Introduction. Isn t that powerful? Isn t it exciting to know it s possible? 2014 Power of Moms

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2 1 Introduction Mothers worldwide are overwhelmed. We re constantly multitasking, and our brains are spinning. Am I right? Are you even focused on this ebook right now? Or are you thinking about the ants in the kitchen, the poster board you need to buy, and the huge project waiting for you on your desk...along with about 337 other papers? Maybe you re having a hard time falling asleep at night because you keep remembering things that have been left undone. Or maybe you re noticing that too many details are falling through the cracks--and then you spend precious time putting out the fires you know you could have prevented in the first place, if you d had it all together. If I ve just described your life, you re definitely not alone, but let s step back for a moment and talk about the things that are even more important than papers, work projects, and household tasks. When your children are excited about something, and they re enthusiastically explaining all the details, are you able to listen? Or is it hard for you to focus on anything because you re so busy trying to mentally keep up with your life? Do you wish you could breathe a little more--and savor the dandelion bouquets and the sweet hugs...or just sit on the patio swing once in awhile and laugh with your children? (Can you even remember the last time you laughed?) The ideas and techniques in this ebook are not just about living efficiently or productively. They are centered on strengthening relationships--and making everyone s life better in the process. One of our organization coaches put it this way, While this approach is about getting things done and not dropping balls, the more important result is that it helps you feel more present in your life, create and cherish more moments, and feel more joy--more often--than you do right now. Isn t that powerful? Isn t it exciting to know it s possible?

3 1 Here s my promise: In this brief ebook, I will teach you how to master the whirlwind. I will show you how to clear your mind and completely eliminate that internal chatter that is distracting you from what is most important. You won t forget things (hardly) ever. You will never spend more than 30 seconds looking for the paper or file you need. You ll stop procrastinating. You ll enjoy your children more. You ll enjoy your spouse more. You ll feel happier. You ll have a little lift in your step. You ll actually finish what s on your lists...instead of simply rewriting the same tasks over and over again, and you ll feel ready to take on even more projects (if you so desire) without added stress. I know that s a big promise, but I make it confidently. It s already worked for thousands of mothers around the globe, and now it s your turn. In the next few minutes, I m going to walk you through the Five Phases of Workflow, as outlined by David Allen in his best-selling book, Getting Things Done. And then I ve included a Bonus Section where I ll teach you how to become an ninja with your inbox brought to zero and quick strategies to keep it that way. At the end of each section, this is what you ll see: A quick, immediate way you can get started applying this idea today. Details about what our full Mind Organization for Moms Program can offer you, if you re ready for additional resources and coaching. Sound like a plan? All right, I m going to start by listing the Five Phases of Workflow: Collect, Process, Organize, Review, and Do. Sounds simple enough, right? Let s go through each one.

4 2 Phase 1: Collect Each day, we collect a variety of information that needs to be processed, organized, reviewed, and acted upon. It comes from an insane number of sources, and sometimes it feels like it is taking over our lives. For example, let s say in one day you receive the following: 4 text messages: o o o o One from your friend who s serving on a committee with you asking if you could meet sometime this week to discuss the Father/Daughter dance. She wants you to come with decoration ideas and a brief outline of the budget. One from the Team Mom of your son s basketball team, asking you to bring the snack to the game on Wednesday night. One from your sister inviting your family to Sunday dinner (she wants you to bring a salad and dessert). One from your husband letting you know the van is ready to be picked up from the repair shop. 53 s: There are lots of s from people who need something from you family, friends, work associates, potential business partners, and clients. Plus there s spam, coupons, promotions, and newsletters from organizations you follow. These come in so fast...all day. 18 pieces of paper from your elementary, middle, and/or high school children, featuring an upcoming jog-a-thon, a bunch of worksheets you may or may not need to keep, beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) artwork, details about a science project due next month, book orders, reports, PTA reminders, and all kinds of invitations to join the community in extra sports teams, library events, clubs, and fundraisers. Verbal agreements you made with three different people while you were out:

