November 18, 2021 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 45 / Guest: Whitnee Hawthorne, The Savvy Working Mom

Show Summary

When Whitnee’s first child was born, she went back to work and almost immediately realized that what worked before didn’t come close to working anymore. Even with a supportive husband, she found that doing it all was impossible without some major changes.

Whitnee talks to us about practical ways to cope with today’s demands. She helps us look at our limitations and our possibilities, and start making steps toward getting unstuck. Whitnee also shares her method for narrowing down and eliminating tasks to make the most of your time.

More About Whitnee Hawthorne:

Whitnee is a mom and… speaker, coach, podcast host, Fortune 500 executive, entrepreneur and productivity and self-care expert. Through all these channels, she teaches her audiences steps they can take right now to increase their productivity, grow their confidence, and bring more joy into their lives. 

Topics From This Episode (Complete transcript is available below… scroll to the bottom!)

• Finding clarity
• How to get unstuck
• Phases of our lives and of our children’s lives
• Dealing with daily tasks by eliminating, delegating, batching, automating, calibrating
• Valuing our own time
• Developing criteria for saying yes (or no)
• Why fun matters

Resources and Links From This Episode 

• Savvy Working Mom website
• Savvy Working Mom courses and blog
• Savvy Working Mom on Instagram
• Savvy Working Mom Facebook
• Carol Fishman Cohen
• Catherine Newman, How to Be a Person

Look, Listen, Learn

Missy:

• The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger
• The Good Place: The Podcast

Joint LLL for Missy & Susanne: 

• Clever Fox Planners

Whitnee:

• Petite Rouge picture book
• Your Daily Drive on Spotify
• 4Runner Lifestyle

Connect With the Mom &… Podcast

• Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re so inclined to give us a 5-star rating, we’ll love you forever. Who couldn’t use a little extra love?
• Leave us a message – via voicemail or use our form – with your questions for experts, or suggestions for future episodes.
• Check out our website, where you can find links to all the things!
• Follow our Facebook Page
• Join our private Facebook Group (All you have to do is ask to join, and then be nice once you’re in. So easy!)
• Follow us on Instagram
• Become a patron – check us out on Patreon!

Enter your email below to sign up for our monthly newsletter

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you’re human:

Musical Notes

Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.

Transcript* From This Episode

*Please note that this transcript is automatically generated through our editing software. Expect odd errors and misunderstood words. In fact, if you find a really funny one, send it to us, and we may feature it – and you – on our socials!

[00:00:00] Susanne: to the mom and dot.dot podcast. I’m Susanne Kerns, a mom and dot.dot writer, LGBTQ advocate. And this week 85% Halloween candy, mostly peanut butter cups. So good. So good.

[00:00:41] Missy: I’m Missy Stevens, mom and dot dot dot, writer, foster care advocate, and today editor of a lot of marketing and communications materials for a nonprofit it’s been nonstop. So we are so happy to have Whitnee Lynn Hawthorne of savvy working mom with us today. Whitnee is a mom and dot.dot speaker. Coach podcast hosts, fortune 500 executive entrepreneur and productivity and self care expert.

Talk about making your ellipses

[00:01:09] Susanne: No kidding.

[00:01:10] Missy: through all these channels. She teaches her audience steps. They can take right now to increase their productivity, grow their confidence, and bring more joy into their lives. Welcome.

[00:01:21] audioWhitnee21657035000: Thanks so much for having me on the show. I’m so excited to be here.

[00:01:24] Susanne: oh, we’re so excited to have you here and now, so we kind of rattled off some of the amazing things that you do, but I know that , there’s much more to Whitnee and just to buy out. So, , can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your day job and the road that led you to where you are today?

[00:01:42] audioWhitnee21657035000: Sure. I would say, I mean, if I was going to sum up that, dot, dot, dot would be dot, dot dot champion for working moms, so I’ve got two littles and I’m the vice president of customer support for jet blue? Uh, yeah, it’s kind of a big job that a few thousand people who report into me, you know, no big deal, a three-year-old and 18 month old, um, and a husband. Oh, that’s the thing.

[00:02:03] Susanne: Yes, that is a major thing.

[00:02:06] audioWhitnee21657035000: a wonderful thing. No, it’s a wonderful thing. And he’s an amazing partner, , and amazing husband. And we are, you know, we’re kind of like in this together, but when I had my first son actually let me take a step back. So I am a woman who, who works. I’ve always worked, I have to work, but I also like working like my career ambitions are real.

I want to be a leader in corporate America. I want to see more women as leaders in corporate America. And when I had my first son that didn’t change, I still wanted to do those things. But when I had my first son, I also became a.

[00:02:40] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:02:41] audioWhitnee21657035000: And that definitely changed some of my priorities. It’s certainly changed my viewpoint on life and it changed what worked for me, what didn’t work for me.

And so when I went back to work, what I found was that the things that used to work for me before kids, before my son, they just weren’t working anymore. And that’s really how the savvy working mom was born because I came back into a world where I had a supportive husband. I had a supportive boss and still, it was so hard.

Yes, Missy. So hard. I was like, why is it so hard? And what’s wrong with me? And I started asking other moms and they were like, no, it’s, it’s, it’s hard. And

[00:03:19] Susanne: always been this

[00:03:20] audioWhitnee21657035000: how are you doing this? And they’d be like, wait, am I doing it? I’m like, oh, okay. So it’s not just me. It’s not just me feeling like this.

And so as I talked to more moms, I started hearing from them what was working for them. And then I started. Thinking, well, some of those things are gonna work for me and some of them art and I tried some of them and some did work for me and some didn’t, but the more women I talked to, the more strength I felt, the more through that solidarity, I realized there’s not something wrong with me.

It’s that society is not set up to support women who work and have children. And that doesn’t mean that I’m broken. It means that there’s just something else going on. And so getting that information from them and feeling that solidarity made all the difference in my ability to really spring, back, and start to thrive in life and find joy again.

And I put it into a blog because I wanted more moms to hear it. And I wanted more of us to be talking about what it means to work and have children or to have children and work. And that blog turned into a podcast and the podcast turned into courses and the courses turned into, , speaking and the speaking turned into a book and then that’s me.

And now here I am dot, dot, dot champion for women who work and also have children.

[00:04:30] Missy: it’s incredible. I don’t know. I know that I kind of hate when I hear women say this, but I don’t know how you do it, but that’s what we’re going to talk about today is. How we get there. And I think a lot of our listeners are working moms, but a lot are considering how they get back into the workforce and feel a little stuck in that process.

So I know you have a lot of experience helping clients who are stuck, whether they’re stuck in the wrong spot in their career, or they’re stuck with inertia, not able to launch back in whatever it is like, , how are some of the ways that moms can kind of get back out there and unstick themselves wherever it is?

They’re stuck.

[00:05:08] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah, being stuck is one of the hardest things. And getting unstuck actually starts with something that is not so much external and action. It’s much more internal and thought process and that’s finding clarity. It’s really taking a moment to figure out what you want in life for your life. Because at the end of the day, we only get one life.

And it’s so important that we choose what we get out of that life, right? That we are conscious about what we’re trying to achieve and that we don’t let those things we’re trying to achieve be driven by others and outside forces, but instead are intrinsically driven by who we are and what we want for ourselves. Because I really believe that when we show up as our best selves in the world, the world gets better, right? We don’t need one type of person. So even though society might say to us, this is the ideal. This one type of woman is the thing that we should all be. If every woman was like that, we would be failing as a society.

Like it actually wouldn’t be the best most robust richest society that we could have still.

[00:06:12] Missy: of Handmaid’s tale slash

[00:06:14] audioWhitnee21657035000: Uh, yeah, it’d be a little creepy and an awful. And so it’s like, we, we get these things put in front of us where it’s, it pushes us all to try and achieve the same thing, but that’s not the right answer. And the right answer is really achieving what works best for you and to know what works best for you.

