In this episode, Stephanie tackles the all-too-common issue of running late and shares practical, easy-to-implement organizing tips to help listeners stay on time. As a professional organizer, Stephanie offers a fresh perspective on simple habits that can make a big difference, with an added bonus tip for those who want to take their time management to the next level. Whether you’re rushing to appointments or struggling with chaotic mornings, this episode has actionable solutions to reduce stress and get you out the door on time.
Find all of the links mentioned in this episode at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/quicklinks
In This Episode We Talk About:
- How prepping the night before can transform your mornings.
- The importance of a launch pad or exit zone to keep essentials organized.
- Creating simple, repeatable routines to eliminate decision fatigue.
Mentioned in This Episode:
- The Organized Flamingo’s Freebie Corner: Checklists to help you stay on track (www.theorganizedflamingo.com/resources).
- Previous podcast episode on setting up a launch pad or exit station.
- Ebony Creighton’s tips on scheduling appliances for convenience from Create Joy.
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The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger! For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Join our weekly email newsletter for all-things organizing & productivity delivered right to your inbox https://theorganizedflamingo.com/quicklinks
Review Transcript:
Stephanie [00:00:00]:
Hey, friends. Welcome back to this week's episode here at Organized and Productive. I'm Stephanie, your host. And today, we're tackling something I know many of us deal with, running late. So whether it's scrambling to get the kids out the door, rushing to appointments, or cutting it close for meetings, lateness can leave you feeling frazzled before your day even begins. So that's something that is a hot topic for us in our community that I come across when I'm meeting with many of you. So we thought we would tackle it. If you're nodding right now with these being a major problems for you or something that you're facing often, you are not alone.
Stephanie [00:00:41]:
The good news though is see that we can shift this habit. And as a professional organizer, I'm here to show you how. Some of the habits that I'm going to talk about today though are very simple, practical tips. Okay? These are not the get deep into the mindset, to get deep into the habit changing. That episode is for another day. We have also had many experts in this field, psychologist, productivity experts that can help you with this. So the episode today is more things that I think most people can change themselves. So that's what we're diving in today.
Stephanie [00:01:17]:
So we'll talk through the 3 practical types that I have seen work, within my experience and with people that are easy to activate. So that's what we're dealing with today. And then at the end, I have one bonus tip that is a little bit it does require a little bit more of a mind shift, but I'm adding it in here in case this is something that appeals to you. So alright. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Organized and Productive podcast with the Organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert. Ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you? Yeah? Well, then let's go.
Stephanie [00:01:57]:
Before we get into solutions, let's unpack why lateness happens, though. I'm not going too too deep into the psychology of running late. There's quite a bit of studies out there. We've had professionals, like I mentioned, talk about this. So I'm giving you just the overview of what I have seen over the 2 decades I've worked with people. Sometimes, it's as simple as trying to fit too much into too little time. You're just overestimating what you can get done. Other times, it's because we underestimate how long the actual task will take.
Stephanie [00:02:28]:
So, hello, you know, 20 minute shower when you thought it would be 5. This especially happens when you don't do certain things often that when you do, you think it takes, you know, 5 minutes, but it really takes 20. Maybe shower the shower is more of an example of if you're neurodivergent, you underestimate time. ADHD, that happens quite a bit. But I'm talking more about, when you don't do a repetitive action often, then you don't have the practice of how long something will take. And that's how we end up underestimating how long something will take. If you like to cook, like, dinner and you're trying a new recipe, you know, maybe you your favorite blogger posted their you know, a new recipe, and they said it takes about 20 minutes. They do their best with giving you an estimate of how long that dinner will take.
Stephanie [00:03:22]:
But if you haven't cooked in a long time and in your kitchen, you can't find anything and and nothing is really in order or it's really messy and you're just not used to that action in your kitchen, that 20 minute that your favorite blogger said it would take might actually take you 40 minutes because you don't know where anything is. You haven't been in that in your kitchen for a long time, so you're over you're underestimating how long it actually will be taking. You're not practicing. You're not doing that action enough. And then the other side of it is that you're trying to fit too much into that little amount of time because, again, you are underestimating how long things are taking. Then there's also the distractions. Right? ADHD, this happens quite a bit. Neurodivergence, this happens quite a bit.
Stephanie [00:04:07]:
How often have you started looking for your keys only to get sidetracked with by your phone or a pile of mail? It happens. But here's the thing, being late isn't just about time. It's also about organization, routines, and, honestly, a little bit of that self compassion is what you need, because the late piece of it is not just that you forgot to do something or it's taking you some longer than you expected. There is these emotions and feelings interjected in there that give you that sense of being late or rushed or overwhelmingness that you could have maybe avoided. So, let's talk solutions. Here are 3 organizing tips to help you stay on time, and then I've got the bonus one at the end. Okay. So these are things that you can implement pretty quickly.
