The Truth About Being “Disorganized” (And How to Change It)

The first thing I do is sort, if I'm going to go into a closet, I sort, if I'm going to look at time and plan my time for the week, the first step is to sort, and then you go through those steps, and it literally works for every single thing you ever want to organize. If you're feeling overwhelmed, remember, sort.

This is the entrepreneur school podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you, the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under three. I'm a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to entrepreneur School.

Hello. Welcome back to another epic guest episode today, I have Tracy health with me, and she is an organization coach, which has landed in my lap at exactly the right moment in my life. And hilariously, she reached out about being on the podcast after we were in the same virtual room together recently, and I promptly did not respond to her email for like, two weeks, which essentially is just my life, and it made me realize that I needed her in my life. So I was like, Yes, please. Let's come on the podcast. Let's talk about these things, and let's take some action that I clearly also need to take for myself. So I'm really excited to have this conversation. Tracy,

oh, Kelly, I'm so excited to be here. And who cares if it took two weeks. It's at the perfect time. And now we're connected. We know so many of the same people, so it's so fun to be here.

Yes, absolutely. Okay, let's start with some like, real talk about this whole topic of disorganization. How big of a problem is this? And what are some signs that someone maybe thinks that they're managing just fine, but might actually be in some chaos?

Oh, that's such a good question. I think. Well, first I read a study that you waste two and a half hours a day searching for thing. That's what corporate said. They that people are wasting that much time each day searching for what they need to do a job. Now, even if we shrink that down to an hour a day, imagine how much time we're wasting. So that's kind of the first thing. I think it shows up in people's lives through frustration overwhelm embarrassment, shame, like they're hiding because they don't have their team something they need, or because they didn't get that thing to their client, or they something else slipped through the cracks, and so they're noticing that they're just putting out fires, trying to Keep up feeling like they don't have it together.

Oh, yeah, that is an epic amount of time lost a day, and we just don't even have that kind of time so for sure. Okay, so let's talk about some solutions. Then, right? If organization is a skill that can be learned, yeah. So we don't have to, like, identify as an organized or a disorganized person. What do you say to someone who is maybe, like, on the cusp of actually believing into that and thinking that they might be, you know, a lost cause?

Yes, well, I, I mean, I think first to realize it's a skill and that anyone can learn it. It just takes some practice, and I think it takes not thinking that you should be able to know how to do it, not thinking you should have had this done in your business already, or you should be able to snap out of it, or think differently that it does really take skill, and it's learning those really basic, simple steps and then being able to practice those things. And I think it is the mindset. Part of it is looking at what thoughts you're believing about yourself, like through coaching, seeing those thoughts and unraveling those thoughts, and as we start replacing those with an identity of an organized coach, CEO, business owner, that then we start building in the evidence that it's true. And we can look at your life right now, I'm sure there's parts of it that are organized, and you can pull from there, but you also then start. Organizing your business, and all that evidence starts building, and it becomes who you are.

Well, I think what you said there is really important that we define what organization, being organized means because it just means that you know what you have and you can find it when you need it. So whether you're inbox zero or you're 30,000 inbox person, you can just decide, I know what's there, and I can find it when I need it. I can use the search feature. I'm not going to spend my time on that, and at this point, if that's not a priority, if that's not a project that you put on your list to do, that's a priority, then you leave that, and you decide, I'm organized, because I can find what I need. I know where it is, it's in the inbox, and I can find it when I need it.

I love that. That really empowers people to kind of create their own version. Because I think that we can feel a little bit of shame from other like people who talk about organization in a in a way that makes you believe that you need to have everything at zero, right use of every single day, because then that's just another task that I'm not achieving, and now I feel like a failure.

Yes, yeah, and that's what I love about that definition, is it can look different for everyone, and it doesn't have to be color coded. And for me, I'm like, down to earth practical. I don't want to spend time making everything look beautiful and fancy and decantering and all that kind of stuff. I just want to be able to find what I need and be able to do the things I want to do.

And when you and I talked kind of before we got on the podcast to record, you talk about a very simple structure of five folders that you need to organize your whole like Google Drive or whatever system you're using. I would love to unpack what that is and take notes and also send it to my VA,

yes. Let's talk about it. And just to back up one step, I have a three part system to organize your business. One of them is your mind, one of them is your computer, and one is your processes. So if you divide those out, we're gonna now look at the computer. We talked a little bit about mindset. Now we look at the computer and simplifying it down and creating I like to think of it like a funnel or a workflow or a what are those? Spreadsheet, not spreadsheet, um, where you have a box and then it flows down into one of five things.

