In this week’s episode of the podcast, I interviewed my amazing friend and life coach, Lori Schlegel. She has been a professional organizer for the last 10 years and she is currently in the middle of a pivot in her business – moving away from organizing to Christian life-coaching for women.

We talk about how organizing is a form of self-care.  She shares three amazing tips on how we can be more organized – not just for our peace-of-mind – but how it helps us get things done in a more peacefully productive way.

She was also gracious enough to dive into what this pivot experience has looked like in her life: how she knew it was time to pivot, the struggles she’s had moving away from something familiar and secure into so many unknowns, and managing her mind around all the mind drama that comes up when we make a big move that feels scary and uncertain.

There are so many nuggets of wisdom in this episode from tactical tips to mindset work! I can’t wait for you to have a listen and learn along with me. xo, Janeen

>> WATCH on YouTube

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TRANSCRIPT

Janeen: [00:00:00] Well, Hey there, you guys welcome back to another episode of the podcast. I am Janeen Alley, and I am super excited to be with you guys this week because I have a special guest.

I asked my friend Lori Schlegel to join me on the podcast this week. I met Lori at [00:01:00] The Life Coach School mastermind for certified coaches in Austin, Texas in April and we hit it off right away. I loved visiting with her and getting to know her and we kind of had an instant connection. After getting to know her and who she served in her business,

I knew I had to have her on the podcast to share her with you guys. So she is a professional organizer and is in the middle of making a pivot in her business, which she’s gonna tell you all about in just a moment.

So we talked about her passion for organizing not only as a big form of self care, but also how important it is as a tactical strategy to keep us from feeling overwhelmed.

We also talk about this pivot that she’s making in her business and what goes into taking a big step forward that moves us out of our comfort zone and into something unknown when we kind of feel that pull. I thought you would love getting to know her and the insights that she shares on this week’s podcast. I hope you enjoy.

All right. I am so excited Lori, to have you [00:02:00] on! Everybody, this is Lori Schlegel and she is amazing at a lot of things. And so I’m gonna have her take a moment to introduce herself. She’s amazing at organizing and she’s in the middle of a big pivot in her business.

So I’m gonna have her explain all the things to you. And then I’ve got some really great questions that I think you guys are all gonna enjoy. So go ahead, Lori.

Lori: Yeah, thank you so much. I’m excited to be here. And like you mentioned, I have run an organizing business for the past nine years. And along that journey, I combined it with life coaching, which I’m sure we’ll talk about at some point in this interview.

So I’ve been, you know, life coaching and organizing, helping people declutter their lives for nine years now. And about last fall. I started to feel a little bit of a pull in my life that it was time to make a pivot. I wish I could say that I just made the decision quick and it was super easy, but it was a little bit of a journey for me on how to follow [00:03:00] through on that pivot.

And so, yeah, I’m happy to explore any of that. If you think it would be helpful for your listeners here, but the organizing journey has been incredible. I have such a passion for it. I’m excited to share some points and ideas here that will be life changing for people.

But also willing to explore wherever we wanna go on this pivot of mine, I’m calling it a sabbatical. My husband helped me come up with that term so that I know that if I wanna get back to coaching, because I have such a passion for life coaching that I have that opportunity to make that pivot and come back to it.

But for now I’m giving myself space to explore some things that I wanna explore in my life. Yeah.

Janeen: I love that. And the nice thing about life coaching is you really can use it everywhere. so right. So there you have it, but yeah, I I’m sure we’re gonna get into all the things today. I really am curious about this pivot and exploring this pivot with you.

But first I want to talk to you a little bit [00:04:00] about how you got into organization in the first place, because I remember when I met you, you told me I just was not a very organized person. And so I’m curious about how you decided to take that leap into that business in the beginning, because it wasn’t really, like you said, kind of a forte of yours.

Yeah. Naturally to you

Lori: yes. So the way that I would describe it to people is I was organized in some areas of my life. Like I was always a good student, got good grades in my career at that point when I became an organizer and leading up to that I was really organized at work, but when it came to my home, I was a lot less organized.

Right. I did not have the habits in place. And you know, there was this part of me that felt shame over it, of like, okay, you are a smart woman, you have a bachelor’s degree, you can do hard things. Lori, why can’t you stay on top of the laundry? Or why are your closet so cluttered, right? Or, yeah.

