I'm Back! Master your Mess in 3 Days

too a little bit. I can't tell you how many dms I got for this podcast to come back, and I've been dying for it for that to happen. But there's been a very very good reason why. You know, I know many of you did listen to this podcast part of your Monday morning routine. And I'm so stoked to say your girl's going to be backing your ear again from now and you know, I know you're just dying. You're dying to know. The burning question is where the

bloody hell did I go? So you see, I was keeping a secret from everyone for a couple of years, and you know I am an oversharer, so that's rough for me. Let me just tell you. It actually made it really hard to show up online because you know, I've been doing this for ten years now and I'm very much unfiltered with you guys. But when you have this huge secret you're keeping the said secret is what you're doing all the time, you kind of just feel a bit boring. You don't really know what to say.

But so, as many of you would know, my big secret is that I wrote a book, like an actual book, insane and this is a girl that has ADHD and all the things. But it was published with Penguin, and I just can't tell you how like it's just been a dream of mine since I was a little girl to write a book. And you know, your feedback on the book so far has been insane, like beyond amazing, and within two days it was a bloody Amazon bestseller, which is yeah, again, I don't have the words for

once in my life. But basically, this book is just all the things I have never shared online before, and I've shared way too many things, and it is just it's about me and my life and how I've to be where I am now. But the story is something that you wouldn't expect, and I'm not going to harp on about this book the whole podcast. Just trust Mirror

as much as I want to. But my book is called Mastering My Messy Life, which is very fitting, and I think that's a little bit funny also because you know, I am, you know, the CEO of Staff Based Planners, and I'm known online for organization and all the things. But the reason I'm organized is because I'm a mess and that's just a place I got to over time. And the book goes on about, you know, my chaotic

childhood that was shaped by trauma, binge drinking. You know, the themes in my book is actually insane, Like you would think that I'm about eighty years old when you read this, but it goes through you know, disordered eating, binge drinking, heartbreak, EIGHTYHD, anxiety and you know, the tangled mess of the nineties, the girlhood for us, you know, body image and growing up with the Biggest Loser and all these magazine titles that we see at the checkout

when we're with our parents and we wonder why we have issues, you know what I mean? But yeah, I just feel like if you knew my story and where I am now, it would make you see that. Literally, if I can do the things, you can do the things. But yeah, writing this book was just something that was just I kind of explained, like Ryan was just such a legend and he just he literally would have to peel me off the floor most days. But it was

just the most incredible. But like it was just I feel like authors are actually athletes, to be honest, But it was just it was beautiful, intimidating, you know, exhausting, and I have to say it's kind of on par with childbirth, I feel, because you've seen true Steph form. I started writing the book for a couple of years, like I've had this secret for years, and then you know, the Jew Day was coming up, the Jew date that makes sense, the deadline was coming up, and I ended

up rewriting the whole book in three months. So I wrote two hundred and forty thousand words in three months. So apparently I have a lot to say. And I do feel like I used up all my words because I became a potato for a few months and couldn't speak English, and during that time, I think I was about eighty percent Indian food and my Uber eats bill was very offensive. But that's what I've been doing, guys, and I again, I'm just so so grateful. So if you haven't read my book, make sure you go to

your bookstore or you can go online your Amazon. And I also have an audio book, so if you want to hear my voice even more, then you're going to hear it now every single week you can jump on and listen to me tell my story. But I just want to say yeah, thank you again, and I just I can't wait. And in terms of Stepping Up, Stepping Up is now part of the Nova podcast Network. Wow, like whoa, okay, crazy, it's insane. But before I get stuck into it, I basically just wanted to give you

a little run down. If you are an OG or maybe this is the first time you're listening, what can you expect from Stepping Up? And I promise I won't harp on too much and I'll get straight into it.

