In this episode, we explore the mindset shift from overthinking to intentional action—especially during the months when decision fatigue and “I’ll get to it later” thinking tends to pile up. Whether it’s a storage bin you keep ignoring, digital clutter you keep bookmarking, or inherited items waiting for attention, we walk through how to break the loop of mental overwhelm and take the first doable step.
We also touch on how AI tools can either support or stall your organizing goals, and why this summer is the perfect time to embrace a “do something about it” energy. Small actions count. Let’s get unstuck together.
In this episode we talk about:
- Why summer is the ideal time to embrace a “less thinking, more doing” approach
- How to stop using planning, research, or AI tools as excuses for inaction
- A gentle framework for moving from idea to effort—even when the task feels overwhelming
Mentioned in this Episode:
- The Fix It or Free It monthly project as an example of micro-action with big results
- Ways to use AI to support—not sabotage—organizing efforts
- A simple weekly challenge prompt to help listeners take action right away
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Review Transcript:
Hey there and welcome back to Organizing Cherish. I'm so glad that you're here. Today's episode is all about something that's been on my heart and mind lately, especially as we enter a new season. It happens to be spring to summer season right now, but you can be listening to this at any time of the year and it would still be applicable, and that is the less thinking and more doing.
Now, I'm not saying throw caution to the wind. I'm not saying don't make a plan or think things through. I mean, after all, we are big planners here. That is a big part of what we do and we believe in. But what I am saying is that sometimes, especially for those of us helping roles or in the middle of caring for others, organizing homes, managing inherited things, and juggling, you know, 14 different priorities, thinking becomes a stall tactic.
And that is why I'm declaring it the season of more action. So let's talk about what that looks like and how we can balance that with the tools we do have, including tech like ai. Without using them as a crutch, so let's get to it.
Welcome to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo. I am your host Stephanie, your compassionate and deficient professional organizer. Whether you are part of the sandwich generation helping a loved one declutter, or just trying to simplify life, this is the place for you. Together we will tackle those overwhelming piles of stuff, uncover purpose in what we keep, and let go with dignity and care, because it's not just about throwing everything away, it's about re.
Affecting memories and simplifying life. Sound like a plan. Let's jump in and get organized. So we've all been there, right? You've got the list. The tabs are open, the podcast episodes are queued, the music is on in. The AI tools are bookmarked. The intentions are good, but the box of stuff in the garage, it's still there.
The digital photos you meant to organize, still untouched. The garden bed you were trying to plan to clear up. Yep. Still wild. So I get it. The mental energy it takes to decide can be exhausting, but what if this time we flip the script instead of more prep? We lean into the process of progress over Perfect.
I know many of you have probably heard that before. If you're listening to our podcast, you are probably, you know, into the, um, learning new ways of organizing kaari. You've got the minimalist movement, you've got all of them, right, the, um, home edit, all of them, and you've heard the progress over perfect.
And that's because doing something will then propel you to do something else and something else, and or. Finally catch what is not working in the moment and make decisions based on action and based on real action life moments and how you actually use that space or that area instead of the planning or what you think it can be used for.
And this is especially true for all of you people that Pinterest, that do the vision boards, that have ideas of what you would like. But then don't actually put anything into action, so then you never really know if you like it, you like the aesthetic, you think you like how it will look. And it's beautiful on paper, but practicality wise, it might not.
Be good for you and your lifestyle or your family or your, the way of that, that you live in your space at all. Sometimes even the style that it is may not be good for the area you live in. You know, you might be living in a very dry place, a very humid place, and the way that you're trying to organize and declutter and use your stuff is the opposite of that.
Like, I have had clients that I help in Florida or in very humid spaces. Where what I'm using for them and the types of bins and organizing systems that we're using and ad adhesives of what they use is very different than someone in Arizona or someone in Minnesota, or someone in a cold climate with snow.
It's going to be very different. And so what you think you like may not even work with where you are living. So instead of more prepping, let's lean into the progress over. Perfect. And finally get a sense of what you like. What you don't like, and instead of more planning, we try more minutes of action.
Usually 15 is a very sweet spot. It's not too long, it's not too short, right? We're leaning more into that and instead of saying, I need to think about that, we say, what can I do right now? With the time that I have right now, no matter how limited you think it is, like from those moments, I have 10 minutes.
What can I get done right now? Because then you will start to get an idea of what you can accomplish yourself within a certain amount of time. Especially if you're neurodivergent, you overestimate the time that things will take. You think, oh, I can get this done in five minutes, where it's like a five hour project.
Okay. And I know that's kind of part of your superpower, but the more that you do it, the more realistically and almost like a, a big cold bucket of water, right? Like realism will hit and you will actually know what things will take and how long things will take or how much effort it will take out of you.
