Taking Control: The Organizing Podcast

Fight the churn! You know it happens to you -- you're delighting in the act of moving things around all the while avoiding making the tough decisions that come with getting organized. But remember, just because it's activity, doesn't make it organizing activity. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk about rotation, making tough decisions, and donating the things that are ripe for a new home!

There's gold in them there closets! That's right, you know you've done it too: you stack your closets full of great tools thinking you'll use them again someday, and that day never comes. But just because the value has passed for you doesn't mean that your old junk isn't a treasure for someone else. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk about the actual monetary value that can come from getting your home organized this holiday season!

CHADD is a fantastic resource for people of all ages dealing with the stresses of ADD. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer shares stories from her recent trip to the national CHADD conference that inspire and energize. Join us, and learn how you can join a CHADD network in your own community.

The barrage of activity that comes with the holiday season can test even the most rugged of organizing systems. That's why it's so important to prepare early! This week on Taking Control, Nikki Kinzer & Pete Wright share three key tips for making your way through the holidays with sanity and organization intact!

Going from disorganized to living an organized lifestyle is tough for the best of us. But what about our kids? Introduced to new systems and concepts and responsibilities that come with the pressures of school can quickly lead to overwhelm. This week on Taking Control, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk through key lessons for helping your young kids adjust to new processes and build habits that will last a lifetime.

For those struggling with ADHD, the instinct to help others might just be a self-destructive pattern when it comes to living an organized lifestyle. It feels good to help, but without a keen awareness of what is already on your plate, and the commitments you've already made, the good feeling that comes from saying "yes" might just end up letting others down when you can't make good on your promises. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk about where this natural instinct to please comes from, and how practice saying "no" might just end up freeing you to help more people in a smarter way!

One of the most common associations with professional organizing is this notion of focus and staying on task. While there's no magical solution to finishing every single project with perfect focus and attention, there are a number of smart solutions to reducing your risk of distraction. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright review key tips for staying on task and share some of the tools and apps they use to get things done.

It doesn't take long for a conversation on organizing to get lost in jargon. If you've never pushed yourself to dive into organizing your own life, what would you do if you needed to build an "Organizing System"? This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright walk through the organizing language that ties people up, and help to illustrate what the world looks like when you know how to write your own instructions!

Building new habits requires diligence and constant focus. How do you set the right triggers to support a new lifestyle? How do you implement the tools and technologies you'll need to support the change you want to see in your life? This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk about the challenge that can come with transformation and how you can make difficult change a little easier.

Want to encourage your kids to have a strong memory for process? Building those habits starts early! With attention to building the right habits now, you can overcome the little stresses that can turn into big pressures at home. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright share some of the more common struggles and the accommodations that work around the home.

It's impossible to manage secure passwords in your head. They're just not secure enough. That's the premise this week on the show, and Pete Wright and Nikki Kinzer are here to talk about how to create better passwords that rely on muscle memory, along with tools to manage the myriad passwords you need to carry in your life.

Following up on our Digital Clutter conversation, this week Pete Wright and Nikki Kinzer talk through the difference between your backup strategy, and your archive strategy, and share services that can support you as you look to the longterm care and feeding of your data!

Are you living the organized lifestyle? Do you know where your keys and your cellphone are right this second? Great! Now, how about your computer's desktop … is that in order? If not, you're not alone. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk through processes and tools that will help you start to get your digital life as organized as your real one. In this episode, we'll take on managing applications, folders for organizing work and research by workflow, and how to get started changing your digital life.

Living the organized lifestyle is about more than just putting things out of site. It's about defining the way you live in your space, the way your spaces support your lifestyle and your work, and about the systems you put into place to maintain that lifestyle over time. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk about the core habits that support making the transition to the organized lifestyle and staying in control.

Do you have a good sense of what it takes to get your day started? How about cleaning up and putting your day to rest? Defining and understanding the routines at work in your life each day can go a long way to moving you to the organized lifestyle. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk about how to build the daily habits that keep you on top of your day and in control.