You have to take the time to really push through that. And when you do that, then you can get unstuck. So I’ll give you like a couple of tips, just that was like very

[00:06:43] Susanne: exercises exercises

[00:06:45] audioWhitnee21657035000: I was like, that was very esoteric. So let’s like, let’s get some, let’s get tactical.

[00:06:49] Susanne: yeah.

[00:06:50] audioWhitnee21657035000: , how do you do that? How do you get clarity on what it is that you want?

I think the first thing, there are four questions that I found that have always made. Things clearer for me. And things clearer for my clients. And those questions are super straightforward. But before I tell them to you, I have to say just one more kind of esoteric thing, which, which is that clarity takes courage. have to be courageous. You have to be brave to experience true clarity. You have to shut out all the voices around you. You have to shut out those ideas of what your mom wanted for you while your best friend wants for you. What your husband wants for you, what society wants for you, what you think your kids want for you. You have to shut all that out and be brave enough to understand what you want for you is what matters most. And when you do that, and then you ask yourself these four questions, it’s the first step to moving forward and being unstuck. And those four questions are fairly. But not easy, right? Because simple is not easy.

[00:07:58] Susanne: Yes. That’s one of our favorite sayings he has.

[00:08:01] audioWhitnee21657035000: is not easy. So here they are your simple questions to get unstuck. What do I want more of? What do I want less of

[00:08:11] Susanne: Hm.

[00:08:11] audioWhitnee21657035000: what’s going well and what’s not going well

[00:08:16] Missy: You’re right. So simple, but not.

[00:08:20] audioWhitnee21657035000: so simple, but not easy.

[00:08:22] Susanne: Yes.

[00:08:23] audioWhitnee21657035000: If you can answer those questions about your life, you can then understand where you need to take action to move in the right direction, to get more of the things that you want to have less of the things that you don’t. Right. It sounds simple. I know it’s not easy, but if you can do that and you can do it across all the areas of your life, you will get unstuck and you will have what you need to take action to move forward.

[00:08:50] Susanne: Yeah. And it’s good that you made the point is about taking courage before that as well, because that does to sit down and answer those questions. Honestly, it takes courage and I would also say that it, it takes time. It’s not something that necessarily, you’re going to sit down for 30 minutes and knock that out.

It’s something that you need to give yourself some time to really let it soak in it for a little bit. And it really takes some time to think about.

[00:09:13] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah. And the answer to those questions can be, can be really, really scary because it could be right. I want less of the job that I’m in. I want less of the relationship that I’m in and that could be your partner. It could be the relationship with your family. It could be the relationship with your best friend from high school.

Like there, the answer to that could be something that is just insanely horrific

[00:09:40] Missy: And awkward.

[00:09:41] audioWhitnee21657035000: And Owen’s super awkward. Right? And so you, it does take, it takes courage to understand and to admit those answers sometimes. But when you do, , you can start to get unstuck.

[00:09:52] Susanne: So I’m trying to think. Cause I mean, we’re all in partnerships where we have supportive partners that would, you know, if we came with some of those ideas, as long as it wasn’t that we wanted less of them, , for the most part, they would be pretty supportive with that. , but I also got to think that financially, you know, there’s some limitations for, okay, I want more of, you know, it might be something that requires additional education or training courses or relocating to someplace where they have access to a particular thing and finances may hold them back or a partner may hold them back.

So how do you work with clients then that they’re kind of already limiting themselves because of the assumed limitations where maybe there is some flexibility to work around them or maybe it just is needing to be realistic about a timeframe or baby steps until they can get to their true thing that they want more of.

How, how have you seen that workout with your clients?

[00:10:47] audioWhitnee21657035000: Right. So that’s the thing that you just said. It’s all. I mean, it’s the timeframes and it’s not. Assuming limitations. There are real limitations. I mean, let’s, we all need to eat.

[00:10:56] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:10:56] audioWhitnee21657035000: We need food. Our babies need food. We need, we need electricity. We need heat. It gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

And we need to be able to take care of our basic human needs. Right? So the idea of walking away from a job or walking away from a relationship are not small or simple ideas. And so while I say simple but easy, I don’t want that to come across as something that I’m just like flippantly throwing out there.

Um, because like those things are very, very, very real. And at the same time, those things are very, very real for what it means , about your life. Getting unstuck. Isn’t something that happens overnight. Very few of us are Cinderella where fairy godmother shows up and bippity boppity, boop waves, her wand, and suddenly you’ve got the gown and the shoes, and you’re like, ah, I’m out of this life.

That’s not, that’s not how it happens. And even for Cinderella, it only happened til midnight. Right. It was, there was a limited time on that. That was that, that was a fun weekend, uh,

[00:11:56] Missy: then that dumb prince didn’t even recognize her head to put the shoe on her foot to

[00:12:00] Susanne: Yeah. Was like what you

[00:12:01] Missy: So it wasn’t perfect.

[00:12:02] audioWhitnee21657035000: exactly.

[00:12:03] Missy: How much did you really like her?

[00:12:05] audioWhitnee21657035000: it’s I don’t know. I like the mice in that story, but that’s a whole nother podcast. The, so it’s, you know, it’s not overnight that these things happen and getting clarity. Isn’t that’s the first step. Right? And I hope I said that it’s the first step. It’s not the ultimate step.

The first step is very rarely the last step. Um, but you got to take that first one and you want it to be in the right direction. And so once you get clear on what you want, it’s about then creating the plan that you need, and that plan could be a plan. We’ll help serve you in three months or four months or 18 months or 24 months.

The whole point is that you have the plan and you start working it, right? And that, that plan is focused on taking you in the direction that you want to go the direction that’s going to make you your best self and know it’s not going to happen overnight, but that’s okay. As long as it eventually happens, right.

And if you’re on the path to making it happen, you’re going to be in a much better place than if you’re just kind of stuck in the swirl of suckage.

[00:13:08] Missy: right, right. I think that’s a really important thing too. Uh, I’m kinda going to paraphrase what you said. You can tell me if I’ve got it right, but I’m assuming you probably have clients who come to you and they’re like, fix it, fix it. Let’s get it. There’s I want to get unstuck. And I want you to tell me how, and I think it is important for all people, but especially moms who have a lot of things.

They have to consider like food on the table and people in their worlds that count on them. It might not happen today. And if you’re getting unstuck may mean that you do one thing. That gets you toward that goal. I think it’s huge for people to hear that because I tend to want to do it all at once. And if I can’t make it happen all at once, then I give up.

[00:13:55] Susanne: Yep.

We want the home remodel that happens over the weekend on the TV show. Like no home remodels don’t happen in an hour.

[00:14:02] audioWhitnee21657035000: They totally don’t. It takes a long time. And then all you’re seeing. I mean, that’s the other thing it’s so funny that you can think about the home remodel or you think about, I don’t know, you see people on social media and it’s like, all you see, is there a role?

You don’t see any of the B roll. You don’t see any of this stuff in the background. You don’t see when the things fell apart. The only things they show you that fell apart or things they want you to see, because ultimately it turns out really nice, but you don’t get to see that whole journey. Right? You don’t, they only show you when the pipes are broken inside, because they can actually fix them in the home remodel.

Right. If they couldn’t fix them, they would’ve patched them up. And you would not know the difference because they wouldn’t want you to see that.

[00:14:38] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:14:38] audioWhitnee21657035000: so it’s kind, kinda like that. And so yeah, people come to me and I work with them and there are a lot of mamas who want, like, they just want to fix it right away.