And that is a beautiful thing to know. Because then it's honesty and it's realistic honesty, and it gives you clarity. So even something small, especially something small, let's start taking action. So this is also where tools like AI can be helpful. We did an episode on ai, which was incredibly popular.
One of our most popular recent episodes actually, because apparently many of you use it. You know ai, if you're not familiar, AI is artificial intelligence or very high tech tech. It's technology that thinks for you and that does things for you based on what it knows about you or what it's learning about you automated.
Some people call it the second brain. So AI is that. It's very fancy tech and systems that will do and think for you. But right now it's not actually doing the thing for you. Like it, it can give you all of the research and all of the planning and all of the lists. It can give you, uh, you know how to best use your time and it can read you like, uh, like so well, but.
It does not do it for you, like the actionable steps of physical labor. I'm not talking about your business and your spreadsheets. Okay? I am not talking about the copy on your website. This is not for the business to business. This is for real. Life actions can't make sandwiches for you yet. We're not going down the robot fields yet, okay?
So because it can't do that, you still need to do it yourself, which is actually part of being human. So, okay, let's, we won't get too deep into that. But because it can make us feel productive without actually doing the thing, it can be dangerous, you know, it, it dangerous in the sense of like, you're over planning over and then now you're over procrastinating.
Like now you're not doing anything at all. You know, typing it it into a chat box to get a list of 20 ways to declutter a closet. Great. I know many of you're doing that now, but if you've never opened the closet, then you're into just info hoarding. You are just accumulating information without taking action.
And even for those of you who are advanced with ai, and then you do tell it your life story, so now it knows you and knows your habits, and know, knows your, uh, way of thinking. If your, how your brain works, even if you're advanced in AI and it does know you and you start asking it. More specific questions like, okay, can you gimme a list of ways to declutter my closet based on what you know about me and what my fashion sense is and what my goals are?
Because you've told it already that you plan on moving in six months and it knows that you really like, you know the color black and you know, so knows all these things about you. So. Now, yes, it could. It's going to give you a different level, right? It's not just going to give you 10 ways to declutter a closet.
Now it's going to give you 10 ways of how you particular person can, and what you should be doing every day for the next 10 days to start decluttering your closet. So it'll give you day one, get, you know, and it'll give you a plan, a beautiful plan based on what it knows about you. I mean, I, I. It can be a very helpful assistant, but we have to be careful to not let it become another stalling method.
So it gives you a plan, but now you actually.
Another layer of mental clutter can happen if you just say to it, you know, you give it all these instructions, but then you don't actually do anything about it. And you can get so specific. Some people I know go to the point of saying, I am a procrastinator. I have a DHD, or I have this, or I have that. Or, uh, mental or physical or health.
You know, this is where I'm at, so can you give me actionable steps that you know I can actually get done? And it gives you actual answers, but then you don't do anything about it because there's a motivation aspect of it. Like you have to know and want to actually do this. So then it becomes another reason to not take action and then you get discouraged because you didn't do it.
Because now what this AI chat GPT or Gemini or whoever, whatever you're using, apple Intelligence. Whatever it suggested to you looks great, but now you're not doing any of it, and so now you feel down on your own self and it becomes a spiral unmotivated action. Hi, cherish. Friends. Life can get overwhelming, especially when you're juggling caregiving, clutter and everything in between.
That's why I created the Organiz and Cherish weekly email that goes out every Wednesday straight to your inbox. To help you keep the momentum inspiration going with tips and reminders of our upcoming events, all you have to do is head on over to organize and cherish.com and sign up for the email newsletter.
It's free and you can up subscribe whenever you'd like. It's my way of helping you simplify your life and respecting memories along the way. Now back to our show. Here's how I recommend using ai when you are in your organizing era, use it as a prep tool, not a procrastination tool. Ask it to outline the steps, sure.
But then commit to step one within the hour of you asking it or what within the hour of when you're supposed to start. Let it simplify, so don't over complicate things if the suggestion gives you a feeling of overwhelm. You are allowed to toss him and say, that is too overwhelming for me. Can you break it down even further and even further and even further until it feels manageable and actionable within the hour that I gave it to you.
So, take action within the very short amount of time that it has given it to you, or when you have told it that you will start. So if you're saying, I need a plan for Monday, starting Monday at 8:00 AM you will start within, you know, eight to 9:00 AM on Monday. Turn to real world cues first. So what is in front of you that pile, that drawer, that email.
Start there and tell it. It's there. Even if you're well intended and you give it the most beautiful prompt, right, and the most perfect, beautiful. It knows you type of prompt. And you're so intelligent and you're so smart. You, you know, you give it some good feedback and it gives you great feedback back, great.
