[PODCAST 231]: Stories of 3 Heroes Who Built Their Command Centrals!

If you’ve been around LearnDoBecome for awhile, you know how much I love our STEP program—and how deeply I want to help create a Command Central on every desk.

But today I want you to hear a few stories from true STEP Heroes—three women who are implementing the principles of STEP in their lives in beautiful, powerful ways—even when life isn’t going smoothly.

When I listen to these kinds of experiences, I am truly at a loss for words. Mostly because I know that their stories aren’t because of me. Many have gone before me and shared principles that have blessed my life, God has given me the energy and bandwidth to share what I know, and each one of YOU are demonstrating an amazing amount of courage as you create order and peace in your individual homes, families, and organizations.

So I hope you will enjoy these beautiful stories! (If there’s any way you can listen, two of the featured STEPpers allowed us to record them personally telling their stories. It’s powerful to hear their voices!)

But either way, I know these stories will bring you hope!

Rebecca’s Experience:

First of all, thank you so much! I first found out about you guys eight years ago after my first son was born. I joined the STEP program and it has been this backbone that I have come back to in different formats over the years.

I had a pretty intense initiation into motherhood where my first two kids had serious hospital stays and our third child–we actually lost him two years ago. He passed away and–oh, I’m gonna get emotional–I got so behind in life. Everything stacked up and it became so overwhelming to prioritize to figure out what to do day to day. Also in my grief, in tending to this community that tended to us, saying thank you–I just felt like there’s this mountain at my back forever and I came back after spending the last two years in deep grief.

This Four Weeks to Finished program was such a game changer because it really was able to map out that mountain of: “What is it gonna take to get current and what do I need to let go of?”

I think so much of it–weaving through the emotional parts with the tangible, practical parts has been really, really useful.

I’m so grateful that every time I kind of come back and work the system, I get a little bit further. Sometimes I start a new app or start a new digital situation and then I have another project to go clean up the last one. I think it’s a huge win that I landed on Evernote and Asana here in Four Weeks to Finished.

The other huge part comes from motherhood and if I was gonna talk to any moms coming into this, particularly with young children, if you’re the person that is the CEO type person of the house, you need a system. It’s just bananas with children and school age children. I am just finding that it’s so crazy to not actually treat it as if it’s a business in some ways with all of these things and to try and act like I can hold all the routines and all the tasks and all the things in my head. It’s too much and you actually need to treat it like this–beginning professional mothering with all of these details.

My (April’s) Response:

First of all, I just want to acknowledge you because you took time to grieve you, you know, recognizing that you can’t do everything all at once. And that makes sense because in any human situation, we aren’t here to just do a bunch of stuff, right?

There’s so much meaning and so much connection in wanting to to honor the relationships. I love that you did that, but I love that you said, “Okay, what can I do to make sense of this mountain?” There was a lot that I’m sure as you’re going through you thought, “Oh man, I wish I didn’t have to do this or I wish that this had taken care of itself.”

But you went and you faced it and you figured out the map and you did it! I think what one of the things that drives me the most is knowing that there are other individuals who are living with these circumstances every day for their whole life because they don’t know what else to do.

I think particularly as a mother, that’s when I first started doing this and started teaching, I used to just teach mothers how to do this because I felt like in business, there’s so many opportunities to learn things. They have whole teams in charge of organizing projects and then you’ve got a home and you’ve got all these people and everyone is tiny and busy.

Then they tell you, “Oh, don’t worry about your to do list! Just enjoy being a mom!” And you’re like, I would love to enjoy being a mom, but someone’s got to figure out all these things.

It really touches me to see you and what you’ve done and what you’re continuing to do. It’s a big deal and whether it’s raising children or running a company or helping with aging parents, there’s this beautiful purpose that we have in our lives. When you can have a system that’s going to help you, it makes a difference.

We adapt it to our families and our lives and our work needs. It’s amazing when you find that system that will help you progress toward the goals and dreams you have.

