Is one of your goals to be more organized? Today’s episode plays just like a coaching call if you were one of my clients, and you wanted to be more organized. I’m sharing my best advice for changing both your mindset and your habits to succeed at being organized this year.
The Shoot It Straight Podcast is brought to you by Sabrina Gebhardt, photographer and educator. Join us each week as we discuss what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too, Shoot It Straight Podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
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This episode is brought to you by Portfolio On Purpose, my step-by-step framework for planning and executing a successful model call. Model calls are so important for getting fresh eyes on your business, to create fresh images for new offers, and to create without the expectations of paying clients. With Portfolio On Purpose, you will feel inspired to take action and will have the steps and tools necessary to run a successful model call and get the images that your business truly needs.
Review the Show Notes:
You aren’t born with the skill of being organized (1:32)
Making very small changes (4:26)
Getting a win (9:24)
Creating habits that lead to organization (10:03)
If you can be organized with one thing (15:27)
Episode Links:
Review the Transcript:
Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gephardt. Here I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur. while balancing business, motherhood and life myself along with my guests will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in yet willing to talk about the hard stuff to to shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight. Welcome back to the shoot it straight podcast my friend, I’m so glad you’re here, I want to talk about something that comes up a lot for people near the start of a new year, when people are thinking about their goals for the year and how they want to better themselves.
This one thing is very often on the list, especially for creatives. And that is I want to be more organized. If this is you. If one of your goals this year is to finally get organized, then this episode is for you. I’m going to treat this a little bit like I would a coaching call with one of my students, or a Voxer message with one of my mastermind women. So if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have me as a coach, this is going to be a great lesson for you. Okay, so you want to be more organized this year. And you’re curious how you can actually achieve that, when you’ve likely tried and failed in the past. The first thing I’m going to tell you is that you aren’t born with the skill of being organized. This is something that you learn. You aren’t just a disorganized person by nature. I know it might feel like that. But it’s not actually true.
This was something you picked up growing up. This is a learned behavior. And this is great news, because it means that you can change this behavior. I want to start with this point because I often get the pushback from students that quote, I have always been disorganized, or quote, it’s a lost cause because I’ve been this way my entire life. And while it may be true, that you have been disorganized, for as long as you can remember, it hasn’t been your entire life. You are not a disorganized baby. Okay, that’s not a thing. You are not born into this world. And immediately disorganized. This is something that you either picked up, or organization as a skill wasn’t prioritized in your home growing up. And neither one of those is a bad thing.
I’m not telling you to place blame anywhere, I just want you to shift the way that you’re speaking to yourself, I want you to shift your identity, you are not a disorganized person. This is not your core, this is not something that is unchangeable. Instead, change your thoughts to I’m learning to be organized, or I’m committed to becoming organized, or even I become more organized every day. I know it might seem small, but I promise that the energy is much, much different. When you can change the way you talk to yourself about something possibilities open up the energy shifts from I can’t do that thing because it’s impossible for me to I’m growing and learning something new. Okay, it’s a huge energy shift. And that, that possibility that opening the door to possibility really makes all the difference in whether or not you are going to succeed. Because when you tell yourself that I am disorganized, I have always been disorganized. I will always be disorganized.
It’s who I am. The door to possibility is closed. There’s no shifting, there’s no moving, it’s closed, it has been slammed shut because you have decided that that is who you are. So when you can shift the way you talk to yourself and shift that energy into I’m learning to be organized. I am open to be being organized. I am organizing my life every day when you shift that energy, the doors open, it’s no longer slam shut, it is open for you to take a step in and stride into your new identity. Okay, it’s a really important step of the process. Okay, so I’ve shared the mindset tip that I would start with. Next I would coach you through how to start to make progress with this goal. And that’s based in making very small changes. Here’s a hot tip for you. Most times organization isn’t just a switch that you flip on. It’s not something that you can turn on or off as much as you want to. You can’t just quote unquote become organized overnight. You won’t just go from feeling like a chaotic flustered mess to having all your ducks in a row all the same time, if this was possible, it would have happened already. Remember, disorganization is a way of life that you have been living with probably your entire life.