But then you don't get specific with telling it what your space looks like right now in the moment and what's right in front of you. So then what ends up happening is that now you are having to do more work of telling it what? Giving it more to do that you forgot to tell it to begin with. And so now it, it starts to get into this machine mode of, okay, great, I've altered it to fit what you just told me.
So now it becomes this like back and forth, back and forth. Procrastination. Again, it's like talking to your friend. You go back and forth, back and forth and you, you say you will do things, you plan to do things, you overly talk and then you don't take action. So those three things, in my opinion, and what I have seen.
We'll work the best if you are using technology and in just in general in this new phase of, of technology being so, so accessible like this to plan is yes, use it as a prep tool, so as a recap, but a not a pro procrastination tool. So then commit to it within the first hour. Let it be simply simple and don't o overcomplicate it.
So tell it to be simple, something that makes sense to you, and make sure that you tell it what is in front of you. Like what, where are, what does it look like? If you can submit a picture, great, and be as specific as possible without having to. Be so, so much in the telling it what to do, that you actually don't take action because now you're giving it so much detail and you're so worried about telling it that the door has a black knob and it has the sky is blue and the temperature is this, that now all of this time and all of these details that you just told, it could have been used for time.
That for actionable steps, new seasons are always a great season to get things done. But it can either be a season of putting things off or a season of clearing space. And if you want to move forward and make change, let's start taking action. You know, clear. Let's clear that brain space. Clear the decision fatigue, clear the emotional weight.
There is something to be said about taking action. I want you to not just say it as another theory or as another promise. I hope that this episode or the episode about, or you know, AI and technology and all this planning motivates you, but that you find yourself finally taking action because you can see how exhausting it it is to just plan and plan and plan and not do anything about it.
And what are some ways that you can. Take action. Like what are some examples that I can give you right now for you to take action? Okay, so one is, we talked about the minutes. 15, 10 to 15 minutes seems to be the sweet spot. So start 10 to 15 minutes. When we say start small, we don't necessarily mean start just with small spaces.
I mean, yes, it could be a drawer, it can be just a small space, but also time-wise. Start with making sure that, that you're not spending too much time in one place. So 10 to 15 minutes seems to be a sweet spot. Do it before you think yourself out of it. Do it before you start saying, well, but then I need this, this, and this, and then I don't have the right tools.
I need to clean it. Catch yourself if you can. If you're able to do it on your own, catch yourself and then do something about it. Whether it's just dusty it dust first and then have it roll into the next step, into the next step. But just don't think too much about it within the time boundaries of starting small.
Take one step and not all of them, if you have asked one of the chat GPT tools, Geminis four steps, take one step at a time and not all of them. So that it doesn't overwhelm you. And if you are not counting the small stuff like I just mentioned, dusting, like if you just open the drawer, opened the box, that's quite a bit of you who are listeners.
You have a lot of unopened boxes or boxes that you packed up or your loved one has in the in. Now you have it in the basement. Open one small box, open it and take mental inventory of what's in there. 10, 15 minutes, go through it, get the immediate nose out of the way, throw 'em away. Donate them, sell them.
Even if you think that's a small action, that counts as well. So don't let the small stuff not count. We don't need Marie Kondo our entire life. We don't need all of the steps to be perfect. We just need to do one step out of time and to break the overthinking loop. So we're taking aback, we're taking action.
So if you've been following along, you know, I'm doing the, the challenge, like I mentioned, the fix it or free it, which is, you know, the whole, every, like what I talked about, like every month, right? Letting go of something or fixing it. So if you are looking for some motivation as well like this and you need a little judge, come over to the Organized and Cherish chats.
We host them right now, we're hosting them the third Wednesday of the month. Um, but you can always go to the organized.com and I'll always have the banner of our next. Organizing and cherish chat, and it's where we're there in person to help you become accountable and take actual steps and actionable steps to getting a more decluttered life.
And if you're in the middle of downsizing, like to get motivation and keep it going. Okay? So come join us for one of those totally free. Here's your prompt for the week, which is what's one thing you've been thinking about doing for way too long, and what's the smallest possible version of action you could take on today?
Put that prompt in your ai if you're using one of your, you know, the chat GBT type technology if you wanna use that, but that prompt is for you and or your assistant and or your tech assistant. That's the invitation. Okay? Take some action. So if you are craving accountability or support though, you can always check the link for our organized and cherish chats or we can work together.
If that is best for you, just let me know how I can help you take action this season. Okay? Alright. Until next week, happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo. If you enjoy today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you left a rating and review on your favorite podcast player.
It helps others discover our show. For full show notes, resources, and more organizing inspiration, visit www.theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast. Until next time, happy organizing.