Stephanie [00:04:56]:
You don't need to read a whole book and and make whole life changes. So what I did is I pulled 3 actions that I have seen work for people to make even a smidge of an impact in their routine so that they're not as late as often. Okay. So these are things that you can start implementing. You don't need a whole new system, a whole new planner for. And so these are the 3 ones that I picked that I think you could just implement right now. Okay? So here we go. So let's talk about the prepping the night before.
Stephanie [00:05:29]:
That's tip number 1. This one may sound simple. I'm sure you've heard about this one before, but it really is a game changer. Taking 10 to 15 minutes in the evening or the day before, the 24 hours before you're supposed to be out the door to prep for the next day can completely shift your mornings or your day or your travel day. Lay out your clothes, pack your work bag, prep your lunches, even getting the coffee maker ready can save you precious minutes. If you have kids, get them involved too. If you are, taking care of a loved one, do an action that they can that they're capable of doing and then have them be involved in it. So here's one of my tricks, create a designated space near the door where you place everything you need to grab on the way out.
Stephanie [00:06:19]:
I'm actually gonna go into this step even further, but this is something that because it's it's just on the way out. Right? Like, when you're leaving, that could be a good place. It just needs to be somewhere on the path that you will be taking to make yourself, you know, to on your way out. So it could be in the kitchen. It could be wherever. Just that is, like, the designated spot of where everything lives. So think backpacks, briefcases, and even that water bottle, you always forget, like, that is the the space where everything will live the night before so that you just know exactly where to go in the morning. Same thing with scheduling anything for the morning.
Stephanie [00:06:57]:
So sometimes when people think about prepping the night before, they think it's more work. What I also don't want you to do is to think about prepping 5 minutes before going to bed. Oh, I mean, it could be if 5 minutes before going to bed, but I'm talking where you are, you know, you're about to get into bed, and then you think, oh, shoot, you know, I forgot about prepping the night before. And then you stay up late, and then that makes you tired and late in the morning. Like, that's not what we are talking about. We're talking about very specific and intentional time, even if it is 5 minutes, but that you've mentally prepared for. I don't want you doing last minute things all the time because that just creates a domino effect to give you anxiety, to give you the feeling of being rushed and always late. So that's not what we're talking about.
Stephanie [00:07:49]:
I want you to have intentional prep time the night before. One of those tips I just mentioned is scheduling on the timer. Like, if you have a coffee maker that is able you're able to do that, you just time it for the morning. I have one of my wonderful friends and guest, Ebony Creighton from Create Joy. So if you see her episode, she talks a lot about, you know, doing things the night before, like the your washing machine, like, just scheduling it if you can. If you have that technology in some of your appliances to create it the day before, game changer. And those activities don't require you to do a whole lot of, like, actual, you know, physical work. You just have to go time it.
Stephanie [00:08:29]:
So if you're tech savvy, that's a great area that you can implement so that you can be ready the night before. It might take a few tries until you figure out what your natural pattern is, what the right amount of water. You know, sometimes we forget to add the water to the coffee maker, and now it just created a whole mess because the next morning, it didn't even work. And now, you know or you added too much water and everything overflowed. Okay. So those things can happen. I want you to just be mentally prepared that it might happen, but those are anomalies. And, also, the more you do it, the more you will get used to, you know, naturally doing it and making less mistakes.
Stephanie [00:09:07]:
Okay? So give yourself a little wiggle room for that, but this is where technology works wonders for prepping the night before. Let's go to tip number 2. It's using a launch pad or exit zone. We have an entire episode on your prep stations and your exit stations. So that could be, for some of you, it's like a landing area, your hallway, you know, your exit launch pad area. So we do, like, an entryway in your home or or apartment wherever that may be. So we have an entire episode on that. I'll put that on the show notes if you wanna dig deeper into it, but it doesn't have to be an entire space like an entryway.
Stephanie [00:09:45]:
This is just a section like a basket. So I love this one because it's all about creating a home for those easy to misplace essentials. Like, so this could just be a spot near your front door or garage. It could be a table. It could be a shelf or even a basket. And this is where your keys, your wallet, purse, your phone, they go there every time you walk in the house. Like, that is the drop off section, the launch pad. If you've got kids, you can create smaller launch pads for their shoes or backpacks, sports gear.
Stephanie [00:10:15]:
If you're taking care of a loved one, you are the primary caregiver or they live with you. Same thing. And if they're, you know, in in a different mobility place in their lives where they're not able to necessarily, you know, walk by that area, place it and put it in a place where they do pass by and it's easy to get to and drop off for them. Like, they don't have to be on their tippy toes or they don't have to bend over to put it away. Like, something that is easy for them to just put and grab and and create a habit out of. The key here is consistency. When you always put things in the same spot, there's no more last minute scavenger hunt. Like, that is the trick here.