Why? When someone [00:05:00] knocks on the door. Do you scramble to hurry and tidy up, you know, and the truth was, I just lacked the habits at that point in my life. And I had too much stuff like most people do these days. Yeah. Organizing isn’t something you’re taught in school. And if you don’t pick up on the habits when you’re younger and I did, I was that teenager that had a messy room and, bless my parents,

they let me have a messy room and just be me. But there was a part of me that it felt incongruent with how I wanted to live. And I knew that right. Even though my space was sometimes messy, there was a part of me that wasn’t settled with that. For those who are listening that have always been really organized, that probably won’t make a lot of sense, but I know there’s some other listeners out there who can relate to that feeling of kind of sitting in the chaos going, Ugh, I, I don’t wanna live like this, but.

I don’t know why I can’t change it, or I don’t know why I can’t stay on top of it. [00:06:00] So that was where I was and it really came to a head in my life when I became a mom. Mm-hmm I have an 11 year old little girl now. And so, 11 years ago, I started juggling motherhood, as well as everything else I was doing.

And I started to recognize either I’m going to change my habits and learn how to create a home that runs smoothly, or I’m gonna drive myself nuts for the next 18 years, living in this yo-yo of, not following through on the habits, but then bugged that I don’t have the habits that kind of place mm-hmm

So that was kind of like the lead up to all of this change in my life, but the real catalyst was about nine years ago, I was facing some really hard things in my personal life. And it was one of those sink or swim moments of like, oh, wow, this challenge that I was dealing with was either going to drown me, or I was gonna find a way to rise above and to make [00:07:00] a change in my life. While this personal challenge didn’t really have anything to do with organizing, it was in this moment of my life that I decided, okay, I’m gonna change.

I’m going to really strengthen myself through this personal challenge. And I was in a Barnes and Noble one day and I was just killing time before a movie. And I thought to myself, if I could look at any topic right now, if I could explore any book or any subject, what would interest me or what would I want in my life right now?

And I ended up in the organizing section of all places. And I remember looking through these books and feeling so inspired, right? Of like, oh yes, I want my home to look like that. I want my life to function like that. And I had this little spark of inspiration that said you should start an organizing business.

And while there was a part of me that thought, oh, that sounds amazing. There was another part of me that was [00:08:00] like, yeah. Right. Look at my closets anc cupboards like right. This, like I am no, you know, like, yeah, well, I’m organized in some areas of my life ,running my household that way was not what I would consider my strong point.

And so I kind of took that moment and, and let it just settle in me. And of course, the inner dialogue starts of like, you could never do that. And you know, all of the fear based thinking came up for me, just like it does for most humans, but there was just this little spark of hope because I think I was at that moment in my life where I was.

Things have gotta change here in a lot of ways and this just felt like one of ’em of like, yes, I want this for my life. And so. I didn’t go home and start my business by any stretch. I went home and started exploring for myself how to make this change. And I went on kind of my own journey of transforming my closets and cupboards and [00:09:00] getting rid of a lot of clutter and going on the journey myself.

And then from there, that’s when I started telling people, yeah, I’m starting a professional organizing business and Then the rest is history. Here we are nine years later and it’s been quite a ride. So anyways, so hopefully that’s not too much info,

Janeen: Oh my gosh, I there’s so many things. I actually took a few notes on some of the things that you’re saying, because I wanted to make sure that I hit on some of the amazing things that you shared.

There was so many nuggets of wisdom that you just shared in your story. The first thing that I wanna talk about is this idea of hatching an idea, because so often what happens is we get this idea and then we talk ourselves out of it because we feel like we’re just not good enough and we’re just not there.

And if you talk to people who have really successful businesses, I feel like they still think that like about themselves. Like I’m just really not, if you really knew me, you would be surprised that I’m actually where I’m at with my business. And I, I think that that is [00:10:00] so inspirational and I think it’s just so So telling of how those things actually arise.

I mean, we’re not born with all the answers and we’re not , you know, we’re not born with all the great ideas. I think these things take time and they take exploring and they take reflection and, and hard work in order to make those things really bloom and grow and actually become something tangible that you can work with.

And so I just love that part of your story. I don’t know if you’ve ever told me that part or if I really caught onto that part of your story in the past. So thanks for bringing that up. The one thing though that I want to ask you about is How organizing is important for getting goals and how organizing and this is kind of a two part question but also how organizing is actually a form of self-care.

Cause you were talking about going through a really difficult time. And yet this was kind of the thing that you turned to, which seems kind of counterintuitive because so often what happens is we wanna push, we wanna hustle harder to get something mm-hmm and for you to take a break and be like, actually what I need is to create more [00:11:00] space and more peace in my life, and this is the way that I’m gonna do it.