Oh, yeah. So, like, like, a mind map, flow chart, yeah.

Okay, so that's how I see things coming into your computer. You have this framework set up, and it either goes to home or business. So, you know, it's either one of those two places. And then we're going to look at business now, so if it goes into business, you have five file folders set up, and it's inward facing, so operations, or some people call it admin, that's anything behind the scenes, and then there's marketing, anything outward facing. Then we have my content, anything you create, your programs, your you know, certifications, anything you've done. And then you have education, which is what other people have done. So any coaches, any freebies, any programs you're in. And then the fifth file, folder is clients. You. Or anything for your clients, client folders, worksheets for them. Anything related to clients goes in that folder. So when you bring something into your business, you know that it's going to go home or business, and then it flows into one of those five files. So now your brain is not, you know, just jumbled with stuff and options. It has five things. I was just relating this to a grocery store my husband loved. We used to live next to this tiny, little grocery store, and we went there. I mean, who knows if we were paying a lot more. It didn't seem like it at the time, but it had four aisles, and it was great because you had so many less options. So the more you can do that for your brain, it just frees up decision fatigue and frees up decision making, and all of a sudden you have those five files. Oh, my God,

folders. Yeah, okay. I love those. So operations, anything that is inward facing on your business, marketing, outward facing things, my content. So all of your like IP training, speaking, social media, anything that you're putting out into the world in whatever format, right? And then education. So all of the stuff that you get from other people, I love that one in particularly as a distinction, because sometimes I find that I'm like, bundling it underneath a category, like, say, email marketing is one of my sub folders of marketing, but I've got templates from somebody else. They're in there, but they could be, you know, all of that stuff could be outside of there, right? And then clients. So that makes total sense to me. And I wanted to to expand a little bit on what you were just saying about decision fatigue, so real and and truly like this just really underscores the importance of this whole concept in this conversation about organization. It's not just about like, How pretty is your Google Drive, or how nice? How many like, awards would you win for your color coding systems and your sticky notes and whatever. But like, how can you actually make your brain feel less like it's going to explode? Which I am a big fan of that idea, yes.

And then imagine what can happen if you have that structure in your mind. You practice it over and over. So now that becomes easy, but just imagine how much free time you have, how creative your brain can be, then, for your own creations, and for focusing on clients and getting into the flow, because you know where to find things when you start working on that project that you're working on, it's just so good.

Oh, absolutely. And I can imagine that this plays into actually being able to be more profitable, because we can be more efficient, we can be more organized, right? Do you have any examples of how that's shown up for you? Well, ever any of your clients?

Yes, and I think that's key, you know now that one of my clients has the there's a module in my course that we look at processes, and then the very next model, we specifically look at Module, we specifically look at launch. And so when she went through and created her process for launching, she could launch her program and make sales from it, because she had this program and it were process, and then it's repeatable. And now she knows where it is, and she can find it, and she can repeat that process as much as she wants and make money from it. And I was saying earlier to someone, it's never do I want you to spend time organizing before you're doing your marketing activities, like do your money making activities and treat organ, organizing your business like a project. You're going to focus on it for 12 weeks, and you're going to accomplish these three areas of your business, but you're going to do it after. You're going to schedule it in your time after you do your money making activities like don't stop doing that, because you're have a business. You need to grow your business, but then you have time to schedule that in and really focus in on it for a specified time period for the project of getting it organized, and then you can maintain it after that.

Mm, hmm, yeah, that's such a good point. It's not and that kind of also goes to, it's not all or nothing. You can't just, you're only going to be disorganized until you stop everything and then fix it all right, like a gradual transition that you can make as well, yes,

a little bit each day or a specified time project, hours on your on your clock. The other thing to answer your question, when clients are organized and they know where things are in their business, I think it boosts their confidence, and now all of a sudden they feel more confident. They feel like a business owner, like a CEO, and they're selling in a new way where they weren't before, before they're like, I can't even keep my own crap together. Like, how am I gonna make this work? And they're kind of embarrassed. And that shows up. So when they're feeling really confident about themselves and their business and their program, it it shows,

Oh, absolutely. And I feel like confidence is a side effect of so many things, yeah. And it's so interesting how we can kind of we focus in on the issue of, like, imposter syndrome, or not feeling confident but not really identifying what are the things that are causing us to feel that way? And I really, actually want to parallel your conversation about organization and how that can structure more confidence and create and all of those great results, but also how organization parallels over to just basically strategy, right? The idea of having a plan, the idea of creating a process, or being, well, just being organized, and these things are really, are linked together, is what I'm deciphering from this conversation. So it's not just about like, file, folder, organization, but what you just said about now we have a launch plan, and we're able to execute that plan, and we're able to evaluate that plan, and we're able to then repeat that plan. Yes, can you find a question in what I just said in results?