5 3 o o o A friend asks you to loan her a book she s been dying to read and wants you to bring it to the school the next afternoon. A neighbor tells you to save the date for a birthday party she s throwing for her daughter in three weeks. The car repairman (when you pick up your van) tells you that you can wait a couple of more months, but you ll need to replace your power steering system which is making really loud noises. Normal mail comes in regularly, and on this day you have two bills to pay, a notification for power outage scheduled all day next Tuesday, an invitation to a wedding, lots of junk mail, and a couple of catalogs and grocery ads you want to check out before you throw away. Social Networking Messages: You jump online, and you ve got messages within Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Most of them are pretty quick, but one or two require a little follow-up (like a friend who really wants to get together in person or a contact who d like your opinion on something that falls within your area of expertise). Voice mail messages are typically waiting for you, as well. Like a reminder from the orthodontist about an appointment you actually have to cancel, a question from a friend at church that needs a quick return call, and an invitation from your daughter s friend s mother--asking if your daughter can go to a hockey game with them on Saturday night. Additional ideas also come to you randomly throughout the day. Sometimes you ll see something on Pinterest and think, Yes! I want to do that! Or you may think, I d really like to plant some flowers in those empty pots on the front porch. or I think I should get more involved politically or Tomorrow I am not going to eat junk food. My brain used to feel so full that I would break out in hives every time new ideas tried to cram themselves in. But not anymore. This system can handle it all (helping us put some ideas into play right away and file other ideas in a safe place for later). I am in love with the ideas in this ebook.

6 4 Seriously the list above is a typical day for many moms. And when I write all this down, it feels like too much. Your list will look different, but the lesson is the same: This is what is driving us crazy!!! This is why we are cranky with our family members. This is why when our children ask us to play handball with them in the backyard, we cringe. Our brains are overwhelmed, and we have no idea how we are supposed to do all of this. Then when we do take a moment to sit down and be present, we feel guilty because we re not juggling all this other stuff that is also important. I ve heard some moms suggest that the best solution is to just ignore the to-do list and focus on what matters. That concept might work for some people, but it doesn t work for me. I don t want to let any of my commitments slip through the cracks. I don t want to inadvertently neglect something important and then pay for it later. (And how can we really focus on what matters the relationships in our lives without also focusing on the events and tasks related to those relationships?) What I do want is to put all of these seemingly minor (though collectively crucial) details of my life into a seamless system so I will know I am doing the right things while I am doing them, and I will know that my tasks, projects, s, and papers are being safely managed while I am making the time to deliberately enjoy my family. That is what I m about to show you how to do. Get Your Collection Tool and an Inbox (1) Collection Tool: You need a way to appropriately collect everything that comes to you during the day. For a paper person, you simply get a day planner that has a large amount of daily blank space. If you d like a digital option, use an app like Evernote to

7 5 group all your incoming notes in one place. Here s an example of the same information captured on paper and within Evernote: (2) An Inbox: Everything that cannot be tossed or recycled at the end of the day plus notes or ideas that didn t make it into your collection tool needs a place to rest until it can be processed. Piling papers on the kitchen counter just doesn t work that well. Buy an inbox. Get a pretty one you re excited to use. Put it in one spot where you will do your processing (mine is on my desk upstairs). Show your kids and husband where it is so that when they re waving a paper in front of you while you re trying to make dinner, you can let them know where you ll be sure to find it. There will be no more running around the house, digging into

8 6 backpacks, or sticking things to the fridge. Your inbox is going to become your best friend. If you want more, here s what the full program will provide for Phase 1: The best ways to streamline multiple inboxes and adjust for daily family chaos (we all have that!) Tips and photos showing exactly how to record and quickly assess information you receive on the go In-depth instructions on how to use digital or paper tools to make this work (we have a whole paper planner tour on video, plus video training on how to use apps on your phone) Step-by-step instructions for getting started if you re collecting all those piles of papers in your home for the very first time (it doesn t have to be overwhelming) A fantastic gathering tool that will help you completely empty your brain during and dig deep into all that stuff you ve been holding onto. (We know it s easier to pretend it s not there, but trust us, you ll feel so much better once it s out!) Phase 2: Process This step was one of the biggest Ah-ha moments for me. Even though I d considered myself a very organized person, I used to take my big pile of papers each week and simply divide them into a bunch of smaller piles. But then the moment I needed desk space, I would have to gather everything up into one pile again and start all over.

