsletter ready to send out on Tuesday.

Because I did not want to leave the completion of that up to chance.  It’s important to me to publish my newsletter and podcast and I need to be intentional around those tasks to ensure they are completed.

Similarly, I was talking with the college student before he left.  Last year when he started college, he quickly learned that the nice people who cleaned the bathrooms on his dorm floor cleaned the bathroom right around the time he planned to shower so he could make his 9 am class on time.  So he adjusted to a different time.

He is in a different dorm this year, so he needs to learn the rhythm of the new dorm, and this semester’s schedule.  We discussed what time his first class is every day this semester.  So he can adjust. 

When you gain that new information, as soon as you gain that information, you have the opportunity to adjust, to incorporate that new information and, uh, make your day make more sense.  All of that really makes me think about this phrase that’s on my list, don’t leave your day up to chance.

He and I also talked about how every day is different, and they should be, but our routines don’t have to be.  My son mentioned he has friends who are very chaotic when it comes to their routines, and that makes him really anxious. He knows that that’s not for him, and I absolutely respect that because it’s not for me, either. 

So, we can create routines around routine needs and tasks, we can be intentional about the important things, and we can leave the questions, the mysteries, the variables, etc., for other times of the day. 

The point is, being Intentional is NOT not leaving your routines or important things up to chance.  That’s it. It’s being intentional with how you want to spend the first or last 20 minutes to 2 hours, whatever that looks like for you, how you want to spend that for yourself. And not leaving it up to chance, not leaving it up to whim, or how the rest of the world feels like you need to spend your day. Right?

So what does that look like?

I’ve been re-working my own morning routines the last few weeks, adding in some things that I’d like to achieve.  And this is NOT ME wanting to pack even more productivity in my morning. No, I actually want to pack more meditation and calm and journaling in my morning and having a little more room to breathe.  So it’s not just packing more things, tasks, expectations, responsibilities into our morning. It is being intentional with what is IMPORTANT. For me, that is intentionally balancing productivity with rest and recovery, which we explored in a recent podcast.

Not leaving your day up to chance means it’s your turn to choose. And what does that look like for you? If you know that something is important in your day (“Important” means, meets a need, helps you meet your goals, supports what it is that you want to achieve), don’t leave it up to chance, to “Well, I’ll get to it if I get to it.”

So back to my original case study.  The most important thing that I could do on move-in day was to successfully get my son to school feeling supported, excited, capable, energized, whatever that looks like for him. And so what that looked like for us was, in the weeks leading up to move-in day, to check in regularly in the packing process to make sure he had what he needed. A successful transition was NOT going to happen by chance.

He did the work himself, because it is his work to do and he’s awesome. But I did things, too, to not leave success up to chance. My husband and I both independently filled the gas tanks the day before. I love that. We both did not want to leave success up to chance.

And in the midst of making sure that he had everything he needed, to not leave the important things up to chance, I made sure, because my next two days are going to be extremely busy supporting loved ones, that my important tasks also weren’t left up to chance.  I made sure to get my newsletter out on time, which is very important to me for lots of reasons. I hit “send” on that 48 hours in advance because it’s important.  I also started to think about the next day, when I would be back on the road again to help with a different loved one with a move in Michigan. I’d like to think all will be well, but that depends on many variables – weather, traffic, ease of move-in, that I don’t have control over!  And I’ll be ready to adjust, that’s fine.  Because I was intentional and completed the other important tasks already.

Another example to make my point: Years ago, a client said she was waiting for the day when she would wake up, spring out of bed and feel motivated and ready to organize, just spontaneously. She expected that she would wake up one day, and that was going to be her reality.  AND she was going to wait until that magic day came. But that day had NOT happened in 50 some years. I challenged her to say, if it has never happened before, are you sure that it is going to happen? And is organizing something you should leave up to chance?  This was somebody who had reached out to me because it was important for her to get organized, enough so to call somebody to find support. And I absolutely respect that. However, I wouldn’t want her to base future progress on the motivated morning that may or may not magically happen. The stars would align, the right combination of mood and energy and sleep and opportunity in the day, and suddenly, poof.  And I would challenge all of us to NOT use this way to strategize.