Stephanie [00:10:54]:
And it's not a really easy trick. I actually side note for just a second, tricks, I always have such a hard time with that word because this isn't like a magic trick. This isn't like a a special ingredient sauce. Like, that's not what it is. This is just psychology 101, and this is just something that you're training yourself and your brain to do. Anybody can technically do this as long as they're willing to put in the consistency to create this new habit. So it's really quite simple and it's it is under your control. You just have to do it enough times so that you can help your brain and your body and your con and your just yourself to do it over and over, if that makes sense.
Stephanie [00:11:37]:
Why it works? A Launchpad simplifies your routine as we talked about, and it takes a guess work out of the morning. So that's really why this is such an easy thing to implement because there's no, oh, what should I do? Should I, you know, should I grab this purse or this purse? Like, you know ahead of time what and where it goes in one basket and where exactly it is. Like, there's no guess work here and that's why this one works so well. It's one less thing to stress about when you're trying to get out the door. Alright. Let's go to tip number 3. This is all about creating simple, repeatable routines that don't require you to completely change your lifestyle. Routines are are kind of the secret sauce.
Stephanie [00:12:17]:
Okay? The trick that I just talked about. It's not a secret sauce. Okay? This is this is just you creating new habits for yourself. And we just call them secret sauce because it sounds fun, but it's just you training yourself to do a repeatable action over and over where, eventually just becomes second nature, and they don't need to be complicated. In fact, the simpler, the better. So when you do routines that are repeatable, I want you to think simple, super, super simple. Start with your mornings and evenings. Maybe you have a 5 minute routine where you check your calendar, make sure your bags are packed and do a quick walk through of the house.
Stephanie [00:12:57]:
Maybe it's it's as easy as setting your alarm 10 minutes earlier. Something that's repeatable, doable in a very simple manner because this tip will help you with the other 2 that we just talked about. Consistency again is key when you stick to routine, it just becomes automatic, and you're less likely to fall behind schedule. So this one works creating a routine because it reduces decision fatigue, which we have an entire episode about. The less you have to think about, the faster you can move through your day. It just becomes automatic. I don't want you to be a robot either. This isn't about having no creativity or space to sometimes not do a routine.
Stephanie [00:13:37]:
That's not what it is here. I want you to live your best life, but when you have certain routines, it allows you to be so automatic that there's not that decision fatigue. And then the next day, you are so glad that you did it because you got it over with. Like, you have to get it done anyway. Right? Like, this is that's what this whole episode is about. It's about doing the things that you have to do anyway. You have to get go to work. You have to get the kids ready.
Stephanie [00:14:05]:
You have to get your family or loved one ready for their appointments. Like, these are things that you have to do. So we just want to make them as easy to do and create as possible so that you're not rushing out the door. You're not late. You're not feeling like you're missing something, like, a year in a that feeling when you're in your car and you feel like you forgot something. I want you to avoid all that and feel at peace with your day to day routines. And the way to do that is to create those routines, those repeatable actions that are so second nature that they're you don't have to worry about them. So and you can control them.
Stephanie [00:14:41]:
Like, you don't you're not relying on other people to do them for you so then that that affects you being late. Like, these are things that you can do so that you have control of that situation. So here's a bonus for those of you who like a little extra insurance against lateness, build buffer time into your day. So the bonus tip here is time block and buffering. I didn't add it as an actual tip because this one is doesn't work for everybody. The other 3 are more universal because there's a lot of tricking your mind, but being realistic, and this can be overwhelming. So, you putting it as a tip because I think it can work for a lot of people, but I want you to really understand that time blocking is a it's really about telling yourself a white lie, but knowing what the truth really is. So so, like, if there's an appointment at 10 AM, plan to leave 15 minutes earlier than necessary.
Stephanie [00:15:35]:
Right? Even if there's traffic or there's a last minute delay, you're covered. Time blocking is a great strategy within this. If you know you need 30 minutes to get ready, block that time on your calendar as if it's an actual event. Treat it as a nonnegotiable. But here's the thing why this is a bonus and it doesn't work for everybody. Because you have to tell yourself and you have to know that the actual appointment is at 10, but that you are putting some buffer appointment extra time beforehand. So So it's like you're tricking yourself. Right? So you're saying, oh, no.