So if you wouldn’t mind speaking to those two things, I know those, those are kind of broad, but if you could kind of break it down for us on how those things played out for you.

Lori: Yeah, I would love to. So really our space is so symbolic of what we’re going through or feeling inside of us, right? Yes.

And I even see that to this day, when I’m having a really bad day, my space will start to reflect it as well. Yes. Right. Yes. So, yeah. Okay. I’m so glad you can relate to this. Yeah. So it’s, and we have to just be able to hold space for ourselves, not in a judgemental way to be like, oh, great. Well, my space is such a mess.

Then I’m such a mess. It’s like, look, every human on planet earth is dealing with what I call the internal clutter. Mm-hmm the, the thoughts and the feelings that aren’t necessarily serving us. Just like the sweaters and the toys in your closet that aren’t serving you right now in [00:12:00] your life. Right. Yeah.

And so. It is such a symbolic journey to go on decluttering your home because it does, it opens up space in so many ways in your life that you just aren’t even anticipating. And back at that time in my life, I wasn’t anticipating what kind of a full circle journey this would be for me. But it, it was, it was that time, like I mentioned of, I knew that a variety of things needed to change in my life.

Most of all, internally inside myself. Right. My own Thoughts and my own feelings at that time is what I wanted to change. But organizing was such the, just kind of like a gateway for me to see the symbolism of like, oh, if I can let go of the sweaters and the toys and the things that aren’t serving us, maybe it is possible that I can let go of some of the thoughts and the [00:13:00] feelings that were not serving me at that time as well.

Mm-hmm . And so it kind of becomes this really fun journey. Where, as you open up space in your home, it creates space inside you to welcome something greater. Right? And that’s what I say to my clients of like, we’re opening up space in your home to invite something greater. And often we think of like the physical possessions or whatever, which is fine, you know, invite something greater that way.

But really what it often invites is a greater feeling into your home, a feeling of peace, a feeling of clarity and all this comes from our own thinking. Right, right. We can get into that, but we’re inviting greater things into our homes, but then the same thing happens internally for us. As we make space and start to let go of the things that are cluttering us internally, then we do have more space to explore who we wanna be, how we wanna [00:14:00] react to situations, right.

Instead of just living out our old patterns of thinking. So it, it creates almost just like this, this fresh start for us too. This symbolism of clearing things out, letting things go in your physical space, often enables you to do the same internally. So hopefully I’m, I’m covering your question there, but yeah.

Janeen: Can I just cut in really quickly

Yeah, please. One of the things that I love that you said there was you know, it all comes from your thinking, right? How you’re thinking and how you’re able to just relax in your space. Yeah.

That does come from your thinking. But one of the things that I think about is it’s so much easier for me to enjoy myself when my space is clear. I don’t actually have to do the work to remind myself to relax when I’m looking at all the piles of stuff. yeah. I mean, I feel like you do the work either way, right.

But I feel like if you have the space in your life, it’s so much easier to live in your home instead of living in a space that’s cluttered, where you’re constantly [00:15:00] bumping into things and getting distracted and reminding yourself what you were supposed to be focusing on or what you wanted to be focusing in on during that time, if that makes.

Lori: Yes for sure. And the thing is that I think we often don’t recognize is that at least it’s happening on a subconscious level when we walk into a room or open a closet, our brain immediately goes to work, trying to make sense of what’s going on in there. It’s just kind of how our brains work, right?

Yeah. It’s trying to create order. It’s trying to create this sense of like what’s going on here. And so whether we realize it or not, when we’re entering a cluttered space, my clients describe it as noisy to them when a space is cluttered. But the reason it’s noisy is because the clutter subconsciously triggers thoughts inside their brain, that they don’t even realize it’s going on, but thoughts like.

This is such a mess, or when am I ever gonna get on top of this? That dialogue starts to become really noisy in our brain. And it takes up our, the brain space, right? We only have so much space to be [00:16:00] thinking or generating the energy to generate new thoughts. And so if we’re living in cluttered spaces, then often, and it’s not every human, but a lot of humans, it creates just this constant chatter in their head.

And like you’re saying, when you don’t have that, you can just walk in a room and have no thought about it, or have a positive thought about how nice this space looks. Mm-hmm, how much more freeing and liberating and empowering that is than living with that negative chatter that, like I said, usually we’re not even aware that that’s what’s going on.

Mm-hmm . Inside

Janeen: us. Totally. And it seems like putting the work in to create that kind of space for yourself seems like extra, you know, it seems like, well, when I have X, Y, and Z done then I’ll be able to get to this. When in reality it’s not two steps back it’s actually a huge step forward because then you have this space.