There are facets of our lives that are very important. And once we have established what those are, what those Focus Areas, people, relationships, situations, skill building, what it is in our life that’s important, we don’t leave those things up to chance.

I’m not saying that there can’t be flexibility. There MUST be flexibility, it’s not optional.  But if there’s something that you deem to be important, again, whatever that means to you, then don’t leave it up to chance. Do what you can to make that thing happen. And, I’m not saying it has to happen all at once. But we can’t wait for the perfect opportunity to happen before we act because that is unlikely to yield the results we are seeking. We have to DO the actions and recognize the important things that need done, and not leave important things up to chance.

The Basics: What MUST Be In Your Pocket?

When I started writing this article yesterday, I planned to write it from the going-off-to-college perspective. But, this morning, a 4 year old changed my plan.

Can we start with the basics? 5 things, maybe 6. BASIC. But so very important.

Let’s call them our Pocket Essentials. The items that you consider essential to leaving the house. Your Pocket Essentials are personal and change with age or stage in life. So, my Pocket Essentials for leaving the house – the bare minimum without which I cannot leave – car and house keys on one ring, phone, wallet and sunglasses. Truly, I can get pretty far with just these few things. But without them, I can’t even leave the garage.

From the 4 year old (a client’s daughter), she needed her dollar bill – HERS, not her sister’s, because HERS is smooth and her sister’s is crinkly – and a pink formal long glove. Just one. And very bright pink. And please, don’t question her choice. (She and her siblings were delightful.)

This summer, my son’s pocket essentials for work are his phone, house keys and electronic time card. If he leaves without any of those things, he has to come back for them. When he goes off to college in just a few weeks, he will need to establish A PLACE and JUST ONE PLACE for his college Pocket Essentials – phone, college ID and room key.

The point:

Identify your essentials, whether you are 4, 18 or 50 something.

Establish A PLACE for the essentials to live.

Then, cultivate the habit around making sure your essentials live in that ONE PLACE when you get home so they are ready again for you when you leave.

I have a theory when it comes to organizing and time management: How we manage transition times in our day can make or break our schedule and success.

Transition times are the many instances in our day when we switch from one task to another, one focus to another, one location to another, etc. They include: getting out of bed, leaving for and arriving at school or work, heading to lunch or getting back from lunch, leaving from school or work, arriving home, making dinner or going to bed.

If you live with at least one other human or pet, you also have to factor in their transition times. And when we look at how many instances in a day we are shifting gears, it’s easy to see how many instances there are also to stumble!

So, to Recap:

Establish what your Pocket Essentials are. A short list, not too much to keep track of, but Essential nonetheless.

Then, establish ONE PLACE. By the front or back door? We have a little basket mounted on the wall by the back door where my husband keeps his Pocket Essentials. Mine are all contained in my backpack, also near the exit. Perhaps on your dresser or the kitchen counter? Pick ONE PLACE. Let others in the house know where the place is. Put a nice dish or basket there just for the Pocket Essentials. maybe a charger for your phone, etc.

Finally, establish the habit of keeping your Pocket Essentials in your ONE PLACE while you’re home so it’s waiting for you when it comes time to leave.

My habit is to take off my shoes by the back door and then take everything out of my pockets onto my desk (right next to the back door.) Keys get clipped to my bag, sunglasses go in my bag, phone gets charged on the desk if necessary. Same goes for my family members, dropping their Pocket Essentials by the door or on their dresser. If any of us find those essentials elsewhere in the house, we return them to their ONE PLACE.

And if I happen to walk by my bag and the keys are not clipped to my bag, or my phone is not where I expected it to be, I had better go track it down! Before missing my Pocket Essentials messes up my next Transition time!!

Go-mugs, Water Bottles and Blender Pieces, Oh My!

Go-mugs, water bottles and blender pieces, Oh My!

(We attended my niece’s elementary school’s presentation of The Wizard of Oz over the weekend, and the title just came to me!)

I have presented hundreds of times to thousands of people in my time as a professional organizer. I know what jokes will work or not. And I can bring up common hot-spots and know which hot-spot mention will elicit a groan or exclamation.