If it’s taken 20 3040 years to get to where you are now, it’s going to take time to change. Okay? So what I recommend is taking small intentional steps to become more organized. And the key here is small. Start with one thing to get organized with one small thing. Maybe that’s your calendar, or your closet, or your email inbox, or maybe it’s even something smaller, and it’s just the kitchen junk drawer. Okay, choose one thing that you are going to commit to getting and keeping organized, and stick with it for a month. Yes, an entire month where you focus on one thing, yes, this process is going to be very slow. And that might feel frustrating when you want to overhaul your entire life and become an organized person overnight. But the reason this method works is because it’s small, small is possible. Small is doable. Small is so much easier than an overhaul. Okay? an overhaul feels exciting. And the possibilities are amazing. And you think, oh my gosh, I’m going to be an organized person. And you can see this vision of yourself.
But in reality, it’s very, very hard, because there’s so much going on. However, when you look at it, as I’m going to start very small, I’m going to choose one thing, and I’m going to keep that one thing organized for a month. And I’m going to work really hard at the one thing and I’m going to let the rest of my life be what it is you can handle one thing, one thing is doable and possible, and you will see success with it. I say this all the time. But we are busy people with full lives. You’re listening to this podcast. So that means you are likely an entrepreneur and maybe you are a mom. That means that you are juggling kids and clients and partners and friends to do list laundry, meal prep, and a million other things. Trying to overhaul your entire life and become organized in every way overnight is setting yourself up for failure. No matter how bad you want it, it is setting yourself up for failure. I want you to start small so that you can get a win. Friend, I want to take a quick second to tell you about a new freebie I have that I’m super excited about whether you are hoping to launch a new offer this year. Or maybe you’re just burned out and looking for some creative inspiration. You will love this new freebie portfolio on purpose. This is my exact step by step framework for planning and executing a successful model call that I’ve been teaching my paying students for years. In case you don’t know why this is so important.
Model calls are a great way to do a lot of really positive things in your business. They get fresh eyes on your business, they give you a way to create images that support a new offer that you might want to launch model calls give you a place to play and create without the expectations of paying clients. And there are a great way to fine tune your skills and expand your portfolio. The portfolio on purpose freebie includes a video worksheets, checklists, examples and everything you need to make this process super easy and super successful for you. When you go through portfolio on purpose, you will walk away with the knowledge of what the benefits of model calls are, how they can support your business creativity and growth, how to create one that pulls in the right people how to keep it organized, including a step by step workflow. At the end of this freebie you will feel inspired to take action and have the steps and tools necessary to successfully put the model call out find the right models and most importantly, get the images you are looking for. If you’re hoping to run a model call or maybe a few this year, head over to Sabrina gebhardt.com backslash model dash freebie to get yours today. Okay, back to the show.
Being successful, keeping one thing organized for an entire month does two very valuable things. Number one, it shows you that you can be organized and it gives you motivation to add something new next month. It gives you a win under your belt. It shows you oh my gosh. My Calendar used to stress me out. But for the last 30 days it has been so organized and I have new habits in place and I can do it. What can I take on next month or my closet used to be a disaster and it is now such a haven of organization and it’s I’ve kept it that way with laundry and shopping for a whole month. I can take on something else. It shows you that you can do it If it shows you that your efforts are making a difference. The other thing that it does is it allows you to create small habits that lead to organization. What do I mean by that small habits of organization. So, in case you didn’t know this, I have a big lightbulb moment for you. Organization is based largely on habits. So when someone feels like they are a disorganized person, the way to combat that is to build habits that support being organized. So I’m going to go through a couple of examples to explain this a little bit more clearly. So as I mentioned earlier, I’m encouraging you to start small to choose one thing to be organized with for 30 days before adding something else to your list.
So let’s say that you’re going to start with your calendar, you want to have all of your meetings and appointments updated in one place. And you want to always know what’s going on. You want your calendar to be organized. So you stop forgetting things, you start forgetting important dates and deadlines, and so that you feel more in control of your days and weeks. Okay, if that’s what you’re going to start with the habits that you need to create to support taking control of your calendar, they might include setting up a paper planner or a Google calendar for the very first time. And then number two, as soon as you set up your calendar, you’re going to do the research, you’re going to gather as much information as you can to fill in as many blanks as possible, including school calendars, sports calendars, client meetings, doctor appointments, birthdays, holidays, travel plans, etc. And then, for the first 30 days while you’re working only on getting your calendar organized. You are going to commit to reviewing your calendar every single morning as your first work activity. You sit down at your computer, you review your calendar, another habit would be you look at your next day’s appointments and meetings at the end of every workday.