And a lot of times they just want to fix it right away for their kids. especially, and it’s, and I totally get it. Cause I want to fix everything for my kids right away to. But one of the things that I like to think about is, you know, life is like I said, we get one life and there are stages in it.

Right. And there are seasons in it. And maybe we can’t do this thing overnight and get you where you want to go overnight. Although most of my clients, I’m proud to say, and this probably sounds really weird. Especially coming from a coach, my clients don’t stay with me for more than a year. Because like, if I can’t get you where you need to go in a year, I am not the right coach.

And we can check in after that. It’s not like I abandoned anybody. I’m not abandoning folks. So I was like, if I can’t in a year, we can’t get you on the right path. Then I’m not doing my job. You know, having said that some of the, the, the dreams and desires of the women who come to me there are longer than a year, but it’s like, let’s think about this.

Right? You got littles like me. Where do you want to be when your kids are in elementary school? Where do you want to be when your kids are in middle school? What about when they’re in high school? How do you want to be supporting them when they’re in college or, you know, their own kind of adults. If you can think about it in those terms a little longer term, it really makes it that one or two years that it might take to get to where you want to go to see a life-changing difference, not even meaningful, cause you’ll see a meaningful difference before that, but a life changing difference.

, it could take two or three years that could be before your kids go to middle school or before they go to high school. And wouldn’t that be amazing?

[00:16:14] Susanne: that’s interesting. You say that. I believe it was Carol Fishman Cohen , who runs I relaunch, , which their group works with corporations to do relaunch programs for women who have had extended career breaks. And, , she had mentioned, because I think we had a question around, like, you know, when do you see women?

Is it in their mid-life or is it, you know, in their thirties or whatever, that, that you see these changes. And she’s like, no, it really doesn’t even have to do with the age of the woman. It’s where their kids are at. Kind of like your, you were saying these seasons of what, where your kid is. .

, and I think that makes so much sense. , as far as thinking about that as your seasons, you know, elementary school, middle school, high school, I mean, it’s just as much as they are making changes in their lives. It’s a good opportunity for you to think of that for your own changes and development.

[00:17:01] Missy: think about, like, we don’t expect our kids to figure all this stuff out quickly. we raised them for many, many years and help them learn all kinds of things. And some of the things take longer than others. And we should give ourselves that same grace and know that we are in a growth process and it might not happen overnight, but you’re, you’re slowly unsticking yourself and heading in a direction.

And that’s, that’s valuable.

[00:17:28] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah. And I mean, I think your point, we live in a world where our parents didn’t live. So no matter how hard our mom has tried to prepare us this world that we live in right now, isn’t like, Like my grandma, who’s still alive. And kicking came out to visit us here in salt lake from Pittsburgh on her world tour, post COVID world tour.

Um, you know, when she was coming up, when she was in her twenties and thirties, she couldn’t even have a bank account in her name by herself. It’s a whole new world that we live in. And so we also have to give ourselves that pause and that grace to say, Hey, the world is, in some ways it feels like things are taking way too long, but in other ways, it’s like, wow, some things have happened fairly rapidly and we’re the first adults to be going through this. And we have to give ourselves the grace to understand that that means it’s going to be challenging.

[00:18:20] Susanne: yeah. We’re blazing new trails. And part of it is. The time. I mean, it is having the time to do it and making the time for yourself. And I’ve got to say, I love your training session, where you went over. Is it, do you call it the DEBAC? Okay. The DEBAC method, I, um, of freeing up time in your schedule, because you know, as we’re talking about going through these questions and, , trying to make space for yourself and your own life, I just love this method of freeing up the time in your schedule.

And I think it is just so important for women, moms, humans, pretty much everybody. So would love. I know that you have the video on your website, but it would still love to hear it straight from you, the, the

[00:19:05] audioWhitnee21657035000: Oh, yeah.

[00:19:06] Susanne: and that the thought through that.

[00:19:08] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah. I’m happy to share it. And so in fact, I took DEBAC and , I changed it to EDBAC similar letters, but I cut off one step and put them in a better order because I’m always looking to evolve and make things easier for

[00:19:19] Susanne: love it.

[00:19:20] audioWhitnee21657035000: So now we’re at EDBAC and , it’s the way that we. Make sure to clear your schedule, clear your plate so that you can focus on other things that matter most to you. And that’s an easy thing to say. And I think we all intuitively know, we need to do that then. Like, how do you do it? How well, let me give you the steps. It’s the EDBAC method used to be the DBAC method.

And now it’s the EBAC method. And each one of those letters stands for something. So the E stands for eliminate that’s the first step. And if you are new to the method, you need to go through everything that you’re doing, but you only have to go through everything you’re doing. Once we go through everything you’re doing, once you’ve done that the first time, then it’s about as the new things come to you think through it in this order of feedback. So the first is eliminate. Do you really need to be doing all the things that you’re doing? And it’s not even do you need to be doing them? It’s literally does this even have to happen? you eliminate.

And when I think about it, for me, for example, it’s, at work, it’s that report you put in that like one person reads or three people read it’s that presentation that you prepare every month.

But the information from that presentation is found in five other locations, right? Can they, can people just go to those five locations to get it, instead of you putting it all together? Like, can you compiling it? Can you, can you eliminate it? You know, at home it, for me at home, it was the idea. I had this idea that my kids had to have hot breakfast every morning.

That’s not real. And so I had to eliminate that,

[00:20:54] Susanne: I’m trying to think. The last time my

[00:20:55] audioWhitnee21657035000: really, we’re not doing that. And then we’re gonna, we’re gonna eliminate this idea of hot breakfast every morning, but are there things right that you can eliminate that literally just don’t have to happen. And then as a new things, come to you as a new request, right.

Come to you, like, do they really have to happen? Cause if they don’t let’s eliminate it.

[00:21:13] Susanne: yep.

[00:21:13] audioWhitnee21657035000: next is for the things that you can’t eliminate. Can you delegate them? Can somebody else do it? And this is D like EDBAC with a capital D. This is the biggest one, because I feel that there are so many things we do as women that we really could delegate, but we choose not to.

[00:21:35] Missy: Yup.

[00:21:36] audioWhitnee21657035000: And so can you delegate it? Can somebody else do it because it’s the thing that needs to get done, but it doesn’t mean you have to be the one to do it.

[00:21:44] Susanne: Yep.

[00:21:45] audioWhitnee21657035000: And I just want to share two things that I always hear related to delegating. The first is I could delegate it, but nobody’s going to do it like I do.

[00:21:56] Susanne: Missy, is that you Missy’s nodding in a knowing way, but I don’t, I’m not saying that that is Missy judges love, but

[00:22:02] Missy: I mean, it’s been, that’s the thing I’ve learned though. It was a huge challenge for me, but I have learned like,

[00:22:08] audioWhitnee21657035000: Cause they’re not going to do it like you, but you know what? That’s okay.

[00:22:13] Missy: Yep.

[00:22:14] audioWhitnee21657035000: You know, they say there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I like to say there’s more than one way to fry. An egg are scrambling egg. Um, my husband and I, speaking of hot breakfast, right. My husband and I, we make eggs very differently.

[00:22:25] Susanne: us too.

[00:22:27] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah.

[00:22:27] Susanne: the kids won’t eat my eggs.

[00:22:30] audioWhitnee21657035000: oh weird. No, they like, I mean, they’ll actually, our kids will eat both of our eggs, but I, I liked the way I make eggs. I’m just going to leave it at that.

[00:22:38] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:22:38] Missy: I like mine better than

[00:22:39] audioWhitnee21657035000: I like mine,

[00:22:40] Missy: but also he makes them more often guess, but so I’m going to eat his aides cause he’s making them

[00:22:46] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah. Well, that’s it like my husband makes them when I can’t and when I can’t, it’s usually because I’m putting my time at some other places more valuable, and that might be me taking a nap because sleeping is valuable.