And I know for myself, ideas come, they flow so much more easily when I have a clean [00:17:00] space and I have a clean office and my kitchen is clean. You know, if I’m down there and I’m, you know, brainstorming ideas, they just flow. Instead of just me looking around the room and be like, oh, I gotta get to that.

I gotta get to that. I gotta get to that. You know what I mean?

Lori: Yes. Yeah. Opens up space for inspiration to flow. I love how you said that. Yeah.

Janeen: So good. Okay. All right.

I think we did a really good job of touching on both of those things. How to, how important organizing is to achieving our goals as well as how important it is to kind of stop that hustle- harder mentality that we are facing all of the time. One of the things that I would love for you to share with my listeners is the top three things that have made a huge difference to you and how to get organized and then also how to stay organized. And just kind of your top three tips on that before we talk about the big pivot that you made in your business recently.

Lori: Yeah. Yeah. So the number one thing I would say is [00:18:00] what I call the inside out approach to organizing mm-hmm . So this basically means life coaching mindset work combined with solid organizing principles. If I go back in my business, you know, eight, nine years ago when I, I was going in clients’ homes and helping them transform their space.

At that point, you know, I had not come across life coaching, as I know it today, and I was not certified at that point mm-hmm . But I will say I was going on my own self development journey because of the struggles I was dealing with in my personal life at that time. And, you know, specifically in my marriage at that time.

So I was reading the self development books and I was applying the principles while I was going through my organizing journey and then starting my business. Right. Mm-hmm when I would go in and work with clients I was helping them declutter and then set up good organizing systems. And it was a lot of fun and I loved it, but, I would come back months later to some of the [00:19:00] clients and they’d slipped back into their old habits, which of course they had.

Right. Yeah. But at that point I was still kind of like, okay, how can I help these people? What am I missing teaching them? Yeah. What are they missing here? So when I came across specifically the life coach school with the, the model mm-hmm, it was just this huge light bulb moment for me of like, oh, this is how I can teach clients what I call the inside out approach.

Meaning we have to first address your thoughts. Why are you holding onto this stuff? And the reason that we’re ever holding onto anything that isn’t currently serving us in our lives is fear based. And it’s from scarcity thinking. Mm-hmm . And so having the model after I was certified as a life coach and being able to use that, it was so helpful because I was able to approach organizing from this different direction of let’s address what’s going on inside first, let’s help you recognize what are the thoughts [00:20:00] and feelings that are causing you to keep the stuff and how can we shift that?

How can we help you get to an abundance mindset? Mm-hmm so that you’re not afraid to let go of it so that you can clear out the clutter. I often say that in, if you are living in cluttered closets or cupboards, things like that, you’ve gotta get rid of 50% of what’s in there. And for a lot of people, that’s this big moment of dear in the headlights, what are you talking about?

Yeah. You know, and of course everybody gets to ultimately decide what percentage they wanna keep, but if we’re gonna be able to create a shift to that degree what I learned through my years of working with clients was that we need that inside out approach. And what I didn’t recognize at the time is that because I was going on my own self development journey, when I made my organizing changes, I was sort of taking the inside out approach because I was letting go internally of the things that weren’t [00:21:00] serving me and letting go externally mm-hmm

So, you know, after years of working with clients and then reflecting back on my own journey and seeing like, what am I missing and how can I better help them? It all came full circle. I became a life coach and that’s where this kind of inside out approach was born. So I think that would be my first recommendation to people is if you’ve struggled with organizing in the past, first of all, do not be hard on yourself.

Yeah. Because you’ve likely, never been taught the inside out approach. And while it’s lovely, if someone wants to come transform your space, like I was years ago for clients, if we’re not teaching you to shift internally first, then yeah it’s really hard to make lasting change. And that’s, that’s where you create lasting change.

Janeen: Yes, yes. Yeah. And that’s so relatable. I mean, that’s almost the same thing that happened with me with my Wellness and health coaching, which is what I was doing first in helping people to incorporate more of a plant-based lifestyle into their lives. Cuz [00:22:00] I mean, one of the things that I say to people is people know what they need to do to be healthier.

They need to eat healthier and they need to move their bodies more. But why aren’t they doing it? It’s the same reason is because they haven’t done the internal work first to change what it is that they’re thinking, the relationships that they have with themselves, the relationships that they have with their food and in this case, it’s their stuff.

you know, in order to make that lasting transformation in order to make it so that it can last beyond just a six month goal or whatever it is. So I love that. The other thing that I really loved about what you said is 50% of their stuff, I think so often we need kind of this.

