🦋 💜 🌿 How is your week going?

Hope it is going well!

My husband and I have been working on hand-sewing a Halloween costume.

We’ve been learning how to sew clothes over the past few months, which is pretty cool. It is a useful hobby.

Deciding to make a costume really put us into power drive.

Are you going to wear or make a costume?

I’m not going to give away what my costume is, but I promise to include a photo next week.

Speaking of photos, I have been taking a lot of them.

Over the weekend, we went to an event for my husband’s work team held at a local farm.

I took a bunch of photos as a way to make friends.

People liked the photos but I realized afterwards that I hadn’t taken that many of myself.

But it’s never too late!

Yesterday as I was treating myself to a hot cocoa topped with pumpkin whipped cream, I ran into the perfect spot for a solo fall photoshoot.

Scroll all the way down to see one of my new autumnal photos!

If you haven’t treated yourself to a fall selfie session, go find a good spot for it!

And I would be remiss if I didn’t spread the word about a new article I published last week.

It’s about work-life balance.

That is below.

There’s a lot of heart and soul in this piece because it is a culmination of my learning over the last decade.

I’ve always wanted to make rapid progress in my career as a writer and business owner, but it’s important to have a life, too.

Read on for a clip.

I hope this article helps someone else avoid the struggle I have grappled with.

From Workaholic to Conscious Creator

Lessons in work-life balance after 10 years in business…

As I sit here on my cozy couch, reflecting on my journey as a writer, coach, and entrepreneur, I can’t help but smile at the twists and turns that have led me to where I am today.

My name is Sofia Wren, and I’ve spent over 25 years writing and publishing online, as well as more than a decade as a business owner.

But my path hasn’t always been smooth or balanced. In fact, for many years, I was the quintessential workaholic, hustling non-stop in pursuit of success.

My journey began in childhood, when traumatic events led me to hide my true self, including my creativity.

Writing became my secret outlet, starting with a blog at age 10 in 1997.

As I entered my twenties, I realized I was suffocating in a box of fear, giving up a huge part of my soul. I knew I had to change.

In 2013, I took the leap and started my own business. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

I threw myself into my work, showing up at events, building connections, and using my writing online to keep people updated.

Success followed – I was recruited as the head copywriter for $10,000 marketing campaigns, ghostwriting jobs and editing books. I was living my dream as a professional writer!

But something was still missing in my personal life….

Read on for 3 lessons about work-life balance in my latest Linkedin newsletter.

​Read the rest of the article on Linkedin here​

2 Month Rapid Progress Program

💥 Only 2 spots remaining in the Rapid Progress 2-Month Program!

Want to make faster progress writing for your book or business?

Imagine waking up each day totally clear on what to do next to make faster progress on your writing projects or business marketing.

Whether you’re working on a book or business content,

this program is an affordable, high-impact way to move the needle in a big way by the end of the year.

You can accomplish a lot, without burning out or having a life that sucks.

The Rapid Progress 2-Month Program Includes:

✅ Clarity & Prioritization: Sort through ideas with me so you always know what to focus on next

✅ Weekly Feedback: Check-in with Sofia via voicenote or email—no live calls required!

✅ Editing Support: Submit up to 6 pages of your writing per week for feedback

🎁 Bonuses: Get access to the Optimism Challenge E-course +

2 months of the Video Vault packed with resources to support your business and writing goals.

💥 Only 2 spots remaining

at the discounted price of $300.

(That’s $200 off my typical rate.)

​Click here & learn more about the 2 Month Rapid Progress Program

(Or feel free to contact me now if you are interested).

…

“Sofia masterfully guided me to tune into my own wisdom to discover what my business was telling me. It was such a unique and empowering experience. Sofia’s approach is unique and highly effective.” Keasha Lee Ince, Striking Statements

…

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week.

Warmly, Sofia

🦋 💜 🌿 How are you doing?

I hope this message finds you well.

A lot has been happening on my end, and I wanted to share a quick update with you.

I’m mindful that I have limited energy for what I can do in 2024.

I’m taking things slower lately to avoid burnout and so I have time to rest; because, as I like to remind myself, rest is productive. 😊

Thus, I have to put some things on the shelf.

What is not happening:

• There will be no 6 Month Winter Writing Group this year
  
  
  

I normally run this writing program 2 times a year, but I’m skipping it.

Why? At the beginning of this year, I acquired my family business, and am working hard to juggle that with the writing + coaching busness I’ve had for 10 years.

I have to streamline my offerings for the moment, although I will probably teach it again in the future.

What is happening:

We have two major things on the docket for the next few months.

1. There will be a Winter series of live organization classes:

• the Winter Session of the Digital Organization Club will be dedicated to Notion Classes.
  
  
  

If your ideas feel scattered it can slow down your writing progress. The Digital Organization Club will help you get your ideas in order.

I’ll tell you more about the Winter Digital Organization Club and our Notion focus as time goes on.

If you need help with writing for your book or business in the meantime, I also have something else for you.

2. I’m excited to announce that doors are open for a limited-time offer:

• the Rapid Progress 2-Month Program!

Here’s What You’ll Get

This Rapid Progress program is designed specifically for busy people who need extra support in their writing journey.

Imagine waking up each day totally clear on what to do next to make faster progress.

Whether you’re working on a book or business content, this is an affordable, high-impact way to make meaningful progress before the end of the year.

• Clarity and Prioritization: We’ll sort through your ideas so you know what to focus on next at every turn.
  