It makes me a better person when I’m not cranky and tired. And my brain is firing on all cylinders, but like there’s more than one way to scramble an egg at the end of the day. Do we get that nutritious hot breakfast? Yes, we. And that’s what matters, right? So, yeah, nobody’s going to do it like you do, and that’s okay.

It’s not a reason that delegate, if you can define the successful outcome, which scrambling eggs, it could be just a nutritious hot breakfast and you can give it to someone to deliver that nutritious, hot breakfast. Doesn’t have to be exactly the way you would do it. It can still be okay. Right. And the other thing that I hear related to delegating, and this one is a little heavy, but it’s super real.

For some folks, myself included is, you know, delegating is gonna make me less valuable.

[00:23:44] Susanne: Um,

[00:23:45] audioWhitnee21657035000: It’s the idea that when I like, first of all, what’s wrong with me that I can’t do all these things. And second of all, if I don’t do all the things, then where’s my value in my family. Where’s my value in my job.

[00:23:57] Missy: Hmm.

[00:23:58] audioWhitnee21657035000: And I’m here to tell you that your value lies elsewhere, and I will take the most meaningless tasks.

That has deep meaning for everyone of laundry. Right? Cause like, I mean, we do, we all need clean draws. We need clean draws and panties. Like that’s a thing you really don’t want anyone walking out the house without, without clean undergarments.

[00:24:22] Susanne: want to get a nickname. Yup.

[00:24:24] audioWhitnee21657035000: We need it. But do you have to be the one to do it?

[00:24:27] Missy: no.

[00:24:28] audioWhitnee21657035000: And if you don’t do it, is there something wrong with that? No, because like when I don’t do laundry and in my house, actually my husband does a lot more laundry than I do, but when I don’t do laundry, I used to feel bad about it. And I’m like, but what am I doing with that time? I’m on the floor playing with my kids.

Guess what? Me playing with my kids is much more valuable than me folding clothes. And there’s nothing wrong with me who has a side passion project that funds itself, right? A business, a side business, and the savvy working mom, a full-time job that is definitely more than 40 hours a week. You know, my role as a wife, my role as a mother, my role as a daughter, my role as a sister, my role as a friend, my own personal passion for like just being out in the outdoors, my own physical limitations of needing sleep and food, my own personal preference to only eat food that tastes really good. Right. There’s nothing wrong , with me for doing less laundry so that I can focus on all those other things.

[00:25:23] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:25:24] audioWhitnee21657035000: And that’s the, like, you are not less valuable because you choose not to do. It’s really important. I think for people to understand that, especially for women put your time where you add the most value, and I can tell you that there are a hundred more things I don’t even know you, but I know that there are a hundred more things that you could be doing that are going to add more value than you’re doing laundry.

[00:25:46] Missy: Great and doing it the way we think it should be done. I mean, I had to let go of that a long time ago too, because I can either sit in my child’s room and fold everything just so, and get it loaded in the dresser drawers, just so or I can teach them, teach them. I’m putting air quotes for people who are listening.

Um, like I can teach them to do it and set them free and know that it is those drawers don’t look anything like their closets, but it’s working, they have clean clothes. They know where they are.

[00:26:17] audioWhitnee21657035000: And that’s a good, I mean, and that’s the other thing, right? In delegating, you help others to learn about. So you’re teaching your kids. I mean, , I know people like this, like I, when I went to college, I met people who had no idea how to do laundry. And if you’re a 19 year old and you don’t know how to wash your own clothes, that’s unfortunate.

I’m not a judgy person. I’m a judge. You on that one.

[00:26:40] Missy: I don’t. I do remember meeting people who are like, I’m out of underwear. You’re like, well, you got to wash them. They don’t just magically get

[00:26:47] audioWhitnee21657035000: what,

[00:26:48] Susanne: I’m going to do a little showcase for Catherine. Newman’s how to be a person book, just, uh, just for anybody who’s about to send their person out into the world. It’s the basics from cooking and egg to taking out the trash, to doing your laundry, just a nice illustrated guide to being a human.

So,

[00:27:06] audioWhitnee21657035000: So important. So Missy, you’re teaching your kids this important life skills. So they can be a person Catherine Newman said, you gotta, you gotta be a person.

[00:27:14] Missy: Gotta be a person. And you’re going to be a person who leaves here one day. So

[00:27:18] Susanne: because I’m not doing your laundry.

[00:27:20] Missy: yeah.

[00:27:21] audioWhitnee21657035000: So that’s, I mean that, and that’s a wonderful, like that’s the gift of delegating is you, you allow others to grow and you let them learn new skills and you let them, fulfill themselves and find joy and doing more and gaining independence and gaining experiences. And so in some ways, if you don’t delegate, it’s kinda selfish.

and that’s not good either. Right?

[00:27:45] Missy: right.

[00:27:45] audioWhitnee21657035000: So the, the D and add back is delegation. And it’s a really big one. And what I’m super passionate about, um, when it comes to the B, the B is for batching. So like, again, we go eliminate, get rid of all the things . You can get rid of, then it’s like, okay, whatever you can’t get rid of the things that really truly have to get done, can you delegate it?

Can somebody else do it? And if they can’t do it, then can you batch it? And batching really just means taking similar tasks and doing them all at the same. There’s a ton of studies out there that show, , every task that you do has a start-up and a wind down time. So if you’re switching between emails or social media, even are going to cook in the kitchen are going to do laundry.

As you switch between those things, your brain needs time to start up, oh, Hey, I’m not doing this thing. Now I’m starting to do this thing.

[00:28:32] Missy: Mm.

[00:28:34] audioWhitnee21657035000: And then when you stopped doing that thing, it needs time to go, okay, I’m not doing this thing. Now I’m doing this other thing. And that time is not inconsequential. And so batching is about doing similar tasks all at once.

So for example, when it’s at work, right, it could be emails. Don’t respond to emails throughout the day, take half hour chunks of time or hour chunks of time, but ideally half hour chunks of time. It’s okay. You know, for this half hour, I’m gonna be doing my emails and I have three to four times throughout the day that I look at email. Your brain ramps up, you’re doing your emails. You get them done. You close down your brain and move on to the next thing, right? Batching. That helps. It’s the same. When you think about, um, for example, setting medical appointments in my house, we got a lot of medical appointments. I try and do them once a month.

It’s like once a month, get out all the insurance cards, get out all the phone numbers, open up the calendar and just like tick through it and get them all done, doing all the same tasks at the same time. It’s the same thing. Right? It’s like, it’s when you batch meals, right? It’s like, Hey, cook all the things at once and then go in later and heat them up where you can batch things and do similar things at once.

Right. Fire up the oven, and then just let it go. That that will help to save you time. That will help to free up your energy so that you can focus on the areas where you yeah. Your brain, right. So you can focus on the areas that matter most. So the B in that stands for batch.

[00:29:52] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:29:54] audioWhitnee21657035000: The next one is, if you can’t batch it, see if maybe you can automate it. Is there some way to just kind of set it and forget it, this usually means using some kind of a service to help you out, it could be an app. It could be a, like an actual service. So going back to laundry, like, can you just throw clothes in a bag and have someone come pull them off your porch? Um, could you put, I know it’s like those of us, like, we’re not there yet, but we’ll be getting there and it I’m looking for that day, but it’s also, you know, putting the things , on auto delivery, like, Hey, our toilet paper.

Very regularly. And our son, you know, he needs some liquid thickness and stuff that stuff shows up regularly. I’m not worried about it, like, cause I know it’s coming. So are there things that you can automate? It’s the same with some of the reports, right? That you might do. Can you just pull those reports and have someone help you write a script?