This idea that kind of blows up the current thinking, the current beliefs that we have. Yeah. One of the things that I love to tell women is you can actually create an extra two hours in your day. And for women who just are so busy, that just seems so impossible for them to have. But it’s possible if you think, okay, I’m totally thinking about this [00:23:00] incorrectly.

If, if Lori says I don’t need 50% of this stuff, like, what does that look like? You know, and to have that as kind of like a, a thing that just like wakes people up kind of gives ’em a little shake into what’s actually possible. So I love that as well as kind of something that you teach.

Lori: Yeah, thank you.

Yes, it is. It’s so liberating. It’s so amazing when you can get to that place, right? Yeah. Sometimes it happens in increments for people where they start by getting rid of 20% and then they realize it’s still not enough. I’m still struggling to stay organized. So then they go, you know, or some people just rip that bandaid off and go all in on the 50.

Yeah. There’s no right way to do it, but you’ll know when you hit that point. Wow. It is so easy to manage my home because there’s just not that much stuff anymore. And it, sometimes we get in this scarcity like, oh no, I would miss my stuff or whatever that mindset is, but it’s the opposite. It is liberating.

It is freeing. It is calming. It’s all the things that I think we really truly [00:24:00] want.

Janeen: Yeah. I heard Amy Porterfield talk about this, but she was like, all you need is one stapler. She said, you don’t need a drawer. That’s full of just like, you know, people call it their junk drawer. It’s like, no, you have like five items in there that you really need.

And then you keep track of it. Right? Totally. You put one pair of scissors, you have one stapler, you have one Sharpie instead of having just like heaps and heaps of stuff. And that is something that I think about too, when I’m going through stuff is just like, I only need one and I’m gonna take really good care of it.

So, yeah.

Lori: Oh, I love that. That’s a great thought for your listeners to try on. Okay, so that was one, hopefully. Okay. We can go through this a little quicker here, but number two Is, I really teach people how to do your organizing projects in what I call 20 minute increments. We break it into manageable pieces. Because you know, you can pull it all out at once.

It’s not to say you can’t do that, but for most people that creates a lot of mind drama, which equals overwhelm, right? Your [00:25:00] brain starts to spin in indecision and I don’t know what to do with all this and you’ve pulled it all out of the closet now it’s time to go get the kids from school.

And you’re like, great. This is worse than when I started. Right. Mm-hmm because you don’t have time to finish. And so that’s a different approach that I’ve taken for years now with clients and found it to be really helpful. Is that you’ve gotta, you know, break your projects into these manageable pieces.

I follow a three step process of first you declutter. And that’s all you focus on is just getting rid of the clutter. Cuz so often we wanna jump to step two of what I teach, which is that’s where we organize. That’s where we set up the systems and, and maybe we buy bins and the fancy things or you don’t have to, but so often people, they don’t wanna get rid of the stuff.

They just wanna jump to like moving it around and putting it in a pretty system. right in there where we’re like, oh, I need to get organized. So I’m gonna go to the container store first and then bring home bins and start [00:26:00] and pull everything out all at once. And then you’re just in complete confusion and overwhelm, unless you’re really good at managing your brain through that process, which can be done.

Yeah. But for most people that’s just not a skill that they have. And so. What I like to recommend is you first declutter. And in that 20 minute increment you just take one drawer. You go into your bathroom today and you say, I’m just gonna declutter this one drawer. And if you’re really getting rid of 50%, then putting everything back in there just temporarily, we can change it going forward.

Right. But put it back in there temporarily your brain already knows that’s where it belongs. And now that you’ve got 50% more space, it already feels a lot more organized. Right? Yeah. And so then from there, we’re just taking it a drawer or a cupboard at a time, fully decluttering a space and then we come back to step two and say, now let’s play a game of Teris where you can open up the different closets or, you know, the doors on your cupboards or whatever, and say, do I wanna move any of this around?

Do [00:27:00] I wanna buy dividers? And address it at that point, play around with it. And then. Step three in my process. And this will also be number three in like, what are the big three that I recommend is you really wanna focus on the psychology behind habits. Because so often we’ll declutter and organize a space

but if we don’t address with ourselves how to maintain it, how to create a habit, that’s gonna support us going forward. Then of course, we’re just gonna go back to our old patterns and behaviors and a few months down the road, our space looks messy again. And then we label that as See? I can’t get organized or it’s just not me. When that’s not the case at all.