Well, I think that combines the process section of being organized, you concentrate on what processes you're gonna work on and make and refine and get better and better. But then also what you're saying too, is time, like you organize your time and you manage your time, and that the processes fit into your time. The execution of your goal is fitting into your time now because you have that organized so organizing your time and your mind and your assets all work together for sure,

yeah, so that that is within the three part framework of organizing your mind, your computer and your processes, right? Like the processes of the how to execute. We're doing a whole Canadian, American process, process thing here.

That's the word I can tell if they're Canadian. Yeah,

I was ever since you said that to me, like a week ago, when we first chatted, I have now been, I say it different sometimes, sometimes I say process. It depends on the word I say before it if it rhymes with that,

it's funny. It's so cute. One of my really best friends, so she says process, because she's in Canada, and it's just like, oh, there it is. Oh, there she is. She's Canadian.

That's funny. Well, I wanted to just ask you a couple more questions. First of all, just for the takeaway, what is one simple thing that a listener can do today that will help them to take the first step towards just feeling more organized in business?

I think it's always comes down to one. I have a concept called the wonderful one, or the power of one. So it's deciding on one thing. And just like that project of 12 weeks, you're going to focus on organization. In the first week, what one area are you going to focus on? And when we talked about the five files. The one thing I suggest to do first is to decide where your one place is, your one hub. Are you going to start? Do you store everything on your computer? Like if nobody has to get to it, you don't have team members, you can just start on your computer, make the five file structure that's your hub, or if it's a Google Drive or Dropbox, or wherever else you would store would be your hub. It's just deciding like that is going to be my one place. Now my mind isn't having to go, oh, well, there's 14 different options. Where is it? So one, decide on your one. I love that.

That's so good. I have a few kind of a lightning Rapid Fire question for you. So do you have a digital tool or organization hack, or something that you can't live without?

Well, I would say, I mean, and this isn't, this is one, because it's my acronym, spasm that you use to organize anything. It's sort purge, assign homes, set limits and maintain that. I've been doing this for 17 years, and that is the acronym that I use for every single thing to organize. When I'm overwhelmed, I go to the acronym, and the first thing I do is to sort, I get all my ideas and all my thoughts out on paper. If I'm, you know, organizing paper on my desk, the first thing I do is sort, if I'm going to go into a closet, I sort, if I'm going to look at time and plan my time for the week, the first step is to sort. Sort, and then you go through those steps. And it literally works for every single thing you ever want to organize. If you're feeling overwhelmed, remember, sort,

oh my gosh. I love that. It spells spasm. Is that so?

No, Goofy, memorable, I don't nerd like

tongue in cheek. Yes. What is the worst organization advice you've ever seen or a horror story that you want to share?

Well, I just think it's the distractions of us thinking that we need something when we get organized. I mean, to get us organized. So we'll decide, oh, she uses whatever it is notion, or click up, or, you know, whatever air table I need to go learn that that's the answer to my thing. Or she's advertising a new planner. I need to get that planner because that's the answer to my disorganization. So the attempt that people make is to go find a product or a new software, and then have to learn that in order to get organized. So I always tell people, that's like Step Four setting limits. That's like learning something new there, but first go through the steps, and when you get to that stage, if you want to learn something new or add something new, you're now organized because you've sorted and purged and assigned homes to things now if you want to put it somewhere else, you can

that's so good. That's just the whole like, I need a bunch of different bins for my pantry.

No, never can do that. Tell Step Four Exactly.

So what would you say is one of the biggest habits that makes the biggest difference in staying and staying organized.