So that like for example, an Excel so that I can just kind of pull it all together and you just send it out and it fires out, right. Are there ways that you can automate what’s going on and whatever you can automate the last step is to calibrate. Is there a way to refine what you’re doing? Is there a way to cut out steps to make it more seamless and that calibration can come again and work and in life, right?

It can come everywhere. If I think about one of the things that we did, and I know this sounds silly because I used to like scoff, like, oh, what are these people thinking? This is so silly, but no, it actually, it helps us. And it’s related to laundry again. I don’t know if laundry is

[00:31:23] Susanne: it all comes back to laundry.

[00:31:24] audioWhitnee21657035000: I like, I

[00:31:25] Missy: I mean, it is one of the biggest chores for sure. And never ends.

[00:31:28] audioWhitnee21657035000: just never, never ending. Exactly,

[00:31:31] Susanne: I’ll have to take a picture of my bed and I’ll post it after this show. This is what it looks like out. Yeah.

[00:31:36] Missy: I was mine’s covered with laundry to be folded.

[00:31:39] Susanne: Yup.

[00:31:39] audioWhitnee21657035000: so much, so much. It’s, it’s those stupid laundry bins that actually have multiple sections. And can you get one of those? Right. And then have the lights go in one, the darks go in another, the dry cleaning, go in a third or the lights, the darks and the draws or whatever, like separate it, how it makes sense for you, but then you don’t have to actually separate the clothes later and even toddlers can learn which bin is for what?

[00:32:05] Susanne: I second, it is the best decision I ever made. It makes things so much easier and it ends up saving you money in the long run for not putting stuff that isn’t supposed to go in the washer in the washer. You’re getting all your fancy bras, all stuck to everything else and yeah. It’s

[00:32:19] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah. So

[00:32:20] Missy: We have one in our closet and the kids have one in their bathroom and it doesn’t mean that like, things don’t sometimes end up in the wrong place, but it’s also a visual cue that like, this is filling

[00:32:31] Susanne: Yes.

[00:32:31] Missy: it’s it’s time to do this. And our kids know that they need to say like, Hey, we need space in the washer.

Like we’re bringing stuff in our bin is full. it helps

[00:32:41] audioWhitnee21657035000: it does help. And so that’s idea of calibrating. Like, can you reduce steps somehow some way, because when you reduce the steps, it gives you more time and energy for the things that matter, right. For you to spend with anything else, literally anything else.

[00:32:55] Missy: Amy.

[00:32:55] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:32:57] audioWhitnee21657035000: that’s the, that’s the EDBAC method. , that is a way that you can clear your plate, right?

You eliminate, you delegate, automate you batch and you calibrate.

[00:33:06] Susanne: Yes. Oh, I love it. And I love your point. You use such a great word that it’s not inconsequential. And I do think that we kind of put it in our mind, like, oh, well, it takes just a couple of minutes here. Just takes a couple of minutes there and I mean, over. Days and weeks and months of doing that.

And, if, for every task that you do, it just has a five minute thing that it takes. I mean, it adds up to real time. It is not in consequential. This is a real time that you

[00:33:35] Missy: And what it does to our brains to like,

[00:33:38] Susanne: Oh yeah.

[00:33:39] Missy: to make that switch. I hadn’t really thought about it like that, but once you said it, I thought about how I tend to manage. And I use that term really loosely not manage my day is that I am very reactive. So I will do emails for a minute. I will make graphics for the show for a minute.

I will, you know, I don’t, I don’t sit down and go, well, why don’t I make all the graphics for the next six days right now? And then why don’t I do, that’s what I need to be doing. I need. To batch it and my brain will thank me. I mean, I think my brain just feels fried all the time. Partly because I’m going from thing to thing.

[00:34:13] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:34:14] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yeah. I mean, and that’s the other thing, right? All these things I just shared, just try it, try it, try for two days, try for a week, see how it goes. If it’s not helping you then stop. Right. But hopefully it will help you. And I do think your brain will, well, I think it will. Thank you. Especially if you are one of those people who are like, okay, I’m just doing this, I’m doing this, I’m doing this.

And you’re all kind of getting all the things done, but , in a sporadic way. If you can, pull any one of those things together and just get it done all at once it, your brain will thank you. And your body

[00:34:44] Missy: not unusual for me to do like three different tasks for three different jobs within, you know, a 15, 20 minute period. That’s dumb.

[00:34:53] Susanne: Nobody you’re so tired,

[00:34:55] audioWhitnee21657035000: Well, I don’t know. It’s dumb, but it’s like you’re in survival mode, right? It’s

[00:34:58] Missy: Survival mode.

[00:35:00] Susanne: Yeah,

[00:35:00] Missy: Yeah, I do kind of feel that fight or flight at times now I’m understanding why

[00:35:07] Susanne: No, I think this is great. And like you said, for people just to try it and even if they don’t feel like it’s working right now, I say, come back in a week and try it again, because I mean, these, the, I, I don’t think it’s an argument of where there, these things work or not. I mean, these things were, I mean, they just, it’s, it’s only common sense.

And I think just giving it a name and a flow to think through, , is just, I think it will help people to make some sense of it, but I cannot even imagine that going through this process can’t help anybody. Anybody who tries so yay. So excited.

[00:35:42] Missy: I know, I love it.

[00:35:43] Susanne: I know.

[00:35:44] Missy: I love it. I was just looking at the clock and we’re pretty close on time. So I know we probably can not, we really want it to go through. Um, do you have six great questions to help people identify value to new opportunities? I don’t think we can go through those six questions to help you decide whether it’s a yes or no.

We probably don’t have time. So we will direct people to that information. But is there, can we possibly talk about it just briefly for a few minutes kind of how you developed it and why it matters for people to go through this process?

[00:36:18] audioWhitnee21657035000: Yes. I, I love that you’re bringing this up. So for me, it was the realization going back to that idea, that clarity takes courage. And when I had my first son, I realized that I had overextended myself. I had oversubscribed and I was doing a whole lot of things. And ultimately I was just saying,

[00:36:40] Missy: Yeah.

[00:36:41] audioWhitnee21657035000: I mean, I really was.

I was just like, well, I don’t know what the opposite of joy is, but that’s what I felt. I was checking every single box , and I just felt bad. And I was like, I suck as a mom, I suck at work. I suck as a wife. none of this is working like, I’m, I’m not doing well in any of the things that I’m doing, but I’m doing everything and it doesn’t make sense.

How am I doing everything? And like, everything feels crappy. Awful. Yeah. And so then I said, okay, I need to figure out a better way, some type of a filter or some way to figure out what I should and shouldn’t be doing. And that’s kind of where the seven questions came from or six questions. I think at this point, I try to refine as much as I can, but the, um, but that’s where those questions came from.

And it’s the filter that I created for myself to understand what I should and shouldn’t be doing. Right. And so it’s this idea of, , looking at everything going on, am I doing this? And is it really, truly helping me in some way, because I do believe, and it took me a while to get there, but I’m here now.

And I believe that like, when I show up as my best self that’s what’s best for the world, it’s, what’s best for my kids, my husband, my family, my job, my business, my little dog. Like when I show up as my best self that’s what’s best for the entire world. And for me to show up as my best self, I have to be conscious about where I’m spending my time and energy. And so I started thinking about the things and how do I put that filter on to help me understand what does and doesn’t work for me. Right. And we won’t go through all of them, but it is. And it’s a balance, right? So the questions create a balance because it’s like, Hey, is this fun? Yes or no, if it’s fun, then like, yeah, I’m gonna do it.

Why not? Let’s do it. Cause it’s fun. Sometimes the answer to it could be no, but you know, is this something that’s helping me.

[00:38:33] Missy: right?