• Weekly Check-ins: Get my personalized weekly feedback via Voxer or email—no need to schedule live calls.
  
• Optional Editing: Submit up to 6 pages per week for feedback, or 3 pages for line-by-line edits.
  
• Bonuses: You’ll receive access to the Optimism Challenge E-course & 2 months in the Video Vault, packed with resources to support your writing goals.

Only 3 spots are available

at the discounted price of $300.

(That’s $200 off my typical rate.)

“I definitely am so so happy that I reached out to you because I feel like you have helped me motivate myself and helped me to boost my confidence and self-esteem when it comes to my business ideas. You helped me with the process. Since we’ve talked, I’ve literally built an Instagram network, built a Tiktok network. I’ve been more comfortable with posting my things on LinkedIn, and Facebook. Oh and my website, you’ve helped with that. Just from April, when we started talking, I’ve literally built an entire website and I have over 1000 followers on social media, which I like never thought that would happen.” – Kristina ​

Why Now?

This offer is only available from now through December 1st.

If you’ve been waiting for the right time to push forward with your projects, this is your sign.

Imagine starting 2025 with your writing well underway…

—whether it’s a book you’ve been dreaming of or content that will grow your business.

This program is for you if you want to make progress writing,

but feels stuck or overwhelmed by too many ideas

It’s time to move from stuck to unstoppable.

‘Sofia is an amazing editor. She’s helped me in the past and is currently helping me. I highly recommend this talented woman. This is a quote I texted Sofia the other day “Your work is amazing. I love what you’ve done for me and the book!”‘ Melissa Feick, Spiritual Teacher & International Bestselling Author.

Sofia masterfully guided me to tune into my own wisdom to discover what my business was telling me. It was such a unique and empowering experience. Sofia’s approach is unique and highly effective.” Keasha Lee Ince, Striking Statements

What to Expect Next

If this sounds like a fit for you, let’s connect!

Contact me to say you are interested.

We can have a conversation over email or the phone to discuss your goals and figure out if this program is the right next step for you.

If you’re ready to wrap up the year strong and always know what to do next to make rapid progress,

contact me now to talk more.

Let’s get started!

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week.

Warmly, Sofia

How has your week been?

Hi! How has your week been? My husband and I have been sick.

I’m finally feeling on the mend but not quite there.

Here’s a few things we’ve been doing to wait this cold out

Shows:

• 90210

I never watched the show when it was on TV. But I started watching the series from the beginning on Paramont. I love all the 90s vibes, very nostalgic for me.

• In Vogue: The 90s

Speaking of, this documentary about the fashion industries in the 90s just came out as a Hulu Original. Loving all the looks and faces I remember, with extra history I didn’t know.

• Bob & Bill

This documentary was recommended by my husband. It’s about the real story of Batman, and the creative mind behind the comic that never got recognized during his life-time. It’s incredible and emotional: the story of how they got Bill Finger his proper credit as co-creator.

• My Old Ass

This is in theatres. and I actually saw it when I didn’t feel sick. But it was a must-watch. You might not relate to the main character but the universal message about change and appreciating what we have now, is so profound.

Other activities

• Cooking soup

My husband is addicted to my chicken noodle soup. We already made 2 batches, and will probably make a third.

• Sewing and mending

Making clothes is a skill we both want to learn together. Also, I’m into mending my stuff. Lately, I’ve been on a personal mission to mend my jeans so I can wear them longer this fall.

Mindset

Now getting to a more serious topic…

I have to watch my mindset when I am sick.

To be able to rest is something that I’ve had to work on over the years.

I have a t-shirt that says, “Resting is productive.”

That’s something that has taken me a long time to learn. And I have to remind myself.

This week, there have been times when I’ve felt frustrated to be sick.

This month I’ve had so many unexpected roadblocks to the things I need to do, that I want to accomplish.

It feels like it has wasted a lot of valuable time. It makes me angry at times.

But you know life isn’t all in our control.

It is what it is.

And the fact of the matter is that I need rest right now.

Learning by Tracking Themes

Recently, I was talking to someone about tracking important, ongoing relationships with things like rest. We all have these ongoing themes. Maybe you never thought about tracking them?

The woman I was talking to was going through years of old journals.

Why? To get the written contents into their computer so some notebooks can be discarded. Paper journals really add up over the years. And it’s heavy.

I get it because it’s one reason I got into digital organization, as well.

I recommended that they track one of the themes they’d found in an old journal. (You can do this in the free app we both use, Obsidian, that I teach in my Digital Organization Club.)

Every time you notice yourself talking about the topic in a journal entry, you link that to your main theme.

Tracking these themes and relationships is something I’ve been doing now for years in what I call my Encyclopedia of me.

You may have heard of my “Encyclopedia of Me” if you saw

​A. This video: 10x my healing with this tech tool.​

OR

​B. This written post on the same topic: 10x your healing, writing this way.​

If so, then you might remember that

I’ve got a whole section in my digital archive dedicated to RELATIONSHIPS to things that I have been tracking across my journals.

Examples:

• relationship to your body
• relationship to money
• relationship to work

One of the relationships most fascinating to me lately is my relationship to time.

Over time, I started to notice that the theme of time played a lot in my psychology:

• feeling rushed,
• feeling like I didn’t get enough done in the time
• the clock is ticking…

Time has been a recurring source of stress for me.

And that’s a problem.

One of the things I’ve been working on this year is to take my time more, take things slower.