But you know, whether you've been here from the early days or you're literally listening for the first time, Stepping Up is basically your best Bogan friend in your ear, being very open and too honest at time, but I'm your go to guy for every single week to help you overcome the overwhelm and learn not only life changing hacks, but also learn a little bit more about yourself every

week and the mess that comes with being human. This podcast is not for you know, the type a's or the people that have, you know, a bloody alarm clock integrated into their brain. This is for the messy minds of the world, and you know, the people who might feel a little bit behind or that you know, everyone else around you seem to have got a manual for life, and yours is from team and it smells funny. I

won't like that line. I actually wrote it in my book, but it's really funny and I had to say it. I talk about mastering your mess, you know, like routines for real life. So like you see all these routines on bloody TikTok and stuff, and they're just not They're not sustainable and they're not really stick like bloody people getting up at four o'clock in the morning and you know, just running two marathons and doing all this crap, and

it's like it's just not sustainable. So my stance on all of this stuff, which I do talk about in my book, is having routines that are able to evolve with you through your life. And also you don't wake up feeling the same every day. You know, some days you wake up and you feel one hundred percent and you're just annoyingly energetic, and that version of you can yes, do all the things, but a lot of the time you'll wake up and you won't feel so great. You'll

feel like a potato and that's okay. So I'm gonna be taking you through you know, ADHD, mental health, motherhood business, all those things, and also how to teach you how to stop being an asshole to yourself, because that's that's

a big one that we all tend to do. So this isn't going to be you know, the fluffy you know, mindset shifts that are overly complicated, and it's gonna be just really honest conversations that I wish I had with someone years ago, and realistic advice that you can actually use that you don't just like pop on a vision board and then it stays there. So if you're in a season where you're feeling like behind, burnt out and you just you're just barely surviving, this is the place

for you, my friend. And welcome. We have T shirts so I'm here to help you step up into the best version of yourself, which is the happiest version of yourself. Now, before I get into it, to celebrate the relaunch of Stepping Up, I'm actually giving away some free shit. So all you have to do is snap a photo of yourself on Instagram of you listening to this podcast, to this very episode, and tag Stepping Up on Instagram. And also if you want to tag me as well, that

would be great. And I'll be picking a person that's going to win one hundred dollars staff based planners of voucher to help me get organized for twenty twenty six and I'm going to be announcing that by the end of the month, so make sure you keep an eye out on socials for that. But for the rest of you who don't win this prize pack, I've actually got the best free beat in this episode that's going to

help you reset for twenty twenty six. Now, I'm well aware it's February, but I have a very good reason as to why I wait until now to do my reset, and I'll be getting into that very soon. But this download is going to be gold for you. It is the guide for the messy minds to Reset for the year, I thought for the first episode back, I wanted to do something a little bit special, So I have decided to do a bit of a straight off the bat,

and it's going to be called Mastering Your Messy Life. Now, I'm aware I've completely ripped off my own book title for this, but you know, it's repurposing. It's fine. This is going to be a series where I'm going to be helping you do exactly that, master your mess and naturally I'll be giving you all the tips and tricks throughout and it's going to be like very realistic and digestible. So I'm holding your hand through the process. We're going

to do this together. During this series, I'm want to be covering how to reset for the year, as I said, but also things about you know, organization, decluttering and of course planning for messy minds. You know, I know there's so many podcasts and you know content out right now, especially that you would have already seen a lot of because it's February of you know, resolutions and these like you know, just locking in And I hate that term locking in. I know it's trending at the moment, but

it's not what we want to be doing. Because what you need to understand is when we put all this pressure on ourselves, you can't hate yourself into being a happier person. That's not progress. You can't yourself into growing and changing and evolving, and you can't hate yourself into becoming your best self. But that's what it seems to be. It's like, and I look, I could love you know, disciplines important, but our language surrounding it is so so

crucial to make sure that's correct. And I'm going to talk about that really soon. So for this episode, I'm going to be holding your hand to do a realistic reset for twenty twenty six, and I'm also going to tell you why you've never been able to actually stick to your New Year's resolutions. And honestly, it's not just you, it's pretty much everyone. And we're going to stop hitting our heads against the wall and wondering why it's never

worked before. And of course I will be giving you a realistic itinery to help you manage your mess in just three days at the end of this episode, and it's going to just be so good for you, and it's not going to be crazy like Susi who runs ten k's in the morning by four am and she's made organic water and she's meditated on a rock for four hours. It's not going to be anything like that, Okay, it's going to be for you and everyone is different. Now. I don't know about you guys, but the start of

the new year is a lot. It feels really really heavy, and we all tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves at the start of a new year. You know, for me personally, I don't even look at resetting myself. I don't even look at maybe you know, goals or anything which I don't call them goals, which I'll get into later until you know, earliest mid January for me, like we've just gotten out of the holiday season, like