9 7 (That s how I grew up...moving piles of stuff into the bedrooms when guests came over--and then bringing the piles back out when we needed space to sleep.) One of my friends even confided that she grouped papers in dozens of little stacks along the perimeter of her bedroom just so she wouldn t forget about anything. Do you have piles of stuff around your house right now? On your counter? On your desk? On top of the TV? In your bedroom? Whenever I ask this question at our Retreats, everyone laughs, and I ll usually hear someone say, My piles are everywhere! We laugh because we can relate, but you know what? These piles are making us sick inside. They weigh on our minds. They stress us out. And so we just ignore them because the thought of going through them sends us over the edge. Not anymore. What I m going to show you here is the very first processing skill that will change the way you live. This is the reason I stopped procrastinating for good. This is the reason I have zero piles in my house right now. This is the way we, as mothers, can move forward on important tasks and projects--even when uninterrupted time shows up in small, unpredictable bursts. It s so simple: We learn to consistently identify the Next Actions related to everything that comes into our lives. According to David Allen, a Next Action is the very next physical, visible activity required to move a task or project toward completion. Let me just go through some examples, okay? Suppose you have ten boxes of books (never unpacked from a recent move) piled in the corner of your living room. You know you need to put them in your office, but you don t have any shelves in there, so the boxes of books continue to sit for six months. What s the Next Action? You boil it all the way down.

10 8 Before you can unpack the books, you need to have shelves ready. But before you can order shelves, you need to measure the office to see what size shelves you need to buy. So the Next Action is to spend 20 minutes in the office, measuring the walls and outlining the specifications for your bookshelves. (If you don t know where your tape measure is, your Next Action is to find the tape measure.) See how we took a huge task like get rid of all these boxes and turned it into something you could do in 20 minutes...even with your children? One time I spoke with a mother who wanted to adopt another child. Even though this was something her entire family desperately wanted, she d put off the process over and over again because it felt so overwhelming. What s your Next Action? I asked her. Well, I need to get a scrapbook together featuring our family and all that we have to offer another child. she replied. What s the first step in getting that done? I need to pick the photos I want in that scrapbook. Do you know where they are? Yes. I just need a half hour to look through them and choose. Well there you go! I said. And then something magical happened. Her eyes lit up for a moment as she realized she could do this. There is an amazing power that comes into your life when you

11 9 recognize that tiny, manageable steps can make your most precious goals possible. That s what I want you to feel. And you can. Identify Next Actions for the top three things weighing on your mind. Maybe it s a big project, like the two I mentioned above. Or maybe it s just a form you need to fill out to register your child for summer camp. Make a list of three projects you ve been procrastinating or worrying about. Then stop for a moment and drill down to the Next Action required to move each task or project forward. You will feel amazing. If you d like more strategies like this for organizing your tasks and projects, here s what our full M.O.M. Program provides: A special Mind Organization for Moms flow chart that you can keep right next to your desk as a handy companion. It will enable you to go through every single item in your inbox without having to put anything back! We ll help you divide things up by when you need to do them putting them in distinct places for now, this week, someday, etc. It will then become second nature to process things as they come in totally easing up your workload and schedule. Fantastic extra filing tips that, in one fell swoop, will reduce the number of papers to process by more than 50%. (You ll never have a To File pile again.) Processing videos where you can watch other moms actually going through their inboxes and deciding upon their Next Actions. Concrete ways to shuttle a large portion of your stuff into off-thebrain resources like a Someday List where they will be totally safe until the