Stephanie [00:16:16]:
The appointment's at 9:45, but the appointment's really at 10. And so you do have to be realistic because then if you if your body or, like, if your mind this is quite a bit of of mind work here. Okay? If your mind believes that you're lying to it, the next time it won't believe it. So you have to make it so that you believe your self and you believe that you that you're not trying to play a trick on it, if that makes sense. So that's why I'm, I'm always hesitant about this tip. And then also I have a client right now that for her time blocking is amazing. So what she does, we've been really working on Every time she has to go drop off her her donation pile, she puts it as an appointment. Like, it is an actual appointment because she thrives and is at her best to declutter and organize during the midday.
Stephanie [00:17:10]:
We have established that for her, her optimal time is from 10 to 2. So that's when she does the majority of her clear outs and the clean outs. It's going to be, like, a long project for her. She wants to do it herself. So she she knows that that's her optimal time. She's really she's not a morning person. And at towards the end, she just it's too dark in the winter, and also she just gets tired. So she doesn't wanna do it in the evening.
Stephanie [00:17:31]:
So her optimal time is from 10 to 2. On her calendar, it is an actual appointment, a nonnegotiable time block that that is the time that she organizes, and she has now stepped it up a a step further where her drop off to the donation centers are Tuesdays Thursdays. She puts it on her calendar as an appointment. So I've seen other people not be able to see that as an actual nonnegotiable. So what they do is they'll say, oh, that's just a suggestion or it overwhelms them because now they see all of these extra, quote, unquote, meetings or appointments, and now it becomes overwhelming. Like, there is no room for creativity. So if the client was the opposite of that and she was driving to the grocery store and her donation pile technically could have been dropped off at that moment because it's right next to the grocery store, because she has it in her calendar that it has to be in a Tuesday Thursday, but today is Wednesday. Now it's overwhelming her because if she were the opposite of that.
Stephanie [00:18:34]:
Right? Like, for for this client, it does work because she knows that Tuesdays Thursdays is when she will drop it off. But if you are the creative kind where you need some wiggle room and looking at your calendar be booked with all of these time blocking tasks that are technically not appointments, that could overwhelm you and defeat the purpose and do the opposite of encouraging you and having you stay on track. So that's why I just want you to be careful with time blocking and buffer. And this could work, but when it works, oh my goodness. It's wonderful. It works because it gives you some breathing room. It makes you makes it it makes you not be cutting things so close because you've actually time blocked it. Like, you know that that whole process of putting the boxes to the donation pile in your car will take, like, 30 minutes.
Stephanie [00:19:25]:
The drive will take 30 minutes. The dropping off will take 30 minutes, because, you know, you have to stand in line to drop it off. So, like, the whole thing will take 2 2 hours. Right? You've time blocked it, and it allows you to not be late for the next thing. So it's a small change that can make a big difference. If you can guide your brain and yourself, guide it towards, like, this is a good habit to do, but there's a little bit of white lie involved. Okay? So you just have to make sure that your brain knows that, you know that, and you're and all of you and yourself, you're okay with that as opposed to, feeling like you're tricking your brain and it doesn't believe you. And so now going forward, you don't see that as a nonnegotiable.
Stephanie [00:20:07]:
You just see that as, like, a, well, that's not true, and then you it backfires. Alright, friends. So that's it for today. I hope that these quick tips help you take back a little control over your schedule and ease the stress of running late. These episodes will continue where, when I give you these quick tips, they're under 30 minutes, like, under 30 minute episode, and you can listen to them while you're running errands. You just need some background conversation to inspire you and help you through your organizing journey. And so I will continue to make these episodes as the year continues. And if you found this episode helpful, I'd love for you to share it with someone who might need it as well.
Stephanie [00:20:48]:
And if you're looking for more organizing tips, don't forget to check out our freebie corner at the organized flamingo.com/resources. And I've got some great checklist on there that pairs great with all of our episodes. So I hope that you have found these tips helpful. Just a quick reminder though that we will be changing the name of the podcast starting in about 2 more 2 or 3 more episodes after this one. It'll be called organizing cherish, and the format will be very similar to what you've been used to this these past 2 years with a little twist. We are now really talking specifically to the sandwich generation, to the people that are helping a loved one. It could be a neighbor, a a friend, or someone who lives with you, a parent. It could be anyone that you're helping through their organizing, downsizing, decluttering process.
Stephanie [00:21:41]:
So we're gonna tackle those projects. You could be in the sandwich generation, or maybe you also inherited some of this stuff and you're not sure what to do with it. So we're really talking about that next chapter in a lot of people's lives and topics that surround around that chapter. Okay. So we are niching down our topics, but they're all still organizing related. Just a little bit more about that. So let us know if you have any topics you want us to cover under that umbrella. And other than that, you know where to reach me.
Stephanie [00:22:14]:
Until next week, help you organize. Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with The Organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here. For full show notes and resources, head on over to the organized flamingo.com/podcast. Happy organizing.