that was wild. I'm from November till the end of jan I'm just done, and honestly, I'm still like my life is still a mess at this point. But the thing is, it's like you need to have these little systems in place so you can survive, and sometimes things get put on the back burner and that's fine, but you need to make sure. You know. I heard this saying once that we're all juggling you know balls, Well

that sounded weird. We're all juggling balls, and then some of those balls are glass, and you need to realize which ones you can drop versus the ones you can't. So obviously some balls, wow, this is weird, are really important, so you know, like family, your relationship, health, those things like that. So you've got to figure out like maybe some of those balls are plastic and they're not so important, like keeping up social media or what Margaret from Accounts

thinks about you. You've got to pick what's important to you. So this leads me to why is it so important to reset for a new year. The main reason for this is so we can be intentional and not reactive. Now, let's be honest, we're not toddlers anymore. Although I may still cry if I don't get the pink cup. It's

an autistic thing. And it's also to keep your daily routines in check so you can see what's working, but more importantly, what's not working, because you can't keep repeating the same patterns over and over again and expect to feel better or to progress. It's also so begin to see what areas you need to focus on again. Like we're talking about the balls before. What areas have you been focusing too much on that maybe aren't beneficial for you?

And what areas have you been you know, not focusing on, for example, you know, health or your relationship. And it's also a reminder of what you want in life, and that's the biggest thing. A lot of the time we forget that. External pressures do tend to make you think the goals you have in place are for you, but then maybe not for me. A big one is it's

to help the house run smoother. So little systems and packs that will teach you along the way that's actually going to help everyone in your household get along better because unfortunately we can't banish our family and we're going to be clearing out the clutter and getting on top of money goals. Now, before I take you through this process, it's really important for you to understand why you've never been able to stick to a new Year's resolution. And again,

it's not just you, it's everyone. It's just like the first of January comes around and we automatically feel that we have to completely reinvent ourselves and become the best version of ourselves. And I personally don't like the term New Year's resolutions. The word resolution, I do not like it because it kind of implies that you're a problem that needs to be resolved, and that's a lot of how we actually think of our selves. Think about when you have a goal in place and you don't reach it,

you automatically start, you know, crucifying yourself. And as I said, you can't hate yourself into being better. So instead of resolutions, I like to use the word intentions because it feels a lot less heavy and this kind of language. I'm actually going to talk a bit about later, and I'm going to even evolve that even further to make it more fun, because when things are fun, the pressure comes off and you actually start to enjoy it as well,

you enjoy the journey there. I've actually got some really insane stats that are going to make you feel a lot better as well, because did you know there is a date every year, there's a universal date that majority of people end up breaking their resolutions. And it's probably not the date you would think. You would probably think I'm going to say March or something, but it's actually

January twelfth. Yes, isn't that wild? By the twelfth day, people have mostly given up, and that just goes to show how much everyone does that all or nothing mentality. It's like I always have about the bandwagon. Everyone is always so upset when they fall off the bandwagon, and you've got to remember, there is no bandwagon. There's just life.

Because the thing is we built the bandwagon with, you know, growing up with you know, as I said, the biggest loser, and all these expectations we put on ourselves and what we think society thinks we should be. And then we wonder why when we set these crazy goals, why we can't keep up when the wagon picks up speed and it starts hammering down the road and it gets bumpy. And then when we fall on our ass, instead of blaming the wagon, and we blame ourselves because we couldn't

hang on tight enough. You just need to start seeing it as a thing that is like, it's not real and it's not there, and it's a pressure we put on ourselves. Another really interesting statistic I found on this is that thirty four percent of news resolutions are about eating healthier, thirty three percent is about losing weight, and thirty one percent is about improving fitness, and it really does show the trend of how heavily health focused we are.

We are literally hating our way into being healthy. And the thing about this is like, we can't just focus on one area of our life. We are multi dimensional people. We have the career, we have kids, and if you don't pay attention to different areas, we start neglecting things. And this is what I'm going to be taking you through in the process. So this leads me on to my very first point, and we need to switch up your mindset and language around this. So now what I

want you to do. Instead of thinking about New Year's resolutions as rules you need to follow, because when you think about resolutions, it sounds like a contract or a deadline or something that you either as successful with or you fail. I want you to start thinking of them as the plot of your next chapter. That's right. I want you to start seeing yourself as the character, and then you're going to be planning your story as the author.