And leave that hustling, speed demon, stress energy behind me. It’s for my mental health.

I’ve been carrying around that need for speed for a long time and it’s hard to quit.

But because I have been tracking this theme across all my journal entries and notes,

whenever it comes up in my journal,

I’m able to revisit my history with it and my insights,

explore it in more depth, and try to learn the lessons I need to.

What I discover by going down the rabbit hole to explore all the information I’ve connected around this theme can surprise me.

I’ve been so wise in the past.

Sometimes it can take us a while to learn our lessons.

We learn them over and over again, forget them, and then learn them again, yes?

Well, I do my best to shorten this learning curve, but I am human all the same.

In 2017, I wrote

feeling a sense of rush or not getting there fast enough is related to not wanting to feel my emotions, like grief, or not wanting to rest, and instead, just push on to some “destination”.

In reality = faster progress equals faster letting go

Letting go means letting go of control.

Just being with whatever feelings I am trying to avoid.

Just being at rest and taking care of myself.

That doesn’t seem like a “solution” or

like “doing anything”

but it can be really powerful and effective.

Sometimes just being with the present moment is the hardest thing for me to do

especially when my feelings are intense, I’m scared or things are really uncertain.

In 2017, I had an emotionally hard year because we anticipated my dad was going to lose his house.

And although that situation is long gone now, (the house, too),

there are new challenges I face today that bring up the same theme.

And my goal is always to learn from the past.

To try to shorten that learning curve.

So even though, I would like to make progress quickly on things that really will move the needle in my life.

And it drives me crazy to have constraints on my time and then on top of that to get sick…

Sometimes you just have to be sick, drink your fluids and wait to feel better.

I know that if I don’t, then I’ll probably just be sicker, longer.

And that’s that.

Hope this message means something to you.

Not only is it safe to rest or pause

but, ironically, sometimes that is how you make the fastest progress in the end.

Have a good week

Thanks for reading

-Sofia Wren

P.S. Are you interested in organizing old journal entries?

Want to whittle down your collection of paper notebooks, but get all of the good stuff out of them?

Get help organizing your ideas and get them off of paper, and into your computer so you can make better use of them. Soon you’ll be able to let those notebooks go.

​Join the Fall Digital Organization Club. It’s not too late.​

It’s October – do you like this month?

Something about it gives me such joy!

I smile at the thought that IT’S OCTOBER!

Things are starting to feel like fall:

apple picking,

experimenting with different homemade pumpkin drinks and

a little nip in the air when I sit outside in the morning.

My favorite ritual is spending time outside each morning to make the most of the months I can brave the weather! Here in Wisconsin winter is always quite the event. And I know it’s coming, all the more reason to step outside and enjoy the world as much as I can.

It’s been very busy besides that, but who wants to talk about that lol.

Better to talk about that fall world outside, there for me when I can pull away.

Today I had a really nice conversation with someone I’ve known for many years.

It got me thinking about everything that happened in the last few years, and how much I have grown.

We always have more to do, further to go.

But it’s so easy to forget how far we have come.

Do you ever ask yourself:

how much have I grown these last few years?

Reframing your success

​Recently, I saw a Youtube video by Struthless.​

He said instead of asking himself, “Why am I not further along?”

He started asking, “Why did I get so far along?”

“Why didn’t I just stop 80% of the way to where I am now?”

This reframe is so helpful to get your brain to see your accomplishments and progress in a different light.

It’s taken me a long time, but one of the ways I have grown is to celebrate what I have done more.

I think I’m starting to shift the way I think about things

so I don’t let all the things I still have yet to do prevent me from seeing all I HAVE already done.

In fact yesterday to mark the start of a new month, October *yay!*

I not only made a list of things I want to prioritize this month,

but also a list of everything significant I did in September.

I deserve credit for that.

And believe me, it helps me be a lot more motivated to tackle the next thing.

You have come so far.

Let’s celebrate that even more!

You deserve credit, too!

Your assignment is to take time to celebrate how you’ve grown.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Are you overwhelmed by all of your ideas?

Still haven’t made progress on some of them from years past?

​ If you’d like help organizing your ideas so you can write for your blog, book or business, then join us for the Fall Digital Organization Club. It’s not too late to join us

How has your week been?

I’ve been digging out of a hole, from being both exhausted and behind on my todo list.

(Last week, I had to deep clean my house all of a sudden due to a problem and it was a lot.)

I am starting to recover and it feels like maybe I am on the other side popping out better than ever.

My trust in hope for good things coming from the universe at large

took a hit last week

but now it’s better than before.

Healing truly is not a linear process.

…

I’ve been craving talking about something.

Today I wanted to pop in to revisit some ideas I have shared previously and strike up this question:

How well do you communicate with yourself?

I think this question is so key and it has been a focus of my entire life and work.

Writing + Organizing

My life felt like a mess by the end of college, I couldn’t get over that my boss stole money from me.

When I graduated college, I felt lost on my next steps so I started writing every day.

​See my video or article about that: “My boss stole from me so I started writing daily. Then this happened.”​

Writing in particular was the gateway drug.

It was what helped me begin to listen to myself better.

I hadn’t even realized that we (me + me) were not communicating well.

And I’ve come to appreciate the tool of writing more and more over the years.

​Writing is a passion because it’s all about being a best friend to myself. (Here’s an article about that).​

And organizing for me is a passion for similar reasons.

Organizing my words was a natural next step as a writer.