12 10 time comes when they deserve your full attention. You simply can t act on every little thing that there is to do, so we ll show you how to create systems that come to you when it s time to pay attention to them. You don t need to keep anything on your brain ever again which will free up your mind to have that balance and joy in motherhood we ve been talking about. Phase 3: Organize Once we learn to identify Next Actions and make decisions on what we want to do with all the opportunities that come to us, we need a physical place to put those ideas so we can access them as needed and finally progress. (Taping notes all over the kitchen cabinets just isn t the best way.) The problem for me was that I grouped too many items together. Long-term projects, immediate tasks, and someday ideas all sat on the same list in my planner. Action and non-action papers were shuffled together on my desk and countertop--along with reference papers and goal sheets. Current project papers were filed into my filing cabinet next to long-term storage items and the rest of my house was covered with sticky notes and random stacks of stuff that needed my attention. If 15 minutes popped up for me to get something done, I felt paralyzed. Where should I even start? My set-up was marginally helpful, but it didn t allow me to breathe because I never knew if I was doing the right things, and I could never turn off my brain. I simply jumped from pile to pile in the midst of diaper changes and snack time, trying to be productive, and I usually ending the day feeling like a failure. (How sad is that for a mother who is giving her all to care for her children to think she has failed? Have you ever felt that way?)

13 11 The system I have up and running right now builds on the same physical tools I had before (lists, folders, filing cabinet, boxes, etc.), but it takes them to the next level. And it eliminates stress. I call this system my machine. Within the book, Getting Things Done, there s a simple flow chart that shows how every single thought, task, and paper can have a distinct resting place. (I can t even tell you how excited I was when I first saw that.) It looks a tad complicated at first--with lots of different lists and folders, but it allows us to easily distinguish between the categories of items we need to manage, and each section works together seamlessly. Are you waiting for someone to get back to you about something? That little piece of information has a place to rest, and there s a system in place to remind you to follow up. Is there a concert ticket or wedding invitation you need to hold onto for the next six weeks? There s a place to put it (not on the fridge) and a system to help you remember when you need it and where to find it. Do you have a stack of materials related to a big project (like renovating the house) that you need to keep together in an accessible place until the project is finished? Yep. That s covered. (And it s not on your bedroom floor.) Feeling ready to finally get organized and build your system once and for all? It isn t complicated, and anyone can do it, but I m not going to lie. Like anything worthwhile, it requires commitment to get it up and running. But it is worth it. You will save hours and hours of time each week, and you will finally feel that sense of order you ve been craving. I m excited for you. Create a Next Actions List This is one of the first steps in building your machine that you can do today.

14 12 Remember those great Next Actions you figured out in the previous section? We re going to help you organize them by context in a simple list you ll update each week. If you re a paper person, get out a sheet of paper that will work with your current planner (something like a full-page sticky note, a blank page from your planner, a small spiral notebook, or a bookmark in a pouch page finder like I use). If you re a digital person, there are lots of apps available for this, but you could start with something simple like your Notes app, Evernote, ToDo, or Cozi. Whichever method you choose, you re going to create five sections of your list: Home Tasks Phone Calls Errands To Discuss Computer Tasks From this point on, whenever you think of something you need to do, you ll boil it down to one concrete Next Action and add that Next Action to your list for the week, putting it in the correct context. Do you need to spend 20 minutes measuring your office for shelves? That s a Home Task. Need to reschedule the orthodontist appointment? Phone call. Have to pick up ingredients for the salad you re taking to your sister s house on Sunday? Errand. Want to ask your husband what he thinks about the weird noise your van has been making lately? That goes on To Discuss. Need to research decoration ideas for the Father/Daughter dance? Computer.

15 13 Then when a few moments pop up which they always do (even in the busiest of families) you simply check to see which tasks on your list are related to the context you are in. Obviously, we want to be in the moment with our families as much as possible, but this type of set-up enables us to move forward on our lists (when we d like to do so) without sacrificing our sanity. Now we can work off our Home Tasks list when our children are engaged in a quiet time activity, we can easily group our errands, and we can complete all our phone calls in one chunk of time. When my husband is in a talking mood, I zip through my discussion points in less than 15 minutes, and when I sit down at the computer, I m focused. (We all Using sign within Evernote, groups your Next Action lists, and though you can t tell, each task is on a separate line within the note itself. know how easy it can be to get sucked into the online world.) I know this context-based Next Actions List will work wonders for you. Our full M.O.M. program helps you build and effectively use your machine with your family at the heart of your productivity. Here s what you ll find:

16 14 Photos and details about each part of the machine --with clear instructions on how to build it A shopping list and checklist to guide you through the process--allowing room for your own little flair. Video and photo tours of other moms set-ups. Here s a photo from our participant-now-trainer, JaNae Messick: Isn t it beautiful?