Well, the maintenance step that we just talked about. Well, step five, the M is maintain, and the secret to that is to tie it to something you already do. So the one step to stay organized would be to tie the task to something you do. So, for example, taxes. You do your taxes every year. So tie doing tax, cleaning out your paperwork to doing your taxes. Add on another hour, however long it takes, and clean out your file cabinet or your pile or wherever you keep paper. Clean that out and tie, you know, going through your desktop to when you close your computer, just tie it to like, Oops, I gotta slide all those files I've downloaded on my desktop into the correct file folder, one of the five, and get them put away versus leaving them on. So just tie things to something that you already do. Habit stacking is kind of what it is to maintain.

Yes, that is such a good hack. I love that. And then what about you, Tracy? Let's, let's be vulnerable about your own sense of disorganization for yourself. Maybe it's about how you got into this industry in the first place. But what is the first thing that you do when you feel your own life is in disarray?

Yes, and that again, I have practiced this so many times, and it happens often, like, I'm just like other people. I tell people that all the time I'm not like, super duper, you know, whatever organized I go to sort I have to stop whenever I'm feeling like I have so much to do, or, oh my gosh, that's so messy. I go to my steps and I've helped someone. And I remember standing, this was way back when I went to people's homes, and I was standing in front of her garage, and it literally was to the roof full, like she opened both doors and i It's me and her. She's like, 10 years older than me. And I stood there, and I'm like, How in the world are we going to do that? And I said, Tracy, look to myself. Tracy, the first step to organizing is to sword so walk up there and grab something and put it in a pile. And so, you know, I grabbed a can of paint or whatever was closest to me, and I said, okay, all paint supplies will go over here, and she started doing the same thing. And eventually we sorted the entire garage. So I know how it feels to feel overwhelmed and to look around at your to do list, or at your files, or whatever it is your processes, and think, I don't think I can do this. And then I say, go to the steps,

I bet that would just have like, an automatic feeling of relief too. Yes,

because whenever I'm overwhelmed and I start doing that, the process works, and then I'm like, Oh my gosh, look what we just did, and I was as overwhelmed as the client was,

and we didn't talk really about the mind piece of of your organization system, but I'm just venturing a guess here that if the feeling is overwhelmed with things in your brain, the process of sorting that out might be to, like, brain dump it on. Do a piece of paper, just like sort your thoughts into different like I've done several different exercises like this recently too, where it's about categorizing into what are the things I don't need to deal with right now or are not even mine to be even taking up free rent in my head?

Yes, and I just in my course, the first module is about time, organizing our time. And I just added a custom assistant called Mindy, the mindset mentor, and she's in there, and she is taught to use my five steps, and she's taught my all my frameworks and stuff. And so she helps you do that. It is so fun. I go in there just for fun. And I'm like, okay, and she says, Tell me your thoughts about organizing right now, and tell me your thoughts. And she'll ask you different questions, and you'll put the thoughts in, and then she sorts it into categories and helps you, like, untangle each thought. It's so cool.

Oh my gosh. Everybody needs Mindy,

yes. And I know you and I had talked about that, so it's fun to see like, how we can create these custom AI tools to help our clients get results. Yeah,

absolutely. It is truly like it in everything, chaos, organizing, any kind of strategy, anything, having something to reflect back to you, whether that's a person or a robot, I don't care. The other day, I wrote something in chat GPT about, I think it was about this podcast that I had done last week, about being overwhelmed my kids schedules and being in two places at once. And once I finished, like, producing the podcast with my AI assistant. It was like, let me know if you need anything else Friday, or even just a reminder to breathe. You got this? I was like, when AI becomes a therapist,

I know it's so good and it makes you so happy. You're like, Oh, you're so nice.

Yeah, I do like it being nice. Anyhow, let's make sure that everybody knows how to connect with you. I think you have an extra like, thorough overview of your five files that people can download let us know all the things.

Yeah, so my website is simplysquaredaway.com and on that there is the five files you can learn. I do a workshop to help you see organization in those five files. You also can get on there a Free File Naming formula so you are consistently naming your files, so you can find them. You can get that on there. And then I have the organized coach podcast. So go listen to the organized coach Podcast. I'm super practical, so I probably should be a little more mindset focused, but I am, like, give me the practical. I'm an action taker, so if you like that, you'll like the podcast.

I'm a big fan. I think that, yeah, there's mindset behind everything, but what people really want is to feel like there's a solution. So just give it to me now, please. Yes. Well, thank you so much for being here. Tracy, I really appreciate your time.

Thanks. Kelly.