Originally, I got into organizing because I ended up writing every day for years,

writing in such quantities I could not find anything any more. I had so many ideas that felt like they were falling in the cracks.

What I learned after a few years of embracing organizing is that it’s really all about:

valuing your ideas and making it so you can return to them later, aka basically talking to yourself in the future.

Think about it this way:

If you are disorganized, how can you trust that you can talk to your future self?

That she will get the message?

You can’t so you might not trust her in the future to follow through on important things.

​Here’s a podcast I did on this idea that organization is self care that will give you a better relationship with yourself.​

Having a good relationship with yourself is also a part of having clarity,

knowing what to do next in your life, book, business or creative practice. I believe you can do it by listening to both yourself and

what the things you are creating want you to do next.

​(I talked about that recently in a recent free class I did on finding your priorities.)​

It’s all about listening. Communicating.

You + you.

YALL THIS THEME IS ENDURING FOR ME

This question of how well you relate to yourself is at the crux of everything I help people do.

That includes coaching people to write for a book or business, organizing their ideas. Editing books and copywriting. Helping with marketing, productivity, business and project management.

Not to mention helping people heal from things like trauma and loss, which I always seem to do along the way of whatever I do even though I am not a therapist (I do have a masters in spiritual care though). Helping you find clarity in your life or work, listening to your intuition and what you discover through writing and organizing.

Also, I don’t talk about my love of Tarot because I know may seem random…

I used to offer intuitive readings all the time and my intuition is spot-on, if I do say so myself. (I gave out free Tarot readings to people who donated to my fundraiser to send 2 young women in Sierra Leone, Africa pay for college this spring….)

The truth is, I got good at it by learning to listen to myself. And when people tune into a good intuitive reading they start hearing their own intuition, and things that have been lurking under the surface for a while that they just couldn’t articulate / needed to confirm. Trust me, for the last 15+ years everything I’ve done is all about helping you (and me) have a good relationship with ourselves.

AND IT IS NEEDED

Women especially have SUCH a hard time with this because we are socialized to think of ourselves last. But it affects really cool dudes, too.

My learning about this

This topic of having a good relationship with ME has been an ongoing focus of mine for the last few years,

and I’ve talked about it in various ways (as you can see). Here are a just a few more:

• ​How it Went: ​ My 2023 Goal to Have a Better Relationship With Myself
• ​1 Thing I Learned in 2023 about life​: your relationship with yourself might not be all about you.

And trying to have a better relationship with myself may never end.

It’s not over! It’s never over! It is at the heart of the things I am working on behind the scenes in my own life to this day…

RIGHT NOW.

It is still my goal of the year to focus on my relationship with myself (yes, 2024 is the second year that I am focusing on this).

And the status?

Things are going well and I am learning a lot. About what helps me thrive.

And how to help myself feel good and motivated to move towards those important things I want done.

​(See my overview of what my process is and what is working for me super well in my life and work now, if you missed my email last week.)

​

SOCIAL MEDIA

And finally….

Part of having a good relationship with myself is noticing what makes me feel off.

In late July/ August I had to admit that all the craziness happening in the United State politically was getting me on social media a ton and thus more anxious and upset.

I worked to get the heck off –which was good…of course, lately I notice myself creeping back on at times.

It’s hard to eliminate completely because sometimes dipping a toe in is totally fine and fun. And I have so many good friends and contacts online I don’t want to lose, either. But of course…when I find myself mad about something I saw online or thinking about it at 3 AM that’s my evidence that I was playing with fire.

Anyway, this is not a new concept for me, but I need periodic reminders.

Here’s a clip of an email I sent in 2022 on the topic:

……

Are you spending a lot of time online, on your phone or social media?

Does it leave you feeling bored or off?

You might want to try this trick I used to make sure I am really filling my tank with what I really need, not just consuming crap that does not really fulfill me. ​

I noticed after I lost my father in 2021 that I was scrolling through social media and just feeling bad.

I had to ask myself, “Is this helping me or hurting me?” ​ ​ I decided to institute a new practice for a while called “microjournaling” which I heard about from a youtube video by Struthless talking about quitting social media ​in this video​. ​ ​​ ​

What I did:

​ For a month, every time I picked up my phone to scroll, instead I wrote a sentence about how I felt in a notes application.

I used one called Google Keep.

If you want to try it, you could do this anywhere you can keep a written or digital note, like Obsidian, Notion or Apple Notes. ​

What I learned:

​ I discovered I often picked up my phone and craved going on social media when I felt sad and just wanted a distraction. ​ But this was problematic.

If I went on social media while sad, I could easily see something that would make me feel worse, or at the very least,

it wasn’t really going to make me feel better.

In this period of my life, distraction from my feelings wasn’t going to help me process them.

So I decided that when I feel sad, I will refrain from going on social media. I decided to take a break for about a month and removed pressure to post for my business. I just let people know I needed a break for a while. ​

I kept up the practice of journaling when I wanted to go on social media.

And then something changed!!​ ​

After a while, in my microjournaling I noticed I suddenly wanted to go on social media for the purpose of creating and sharing. That was new, and it seemed fun and creative, which was positive for me, rather than a negative thing. ​ So I started experimenting with making videos and pictures to share my life in an authentic way just to connect with my people. That has felt really good.

​That was a good lead in to the new personal vlog I created about the lessons from grieving my dad for a year. I’m so glad I created that, it was really meaningful.

​

​These days I am not as rigid about microjournaling and sometimes I find myself scrolling for 20 minutes and still feeling bored—but I will notice and be like,

ok what’s going on here? What am I really wanting?

