The new house saga continues…

No matter how long you've lived in your house, there always seems to be one more project on the to-do list.

When we bought our house four months ago, I immediately started dreaming about how I could make it my own. We wanted it to feel less like we were in someone else’s (dream) home and more like our dream.

I had visions of a Joanna Gaines-inspired look. White cabinets, inviting curtains, neutral paints, and a home that screamed farmhouse chic.

As I stood there in my dreamy daze, anxiety rushed over me thinking about all that I would need to do. There was no way we could get it all done. How would we pay for these improvements? Who would we hire?

I just wanted to see my vision come to life, but there seemed to be so many roadblocks.

I wanted our home to be warm and inviting. I wanted it to be a place where people love to gather… But how would we ever get it all done? I knew I needed a plan, and crying over things not being perfect now (yes, that was me) was not going to change anything.

I needed a list.

I needed to get this all out of my head and onto paper, so I could break it down into more manageable, smaller projects.

Isn’t it kind of amazing how when you plan ahead and use a list, the steps all-of-a-sudden seem a lot simpler? Things become more manageable when you get them out of your head and onto paper.

There's something about making a list that removes the stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. When we put our ideas out into the world, we gain a new perspective that makes everything feel much easier.

Speaking of writing things down. Rest assured that 90% of the time, if I don’t write something down, I’m bound to forget it. (Thank goodness for Google Calendar and my Simplified Planner, or I don’t know where I’d be!)

But really, it’s not my fault!

It’s easy to forget things–there’s a LOT going on. This is your permission to forget things, too!  You can’t blame yourself if you forget to follow up when you have an overflowing to-do list. You’re not alone, and it’s OKAY! Giving yourself a visual and getting into a routine can help tremendously.

I felt like everything that I needed to do for my home project was impossible until I wrote a list down on paper. Then I felt completely at ease, and the tasks felt manageable.

And then a light bulb went off.

Simple = sustainable.

The more moving parts involved, the harder our tasks become and the more energy they take. It becomes more difficult to keep going because it starts to wear us down. It leaves us both mentally and physically exhausted.

We need tools that are simple if we want to be able to stick with it.

It's easy to manage complicated systems at first because we feel excited about them. In the beginning, we are willing to spend more time and energy than we can actually sustain.

Once reality sets in and the newness wears off, complicated systems become cumbersome.

On tough or busy days, how little time seems to be on our hands. It's during these times that we need to lean on our systems the most. They will need to hold up under pressure, and if there are too many moving parts, they won't. They will crumble.

Simple is key.

Take this tracking sheet, for example. It would be so easy to break this up into individual pages. Imagine:

• One page for a guest list
• One page for a checklist
• One page for appointment details
• One page for recruiting
• and so on

It would essentially become a hostess packet. Breaking up information can be useful. For a hostess, it helps her see the bigger picture. Because she only ever sees a hostess packet once or twice, it is not overwhelming to have multiple pages.

As a Beauty Consultant, though, if you had to print five or more pages for every party, you would end up with hundreds of pages. Doesn't that feel overwhelming just reading it? Now imagine trying to manage that long-term.

So for this party-planning system, we kept it simple by putting everything on one page. With just a glance, you can plan every detail about your upcoming party.

Can you see the difference between the two systems? Which would you prefer to keep track of in your business:

• 5 pages per hostess, or
• 1 page per hostess

I bet I can guess which one you picked.

So if you're ready to keep it simple, enter your name and email below, and I will send you this party planner for FREE!

Let's make 2020 a year of KISS – Keeping it simple, sweetie!