So because when you think of the story or the plot, it seems more flexible, more human, evolving, and a lot more fun than a bloody resolution. And you're not going to be trying to fix but rather you start to see it as where will the story go next? And of course there's gonna be plot holes, like there's always gonna be plot holes, like someone gets sick, you know, the bloody dog spit on the rug again. Things happen.

That's fine. But when you start to switch things from this is happening to me to this is happening to the character, you're able to be a bit more objective because have a thing about it. You know, say, for example, you're going through something really really hard. Maybe you know you're in a breakup, or you've just been really struggling. You're burnt out, and you expect yourself just to get

over it. But if your best friend was going through that, you wouldn't expect that from them, And that's because you're removing yourself from the situation. It's more objective when it's another person. So when you start to see yourself as a character, you start to see it more as a third person. You're able to be more objective, a bit more compassionate for them, whereas when it's you, you're not

the same. That's because we view our own experiences from within our emotions, and there's guilt, shame, and pressure, and you think, why I get it together, But when it's happening to a character, you're not gonna be yelling at them, because that's like expecting a character to improve. Or you know, even your children. When your children are doing something, are you gonna be yelling at them to do better? And do you think that would actually work? No, definitely not.

And then your brain will switch from being on the inside to watching them from the outside, and suddenly you're no longer harsh your understanding. And that's the bloody key right there. For example, when I was writing my book, I was feeling so much mum guilt because I just wasn't able to be as present with the girls, and I just felt absolutely terrible, and I was just thinking, you know, I am not doing enough. I should be

doing better. I need to get up earlier. And guys, I was getting up at like bloody four o'clock in the morning to write all day and all night, and I couldn't do any better. But when I start to look at it more objectively, like at my character, I can see why she's tired as in Steph, I can see why I wasn't able to keep up with certain healthy habits and why I wasn't able to be a super present mum and I can see what she was carrying because the distance alone softens the emotional charge of it.

So here's the shift. This is how we're going to do it. The character is you living it, and the author is you planning it because you get to have fun with it. So I want you to really think about what does this character need in this next chapter for twenty twenty six, and what's realistic for them right now? So before you set any goals or intentions or whatever you want to call it, before you outline your new plot, what is realistic for them right now and what would

help them grow without breaking them. I'm talking being realistic here because you need to realize intentions need to be set with compassion, not pressure. So now we've fixed our language around the subject. We are now the character and we are now also the author. That's going to remove the shame. It's going to make planning feel safer and not so scary, and it's going to stop them all

or nothing thinking and also creating that emotional distance. But what you need to think of now also is you know day to day life, we all tend to be quite negative. So we always say, like I do this all the time. I'll say, oh, I have to make dinner, I have to do this instead of I get to, or you say I should. Maybe you should say I'm choosing to, or you say I need to where maybe we should be saying this chapter requires. And when you change how you narrate your own story, that's when the

mindset shifts. Really really bloody happen. And for me, I'm someone that I can be very bloody hard on myself. I have super high expectations of myself. But when I start to be really careful with how I'm talking to myself, because let's be honest, I talk to myself all the time, that's when I feel a lot more safe. Like even guys, I've been posting on bloody Instagram for ten years, I still get anxiety before I post. It makes no sense at all, Like I literally had this post ready the

other week. It was ready for three weeks and I just wouldn't post it. It was a carousel post and it was about me talking about how I kind of found myself again after feeling like I was in a huge slump for so long, and I thought that post was terrible, and then I finally posted it three weeks later because I was like, I have nothing else to go up, and it went so well. It was to show that we are literally the biggest assholes to ourselves. We just need to loosen our grip a little bit

before I move on from changing up the language. I actually saw this quote on Instagram and it really woke me up because I can be quite negative. I won't lie. My name was always such a positive woman, and I always she had like the hardest life, but she was just so positive. She was someone that was a glass half full but grateful to have a glass in the first place kind of person, and she was just so inspiring.

But I do find myself being quite negative, especially when I have a lot of deadlines and things like that, and it's over the things I love, Like I love what I do. I make planners, I get to create content with you guys, I get to do all that stuff. But I saw this quote on Instagram and it said how lucky am I to be tired doing the things I once dreamed about? Like isn't that just mind blowing?