[00:38:34] audioWhitnee21657035000: Okay, so it’s not fun, but it’s helping me grow. Okay. Maybe this is something that I should be doing. Right. Even if it’s not fun,

[00:38:40] Missy: Not a party.

[00:38:41] audioWhitnee21657035000: Right. Yeah. But it’s, it’s pushing me in the right direction and I’m learning from it.

Right then. It’s important. So it’s kind of going through those questions to create that balance and understand like, is this the right thing for me to be doing? So I don’t end up back in a place because look, I think all of us, especially as if you’re a woman who has kids and you work, you’re in demand, there’s no doubt about it.

That there is a high demand on your time and your energy. And you have to be conscious about where you’re spending that time and energy. And so going through those questions helps me say, okay, yes, this is definitely somewhere where I should be spending my time and energy and where I’m torn. And I can’t really make that decision.

It’s like, Hey, if it’s a seven out of seven, I’m answering yes to seven of these questions, then that’s definitely something I should be doing over something where I’m answering five. Right. And then you can really kind of start to have that more. For me, the type, a person who likes charts and graphs, that kind of more data-driven decision-making

[00:39:37] Susanne: like the data

[00:39:38] audioWhitnee21657035000: that helps to relieve some of the, you know, the, the guilt that might come with saying no to things, but you can’t, you can’t say yes to everything, right?

Because every time you say yes to one thing, you’re saying no to an infinite number of things.

[00:39:54] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:39:55] audioWhitnee21657035000: So you gotta do your best to say yes to the things that are going to help you to be your best self. Because when you’re your best self, everyone around you thrives, right? When you are your best self, your family’s happier, your communities do better.

Your jobs are more profitable. Like everything is better when you’re your best self. So you have to find and work on as many things that like fill that list where you can say yes, over the things where you have some kind of.

[00:40:21] Susanne: So smart. It’s so smart. And it was, I, I mean, I’m sure there’s a lot of different ways about trying to set your boundaries , but these questions really were some of the first ones I was like, that just makes someone, maybe it is my data-driven mind because, and literally at the end of it, it’s like, if, you know, from four to six of them, you know, are yeses then.

And I was like, yes, I want a definitive, like how many yeses should it be? Like, how strong should my yeses be? But now it was just really, really helpful. And I really encourage people to go over and check out the website to see, and really dive into all of the questions. Um, we’re going to use it as a little teaser to get people over to your website, because I do think it deserves some more attention that we can give it to kind of in our remaining minutes here the episode.

And I want to make sure that everybody gets the full benefit of getting all of that. So helpful. So helpful.

[00:41:15] Missy: of takes that choice out of your hands. I mean, and it’s like, it just, you can look at someone and say, this did not meet my criteria for a yes, right now.

[00:41:25] Susanne: Yes. I mean, literally you could be like, when people ask you to do something or volunteer for such a session, you’d be like, I have a comprehensive six step plan for deciding things. Like either I need to take some time and run this through it first, before I gave you an answer or I can tell already, you know, it got kicked out by the first two.

So, I mean, it’s just like, it does, it makes it so it’s like, it’s nothing personal to you. You just didn’t hit my six, my six questions.

[00:41:54] Missy: my team. My team is my six questions.

[00:41:57] Susanne: That’s my

[00:41:58] audioWhitnee21657035000: And then you get the feedback. I mean, look, you’re an in demand lady. You have to have some level of criteria to filter the things out, right.

[00:42:04] Missy: True.

[00:42:05] Susanne: I love it and where we are. Oh God, Missy and I are dangerous people pleasers. And so we really do, but I think it hurts us. And one of our big favorite sayings now is that when we say yes, first of all, we’re saying no to something else, but we’re also taking that opportunity. We’re saying a non enthusiastic yes.

To away from someone else who it might’ve been like a perfect fit for. So it is, it’s selfish in a lot of ways. And that’s the only way that I can get my brain to be like, no, leave it for someone else to do that. It’s the perfect time and opportunity for someone else to do this thing that you’re just going to do, be grudgingly.

So big fan. Love it. Love it. Love it. Oh my gosh. So now for, um, cause we’re going to head into the look, listen learned here pretty Stan, but you have. Seriously people get over to the website. There are so many there’s videos that are sessions that are available to purchase, but there’s also some amazing ones that are available for free.

There’s great from the blog. I mean, the podcast has tons and tons of great information on it. So, um, are there any additional seminars or any of those things that we listed that you have a special event or anything coming up for that we want to make sure we direct people to.

[00:43:19] audioWhitnee21657035000: I think right now. So I did recently update the frequent. I have a line it’s called get unstuck. It’s a four step course that will get you unstuck. We talk about those questions at clarity, and we talk about a few other things, so you can take action and get to that place where you have a plan to thrive in life and it’s free.

Right? Cause I really want to see, I want to see moms happy and thriving in life because I know when we do. Everything gets better. And so that one is free right there, there are paid courses out there and they range from $7 to $899. Right. But that one is free and it offers real value. And so I’d say, just go, go to the savvy, working mom.com and sign up for it and just start there because you also, I mean, in this podcast, you get up, you get a bit of a flavor for me, but in that you’ll definitely get more of a flavor for who I am and how I am, and if I’m a good fit for you.

Um, and, and just check it out. Cause you have, you have nothing to lose because they’re also, each course is five minutes or less, right? Each one of those segments is five minutes or less. You get real, tangible stuff out of it. , but all it takes a five minutes a day for four days and you will be on that life-changing path.

And that’s not a lot. That’s not a lot. You can find it. I know you can find that

[00:44:25] Susanne: Well, it’s five minutes to watch it. And then like 15 minutes afterward when I just had like my jaw dropped and just like, oh, wow.

[00:44:34] audioWhitnee21657035000: Simple, not easy, simple, not easy.

[00:44:37] Susanne: I just kind of soaked in it for a little bit after that, but yeah, I was like, oh my gosh. And I really, I was like, I could not even narrow it down. I was like, there’s so much stuff I wanted to talk

[00:44:46] Missy: so much good

[00:44:47] Susanne: fortunately, anything that we did not cover here, you cover so generously on your own podcast and in so many other areas where people can find you. So we will link to your website in the show notes. But do you want to say it here just in case anybody doesn’t look at the show now?

[00:45:04] audioWhitnee21657035000: Sure. It’s thesavvyworkingmom.com. That’s the website. And you can find me on Instagram and the podcast. Everything is a savvy working mom. At this point, if you Google the savvy working mom, it should come up. You’ll find me Whitnee Hawthorne.

[00:45:18] Susanne: It’s whitnee with two E’s at the end. Uh, just in case anybody is actually entering in the name.

[00:45:23] Missy: yeah,

[00:45:24] audioWhitnee21657035000: mom was, uh, creative in that way.

[00:45:26] Susanne: Oh yeah. Well, I’m Suzanne S U S a N N E. Everybody. Everybody puts a few Z’s in there, so I understand. All right. So we are going to start the look, listen, learn segments. So if this is anybody’s first time joined in the show. Welcome. We are so glad to have you here. Uh, the look, listen, learn segment is just an opportunity for you to get to know our guests and us a little bit beyond our areas of expertise and also get some cool ideas for things that maybe you should be looking, listening or learning.

So that could be TV shows, books, podcast, or sessions are great tips about a shampoo or, or a new tea. I’ve got a new tea flavor. So, uh,

[00:46:10] Missy: that’s not sticks, sticks and twigs.

[00:46:13] Susanne: my God. No, I’m not going to the bulk bin for my camera meal anymore. That didn’t go well. It’s like, this tastes like dirt and mold, but I got such a good deal on it.

[00:46:27] Missy: not that good. A deal.