17 15 You ll also receive the following: A growing set of great articles and tutorials to help you keep your system up-to-date A complete Q&A and Sharing Center where you can learn all the tricks to make this work for you Our full M.O.M. in Two Weeks module, which s you bite-sized assignments every couple of days to help you get things set up quickly in the midst of your busy life Phase 4: Review Several years ago, I thought the best way to make things happen was simply to write everything down. So I did. I had lots and lots of lists and lots and lots of goal pages. One day, I was telling a friend that I talked to quite regularly how stressed out I felt. Then I said, You know what? I m going to make it a special goal to stop being stressed. You already did that, she replied. No. I mean I m going to get out a goal sheet and write down, Stop being stressed. We know what you mean, she replied. You already did that. Wanting to prove her wrong, I flipped to the back of my planner where I had about 15 goal sheets, and sure enough, there was one from about a month beforehand with Stop being stressed as the key goal. Now, this is ridiculous on several levels. I know that.

18 16 But you can see my problem. I had lots of great intentions written down, but no system in place to actually look at them and move forward on them in the midst of a busy life. (And, hello, it was my system itself that was causing most of my stress.) Things have totally changed now. I have more on my plate than ever before, and while I often need to take a deep breath and reassess my commitments, the stress of managing my tasks and projects is gone. It s because of this program. So Phase 4--the Review--means that we need to have a routine way to actually look at all of the papers and ideas we ve collected, processed, and organized. Before anything is filed away out of sight, out of mind, we need to be able to answer the question, When am I going to review this? When we know the answer to that question and have a system we can trust, then (and only then) can our minds rest enough that we can be fully present with our families. Putting everything into cubbies, folders, and segmented lists is a good start, but if our brain thinks it has to remember all of those details and work from all of those different places, it will freak out. (I know you know what I m talking about.) So don t worry. I ll take care of you. Take a deep breath, okay? Quick Daily Reviews, Serious Weekly Review (1) Quick Daily Reviews: Every single morning (or the night before), before you jump into a new day s madness, you look at your calendar and your Next Actions List. This takes about 30 seconds, but it gives you an idea of how much flexibility you have with your schedule and enables you to do what s on your calendar filling in the gaps with predefined Next Actions that will bring you closer to your goals. Exciting!

19 17 Here is a photo of my personal calendar and Next Actions list that I review daily: Then every single night before you turn on your favorite show, curl up with a book, or collapse into bed, you do a five-minute review of everything you collected that day (remember that nice inbox and digital or paper collection tool we talked about in phase one?). You do what absolutely needs to be done that night, figure out (and write down) the Next Action on anything that s going to require a little more time, and then update your calendar for the following day. This is the part that lets you go to sleep without anything swirling through your mind. Do you know how good that feels? The peace actually becomes an addiction. You ll wonder how you ever lived without it. (2) A Serious Weekly Review: Did you know that most people spend at least two hours a week looking for things? With this system, you won t be wasting that precious

20 18 time, so you can invest your energy in something much more helpful a Weekly Review. It s a concrete weekly appointment with yourself to get ready for the week. This is when you take a step back, check out your calendar, and update your Next Actions List for the coming week. You ll record what you want to accomplish considering your commitments, your health, your family s needs, your long-term goals, and those desires you have to live your very best life. Then you ll be all set for the next seven days. The goal is to finish your whole list within one week and then start fresh during the next Weekly Review. If you have too much left over from the previous week, you ll want to make your expectations for yourself more realistic. This is such a skill (that I m still trying to master). My Weekly Review typically lasts about an hour, but one of our M.O.M. Coaches, Julia, says this: I know every time I take even minutes to do a Weekly Review, that organization pays me dividends throughout the whole week. Keeping my papers and mind organized helps the rest of my life flow more smoothly and allows me more time to spend on my relationships. I feel more present and more calm, and I can accomplish so much more. Our Mind Organization for Moms program will help you streamline and strengthen each of your Reviews with the following resources: Calendar tips to help you offload the content of your busy calendar to supporting lists that help you track your routines and extra tasks (you ll have lots of white space on your actual calendar) Printable Weekly Review chart to walk you through a complete review in under an hour each week