You know? And it is one of those things that we do get caught up in the day to day so quickly and easily, and especially at the start of a new year, where we do forget to just slow down for a second and be like, I'm literally living

the days I once dreamed of. Maybe if your kids are little, or you've had a little baby, or maybe you're you've got a new career and you don't have kids, But these are the days we're living right now, where one day, when we're eighty, we're going to look back and be like this, this was the good old days. We're living the good old days right now. So let's just all of us. One of our intentions we can make together is to just really have a check in

with our language, because it's a big one. Now we're going to be moving on to the first official step of your twenty twenty six reset or your twenty twenty six plot. Now. In order for us to move forward, we do need to check the revision mirror. We need to look back and see the journey that we've just had, because you can't expect to grow and move forward if you keep repeating the same old patterns, Like I said, so you need to look in the mirror back there,

see the road you've just driven on. See the potholes that U turns the detours. You know, maybe there was some angry drivers along the way that you need to avoid for this next season or next chapter for us in order to see where we can move forward. Now, your reflection questions are going to be in the free download that you can get in the show notes, and it's totally free and it's going to literally guide you

through all of these steps. But some different types of questions I'm going to be asking you in this download are the following, and if you are a time Paul, you can answer them in your head right now. We can do that now, So a couple of these types of questions to help you really not only reflect on what you don't want, but also to see and highlight the winds, because the big thing with us as humans is we can achieve so much and we never will

sit in that achievement. See, I'm someone that constantly moves the goalposts. I've been like that ever since I was little. I've always been like, oh, it's like shiny object syndrome or whatever they call it, Like the next thing, the next thing, and I'll hit a milestone, even milestones I've

never even think I would before. Just like when I started my business, Staphe's Planners, my very first launch, like the plan is sold out straightaway, and I never in a million years would have thought that was going to happen. And yet I was onto the next thing and the next thing. And my thing is I've never been able to celebrate myself or my achievements because I never sit still long enough to do so. And there gets a certain point in our lives where we think we have

goals that are for us, but they're actually not. And this is a question I think that would really it'll probably rattle you a little bit. But in terms of your intentions, goals, resolutions, whatever you want to call it, right now, the big things that you've always wanted to do, I want you to ask yourself, if no one was watching, would I still want these things? If there was no one sitting on the sidelines clapping me on and cheering me on, would I still want to reach that goalpost?

And with that answer, that will make you realize if those goals are for them or for you or what you think other people want you to do. So once you've thought of that, I want you to start seeing your life and your intentions and goals through that lens, because at the end of the day, you don't want to get again to eight years old and look back and be like, I lived for them, I didn't live for me. That is so so important and for me,

I am someone that I did. I've chased, you know, it definitely could be an ego thing, the validation, you know, chasing titles constantly so you feel like you're worthy. And then you look back and you're like, for what, what do I want to do? What do I want this next chapter and my twenty twenty six plot to actually look like for my character as the author, Because you're the author. You're writing your story. No one else, no one has their hand on yours with the pen and

he's going to write your story for you anymore. This is the day you're going to stop that. Now it's time for you to like really reflect on any wins you had over the last year. And when I say wins, it could just be surviving the year. That's fine, bro, Like it's been a time, and it's been a time, and I want you to think about your habits. So now when I say this is a bit of like a

little exercise you can do. You can draw up three columns and I want you to write on the left side stop and then the next one start and then stick with. And these are the habits that you need to list out under st start or stick with. So there's gonna be habits that you need to stop because they're not the best for you, They're not the best

for your character. So for me, mine is scrolling past nine o'clock at night because there's a ripple effect on that, and then I don't sleep, and then I can't get up earlier, can't do my morning routine and feel good. So that's a habit I would stop, and then a habit you would start. So list out some habits that

you want to start. So some for me would be more quality one or one time with my kids, especially like putting the phone in my drawer, like in a draw because having that physical distance from your phone, like that barrier, you'll, honestly, I want you to give it a try at home. If you're at home now, I want you to grab your phone unless you're listening to me on it, and chuck it in the drawer and shut it and you'll feel lighter instantly it's actually insane.

And then you're gonna list out some habits that you want to stick with. So once habits that you're already doing that are actually you know, they make you feel good or maybe they're fun, and you're gonna stick with it because it is important with this process that yes, we look at things we need to stop or start, but it's also good to be able to celebrate yourself from remember how I said we need to be still

long enough to appreciate our achievements. That is that So maybe you're reading again, or maybe you're going for a walk every day, like that's something to celebrate. So look at your habits that you're already doing and you have been doing that you want to stick with. One really important question which is going to make you realize how much of an asshole you've been to yourself, is how well did I take care of myself this year? Like was your character looked after? Did you look after her?