[00:46:29] Susanne: Um, but so we don’t throw our guests to out there very first. We’ll let you to give a listen to our look, listen, learn. Do you want to start, Missy? I feel like I’ve been starting a lot lately.

[00:46:39] Missy: Sure. I’ll start. I can start. Um, so I have to grab some things back here. We have visual aids for people who watch us on YouTube, but, um, so the book that I am reading is called the heroine’s journey by Gail Carriger. So I’m going to hold it up if anybody is interested, but it was recommended, um, in my NaNoWriMo group.

And, uh, it. Incredible. It’s funny. It is so helpful. It’s already changed the way I was thinking about a plot problem and my revision of this novel. And I, I really just want to sit in and read it instead of

[00:47:16] Susanne: Instead of doing NaNoWriMo

[00:47:17] Missy: Yeah. So having to batch my reading time. Um,

[00:47:22] Susanne: And for people who are not writers or aspiring writers, uh, NaNoWriMo is national novel writing month. And it’s the month of November. So if people that you are used to seeing online or in your life, uh, are missing this month and they are aspiring writers, that’s probably where they are.

[00:47:41] Missy: where we are.

[00:47:42] Susanne: yeah, Missy and I are in a little group together and yeah, I usually have like a word count that you try to get done.

And I was head to the paper for three hours today. So that was three hours more than I’ve done the previous month. So very

[00:47:57] Missy: So you’re already winning. You’re already winning. So if you write, even if you’re writing, non-fiction, even if you’re not writing and you just love pop culture, and you want to understand a little bit about how it is shaped. This book is great. Um, so I highly recommend the heroine’s journey. And, um, so that’s what I’m looking at.

I’m listening in my drive time when I just need a little break. Uh, I’ve been listening to the good place podcast and it’s hosted by Marc, Evan Jackson, who plays Sean on the good place. But I know that’s like an old, I mean, the show’s gone. It’s not on anymore, but I loved the show. Like I have watched it through.

I watched it by myself and I’ve watched it through each, each of my children.

[00:48:38] Susanne: yes.

[00:48:39] Missy: I not a big rewatch. Her that’s one. I can rewatch. It makes me laugh. It makes me cry. I love it. And the podcast is a ton of fun because they dive into how the show was made and what’s behind these characters. And even what’s just behind the scenery and it’s just, it’s fun.

[00:48:53] Susanne: fun?

[00:48:54] Missy: Um, so I highly recommend that one and, , Susanne and I have kind of a joint learn. So, I’m going to let her talk about it more, but I’m just going to show mine.

[00:49:04] Susanne: to, this is w this is cause of Whitnee.

[00:49:06] Missy: these, these are because of Whitnee we got our clever Fox planners. Oh, she’s showing her

[00:49:15] Susanne: Yeah. We forgot to mention this earlier, Whitnee, but in doing research for a Whitnee, Kevin, on this show, I read some previous interviews and she mentioned this for anybody who, again, we always forget that podcasts are not a visual medium, but what we were showing everybody, if you watched the YouTube channel is our a, what I got to give it the proper name.

It’s the FA clever Fox daily planner pro. And it had come up and like, oh my God, how much of a sucker am I for a planner, Missy?

[00:49:43] Missy: A planner that comes with stickers. I mean, oh, I’m holding it up too, but like stickers everywhere, so much fun.

[00:49:52] Susanne: But I think I’ve, I thought I had done every planner that there was to have, but this is so different and unique and that it literally let’s see it. First of all, it’s, it’s pretty gigantic, but it’s only for three months. It’s a

[00:50:08] Missy: I got the year one and it’s heavy.

[00:50:11] Susanne: It’s oh, you got a year. What?

[00:50:13] Missy: yes.

[00:50:14] Susanne: know. That was an option.

[00:50:15] audioWhitnee21657035000: I do I have the 12 months minus like the short one that you fill in yourself, they have a few different versions.

[00:50:21] Missy: Yes. They have a lot of options.

[00:50:23] audioWhitnee21657035000: different options, but like, they’re so wonderful. I really do like them. I like the way they guide you through things and the stickers make it fun.

[00:50:32] Missy: stickers

[00:50:33] Susanne: very fill in the

[00:50:34] audioWhitnee21657035000: nice.

It’s so soft

[00:50:36] Missy: pretty.

[00:50:36] Susanne: It’s fill in

[00:50:37] Missy: mean, if you’re listening, you can’t see this, but I color coded my life because I’m trying to block and batch. And so I color coded with my favorite pins ever, which are these, they are the pilot razor, the razor point, pilot V razor point. Um, so I picked a color for each part of my life and I’ve gotten as far as, you know, November and then each week I’ll dive in a little bit deeper, but so much fun.

[00:51:03] Susanne: Well, the version mine has has like, uh, this week, you’d like, it’s a Greek sheet where you do this week’s goal. This week’s priority is kind of a to-do list, a life balance to do lists that makes you think around health and fitness and fun recreation, spiritual family, and friends, all these different things.

And then each day has its page where you got to do your goal. Have a little check at the bottom. If you accomplish today’s goal, you can rate your productivity. I mean, stuff that I’d never even thought of is like a little, it’s like a self-help journal agenda day planner. Like it’s

[00:51:37] Missy: like your gratitude journal and your life. It’s everything in one, like it’s right there in one book.

[00:51:44] Susanne: I’m not

[00:51:45] audioWhitnee21657035000: I love that. You ladies love it too. I’m a total fan. I’m like, this is my coach is my planner is

[00:51:49] Susanne: I’m so excited that I read that article because I’d never heard of this before. And I was like, oh, I’ll give it a try. And it really, I think it’s going to be really interesting and I’m the schedule I’m not using because I live and die by Google calendar, um, for family stuff and keeping track of my husband and stuff.

But I’m using the schedule for like I’m writing in my actual schedule. So almost like a, okay. If I’m on social media, I’m putting it on the schedule. So it’s keep, it’s like more of a time tracker than an actual schedule. Um, and so that kept me on track for writing today and laundry. I put laundry down here to see how long that took.

Um, and so, yeah, it’s, I’m on day one of using it, but I’m very enthusiastic

[00:52:34] audioWhitnee21657035000: Oh, good, good, good. I love it.

[00:52:36] Susanne: that okay. Whitney or D or did you have any more

[00:52:39] Missy: good. I’m done.

[00:52:40] Susanne: All right, Whitney. What about your look with Larry?

[00:52:43] audioWhitnee21657035000: Okay, so I’ll go with my look. I actually, I’ve got littles, right? I have a three year old and 18 months old. And my husband is from Louisiana. Has he grew up in new Orleans, but his parents live on the north shore, which is like the other side of lake Pontchartrain. And we have this book now that his friend sent us called petite rouge.

[00:53:00] Missy: Oh

[00:53:01] audioWhitnee21657035000: it is an cajun red riding hood

[00:53:04] Susanne: Oh, how

[00:53:04] audioWhitnee21657035000: and it goes through and it comes so there’s not a big, bad Wolf. There’s a big, bad alligator in it. And, you know, she’s lit, she goes in the swamps. So she has to get on her pee road, which is like a little canoe kind of thing, and push her way to her grandma’s house.

And it’s just super cute. And that’s what I’ve been looking at a lot

[00:53:22] Susanne: I bet you have.

[00:53:24] audioWhitnee21657035000: and learning new cajun words.

[00:53:27] Missy: door trouble.

[00:53:28] audioWhitnee21657035000: it’s really fun.

[00:53:29] Susanne: Oh, that’s so sweet.

[00:53:30] audioWhitnee21657035000: so that’s my look. I think my listen is, well, I know my listen is Spotify just started serving me up this, um, daily drive PA uh, playlist. Yeah, it’s awesome. So it’s a mix of news.