21 19 Additional tips on your Next Actions Lists how to keep it from overflowing with good ideas (without losing those good ideas) Excellent videos showing you how to process your inbox quickly, using a variety of examples from real moms lives Extra coaching and encouragement to help you recover from backlog, keep your reviews going--even while on vacation, and get to the point where becoming clean, clear, current, and complete is simply second nature Phase 5: Do This is where the done in Getting Things Done comes in. This is also one of the most exciting parts of this whole ebook. As mothers, we are constantly doing things, but much of that doing takes us in circles. Of course our family work is beautiful and meaningful and definitely worth our time, but there s this amazing feeling of satisfaction that comes when we can see that we are progressing when we accomplish something that won t be undone two hours later. That s what you re going to feel as you follow the steps outlined here. It s a little check mark here and a check mark there, and then you start to feel a bit giddy. And you notice you re smiling more often, and you don t feel as overwhelmed. You start dancing in the kitchen more often and singing to the radio while you drive. Your children will wonder what s gotten into you, and your friends will notice that you re happier. And then you ll smile to yourself as you re falling asleep because nothing is on your mind to keep you awake. Oh, it s so fun.

22 20 Use these four criteria to decide what to do in each moment. Each day, the only things that really have to be done are your regular routines and the appointments and tasks on your calendar. (And if that s currently overwhelming, the full M.O.M. program will help you simplify it usually down to about three or four things a day.) Then when you have snippets of time throughout the rest of the day, you work from your Next Actions List using these four criteria: CONTEXT: Where am I right now? What kinds of tasks can I easily accomplish? If I m sitting at my computer, I ll work on computer work, if my children are playing happily on their own or doing homework in the kitchen, I ll work on home tasks that will enable me to be available to my family. TIME: How much time do I have? Do I have two whole hours to run errands or do I need to make it quick today? Do I have time to wait on hold with the insurance company or should I just make my easy phone calls? ENERGY: How ambitious do I feel right now? Should I work on my low-brainrequirement tasks, like cleaning out the car or working in the garden? Or should I outline my new book? PRIORITY: What is the most important thing I can accomplish in this context with the amount of time and energy I have? (Some people suggest putting priority first, because obviously we want to work on what matters most. I just find that I need to look at the other three criteria and then carefully weigh the possibilities according to which is most important. You can go in any order that works for you.)

23 21 One final thing I ll mention is The Two-Minute Rule: If a task can be accomplished in two minutes or less, do it. Don t write it down on a list or procrastinate it or think about how hard it is going to be. Just get it done. That little rule, alone, will yield phenomenal results. Let Power of Moms take you start to finish through our full Mind Organization program. Implementing these new habits is a bit like riding a bicycle. It s slow at first, but pretty soon you re happily riding along without even thinking about what you re doing. In our full Mind Organization for Moms program, we ll hold your hand through this whole start-up process. We ll take you through a variety of case studies, give you practical examples through video, audio, photography, and written text, and we ll help you see how simple it can be to have a calm, relaxed mind--in the midst of the whirlwind that is motherhood. It s not that you can t do it alone. It s just that it is so much easier when you have a whole team of moms supporting you. BONUS: s to Zero If your inbox is full of thousands of messages (read or unread), and if you aren t even sure what s buried in there, this is for you. The weight of all that information is subconsciously weighing you down, and it s time to get rid of it. So in the next few paragraphs, I am going to teach you how to be an ninja.