I don’t always know what I want or what I need

but stopping the scroll and doing something else usually helps me figure it out. ​

I’m figuring out how to balance everything along side you, but I thought I would share in case it helps you!

Next time you feel bored or off, try writing a sentence about how you feel, or asking yourself, “What am I really wanting or needing right now?”

It is okay to be with those feelings even if you don’t have all the answers quite yet.

I trust you will get closer to those answers in the end by being more connected to yourself.

​

…

Hope this inspires you. If you need more, look into the resources below!

Become the put together person of your dreams!

Want to get organized? Put ideas, notes, documents, + journals in order?

Make books, articles, emails, blogposts out of them? Achieve your goals faster than before? ​

If you are ready to put your random post its, notes, documents, articles, and ideas in one place

so you can make faster progress on your writing or business projects…

The 3 Month Fall Digital Organization Club is calling you!

​​Click to read more, you can still join.

As you might have noticed, I’m someone who has a lot of goals, who really wants to make progress on them…

and I’m also human.

And so all of this has been a journey, especially in the last few years since 2021, when life got hard, my dad died, etc.

I used to have boundless energy, which suddenly turned into a thimble full of capacity.

I have needed to pay extra, extra extra attention to what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.

As my capacity has gradually started expanding over the years (still limited though), it has taught me a lot.

It given me a little bit more of a fine tuned lens on things that I didn’t need as much support on when I was feeling 100%

Now that I’m operating on less than that,

I want to make things as easy for myself as possible and not rely on things that I can’t control to go perfectly,

like my sleep level,

my energy level,

my positivity level,

my mood and my health.

Everything is connected…

So I’ve been really paying attention to the process of how I do things,

because although life can’t be 100% optimized, I want to move in that direction.

To provide a softer landing for all the times when life is not 100% good or I don’t feel 100% well.

I want to move into higher percentages, even if it’s only 10% or something, hell, I will take 2% increase.

But I am really excited to share that I am finally narrowing in on how to bounce up a large chunk of percentage points.

I have made some recent changes to my life, and it feels like I’m on to something now.

The beginning

It started when I noticed that feeling unmotivated was a really big problem for me.

As a former workaholic speed demon, a sense of reluctance to do things is very foreign.

​And yet I noticed this persistent stuck, unmotivated vibe in late May. (You might have read about it.)​

And so I became really invested in trying to be more motivated since and have been writing about what I am learning on the journey.

In working on feeling motivated and fired up, rather than expecting that motivation to just be there (like it used to be),

​The core of these efforts is contained in a notebook, basically, a commonplace notebook which I define here.​

The book

This is a physical disc-bound notebook where I put important notes

that will get me fired up, help me advance my goals and other wise feel motivated to do things.

I call it my GET FIRED book. It’s supposed to be like a book version of drinking coffee.

I have collected these notes from my digital organization system

as well as written many things by hand.

I flip through this notebook daily so I spend time reviewing it every day,

thus reminding myself of things to help me get fired up and remain motivated.

Side note: although I have a high preference for things being digital because its so much easier to organize, archive and review over the long term…

When something is really important for me to focus on in the short term,

having it in physical form as well helps my brain.

That could mean printing it and putting it on my desk. I can’t look at a screen constantly and paper gives me pleasure.

So as I combine the benefits of the best of digital and paper worlds,

this has sparked me to attend to read my important ideas more often and

resulted in a pivotal change

The process

So what this looks like is picking things out to print out:

pieces of my notes and writing to read or review or highlight,

worksheets from classes made by others or things I make myself.

When I put printouts in my notebook

I add in my handwritten notes,

blank sheets to journal about things I want to dig into specifically,

handwritten lists like ideas for self care or

todo lists for the week for certain projects…

whatever inspires me, all in one place.

And every day I promise myself I will flip through it.

Because I am now looking at the right things, the right notes, each day,

it has helped me to move forward on whatever project I choose to arrange these things around.

I enjoy looking at it in the morning at my desk or outside on my balcony with a coffee.

It’s amazing to make something for yourself, like a book or a resource that you can hold on your hands tangibly.

We underplay how your notes or writing can be worth printing.

Paper and digital can be friends:

Using the best of your writings on your computer or phone, as well as things that you hand write, it can all come into one place.

And anything you have written by hand or annotate can go back on the computer later.

Print and digital work well together.

So they’re both intangibly part of my process.

This is my happy place.

What I’m Learning

And this is what my notebook sparked: a series of learning points.

Since I began my notebook dedicated to motivation, I added notes on Brendon Burchard’s book the Motivation Manifesto.

Burchard says motivation requires: ​

A. Ambition (a choice to do more) and ​ ​B. Expectancy (belief that what you want is possible).

I saw these notes a lot through reviewing my GET FIRED Common Place Book and eventually I couldn’t deny that optimism was the main motivation ingredient that I lacked.

Over time I began to accept that this was the cornerstone of my motivation problem:

I didn’t really have optimism. And hadn’t since 2021.

I think for me, my normal level of optimism is pretty high, and so

even if I feel middling optimism, I probably seem sunny from the outside.

But inside it is not enough. It didn’t feel right.

I trust myself that I know best what I feel and what I need as a unique individual.

In July, I started using a page in my notebook to track my mood daily, giving each mood a color.

I could quickly see that I rarely felt happy. Like actually happy.

And when was it last a regular feeling?

2020 when I fell in love with my husband, before my dad died.