That’s not the truth about you. You just have never learned about habits and some really important things when it comes to habits. So.

Janeen: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that. That’s so good. And that’s some of the same kinds of things with people’s time, right? As far as getting rid [00:28:00] of stuff first and then trying to organize your schedule, the same principles apply.

You can’t just take all the things that you’re currently doing. Yeah. And try to cram it all in and hope to feel better. You actually have to eliminate things. . Yeah. Which is so hard because that requires that people say, no, they say no to themselves. And sometimes if they’re involved in things that involve other people, they have to say no to other people.

Yeah. And it’s the same with your stuff, right? You have to say no to you. And sometimes you have to say no to people in your family whose things are shared, you know, things that are shared in your space. So, yeah. That’s a hard thing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to get rid of stuff and my kids are like dumpster diving after I pull it back out again, I’m like, no, no, no, no, no.

That stays there. Oh, I love that. It’s so good. So good. Okay. So I kind of wanna switch some gears here. Is there anything else that you wanna add before we switch gears? I should

Lori: talk. I just, as you were talking about that, you know, with the time scheduling and whatnot, it’s so true that like these principles of organizing, [00:29:00] if you just dive in like I did 10 years ago when I thought, these were the real problems in my life over here in my personal life, but I dove into organizing and it helped every area of my life.

Yes. And so that’s just, I know we’ve said that already on here. Yeah. But I just wanna reiterate that cuz I love how you brought that up with your schedule too. If you can get rid of the clutter in your closet, you will then be even more equipped to start to say, okay, maybe I can start to say no to some of the things in my schedule.

Maybe I can start to let go. And this concept of letting go and simplifying is I think something that’s very challenging for our society right now. Right? Because we live in a more and more and more ever consuming society. And so you have to get deliberate about creating these new habits in your life or these new intentions of clearing space, opening up, whether it’s your schedule, your home, your mind, all of it.

So I think that [00:30:00] just brought it full circle perfectly of, yeah. Yeah. This can be a great place to start that will trickle into every other area of your life.

Janeen: Yes. Yeah. One of the things that I tell my clients is the rising tide lifts all boats, right? When you start working on one thing, then it starts to kind of have this ripple effect into other things that you’re doing.

So you start working on your schedule. It’s amazing how now you’re just like, okay, I can start applying these same principles to my food or to my home or whatever it is. So yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So I want to talk about this pivot that you made, and I, the reason why I would love to have you speak on this and to hear your thoughts about this is because I think so often people are hesitant to pivot for whatever reason.

I think there’s a lot of reasons that we have. I think it’s based in fear, of course, but that fear shows up in a lot of different ways. So if you could just speak to how you pivoted what you pivoted into and some of your journey through all of that and what really helped you to feel confident moving [00:31:00] forward

I think that would be really helpful to a lot of the people who are listening or who are going to listen to this episode.

Lori: Awesome. Yeah, so, like I mentioned earlier, it was about last fall where I started to feel a pull of one of the main things right now in my life is I have an 11 year old daughter and just feeling like she needs more information, she needs more time,

she needs more attention, which totally caught me off guard because I kind of thought, oh, that’s the younger years where that happens. Right? And I’ve been a working mom, the majority of her life and been able to juggle both. And so I kind of thought, oh, we’re getting more and more independent as she grows and it’s true in so many ways, right?

Yeah. Where She is a lot more independent, but I also felt like I wanna be more deliberate in my time with her right now in these real pivotal years for her mm-hmm . And so I started to fill that pull a little bit, and then I felt a pull of wanting to explore some other [00:32:00] areas of life coaching beyond organizing.

And while working with clients, I explore a variety of things. Yeah. I felt like, you know, I’ve been coaching on organizing for a long time now and I’m kind of ready to explore some of these other topics and go deeper with clients and create programs and all of that around those topics.

Mm-hmm and. You know, I started to talk about this with my husband and started to explore some ideas of how to do this and how to transition. And it was so interesting because I would have these conversations and he would explore all different options with me of, well, maybe you stop the business altogether, or maybe you take a sabbatical or maybe it’s a quick transition right.

There’s always so many options in what we’re exploring. And the one that I felt most peaceful about when I was talking to him or getting coached or whatever, was just taking a break. Just stepping back a little bit [00:33:00] from my business and creating space in my life. But then the funny thing was, is I would get to that place where it felt good, it felt peaceful.