So Monday afternoon, the end of your workday has come and you are going to look at what you have on deck for Tuesday, so that you always feel like you are in control of your days. Then another habit would be maybe on Sundays you decide to look over the entire week. You look at the big picture for your entire week to make sure that nothing’s missing, that everything flows and you have everything you need to make your appointments, okay, like childcare, carpools, etc. Another habit would be as soon as a new appointment or a client meeting is booked, you immediately put it on any or all of your calendars. Another would be you don’t make any plans. You don’t say yes to anything you don’t say yes to coffee, or lunch or doctor’s appointments or anything until you’ve looked at your calendar first, to make sure that you don’t have any conflicts. Okay. Those are just some of the habits that could help support you and keeping your calendar organized. For the first time ever, every situation is going to be different. So I want to give you another example.
Maybe the place you want to start is with your pantry, you’re going to commit to keeping your pantry organized for an entire month before moving on to something else. Okay, here are some habits that you might implement while you learn this skill. You start by cleaning out the pantry and giving everything a proper place. Instead of just shoving things inside. You don’t have to use pretty clear containers like you see on Pinterest, you just need a shelf up in a drawer for everything, everything gets a spot. Another one would be at the end of every day, every single day for a month, especially if you have kids. If you know you know, if you have people in there rummaging around for snacks and things every single day, commit to doing a quick once over on the pantry to make sure there isn’t anything major going on in there. Before you go to bed. Okay, you start to learn to address the pantry daily so that it never gets crazy out of hand.
Another thing would be before you come home and put groceries away each week, you make sure everything in the pantry is where it belongs. So you’re going to commit to straightening up the pantry before putting groceries away. Okay, you’re going to take the time out to do that. And then maybe once a month, you commit to cleaning out your pantry disposing of things that are expired, things that you tried and maybe nobody liked. There’s no reason to keep those. And any in any of the empty containers that are still lingering inside the pantry get thrown away. Again, if you have kids, and you know what I mean here. So those are just some examples of habits you could build to support keeping your pantry organized for 30 days. After giving you two examples.
Do you see how this feels much more achievable? To become organized, you don’t need to overhaul your entire home and your entire life. You just need to start in one area and build habits to support that area and focus on it for an entire month. And you can truly choose anything. If you feel like your personal life is fairly organized, but it’s your business, that’s a mess. Great, you can focus on different parts of your business. Okay, once a month, maybe it’s your email inbox, your calendar, your CRM, okay? There’s all different places that you can be organized in just your business. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe you feel really organized in your business, but you feel completely disorganized at home and in your personal life. Again, choose one thing, let it build. At the end of the month, you will have learned new habits. And you are going to have an organized calendar or you’re going to have an organized pantry, or an organized closet or an organized email inbox, okay, you will have learned the habit and you will have organization somewhere in your life. So you’re gonna have a win and new habits built.
And if you can be organized with one thing, your mind now knows with absolute certainty that you can and will become organized with other things. Getting a win is huge for your momentum, and also your brain because now you cannot call yourself disorganized anymore. Because you have an extremely organized calendar or an extremely organized inbox or an extremely organized pantry, you’ve done it and then it just becomes time to add one more small area, one foot in front of the other one month after the next slowly but surely over the course of the year you will transform your identity, you will be able to go from disorganized to organized. I promise you can do this. That’s it for today’s episode, my friend. I hope that this has inspired you. I hope that you feel encouraged and like you can actually do this and I’m cheering you on. I do have a favor. If this episode resonated with you, would you share it on Instagram and tag me at Sabrina Gephardt photography? I would love to know and I would love to cheer you on in this process. All right, friend. We’ll see you next time.
Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode at Sabrina gebhardt.com backslash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gephardt photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends shoot it straight