Obviously I had every reason to feel bad after my dad died suddenly in 2021.

And I knew I felt worse.

But seeing it with your eyes is different.

I just thought, “right, that’s something that I want to work on.”

Given that any change requires me to do something and

That requires motivation and

motivation requires optimism…

Optimism seemed like a good place to start.

By the way not blindly optimistic. I really want to see whatever bad things I can avoid, because bad shit can happen.

Still it’s possible to think things can still go in a positive direction regardless.

The Optimism Challenge

To work on being optimistic, I set myself a challenge: a 30 Day Optimism Challenge.

For a while I was a bit aimless, but then I decided to announce it publicly in August.

​As part of this I taught a class and created a workbook that I could use, and share with other people​.

Printing out the workbook and adding it to my notebook gave my personal optimism challenge structure.

I followed the process step by step (utilizing what I know about forming habits as a writing coach.)

And I just finished the 30 day challenge last week.

Over this past month, I tracked a noticeable increase in my optimism level.

I tracked my optimism levels every day and took notes.

In addition to daily tracking I also did a weekly review

specifically exploring what was hard and easy about being optimistic that week and

what I could do or change the next week.

If you’ve never had a practice of reviewing your week with a series of questions, it can be a wonderful way to lock in memories, and learn from your experiences.

Adding questions to that review week after week to inquire about the changes you want to make, is a game changer.

I even have transcribed much of what I wrote down and added it to my digital archive

so that I never forget the insights I have been learning in this process.

I especially like to transcribe my weekly reviews.

I usually prefer to read these out loud into a transcription app several weeks later because it helps me remember it better longterm.

I can remind myself of the powerful insights that I began to forget

(it is amazing how quickly that forgetting happens, none of us are immune!)

For instance as I went into the final 2 weeks of the challenge,

I transcribed the reviews from the first half as a way to remember what I had learned so far

—reviewing the written weekly reviews.

Reviewing your reviews is not overkill. It is smart.

There are always pieces that pertain to goals, action steps, themes or topics that deserve more attention.

I want to keep track of my insights.

Sometimes what I read from several weeks ago can be applied immediately.

Some of that information ends up being added somewhere in an archive.

In the Summer Digital Organization Club, I shared how I have a note that serves as a hub for all of my goals for the year.

(That class and all classes from summer are now a bonus for fall members)

I try to update this central goal hub note whenever I write about goals

in my daily journal or my weekly reviews,

as all of that is enduring information I don’t want to forget about later.

I may not think about every goal I have day to day, but I will see it regularly.

Each month I reread that note about my goals, as well as my review from the last few weeks, month or season. I periodically review that kind of stuff.

And it feels good. This is definitely coming along in terms of a system.

Takeaways

I know because of this system I have, I’m probably always going to remember this time in my life.

There are dreams that have been lurking for years and feeling impossible that I am slowly turning into action.

I have a growing feeling in my life that I actually have some power and control over things (crazy I know).

I really can choose want to focus on and I trust in time I will see it improve.

I’ve noticed more optimism, more spontaneity, more joy, less anxiety, more hope and purpose.

If you are trying to initiate a change

I will share what helps me in terms of a mindset to begin:

It doesn’t need to be neat, it doesn’t need to be cute.

I repeat, to start it doesn’t need to be cute.

Sometimes you do it in an uncute way for a while and then it becomes cute.

My notebook was something I bought years ago that I repurposed and

gradually I’ve been adorning it in pretty pictures to display how sacred it really is to me.

If you want to write, get organized, change, or start system or program of some kind…

remember it doesn’t need to be neat and doesn’t need to be cute.

It just needs to be there so you can get started.

You can decorate and embroider your ideas, your notes or whatever you are working on…later.

When I reread my writing or notes, I can highlight or add an idea.

When I transcribe them, it inspires me to talk more about something or add new pieces of information.

When I go through an experience like giving myself a challenge, I see what works and changes each week and what doesn’t.

I tweak as I go.

Nothing about my process started perfectly, but I got started and bit by bit everything is getting better then it was before.

…

Hope this inspires you. If you need more, look into the resources below!

Click here to get the Workbook & Resources to

do your own 30 Day Optimism Challenge

Become the put together person of your dreams!

Want to get organized? Put ideas, notes, documents, + journals in order?

Make books, articles, emails, blogposts out of them? Achieve your goals faster than before? ​

If you are ready to put your random post its, notes, documents, articles, and ideas in one place

so you can make faster progress on your writing or business projects…

The 3 Month Fall Digital Organization Club is calling you!

​​Click to read more, you can still join.​

Thanks for reading!

How are you doing?

I’m hanging in there!

It has been a busy start to September and I’m trying to balance my self care and my work.

Today I’m sharing a relieved phrase repeated from entrepreneurs, writers or creators

“I finally don’t feel alone.”

Sometimes accompanied by happy tears.

These words are from creative folks who finally learned the secret weapon to making meaningful progress on work that matters.

It’s the escape hatch from a very real problem in creative work, books and business.

This sense of being alone in your work, it’s so pervasive:

-It’s all on you. If you don’t know what to do next, who will?

-If you don’t do it all, it won’t get done.

-How are you going to do it all?

-Why didn’t you do it yet, like yesterday?!

It’s a lot of responsibility, all on you.

It feels heavy like a ton of bricks.

You can try to stop feeling alone in your book or business by hiring another human… BUT there are risks.