And then a day or two later, it was like, I was right back to my old thinking of no way there’s no way you can do this. Lori, you’ve put so much into this business, you have clients that are wanting more from you, who are eager to pay,

my brain would go right back to that place of, absolutely not, you can’t change this, you know? Yeah. And so it was such a fascinating journey to just watch my brain vacillate back and forth. Mm-hmm and the, the thing that I think that made the difference for me to move forward in confidence in this was really just paying attention to when I felt peace and then when I felt fear. And I’d like to say that I figured that out in a week and moved on and it wasn’t a week ,

Janeen: wouldn’t that be nice? Yeah,

Lori: it was weeks of this, of this vacillating [00:34:00] back and forth. And, and of course my brain wanted me to believe that I was confused. Right. And, and going into the confusion and then knowing as a life coach, okay.

That’s not serving me and, you know, stepping myself out of the confusion, but I’m human, just like everyone and experience, you know, all the different things from the confusion to the overwhelm, to the doubt, to the fear, whatever mm-hmm . But you know, the things that I would say would make the biggest difference where yes, paying attention to the peace and the fear.

And then getting coached on it regularly. Most of us coaches believe that coaching is so powerful. It’s so important that you don’t just do your own coaching. You also have a coach. Right, and so my coach really explore this issue from a variety of different ways. And, you know, multiple weeks we stayed on this topic. Mm-hmm she was very patient with me, even though she could see I’m sure a lot more clearly than my own brain could see mm-hmm at that time. But I think it’s, it’s a willingness to be vulnerable as well.

[00:35:00] Right. To say okay I could use some conversations with a friend or a husband or whoever it is, or I could use some coaching. I wanna explore this. Being willing to not just be in your head about it, but to actually be speaking out loud, to be writing things down, to be journaling about it. I would say that’s something that’s really helpful.

And then it finally just came down to a moment where I remember when I was coaching with her, I just came to a decision of, yes, I’m gonna do one last eight week course for my people who want to go on that deep dive of organizing with me, and then I’m gonna be done. And I’m gonna step back from organizing and give myself space to explore some of these other things that I wanna explore right now.

In that moment again, it was like, yes, I could fill the peace. And then of course the resistance comes up as well, but I played around enough with the peace and then the fear mm-hmm to just be able to watch the fear, [00:36:00] like, oh, there’s the fear coming up. Mm-hmm but not follow the fear because the fear never serves us.

It was just allowing it to pass through. Recognizing that it’s just a thought, it’s not the truth. Mm-hmm that fear based thought is just a thought. So let it float down the river and then come back to that place that says. Yeah, that feels right. Even if it doesn’t make all the logical sense in the world.

And so that’s what I just started to follow. And I will say that I also made it public pretty quickly. Once I made my decision. Mm-hmm , it is that concept of burn the bridge. Don’t let yourself go back. Right. Once you make that decision go all in on it. I told my people at that time of like, Hey, this is what’s coming.

These are the changes that will be happening. So it was kind of that holding my feet to the fire a little bit, instead of just keeping it all inside my own head, that gives you the, the ability to go back on it and start to doubt and spin in confusion and all the things. [00:37:00] Anyways, I’m sharing a lot there, but tell me what what’s coming up for you, what you wanna explore out of that.

Janeen: Well, there’s

so many things. I think that one of the things that I am thinking about right now, that’s standing out is you gave yourself permission to just explore, to just have this exploratory phase. And just as curious about the fear and the peace, and then the fear and the peace, because so often what happens is we jump to conclusions too soon, instead of staying curious about things, at least that’s what I do because I’m a decision maker and I’m an action taker.

So often what happens is I’ll feel something and I’ll make a move on that based off of that, which keeps me kind of in this reactive space, instead of being really intentional and exploring things, particularly from this place of curiosity, cuz what you’re feeling in that moment is the fear. And so for you to do the work consistently enough, allowed you to be able to create a little bit of space between your experiences and all the things that were coming up, the piece and the fear and all [00:38:00] the things in between, so that when you were ready to make that decision, it was like, all right.

I’m making the decision and now it’s go time. And I think so often what happens is we rush into it. However, I love what you said. It was like, once the decision was made, it’s not like the fear went away. Yeah. Cause that doesn’t happen. Right. The fear is still there, but you were able to see it for what it was and it wasn’t affecting your, your actions from that point, because you’re like, okay, I can see my brain is still doing this because you’ve created this business. I mean, you’ve been in it for nine years. It’s a beautiful thing. And I’m sure there’s a lot of security that you feel knowing what you’re gonna do, knowing how this is gonna make you money and all this stuff. When this new niche, I mean, it’s a completely different niche from what you’re doing right now.