Did she have time for herself, did she get to have fun, did she get to socialize? All that type of stuff. And that's going to really help you kind of zoom out, because if you have the ability to zoom out on your life and what you're doing. That's where you can really see the areas that you've been lacking in as well, which is not a negative thing, like it's fine, Like we are human. I've always said that balance is bullshit because we are never able to

be equally across everything in our lives. It's actually impossible, because there is going to be some seasons or chapters where my kids require more of my attention, or there's going to be a season or to where work needs more of my attention, because I can't possibly spread myself that thin across everything and be good at all of it at the same time. So I think balance. I don't think it's a negative idea, but I think it's impossible.

And it's like that saying, I don't know if you guys would have probably heard this, it's the way you do one thing is how you do everything. And I call bullshit on that because the way I am three weeks behind on emails or life admin is not the same way I shop to my kids awards, and the way I'm really badly folding my laundry is not the same way I show up at work. Like there is duality and being a human We're not going to be

We can't be consistent across everything. I can't, and I just think that saying is just setting people up for failure because I genuinely wouldn't have that energy to be able to put in one hundred percent everywhere in my life. So I think once you realize that, and you can see that your character isn't really striving for balance, They're striving to be seen and to be understood by you the author. Now we've done the first step of our twenty twenty six Reset slush plot, I'm going to be

getting you up to scratch real quick. I know many of you would be feeling really behind at the moment, and it's pretty easy to feel like that, especially when all the content online, as I said, is making out that everyone is already on their fourth or fifth goal, and you know they've already called the whole house like Bloody Marie Kondo. But fortunately we don't have a whole Netflix crew to come into our house and do things like that and also organize all of our life admin.

But I've created this mini reset three day schedule for you, So once you've gotten to the end of day three, you were going to feel like you've managed your mess, or at least you can have made sense of your mess and made a bit of a dint. Because I will go on about this more in other episodes, but our mess is something that just makes us human. It's not something that you're ever going to get rid of. It's like our to do list. You're never going to get to the end of your to do list. I'm

so sorry to tell you that information. I don't know if you knew that, But as long as when you're alive, you're going to have mess, and you're going to have a to do list, and this schedule is just going to make that feel a bit lighter and less scary. Because when you think about our mess, like as humans, we are so ashamed of our mess. Like think about when a guest comes over, you run around frantically, You're hiding everything, you don't even want to show that people

live there. Literally doesn't make any sense. Why do we do that? The thing is mess is something we all have and this is going to just help you clear the noise in your brain and just make sense of it. So let's get started in to day one. Now. Day one is going to be your mini reset day. We're going to be resetting your physical space, your personal space,

and also your digital space. But I'm not going to be making you do like crazy shit like this is not going to be something you're going to be spending like your whole day on. But what I want you to do, let's start with our physical space. And the reason why we're also starting with this out of our three day schedule is because once your environment feels clearer, you're going to feel much lighter and you're going to

be able to actually think clearly. I want you to think about you know, when you walk into your kitchen in the morning and if you haven't reset it or put the house to bed the night before, which is where you know you clean up and do like your closing shift and you do all the dishes and you wipe the benches. If you haven't done that, and you walk into the kitchen in the morning, you feel so

overwhelmed straightaway. And that's because all of the mess and the things around you are reminders of all the things you have to do. And when you already have it to do list in your head, and then you see all these other things added to your to do list, that's when we start to get quite anxious. So if we can clear that physical space, we're going to be able to do Day two, which is our get shit done day. So first, I want you to focus on a high impact area only in your house, in your space.

So it's like high traffic area or an area that you do spend a lot of time. So a lot of people will probably say the kitchen, maybe the lounge room, maybe it's your home office. But what I want you to do is set a timer for thirty minutes and you're just going to reset that space. It's not a deep clean, this is just you know, getting rid of

any rubbish. I want you to. You can, literally my biggest hack as someone with ADHD's you grab a bucket like a basket, and anything that's in that space that doesn't live there, you chuck it in there, you know, as you like catchu a basket, which is a hack I'll give you guys later, And this is just going to make it easy for your brain to understand. So you're gonna grab the rubbish, grab your basket. Anything that doesn't belong in that space goes in there, and you're