Enter… go-mugs and water bottles, and to a lesser extent, blender bits and pieces. At a presentation last month to parents of high schoolers, the mention of go-mugs and water bottles sparked a lively discourse – “Some are so old the writing is all washed off!” or “That one leaks but it’s still here!” or “We don’t even know who that one belongs to or where it came from!”!

Organizing these items is another small but mighty project with a potentially big impact!

How To:

  • First, we open all the cabinets and drawers and pull out ALL THE PIECES! Bases, lids, accessories, sleeves, hooks, rubber gaskets, etc. Oi, all the pieces!
    • And since these are all portable beverage carriers, we also need to check in the cars, cupholders and under the seats. We need to look in all the backpacks, briefcases and sports bags by the door, too. Collect all the extras from EVERYWHERE and give them a good wash.
    • Next, we pair up all the pieces. Top with bottoms, rubber gaskets with lids, straws with squeezy bottles if you use those (we don’t), etc. Since we’re talking about blender / smoothie cup pieces too, we match up the cups that go with certain blender bases, as well.


  • Once we have the pieces all paired up, line them up on the counter (gulp). Yes, all of them.
    • Take a deep breath. Look at all of them. There are probably some that need to go.
    • Part with the easy ones – the unpaired bottoms or tops, the leaky ones, the childish ones and your youngest is now a teenager.
    • You can also send the ones that don’t belong to you back to their owners!
    • Decide how many is enough and how many are too many. I know this may be tough, but you can try these strategies:
      • Sort them by owner – I am the coffee drinker, so the portable coffee mugs might go in the Colleen pile;
      • As another example, each of us has our own Swell bottles, so I might put each of those in each person’s pile.
      • Utilize what I refer to in my presentations as Mug Math. Ask Yourself:
        • How many people in my house drink coffee? (1)
        • How many cups a day? (2) and
        • How often do we run the dishwasher? (Every day / every other day)
        • So, in theory, I need 4 mugs. OF course I have more than 4 mugs. But do I need 40? No. Same goes for go mugs / water bottles, etc.


  • After you have decided which items to keep, let’s think about how and where to keep them.
    • Hopefully the pile has gotten smaller by this point.
    • Next, we need to chose one and only one place in the kitchen for these items to live.
    • If you use these items often, choose a home near the sink for easy cleaning and filling. If you use them less often, choose a location a little farther away from the sink, as that space is always in high demand.
    • As you choose a home, remember you can adjust your cabinet shelves to accommodate tall items.
    • AND… next time you are offered a promotional water bottle at an event, Just Say No!


  • The Keys to Success for go-mugs, water bottles and blender / smoothie parts are: 1. A Consistent Home; and 2. Containers!
    • When we’ve looked at these clutter hot-spots these last few weeks, we know that we want a HOME for our stuff so we can find the stuff again.
    • Having a consistent home for our go-mugs, water bottles and blender / smoothie parts means we will find those items again! If we find a top or a bottom without its match, that’s ok. If we put all the part in the HOME, we can pair them up again. And a home keeps these items from floating around in other spaces in our kitchen, getting in the way in those other spaces.
    • We use containers like these shown, available on Amazon.com or at your local retailer. The containers corral the bits and pieces like lids and bottoms, but they also establish a limit for how many things we have / need!



Try your hand at this mini-project this week and reclaim your kitchen and storage spaces!

ADHD Awareness Month, for Yourself and For Others

October is ADHD Awareness Month, and I want to help us all be more aware!

ADHD (Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder) is a
“neurodevelopmental disorder affecting both children and adults around the globe.” (from adhdawarenessmonth.org)

In my roles as a certified professional organizer, organizing coach and
fellow human being, I interact with many people with ADHD.

And, So Do You.

My next few blog articles will help you get to know ADHD.  I hope to delve deeper, but for now, let’s work on the “Awareness” of ADHD Awareness Month.

Did you know?

·    At least 10% of the population have ADHD, and probably a much higher percentage go undiagnosed or unnoticed. In a classroom
of 20 students, at least 2 have ADHD. 

·   ADHD can run in families, but not always.

  • If you have 10 friends with ADHD, each of the 10 will show their ADHD in a different way. There is no one way that a person with ADHD will act.