Feels like, I dunno how to do any stuff here. I mean, I’m sure there’s like so many unknowns. Yeah. Which for so many people keeps them stuck. Yeah.

Lori: You know? Yeah. And, and I will say something I’m relating to of what you were saying is because I am a goer, I’m a doer as well. That I can almost [00:39:00] sometimes use it as a buffer or not realizing it.

And I was really tempted to end this niche and jump right into my next business. And there were moments where I thought, oh yeah, that’s what I’m gonna do. Because again, like, I I’ll just bring all these clients along with me and I’ll just right. Like, mm-hmm, all these thoughts that just made so much sense to my brain right.

At the time. And yet there was this pull inside me that was like, no, just step back and give yourself space. And this is where it was, you know, the irony, the full circle moment of I’ve been teaching people for nine years to make space yes. In their lives. Yes. What are you opening up to? And, and instead of just rushing to the next thing I recognized I want to step back and just open up space to explore instead of yeah. Taking that next step and keep going and all the things that felt so familiar of running a business for the last nine years. So, yeah. [00:40:00]

Janeen: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that so much. Do you mind telling everybody what it is that you’re pivoting into?

Lori: Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. So I am exploring Christian life coaching. Just really helping people be able to explore their thoughts around this subject, because for those of us who are religious and it is a big part of our lives I’ve found with clients that being able to.

Open up and, and talk about what are your thoughts about this? We don’t even recognize sometimes how we’re projecting things, projecting a thought on God, back at us thinking that God is judging us or a variety of things like that. That is just so fun and fascinating for me to explore with people and to help them really ultimately, you know, the goal would be to help them kind of you know, let go of the thinking that isn’t serving them so that they can more fully align with the light and power and love of Christ that is so abundant to us. But I think we often block ourselves from that light and love because of the thoughts that we’re [00:41:00] thinking that might not be accurate or truthful or whatever it is.

Right, right. I noticed a lot of like that projecting judgment back on ourselves and things like that. So it is a, a totally different realm to explore with clients. But when I coach with people, one on one who are Christian? It’s fascinating to see how sometimes our conversations just naturally go there.

And so I’ve thought, you know, I think this is something that would be so helpful for that particular population to have that space to explore and to discuss and, and to open up there. So, yeah. Oh,

Janeen: I love it. I think that it’s gonna be so fun to do . So Lori. Thank you so, so much for coming on today. Is there anything else that you wanna leave my listeners with before we close?

Lori: I would just say that truly, just listen to that little inkling inside of you and of course then you’ll have the fear and the doubt and all of that come up and that’s okay.

That’s just part of being human. Let those thoughts [00:42:00] float on by, but come back to that thing inside you. If you are that person that’s saying, I really do wanna be more organized. Well, then all you have to do is give yourself permission. I think so often we’re waiting on some outside source to say that we’re good enough or that we have the skills

and I would just invite you to give yourself permission to say. Yeah, I am gonna do this thing. Whether it’s cleaning up my diet or cleaning up my house or managing my time better, and then just be all in for the ups and downs of the journey. Once you commit to it, don’t expect that it’s just gonna be smooth sailing, even though sometimes inside of all of us, we wish that’s how it were, but be willing to make progress and do a great job for a day or two.

And then if you slip back a little stop and ask yourself out of love, oh, what can I learn from this? What do I need to tweak? And just, just [00:43:00] know that when you’re looking at someone’s end result, that there was so much of that journey along the way. So don’t. You know, shortchange yourself by having that all or nothing mentality or perfectionistic instead, give yourself permission to go all in on an imperfect journey.

And then nine years later you’ll look up and be amazed at what really came or not even nine years. Right. It can be a month later. Mm-hmm it can be a week later of just saying I’m all in for the ups and the downs, but I’m not giving up on myself and that can do amazing.

Janeen: Yeah, I love it. All right. Well, that’s it.

Y’all I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and we will catch you guys soon.

Oh, my goodness. You guys, wasn’t she amazing? I just love Lori. If you want to catch up with Lori, head over to organizing habits.com and get on her list.

She still has an organizing course that she sells periodically and she [00:44:00] has some really great product ideas on her website about how you can organize your home. And if you’re interested in what she has coming up next in her future with her business, that is a perfect way for you to stay in touch. So head over to organizing habits.com and get on her list.

Or you can find her on Instagram at organizing habits. All right, you guys take care and have an amazing week and we’ll catch you guys next time. See ya. Bye.