It could be good, OR

maybe you follow the wrong guide or guru,

You could be out thousands of dollars and

still not know what to do, or

worse, end up in the totally wrong direction.

I know the struggle

as a seasoned writer, creator and entrepreneur myself.

I spent the money, wasted the time, got the t-shirt,

but I did figure a way out of this.

And for 10 years +

I’ve been an ethical companion to writers and workers on this creative journey, people:

-writing a book about their passion,

-crafting a bio and service description for their sidehustle or

-marketing their small business online full time.

The thing I learned is that none of this has to be ALL ON YOU.

If you are taking the entire creative process onto your own shoulders.

You are missing the best part!!

What if there is someone you can talk to who

ALWAYS knows what you should do next on your business or projects?

And no, I’m not talking about myself!

I’m here to tell you the real secret weapon to getting results that matter

Is LISTENING to what your project wants.

This is what I call:

CONNECTING TO THE SOUL OF WHAT YOU CREATE.

Your book

Your business

Your website

Same thing goes for any life change or creative practice,

This is the magic of the creative process!

What you want has a soul, a voice, and

it can help you be productive AF.

And it is also smarter than you and sees your blindspots.

SO

Whatever you are trying to create, maybe you are not alone.

Maybe something has been trying to help you and work with you all this time…

it isn’t on you to figure it all out by yourself.

If you want help figuring out what to do next

so you can juggle all the things and

make progress in your book or business,

WATCH THE FREE CLASS BELOW.

I’m teaching how to tap into this soul for your project in my class “Find Your Priorities,”

now available for free below

& to get additional support

read about my latest offerings below

Including a brand new 8 Week Business From Soul Intensive

Free Class Replay

Does your todo list feel like an endless black hole?

That’s okay! Watch the replay for this free class:

Identify what is meaningful for you to work on this week

from the most authentic, soulful place and connection to the work you are here to do.

Know What to Do Next &

Simplify the things you need to do,

with less overwhelm and analysis paralysis.

In this FREE 45 minute class entitled “Find My Priorities”,

you will learn to tap into the soul of your book, business or creative practice

to have a clear and profound sense of what to do next

so you can make faster progress.

Plus you will no longer feel alone!

Know what to do next in your writing, business or creative work by tapping into your soul

Watch the the free “Find My Priorities” Class below or click here to see it on Youtube

NEW

8 Week Business From Soul Intensive

For small business owners + creatives or writers

with LOTS to do this fall

If you don’t want to be adrift, distracted, or doing things that don’t matter this fall +

You want to make faster progress while honoring your mental and physical health, +

tapping into the inspiration of your soul

Let’s join forces to move the needle in a big way for your book, business or writing this fall.

Includes:

-8 weekly group calls like the Priorities class above on Tuesdays, 11 AM EST (with replay)

-6 weeks of personal mentorship with me via weekly virtual checkins over voxer or email..

-Access to the Fall Digital Organization Club (or credit if you already signed up).

A $700 value now only…

$300

or payment plans available

If you need a buddy as you tackle your todolist, a coach, a cheerleader,

someone who has been helping writers and business owners to do meaningful work for over 10 years,

Please contact me to see if you are a good fit for this program!

The sooner you reach out, the sooner you can make faster progress on the things that really matter.

Contact me to talk about the 8 week intensive.

Become the put together person of your dreams!

The Fall Digital Organization Club is about to start

Want to get organized?

Put ideas, notes, documents, + journals in order?

Make books, articles, emails, blogposts out of them?

Achieve your goals faster than before? ​

If you are ready to put your random post its, notes, documents, articles, and ideas in one place

so you can make faster progress on your writing or business projects…

The 3 Month Fall Digital Organization Club is calling you!

It’s only $90 or

3 payments of $33

​​Click to read more–we start on September 18th​

Thanks for reading!

Lots of love, courage & mermaid vibes,

How’s the first week of September treating you?

I know. September happened fast.

ME: I’m trying to enjoy being outside as much as I can

because winter comes early.

It might snow in October, it’s that kind of cold.

But I want to take a minute today to talk about perfectionism.

You think you know all about it, already, but you don’t!

Perfectionism is the sort of thing that you KNOW exists,

and we all think we know everything about it already.

But it’s sneaky.

It has subtleties you can miss.

So many of my organization and writing students,

entrepreneurs and creators,

have told me that I help them break through perfectionism.

And it’s a game changer because

suddenly. you. make. so. much. progress.

in so much less time.

So it’s worth looking again to see if perfectionism really ISN’T sneaking up on you.

Could it be blocking progress for your fall business, writing, or creative goals?

Hmmm?

​I made a 1 minute video on how perfectionism blocks people from getting organized.​

Whatever system you want to make, or improvement, or goal to achieve,

perfectionism creates a feeling of ALL or nothing.

You have to meet a really high expectation or else it’s not worth it to try.

I want you to challenge this assumption this week.

Watch out for the sneaky ways perfectionism has stopped you.

For instance one of my blocks has been needing

the next thing I work on to be exactly the right thing.

And sometimes I play ball with that because I don’t want to waste my time.

I’ve developed a toolbox of methods to discern my priorities

and what to do next

(which I’m teaching in a free class next Tuesday the 10th, more on that below).

But the thing is that sometimes, it really doesn’t have to be 100% RIGHT.

Not from the start.

Sometimes you just need to do SOMETHING and START.

This week, I’m letting myself break free and follow my spontaneity.

I’m leaning into distraction.