  • “ADHD”, at least the “H” part, may be a misnomer as not everyone who has ADHD also has hyperactivity.  ADHD can also show up as inattention, poor focus, poor planning, and poor impulse control and emotional regulation, to list just a few symptoms.

     

  •  ADHD is diagnosed from 2.5 to 4 times more often in boys than it is in girls (https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/adhd-symptoms-in-girls-and-boys).  HOWEVER, ADHD is spread evenly between genders.  The difference is the rate of diagnosis.  ADHD shows up differently in different people, and characteristics like being “emotional”, “daydreamy” or “flighty” can wrongly be attributed to girls just because they’re girls and not because they may have an underlying condition.

     

  • ADHD can be diagnosed at any age. ADHD is diagnosed for  children of school age, but also with the transition to high school or to college, when parental supports and involvement changes and no longer compensates for the student with ADHD.

     

     

  • In addition, ADHD was not understood when most of today’s adults were children and many adults will continue to live life undiagnosed.

     

     

  • Folks with ADHD don’t need to “just try harder”, or “apply themselves”, or have better discipline.  ADHD is caused by a chemical deficit in the brain and not by some character flaw.  Often individuals with ADHD work very hard to overcome the challenges that come with ADHD and have spent their life coming up with coping strategies.

     

     

  • Some of the challenges of ADHD can also be considered benefits. For example, a characteristic of ADHD is the ability to hyper-focus on topics that are interesting to the individual. Of course, the ability to hyper-focus is also what sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis.

     

     

  • There are tools to help individuals manage their ADHD.  There is hope. 

And I think HOPE is the most important awareness of all.  

Advice For the Graduates and the Rest of Us, As Well!

Did you know? In addition to being a Certified Professional Organizer, I’m also an elected school board member in my community. I was honored to deliver an address at the 8th grade graduation in June.

We are all in perpetual transition – back to school, but also life milestones. Here is what I had to say to that gymnasium full of students as they went on their way, and to all of us as well!

“Good evening.  I would like to welcome you all, and Thank You for being here, and not just tonight.  

Thank you to our dedicated and passionate teachers and staff who have instructed and guided these students along the way. These educators arrive early, stay late, they’re in the classrooms and hallways and at these events. And they truly have our student’s best interests in mind.  We are so fortunate, and I am so grateful. 

Thank you, parents and guardians and all those folks who also show up.  Every day.  I’m not even going to finish the equation, # of morning wake-ups from Pre-K to 8th grade multiplied by lunches packed, homework, gym uniforms, band instruments, car pools, field trips. Then there are the games and concerts and events in person and on-line that we are SO happy to attend.

Students – yes, tonight is about you, but tonight or this weekend, please stop and look your parents, grandparents and significant adults in the eyes and thank them for helping you get to this occasion.   


And now, Students!   

You’ve heard it before, “you can be anything you want to be”.  And you can.  You are able to be, allowed to be, anything you want to be.   

But hear me, and not just with your ears but with your heart.  All of you, sitting here this evening – you are CAPABLE of being anything you want to be.

You have proven over the last few years that you are flexible, you are resilient, you are clever and creative. You have suffered loss and you have survived.  You have endured a pandemic, and you are still here!

You adapted to learning new things in new ways that just a few years ago still felt impossible or unattainable.  You have adapted and learned and adapted some more. 

The first thing I ask, then, is that you Believe that you are CAPABLE of anything you want to achieve.  

Second, Do the right thing, even when no one is watching.  Don’t bother with easy, or just skating by, because you think no one will notice.  YOU will notice.  And once you know you can count on yourself to do the right thing, your confidence and capacity for doing the right thing will grow.   You may find yourself in a situation and you’re not sure what the right thing to do is. Go with kindness.  Justice.  Fairness.  Thinking and thoughtfulness.  Those are always going to be the right thing.  And the right thing might not be what everyone else is doing, but that’s ok, they are just waiting for you to set an example. 

Third, Find your people.  Look around for the people that are doing what you want to do, what you aspire to do. Surround yourself with good people who will lift you up, build you up, and who are also doing the right thing. Find and appreciate those people, and more importantly, strive to be that best person for others.