24 22 One mom who went through this process said, This is so amazing, I had literally thousands of s clogging up my life, and I never thought I d see the light and had completely given up on trying to even stay on top of new s. It s amazing how much easier it is to get things done and to respond to s in a timely manner when your inbox is empty. I can t believe the mental clarity this simple exercise has given me. Thank you so much! See? Are you ready? Go through the steps below to get your inbox to zero. First, create seven folders within your inbox labeled as sign brings these folders to the top, since they re sorted Action is the folder you ll work from throughout the day. These s need to be handled within the next 24 to 72 hours (important business

25 23 communication, messages regarding activities that week, etc.). Before you go to bed at night, check this folder to make sure nothing has been left Action is for s that require you to do something like donate to a cause, print an attachment, send a recipe to a friend, etc.--but they don t have pressing deadlines. These can be handled anytime in the next few months, and you may want to couple each one with a calendar trigger to remind you to take action on it at a certain is where you put s that can just sit and wait while you consider them. They don t have deadlines, and if you never get back to them, that s okay. (Like if someone tells you about a great deal on shoes.) This is also where you can keep things for temporary reference. You don t think you ll need the list of the school s Book Fair hours, but you is for s you definitely want to keep and do something about, but you don t need or want to act on them right now. This would include links to great websites, books to read, Keep is where you ll put s with information you may need to reference later but that don t involve any action on your part (such as receipts for online purchases, itineraries for upcoming trips, an with an attached roster for your son s soccer team, Sort is where you re going to put the majority of the s that are currently in your inbox. (Details explained is where you put s that are waiting for a response from someone else. Maybe you delegated part of a project to another person you just keep a copy of that

26 24 in this folder, and you can check it during your Weekly Review to see if it s done waiting. Second, start from the top of your inbox and sort every single into one of those six folders listed above (and any others you decide to add) so your inbox will be absolutely empty. The process really isn t that bad. Here s how I personally did it: The first 100 s took the most brain power, so I carefully went through them and put the most urgent and important ones into Action Action folders. It felt so good to gather them into two little groups. Once I had cleared out the s that actually needed some sort of a response, the remaining s didn t seem quite so daunting. When I came across hundreds of s from the same sender or from the same category (that I wanted to keep), I created a new folder. (Like Saren or Forwards. ) You can easily search for a name or symbol and perform bulk actions that let you move everything out of the inbox at once. I unsubscribed from a bunch of lists, changed my social network settings so I stopped getting notifications, and deleted as many other s as possible (Again, the bulk actions work great here). I m a big fan of Gmail because I can set up filters that will automatically put coupons, newsletters, etc. into folders for me totally skipping my inbox. That is a dream come true. For example, anything from our local grocery store is automatically filed under Coupons. When I go to the store, I simply open my Coupons folder to see if there s a special deal. When I got tired of sorting s (after about an hour), I still had 1,361 s in my inbox. I moved them all to the To Sort folder, and since my provider has great search functions, it really doesn t matter if all my s are

27 25 nicely tucked away into alphabetized reference files. As long as nothing important is hidden within those s, I can rest easy knowing they re ready for me to sort someday when my children go to college. And now that my inbox is consistently at zero, I set up autoforwarding and auto-labeling to make my daily workflow even simpler. For example, guest submissions for Power of Moms come to me and are automatically labeled with PofM Submissions. They re also set up to autoforward to our chief editor. So I can see what s coming in and read it, if I have time, but if things are busy, I just archive it with one click--knowing it s already on its way to our phenomenal editing team, who will me with questions, if they have them. Some moms who have implemented this system chose to create their own customizations (which we welcome!). One mom to store all the receipts for things she ordered online but hadn t received yet. Another created sub-folders Keep with one for each child, one for business receipts and one for happy mail that she just wanted to hold in a safe place. Brilliant. You have the beautiful privilege of tailoring your system to meet your specific needs. Third, promise yourself you ll do these two things: Check Action Action folders as often as your workload requires--but not more often. You may want to set up specific intervals when you ll check for incoming messages. Our families come first, and there s no need to constantly be on our phones or computers when we have awesome systems in place.