gonna wipe down the benches or whatever it is. And once that's done, we're going to move on to your personal space. Now, your personal space is something just to help with you feeling a bit more like calm, make you feel a bit better. So I want you to do things like I know this sounds so lame. Okay, I get this sounds lame as but I did this little ritual after I had my girls. I had postnatal depression with both, and I did this every single morning, and it honestly helped me so so much. This is

the actual thing I talk in my book. This is actually the thing that really helped me get into routines. Now, I want you to do things like open all of the windows in your house, and I want you to light a candle or a diffuser, and I want you to know, chuck on Spotify and put on your most favorite playlist. It's just resetting yourself personally for the little things that you love and really change the atmosphere around you. And that's going to help you get into the next step,

which is your digital space. Now, this is a space that is quite overwhelming, and this is the one that's quietly draining you a lot. You know, think about it on your phone all the screenshots you have and all the crap you don't need, and that app that you're paying one hundred and fifty dollars for a year. That's a plant identifier. You know. Not speaking from experience or anything, I really got into plants over covid. Okay, you got your music on, you've got your candle, you know your

kitchen's clean. Now you're feeling a little bit fresher, You're feel in a bit more on top of things. Now, what we're going to do is sit down, and I want you to grab your phone and I want you to delete any screenshots you don't need. And a really good hack for this, because I know this can be quite overwhelming, is every day. Maybe it's once the kids are in bed. I want you to set a timer for ten minutes and I want you to search that

like today's date. I want you to search that date, and I want you to go through every fody you've ever taken on that date and delete things that you don't need anymore. So you're only doing it day by day, but if you do that every day for the whole year, your whole phone will be cleared out. It's so smart anyway, and I know you can get apps that do things like that too, where they can, you know, show you double ups and things like that and you can get

rid of it. So you're going to do that. And then I also want you to, of course get rid of that plant. Identify your app that you're paying for and you don't use on your phone. So go through your apps, go on the app store, and like just get rid of them more because the amount of money you'll save is insane. There's so many apps I freaking download I don't even look at. So do that. And then I want you to tackle your emails. Now. I want to make this super simple for you. Guys. We're

going to empty your inbox. No I no, that sounds terrifying. I know it's scary, but we're going to do it together. Now, one thing I did that change my life with my emails is I archived anything older than six months or even three months. I archived the whole thing. Now, I know you're probably freaking out when I say that, but the thing is when you archive all these emails, you can still search them. But the thing is if they're that old, you obviously don't need them. You're not going

to get back to them. Let's be honest, you're not going to reply to it. It's done, it's gone. Archive the motherflickers, get rid of them and you can search them later. Now I want you to create two to three really simple folders. It could be you know, family, it could be work, whatever, and anything in those your inbox that still needs to be placed somewhere, pop it in a folder. Because I'm someone I know there's like

two types of people in the world. It's people that have folders and they make sure they read everything, and then there's people who don't have any folders and everything just stays in the inbox. So we're going to slowly just migrate over to be the former. Yeah, And the best advice I can give you with your emails is to only check them twice a day max. Have two set times a day. Don't be on them all the time.

I actually, you guys would be probably shocked to know that I actually have my notifications on my emails on my phone turned off. I did that years ago because I found I was so reactive that no matter whenever an email would come in, I would just you know, I'd get back to them straight away. And you need to remember like their urgency is not your emergency, and you're not saving lives. Unless you're a doctor, then yes you are. But otherwise the rest of us, me immortals,

are not saving lives. So you need to remember that, and you really need to protect your space. And this is what we're doing in twenty twenty six. Our character they're going to protect themselves from all the noise in the outside world. So that's your rules coming into a new year. So yes, please set two alarms on your phone if you need to, if you're like me, to check your emails, and then that is it. You're done. You don't need to be reacting though we're doing. We're

not being reactive this year. We're not doing it. Okay, now you've done that. We've done a good little mini reset. We've fixed your fish space, we fixed your personal space, we've done your tech most of it. I'll do another episode on that one day now, on today two, which is the get shit done day. Now, this is the day you're going to be doing those tasks that have been weighing on you heavily. Now the tasks themselves might

only take literally two minutes. Speaking from experience here where I literally need to just make an appointment to see the dentist. Then I'll lose sleep over it for three weeks and have mass anxiety. And it takes two seconds, and it's fine. This is the day we do stuff like that. Yeah, we're going to just get it done. Because how good will you feel with all those like a little annoying tasks that you've been wanting to get done. How good will you feel when they're done? They're gone.

