And then what?

Yes.

So just to preface that, in 2019, I ran a mile every day.

Crazy.

I hate running.

One of my clients was like, I'm going to run a mile every day.

I thought, ooh, what a challenge.

Yes.

Mm

... because I have that, because I know.

I have the skill.

I just go in there.

I start sorting.

I go through the piles to purge.

I assign homes to things.

Mm.

Like what was your mindset behind that? Why did you choose that route?

Yeah, it was my visibility strategy, like marketing strategy, like you have to have a plan to market in some way.

So I thought, why not? I have a podcast.

Why not guest on other people's podcasts? And it really, for me, was visibility.

That was my goal.

And if I was going to do anything, and this is why I started my podcast too, is I can give value and I can get better at talking about what I you know, teaching and what is important.

And I can get better at talking about different topics and going deeper into those.

Cause I think this is a great starting point like if you have zero audience podcasting is a great place people don't ask how big your email list or is or anything like that so how can you walk us through the process of how you started like that even this does talk about organization right you have to be organized to book that many yes know what kind of follow-up you need so walk us through this process

What does it look like? What does it mean? Let's talk about that.

OK, so good.

So first, let me say organized means in my mind to know what you have and be able to find it when you need it.

Right.

That's that's very calming for a lot of people.

Or they'll say, yeah, in this area, I do know what I have and I can find it in this area.

I don't.

Like, where do I even start? What are a couple of things that sort of are entry level across the board going to motivate us to get started?

And I think about your calendar also, right? If you do limit things and you're just focused on what you can actually finish and move forward, in, in a similar way or at least to me it reminds me of that what is the purpose of my space too.

Yeah.

And this, that all started recently...

Well, I don't know, a year ago, when I had this kind of vision for this period in my life.

My youngest is 22 now, so it's a new season of my life, and I pictured people around the table, around my table, having couples over, having family over that's growing, and I all of a sudden just felt so clear about I want a big table.

I sold all this big office furniture we had in our front room, and I transformed that room into the dining room, and it has a big table.

It has this beautiful piece of art that every time I see it I am so inspired by.

Totally.

Did you stumble into being an organizational coach and a life coach? Tell me how that came about.

Back before I had kids, I would rip out a piece of paper, like a picture.

Back then it was just magazine pictures and usually it was just closets.

And I had a file for that.

Okay.

And so when my youngest, I have four kids, when my youngest started school, I thought, I think now's my time.

And so I made a website and went to Barnes and Noble and was talking to someone.

saw my Google Drive, you would be like, what?

How can we get in touch with you?

Yes, my website is simplysquaredaway.com. Everything is on there, and my podcast is The Organized Coach podcast.

Ooh

... and it's, like, blowing my mind because women are loving it, sending me before and after pictures.

So it's the 15 Minute Declutter Challenge, and it's at simplysquaredaway.com/declutter.

Yes.

Yeah.

And I like how you said that.

that you do that little bit.

And the more you do it, the better you get at it.

Because I have the five steps to organizing.

They spell the word space.

What is the next one?

a day.

I remember in 2019, I ran a mile every day because someone in my program said they were gonna do it.

And I thought, oh, that sounds like a fun challenge.

Well, every, and I'm not a runner.

So we just ran one mile every day.

And the night before, I would have to look at my calendar and decide, am I gonna run in the morning? Am I gonna run at night? Like I would decide every day how long, or no, when I was gonna run.

And same with organizing.

Like, you know, how would you move somebody on from that point?

Yeah.

So the person is picking a space, and they're following the steps to organize that space.

And I, I say too, break it down into 15 minutes.

I have a 15-minute declutter challenge, so if you wanna get the SPACE, the SPACE acronym, it's written out.

You can print out one of the sheets in, that you get for free and hang it wherever you're working, and you have all the information.

But set your time- timer for 15 minutes, and start doing.

Start with sort.

[laughs]

Yeah

...

in thinking of her, that's how I got into this.

Well, I kind of always knew, and then because my husband and I had drawn logos back before we had kids, which is quite amazing, and I had a file that I used to rip out pieces of paper, like pictures from magazines.

Back then it was really just organized closets, 'cause that was before...

I mean, I had my first child in 1998, so it was before that.

But my youngest child, w- we met a little girl on a walk in our neighborhood, and they became best friends.

... like, how it works.

What are some of the other things you could fit in, in just 15 minutes that would build day by day over the 30 days?

Yes.

So I like to think about this as a project.

You're going to have a start and an end date.

And that's why thinking about the 30 days is so great because, you know, the beginning of the 30 days at the end of the 30 days, that's what you're focusing on.

Not the whole year, not the whole house.

You pick one area.

So Tracy, for women listening who do feel a little paralyzed by the clutter in their business systems, in their home systems, where should they begin?

I like how you said in that garage, it was just like, "This goes here and this goes here." So let's break it down a little bit more.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, I think of two things that I've, one that I've done and one that a client's done.

In 2019, a f- someone in one of my programs said she was gonna start running a mile every day, and I was like, "Well, that sounds fun." And so I decided that year I was gonna run a mile every day.

It wasn't an option.

The night before, I decided when I was gonna do it, and then I had to do it.

What are some things that you hear that cause friction?

Can you kinda just walk through that a little bit about, like, how, when you were basically decluttering something, how you keep it so simple, and why that's important?

Yes.

So the steps to organize, there's five steps, and if you know these five steps and just start practicing them, you will be able to organize anything at any time.

So you can let something...

Like, we have a room that we stick stuff in because we don't wanna make decisions on it, but I know I can go in there at any time because I know these five steps.

So the first step is to sort, and this is key.

I think this is what helps people so much because they think that decluttering means I'm gonna pick something up and make a decision about whether I'm gonna keep it or get rid of it.

Like, I've lost weight and I'm hanging onto my fat clothes, or I'm overweight and I'm hanging onto my thin clothes.

So how do you help women with that?

I think bringing the timeline closer is helpful first, because sometimes I'll say like five years from now or a year from now, well, what about the end of day tomorrow, you know, or the end of this month? That might be helpful.

Yeah.

The other part of that, when you said that they... have anxiety over that.

Yesterday, we did a call and it was about dreaming about 2026.

But I had, I don't know why recently I've just had lots of visuals.

And so I was picturing different sorts of things and a snake came up where they shed their skin.

You're in your 40s and you're thinking about, OK, well, maybe when I'm getting to my 80s, if I'm lucky, my 90s and I'm thinking, what have I got, you know, leaving here for my family to deal with? How do you start making decisions in your 40s about things like that?