Suzanne’s Experience:

(Suzanne was also in our Four Weeks to Finished program. We do a reunion call at the end of the program and invite people to share their stories–that’s how we get these beautiful audio interviews.)

I am so grateful for this! I’m trying to find the words and language for the transformation that’s happened in my life. It really is transforming the way I manage and process the details of my life in a brand-new way after 60 plus years.

I’m extraordinarily grateful especially in this maturing eldering process of realizing that I can’t multitask in the same way and I don’t want to. The bigger thing is that I want to be more present and more focused.

I recently spend a month prepping for a month-long trip. I really was able to set up a Command Central before we left on the first trip. While we were gone, I was able to keep up with emails and incoming messages, move them into the boxes they needed to be in, throw something in my calendar and put it in the Tickler File, etc. I definitely have catch up, but I’m not stressed by the catch up.

Prior to other trips, the night before was always very stressful–with very, very late nights. Why is it that we think that we need to get so many projects done before we go? It’s not really possible, but then we get stressed by that. I was also able to just say, “These projects don’t have to get done before I go. They will be here when I get back. I haven’t lost the details. I haven’t lost the prioritizing.”

And it let me just relax! I still had some late nights, but I literally could go to bed thinking, “It’s handled, it’s handled.”

My Response:

I think you hit the nail on the head because you wanted to get all the projects done because you were afraid the details would be lost. I think that’s something really common that all of us would feel like, “I have 885 details for each of seven projects in my mind. Once I go on vacation, there’s no way I’m going to remember everything for every project. I’m going to lose ground so it’s better for me to just get it all done and exhaust myself so that it’s not harder and I don’t have to dread it the whole time I’m on the trip.” Learning how to put the details somewhere where you wouldn’t miss them when you go back is key!

Suzanne:

And also the permission–this isn’t new but this is where we get it at deeper levels. The permission to not get it all done to, to be ok with only completing a couple of the 100 projects I’ve captured each month.

I think the biggest transformation for me is before I used to hold everything as urgent, important, and must get done. And now I’m able to let go of things that aren’t going to serve my life or my family’s life. And that’s successful!

And not only my stuff, but kind of having an eye and an ear out for other people’s stuff, like my spouse’s things. The things on my radar are good enough.

Thoughts from Eric:

I think what Suzanne touched on just now is universal to most of us. How many of you are getting ready to get on a plane or in a car to go on a trip and you feel this weird human urgency to jump in and do a bunch of projects you weren’t urgently trying to do before?

It is it the weirdest thing where you’re about to go do something fun, but you think, “Before I go, I must do these seven projects I haven’t been working on for six months.” It is such a funny human phenomenon.

I think this mind sweep helps us get all the details out and know that they’re captured, knowing the details are there and you can pick up when you get home. This is such a tranquil, peaceful, and comforting type of thing.

Suzanne:

If I may just add, the major project in my life is cleaning out my mom’s home and preparing it for sale. Because this is my commitment to Four Weeks to Finished, I was actually able to say comfortably, “I am not going to get anything done on that project this month nor during October and I will return to it in November.” When I give the permission to not do it, it allowed me to be lighter. If I got grumpy, the “grumpies” were shorter.

Most of my adult life is a belief in incrementality. Everything you do is incremental and we’re not perfect. We don’t have to be perfect. I love whoever makes their inboxes out of cereal boxes–I’m so inspired by those folks.

Every little piece of this moves us forward and as you have so well showed us, begins to rewire our brain to do things differently. That doesn’t happen overnight–especially when our brains are older. Just start and take the first step. Give yourself permission to not be perfect.

Laura’s Experience:

Laura shared this beautiful experience and images with us, and when we asked permission to share them with our community, we received this message:

We are so inspired by this transformation that occurred in Laura’s life!

I am incredibly grateful for each one of you, and I hope that you will all “keep on STEPping!” (Links are below, if you’re wondering where to get started!)

xoxo

April

Rebecca’s Experience:

Suzanne’s Experience:

Laura’s Experience:

More Related Links!

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