Like it starts off with NPR and then it’ll play three or four songs and they’ll do like a wall street journal thing and they’ll play three or four songs and that’s just what I’ve been listening to it. I don’t really listen to other things during the week. I don’t listen to a ton of Spotify. During the week, but that’s it like, I just let it serve me up.

The things that it’s serving me, it’s called your daily drive and it’s tailored to your listening

[00:54:03] Susanne: idea. So it’s like curated just for you.

[00:54:07] Missy: Yes. And I love how it mixes some new music in with the news and yeah. Yeah. I’ve been enjoying it too.

[00:54:15] audioWhitnee21657035000: it’s a, yeah, I really like your daily drive. So that’s what I’ve been listening to and then learning. So this summer we live in Utah, so we relocated to Utah from, uh, Brooklyn at the end of the year. Last year. It’s actually been a year now that we’ve been here. And, earlier in the summer , we decided, you know what, we’re going to embrace this outdoor life because I can get to the mountains from our house.

And we live in, we’re not downtown. We’re kind of like, it’s hard to explain. It’s kind of like the Williamsburg. If you were in New York, the Williamsburg of salt lake, it’s like not downtown, but it’s definitely not the suburbs. Uh, you can walk to some things, um, it’s neighborhoody, but it’s. The suburbs or downtown.

And so from where we live, we can get to the base of the mountain in 20 minutes and an hour. We can be out of cell phone reception. I mean, it’s crazy. And like up the mountain and just no one will know where we are. So we got a 4runner it’s lifted with the big tires and every chance we have, we’re like, let’s go out and do the mountain.

And so now I’ve been on YouTube and, um, a blog called foreigner life and just kind of looking at everything to understand how do we do this safely? Because also we’re out here in the middle of nowhere with two small children in the back.

[00:55:22] Susanne: Oh my

[00:55:23] audioWhitnee21657035000: and that is, that’s what I’ve been learning is how to, how to live this off-road life.

We’re not like full over Landers. I don’t think we’ll do that to the kids at least get out of diapers. Cause that’s a lot of garbage to be leaving in the woods. But, um,

[00:55:34] Susanne: good for you. Oh, good for you. You know, I, I grew up in Southern Idaho, so not too far from salt lake, just basically just straight up from salt lake, about three hours. , but my parents are both from Chicago and so people are always like, oh, well, what did you do? And you know, did you do river rafting?

Did you go camping? Did you all this stuff? I was like, I had two pairs from Chicago. I didn’t go camping until high school. Like, I didn’t go skiing, you know, but we had bogus basin and just like straight up for in Boise. And, but yeah, it’s so funny. It’s a good for you for leaning in there and then,

[00:56:07] audioWhitnee21657035000: like, we’re here. We’re going to do it.

[00:56:10] Missy: That’s.

[00:56:11] audioWhitnee21657035000: going very hard, but then we’re like, oh, then we’ll come back and someone will be like, oh, but you have an air compressor for your tires. And we’re like, why would we need that? Like, oh, okay. Now

[00:56:21] Missy: Add it to the list.

[00:56:22] audioWhitnee21657035000: it to the list. We did get a shovel.

So almost like, but you need a shovel. And I was like, for what you need, what do we, what are we to shovel for?

[00:56:28] Susanne: Oh my gosh.

[00:56:29] audioWhitnee21657035000: Oh, right. That’s true. Uh, so we have, we’ve been learning and evolving and it’s honestly, it’s, it’s very awesome and super fun, a great family activity. And you know, the way to make the most, the only problem is that we’re not big snow people and the snow here has started.

Right. So the mountain shuts down in October and then the snow doesn’t really go away until may or June in the mountains. It lasts for a very long time. So it’s a super short summer, as far as safe driving goes, like, I’m sure you could push it if you had like a ATV or side-by-side or something, but I’m not trying to push it with small children and.

[00:57:05] Susanne: Yeah,

[00:57:06] audioWhitnee21657035000: I just personally don’t want to be stuck anymore. So

[00:57:10] Missy: in the

[00:57:10] Susanne: don’t play me. I don’t do Caldwell. No,

[00:57:13] audioWhitnee21657035000: No, no. So

[00:57:15] Susanne: actually, after our grape freeze in Austin last spring, we don’t need

[00:57:18] audioWhitnee21657035000: Oh man.

[00:57:20] Missy: no kidding. Once I was stuck as an adult with three other adults, we were stuck on a road. Like a blizzard came in really fast and we got stuck on, I don’t know if you’ve ever flown in or out of the Denver airport and driven in and out of that airport, but there was a really long road called Pena Boulevard that goes from the airport back out to the highway.

And we were on Pena Boulevard, like headed out. And I think a truck jack-knifed on the highway and the snow was falling way faster than I thought it was going to fall. And we spent the night in a car on that road with every other car on that road. And it was for adults.

[00:57:56] Susanne: Oh my

[00:57:57] Missy: We had like two bottles of water and a tin of Altoids.

[00:58:00] audioWhitnee21657035000: thought you was two bottles of wine and I was going to be like, okay, we’re not doing too bad.

[00:58:04] Missy: Right. Yeah. And w we were headed to a wine fundraiser event, but we did not have our wine yet. Um, um, I mean, that was not, I never want to repeat that ever again. It was the best, worst case scenario because we were okay. And nothing horrible happened. And, and we did not have little kids with

[00:58:22] audioWhitnee21657035000: I’m so glad you guys were adults and that you’re okay.

[00:58:25] Missy: Yeah. Yeah. And we could get, we had all our, we had our luggage, we were with friends who were from Denver, but we had all of our luggage. So we had extra clothes to put on. We just opened up our suitcase and we’re like, have a sweatshirt, have a jacket everyone’s piling up. And yeah, but he did being stuck in the snow in a situation like that with little kids, even if you had what you needed, horrible

[00:58:45] Susanne: Oh, but no. Hey, we’re trying to inspire Whitnee to go and explore. Not scare

[00:58:49] audioWhitnee21657035000: we’ve gone. Don’t worry. We’re out there. It’s uh, we’re ready for.

[00:58:52] Missy: explore safely.

[00:58:54] audioWhitnee21657035000: We’ve got tons of water in the back of my mom came to visit and we went up the mountain. We were just going on a paved road. Anyway, we weren’t doing any off-roading, but I’m like, do we have enough water? Do we have the snacks?

She’s like, are you it’s going to be okay. Right. And I was like, I don’t know. I don’t know. I would just like for us to be prepared in case it’s not.

[00:59:12] Susanne: Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, we need to keep following those adventures. Hopefully you have those up on social media because this will be fun. Oh, well this has been so wonderful. I started, we kept you a couple minutes late. Still. I know you’ve got your children who are expecting some food. I’m sure mine are probably looking for a little something to, uh, but this has been such a pleasure.

I feel, oh my gosh. First of all, thank you for

[00:59:37] Missy: No kidding.

[00:59:38] Susanne: to this new planner, that clever Fox daily planner, um, or as weekly or monthly or however, whichever the planners. And I love the colors too, that you can choose from and they do. They just feel so nice. Um, but the information that. I seriously made it.

I mean, I was so into research in you that I have found out about a planner, like four articles into somewhere else. So once I was done with your website, I started going to other people’s website to read more your stuff. So I bet y’all, won’t be able to get enough either. So we’re going to have links to all kinds of good stuff in the show notes, which are available at the website.

So definitely go click on everything we have there, cause you’re not gonna want to miss any of it

[01:00:20] Missy: Okay. I loved meeting you. Thank you for being here.

[01:00:24] audioWhitnee21657035000: you so much for having me on this is so much fun.

[01:00:26] Susanne: so much fun. All right. Take care. Okay. Bye bye.

[01:00:30] Missy: Bye.