28 26 Assign all incoming s (that can t be handled or deleted quickly) to a folder as soon as you read them (letting them build up again will just make you grumpy). If you aren t yet using Gmail, I would strongly encourage it. You can bring your other address into Gmail and make it look like you re sending/receiving from there (tutorials online), but Gmail will make your mobile processing a snap, and they ll provide tons of great features within Gmail labs that will only make you more of a ninja. You ll love it. Fourth, apply The Two-Minute rule to your s, as well. If you can handle an in two minutes or less, do it. A quick reply to the sender will keep that out of your action folders. Delegating a task in less than two minutes will allow you to file that in folder. Noting a baby shower directly on your calendar or quickly updating someone s new contact information that they sent you will allow you to delete or file those s, and it will save you tons of time in the future. I have four children to love each day, and I don t want to spend one extra ounce of energy fussing over s. Bringing order to this part of my life has given me the freedom to focus on the people and the work that really matters. Take advantage of the extra assistance our full M.O.M. program offers. Within our Mind Organization in Two Weeks module (included as part of our complete program) there s an entire section about , including an audio download to walk you through examples and give you a little more hand-holding. Plus, you ll find lots of

29 27 added support through the Q&A section, our Sharing Center, and the extra coaching s. management will become a little part of your life that brings you immediate satisfaction. All right, we ve come to the end of this ebook, and I hope you re feeling excited. I hope you can see that even if your life may sometimes (or always) feel like a whirlwind, you have access to practical, tried-and-true ideas that will enable you to calm your mind, tame your task list, and find more joy in your family. I ve been teaching Mind Organization for several years now, and even though I can t see who you are, I m pretty sure we have a lot in common. We care deeply about our families. We have ideas and goals we want to pursue. We re willing to sacrifice practically anything for the well-being of those we love and that quality is what makes us such strong deliberate mothers. But in the process it often feels like it is just too much. We re busy all the time, but it s not always clear that we ve progressed. And in the midst of all those highs and lows that we experience on a daily basis, our hearts ache a little bit because we know there has got to be a way to bring more peace, purpose, order, and joy into our lives. We just need to figure out how to do it. I m not a perfect mother or a perfect person. My life feels hard sometimes, and I deal with the same human challenges you do. But, with the help of many wise mentors, I have figured out how to master the logistical whirlwind of motherhood, and it has changed my entire life. Now I want it to change yours. Motherhood is beautiful. It s chaotic sometimes, and it s definitely not easy, but the work we do in our families is the most important work we will ever do, and we want to enjoy these fleeting years. Yes, these strategies require energy to put into place. Yes, it

30 28 can feel overwhelming to fix a system that isn t working. But this process will save you so much time and worry. It will help you to wake up excited and go to bed content. But it s not just for you. It s for all of the people in your life who love you and want to see you thrive. I invite you to try these ideas and apply them to your motherhood. Then enjoy the incredible feeling that will come as you bring the peace and order to your life that you absolutely deserve. If the strategies outlined in this ebook have helped you, and if you re ready to take it to the next level, please visit the link below to explore our Mind Organization for Moms Complete Program. April Perry is not affiliated with or endorsed by David Allen or the David Allen Company which is the creator of the Getting Things Done system for personal productivity. GTD and Getting Things Done are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company. For more information on the David Allen Company's products, please visit their website:

31 29 More Excellent Resources from Power of Moms Power of Moms Radio: A fun and lively on-demand radio station featuring Co-Directors, April and Saren, plus special guests. Visit Deliberate Motherhood: Written by more than 60 mothers, this beautiful book provides stories and wisdom for any mother looking for peace, purpose, order, and joy. Visit Motherhood Realized: This beautiful book gathers the most popular posts from Power of Moms (that have been read by millions of mothers around the globe) into a beautiful collection designed to strengthen mothers worldwide. Visit Power of Moms

32 30 Additional Power of Moms Programs The featured items listed below in addition to many more can be found at Building Your Family Systems: These three one-hour webinars, based on the highly-acclaimed curriculum taught around the world at our Retreats and Workshops, offer stepby-step instructions to help you create the right family systems for your family. Organizing for School Success: Want to get control over that avalanche of papers your children bring home from school? This kit provides proven methods for keeping on top of the paperwork, setting your children up for homework success, and making school projects a breeze. Includes podcasts, charts, photos and instructions. Learning Circles: Part book group, part support group, part girls -night-out, every mom needs a Learning Circle! We provide lifetime access to the Learning Circle Start-Up Kit, plus two years worth of excellent articles, discussion questions, and assignments to help your group enjoy meaningful motherhood conversations based around a powerful monthly theme.