It's off your mental load. We carry such a heavy mental load and this is going to help with that. Now, there's a few rules with this day. You're going to be doing three tasks only and that's it. And once you've done the three tasks, you're done for the day. You're not going to be trying to do any more all the things. But look, I will say, if you are on a roll, go for it. But the less pressure we play on ourselves for this day, you'll notice it will be a lot less resistance. There'll be a

lot less resistance. You're not gonna be overwhelmed and you might end up doing more. But if you just tell yourself, I've only got to do these three things today and that's it, and I'm done. You're going to probably smash it very fast to find out these three tasks that you need to do for this get shit done day. I want you to write a list of things I'm avoiding, so all the things you've been avoiding. Do a brain dump, just things you know that you also maybe have to

do that's been weighing on you. Just dump it all out now in this list. I want you to have a good look at it, and just make sure everything in this list is actually important and also does need to be done by you, as in you can't delegate it, or maybe it's actually not that important and it's you know, pressure from other people are making you do that task. Just make sure you have a good look at this list and make sure they're actually all tasks that need

to be done by you. Now, the three tasks we're going to be picking is one annoying task you've been avoiding, So something like replying to that email you've been skipping book said dentists or a vet, submitting a form and an assignment, or calling customer service over a refund that meant you were supposed to do like three months ago, and you're probably not going to get a refund now, stuff like that, or maybe returning something or updating your

address somewhere. And now the second task is a life maintenance task gross I know, so doing something like refilling prescriptions or ordering your household items, maybe cleaning out your handbag or backing up your phone a laptop, something like that. And the third one is going to be a quick win. So this is something like clearing out your desk or paying a bill or making it to do this for the next day, or setting that message you've been overthinking,

just something that's really quick. It could literally just be the most simple thing. So I want you to pick those three tasks. So we've got the annoying task, we've got the life maintenance, and we've got the win. Now your day might just look like this. This is an example of what this day could look like. Reply to an email, washing my towels, and clearing the desk for ten minutes and then you're done for the day. That's it. But you're going to feel so much lighter when that

thing is done. Now this leads us to day three. This is your potato day. Yes you heard that right, and a potato day this is a day where you do absolutely nothing, because you know we've reset your space, we've got your mental load lighter. You feel a lot better about that. But this is a day for you. This is a day where you can do whatever you want, Like you don't have to lay on the couch all day. You can go do something that you love. You know,

as adults, we really do stop having fun. We stop we only do things for a certain outcome, so like make more money, or to get fitter, or to clean the house. So we stop doing things just for us. And that's always do start to lose ourselves. And that's also why I honestly believe that you know, life does speed up and when you get to have fun, you are so much more present and that is so important. So your Potato day, you do whatever you want and

there's no guilt. The rule is you're not allowed to feel guilty about it, and you're not going to because it's our last day of this reset and you've just done all this really cool stuff. You've done the stuff you've been putting off, you've reset, you've cleaned. Now it's a day for you, and now you've seen that these three days have covered. Day one has given you clarity,

made things feel lighter because we've reset your space. Day two has given you relief because you've actually done the things, and Day three has given you capacity because you've taken time for yourself. Now, I really hope you guys enjoyed this first episode back. I just feel like it was such an important one and I had so much to give you guys, and I'm so so excited to be back.

Stepping Up is back, and it's just it is. It's a whole new chapter for me, and I am just so excited to about to help you guys again and be in your ear and be your bogan best mate that is here just to hold your hand through it all. Please don't forget to take a photo of you listening to this episode and tag us on Instagram, and I will be picking a winner for that one hundred dollars Steph Face Planner's voucher and they will also win my copy of my new book as well, which I forgot

to mention. Please don't forget to grab your free download in the show notes so you can do all the things, and there's all the other steps coming up as well, And please subscribe and leave me a review if you'd love to I would really really appreciate it. And now your mess is a bit more tame. You feel like maybe you've caught up, which you know, it's a big thing. It is a big thing in a new year, and

hopefully your load feels a bit lighter after this. And just remember you were the character and the author of your own life, and we're not gonna let anyone else write our stories for us anymore. So I can't wait to help you keep mastering your mess. And I will see you guys next week. Bye.