Finally, Start and end with gratitude.  Be grateful for your natural born talents and your diligently honed skills.  Be grateful for your family who loves you, the education you are working for, your friends and our community.   

So, your homework:

Believe you are CAPABLE of being anything you want to be.
Do the Right Thing.  
Find Your People.
And Start and End with Gratitude.

I’m going to take my own advice here, and say thank you, Central Middle School class of 2021, for showing us all how to survive and thrive in adversity.  I can’t wait to see what each of you will continue to achieve in big and small ways, in the years to come.  Congratulations and Well Done!” 

We all need a Plan B. Because life throws you curve balls (and snow balls, asteroids, hurricanes and a pandemic).

Please, take a few deep breaths with me before you read this. I started writing this last week out of frustration, and while I’ve softened my language and my heart A LOT with edits, it still feels harsh. Probably because this is a tough time and topic. So, breathe with me and know I’m writing this from a place of love!

To say we always need a Plan B is an understatement. We need a plan C and D and E and more, until we run out of letters. And this need to plan existed long before our current situation, and will continue long after. I’m just using it as a shining example of why we need to plan.

Why do we need a Plan, and then a Plan B? To care for and protect those people and things that are important to us. And the only predictable thing that we can say about life is that life is unpredictable.

I chatted with a friend at Mass on Sunday. She is an educator and administrator and she mentioned that she flew past Plan B for this school year weeks ago and now is onto Plan P at this point. She also mentioned the very real possibility of moving into double letters soon. I feel you, sister.

A friend is a Marine Biologist, which means she always lives near an ocean. She has become proficient – well, amazing, really – at prepping for hurricanes. Supplies, generator, battened hatches, reading materials, non-perishable food, water. Some things just stay prepared, especially this time of year, and some steps are activated as soon as the weather reports start coming in. She’s got this.

And You Can, Too. So, let’s make a plan.

“A plan for what, Coll?” you say? A plan to care for what is important to you. If you have people or work or things (tangible and intangible) that matter, you need a Plan B to protect and care for them. And for yourself.

Look at the people and things and plans that are most important to you.

Imagine scenarios, and recognize what those scenarios all have in common.

Check your notes. Look back at the last 6 months and identify where life has fallen apart or had avoidable unnecessary stress.

Your favorite outfit or uniform? Identify it and a back-up.

You need a route to your regular destinations, and a few alternatives if the way is blocked (I live on the south side of Chicago – TRAINS anyone?!). Perhaps you download the app for public transportation, too, in case of car trouble.

Weak wi-fi? Call your provider and boost it now, for working and learning from home.

Uncomfortable work-and-learn-from-home spaces? Tweak them now.

I will be talking about prepping for cold and flu season next week because I want my comfort measures and OTC medicine in my house BEFORE one of us starts feeling poorly.

In this uncertain time, you need your Plan A and then Plans B, C, D to Infinity for child care and back-up schooling situations and flexible expectations. I know it is hard and I know this uncertainty feels uncomfortable and inconvenient, but unfortunately adulting (and parenting) often are.

Do you know what is on my list for later today? “Check out (insert University name here)’s current policy” – as in TODAY because things can change – for handling COVID on campus and what actions my son and I will need to take should someone at his school test positive.

Because… plans need to evolve, too. I’ve read somewhere that over 90% of flight plans are not completed exactly as filed. There’s the rub, right? That we can look at our current situation and plan for today and for contingencies, and then our situation changes again and we have to make a new plan – Ugh! But, yes. We have to do it again. We can rail against the injustice, or we can remember that we know how to plan because we have done it before and we can get to work.

So, my friends, it is time to get to work. Soften the blows of uncertainty later by planning now.

“In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” – General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

By failing to prepareyou are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

Is It Time To Tweak Your Routine?

I feel like I talk all the time about Routines. I think about them often and how to make mine work better for me. And I spend a lot of time during presentations and coaching calls discussing the importance and creation of Routines for others.

Maybe I do talk about them all the time, though – after a brief review – I don’t seem to bring it up here on my blog space very often.

I am tweaking my own Routines this week and this month, and I thought I would bring you all along for the ride.