I’m letting myself go on a walk, or do what I feel like,

even if it feels like a distraction from my real work.

It gives me energy.

And I just do stuff so perfectionism isn’t stealing that energy from me.

PERFECTIONISM WASTES OUR TIME AND ENERGY.

We know this.

In classes for organizing, I often set a timer and challenge my group

to work with our notes, journals, ideas and files

for only a small chunk of time, like 10 minutes.

I’ve done the same in my writing classes, and this is what I find:

Sometimes we do more in 10 minutes than we could have done in an hour.

WHY?

Because in a 10 minute timed segment

there’s no time for facebook scrolling, or checking your email,

You Just Do the Thing Already.

So if you get stuck, try just setting a timer for 10 minutes and JUST DO something!

And if you need help or want to join my groups to get some work done,

be sure to check out my offerings below:

• a free class
• a sale on a class
• a video on perfectionism

And remember — if you see a typo or error from me,

take it as your permission slip to be imperfect,

because unless you are a brain surgeon,

a couple of mistakes are probably not going to kill someone.

Now let’s do this!

Does your to do list feel like a black hole?

Then it’s time to simplify!

This upcoming FREE class on Tues Sept 10 will have you feeling the EASE of simplicity,

so you know what to do next.

No more analysis paralysis, or wasted time…

How?

By learning techniques to drop into your best thinking space +

so you can HEAR your intuition and genius spell out exactly what you need to do next in your book, writing, business or other art form,

This is for business owners and creators of all kinds because you need simplicity the most:

I know how having too many ideas and projects can make your head spin!

Come to the free class to tackle your todo list and get clear on what to do first, next, and last.

It’s not your every day productivity class, baby, it’s got soul + creativity galore.

Come to the FREE class: “Find My Priorities”

Make sure you are signed up for the weekly email FunLetters because you will get access to this and future free classes!

Click here to see the recent FunLetter with the zoom invitation, and sign up to get the replay and other free goodies.

I hope to see you in the upcoming live class!

There is still time to join the – Digital Organization Club

to become the put together person of your dreams…

Want to get organized?

Put ideas, notes, documents, + journals in order?

Make books, articles, emails, blogposts out of them?

Achieve your goals faster than before?

The Digital Organization Club is about to start:
3 months of support to get organized starting September 18th

​

​​Click here to read more–It’s starting soon.​

Perfectionism to Avoid When Organizing Your Ideas

Trying to get organized?

Don’t let this mental block stop your progress.

​Watch this 7 minute video: “Perfectionism to Avoid When Organizing Your Ideas” here. ​

Also, I wrote an article on the subject, if you prefer to read.

Here’s the beginning:

Trying to get organized for fall?

Don’t let this mental block stop you from making progress.

If you’re anything like me and many small business owners I know, it’s go time. We are plotting our plans for the rest of 2024 and there’s a lot to get done.

Things to write, and people to talk to, and life-related events to fit into your schedule.

In my mind, the key to save time and use your energy more effectively this fall is to be BETTER ORGANIZED.

Because when you’re not, you are:

• Wasting your time looking for files, notes or contact info,
• overwhelmed between all the things you could do so you do nothing, and
• reinventing the wheel, rewriting things you already have somewhere.

I have been teaching digital organization to a hoarde of writers, creators and entrepreneurs.

And if I could change your whole fall with one insight on the topic, it’s this:

If you have a system you’re trying to implement,

if you have a desire to get organized, then

Don’t slip into this perfect trap:

if you don’t methodically sit down and organize every single little thing that you own,

if you don’t organize every little file on you computer,

if you don’t organize every single idea that you’ve ever thought or written,

then what’s the point?

THIS IS THE TRAP…

If this resonates you better read the whole thing!

​Click here to keep reading this short article, “Get Organized for Fall – Don’t Slip into this Perfect Trap”

It is with much excitement I inform you that it’s here!

The 3 Month Digital Organization Club is open for Fall!

And it’s 50% off for the early bird sale.

​Click here to read more–It’s 50% off until the 11:59 PM EST Thursday, September 4, 2024.

I used to have trouble finding things, and using my ideas.

Organization benefits my life and mental health by:

• Remembering my real priorities: I can finally break old patterns because I remember what I learn. No more forgetting. Clarity is lasting!
• Sense of peace: Everything is ok. I can relax. All my ideas are written down and I know I’ll find it
• Better boundaries: I stand my ground more because I know what’s really important to me.
• More confidence: I value my ideas and I take myself seriously. I feel empowered. I am learning and growing in all the right ways.​ ​

And of course there are major career benefits

Finding my ideas more easily benefits my writing and business by:

• Saving time: No more taking an hour to find a document or file.
• More energy: Since it’s easy to find everything I need, I can jump into the task at hand with full energy.
• Writing articles, emails and blogs easily: I am never starting from scratch when I write because all my great ideas are at my finger tips!
• The satisfaction of synthesizing: I’m building on my ideas, and developing them into something even better. I feel like a genius.
• Better quality work: I’m feeling prouder of what I create, and share it with more people. I can even reuse or reference my work again over time.

FINALLY A SOLUTION TO IDEA MESS AND CHAOS.

Across my life, writing and work, so much is steadily improving now that I am more organized! It’s really changed my life a lot,

is it your turn?

​Get organized with me this fall.​

USE THIS COUPON FOR 50% off

earlybird50

Enter the code above at check out for 50% off.

​Your earlybird discount is waiting for you. Come get organized with the 3-Month Fall Digital Organization Club.​