What are our Routines? Our routines are the set of tasks we set about doing on a regular basis – daily, weekly, monthly, etc. – that help us handle the essentials of survival and maintenance in our life and / or our work.

Routines:

  • provide structure to our days, should we need it;
  • ensure that essential tasks are completed as often as necessary;
  • help us stay balanced and make sense of life and work;
  • save us time, help us be productive, eliminate stress;
  • are a great foundation for anything else that needs to happen daily or weekly.

We create routines through repetition. Our routines are attached to certain times of day – “I get out of bed at 6 and take a walk”; or certain events – “I take a shower and change my clothes when I get home from a client appointment”. And our routines are tools – tools to make our life run more smoothly. Or building blocks, providing a strong foundation.

Routines are habits, but they can also be changed or improved as changes in life requires them to change. And let’s face it, life has required many changes recently.

I tweaked my routines back in March as my state’s shelter-in-place orders began, and I usually tweak my routines for summer, as school and kid schedules change, so I know it is time! I can sense a change, a need to review and re-establish my routines when things start to feel a little out of sync, just a little wrong. As though I’m wearing the right shoes but on the wrong feet.

So, how to make changes? Or create a routine from the beginning?

Start with Needs.

I need to take a walk every day for optimal health, I need to take my supplements. I NEED to do these things, but the WHEN is more flexible.

During the school year or when my husband actually has to drive downtown, we walk at 5 am. Lately, it’s more like 6:15. Needs remain the same, WHEN can change.

List out your needs. You can list all your needs for the day, but I will start with morning. My morning (anything between waking up and starting my work day) Needs may include, in no particular order:

  • take a walk;
  • take my supplements;
  • make my bed;
  • make sure I have something planned for dinner (maybe even start something in the crock pot);
  • pray;
  • shower and get ready for my day;
  • start a load of laundry;
  • water my garden;
  • You get the picture.

Your list may be longer or shorter, and may contain tasks my list does not. And that’s just how it should be.

Next, assign any specific times to your needs and then put them in a logical order. Looking at the example above, I might order them like this…

  • 6:15 am Take a walk;
  • water my garden (when I get home from my walk, since I’m outside);
  • shower and get ready for my day (because it’s hot and I’m sweaty after my walk);
  • make my bed;
  • start a load of laundry;
  • take my supplements (coupled with the dinner planning, since I’m in the kitchen);
  • make sure I have something planned for dinner (maybe even start something in the crock pot);
  • pray (I do this at my desk, usually when I sit down to start working);
  • 8 am Start my work day.

Perhaps you have different routines for different times of day. I have personal or house specific routines around dinner time and bed time, and they are created the same way – start with needs, move on to times and convenient bundling.

And perhaps a routine for your work day would help you be more productive? Same process!

I suggest both a daily and weekly routine for work place productivity. My day-to-day schedule can change – today was not a typical Tuesday (I started with a 1.5 hour coaching call and then sang for a funeral), but the first few tasks I complete every day when I sit down at my computer – check email, check business social media accounts, confirm tomorrow’s clients – are the same whether I start at 8 am or noon.

When it comes to a weekly routine, I find it helpful to assign tasks to each day, for example:

  • Monday – strategic planning, client care
  • Tuesday – write article and publish newsletter
  • Wednesday – update website and social media
  • Thursday – check in around presentations
  • Friday – billing and invoices

If this idea works for you, great! Fill in your own essential tasks instead of mine. Just like a daily routine, having a weekly routine around NEEDS, in this case the NEEDS of my business, ensures the continued health and productivity of my business.

So, how can you tweak your routines this week? Determine your needs for your self and your home and your work. Make sure the Needs that need to be met daily are added to your routines, and the same for weekly.

Choose the best time for your routine tasks to be completed. Are you a morning person? A night owl? Maybe you hit your stride late in the day?

Look around – is there anyone in your house or office better equipped to do a certain task? Maybe there are tasks you can delegate!

Put your tasks in an order that saves time or makes sense. Try it out for a week or two and make sure it’s working for you! And expect you will need to review your routines every few months to make adjustments accordingly!

I will be working on my own daily and weekly routines this week, too! I know we will all be better off after spending a little time figuring out the best way to spend our time! Cheers!