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Christian homemakers need encouragement and motivation to stay the course. Homemaking and homeschooling can feel overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. If you’re a Christian mom longing for a well-ordered home, a peaceful homeschool, and a joyful heart—without the stress or burnout—you’re in the right place. Moms can be productive and peaceful when grounded in Scriptural truth.
I’m Mystie Winckler, homeschooling mom of five, founder of Simply Convivial, and your guide to managing both home and heart with faith and focus. Here, we talk about biblical homemaking, sustainable homeschooling, and cheerful productivity—all through the lens of organizing your attitude and embracing your God-given calling.
In each episode, you’ll find practical homemaking systems, homeschooling strategies, and mindset shifts that will help you manage your home without perfectionism or frustration. We’ll tackle topics like:
✔️ Christian homemaking routines that actually work
✔️ Productivity, mom-style
✔️ Homeschooling with peace—even when life gets messy
✔️ Time management for moms (without rigid schedules)
✔️ Decluttering your home & your attitude
✔️ How to be diligent, not just busy
Motherhood is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t need more willpower—you need a grace-filled, biblical approach to managing life at home. Let’s cultivate faithfulness, embrace joy, and build habits that make home a place of peace and purpose.
👉 Subscribe now and start organizing your home and heart—cheerfully.
Speaker: Hello.
Here we are.
We are live, and it's so
good to see you today.
I'm excited to do this workshop We're
going to talk about going from overwhelmed
to organized, and that is possible.
We have to talk about our
definitions, of course.
What does it really mean to be organized?
But there is one basic tool that can
help us reframe productivity in our days
and allow us to acknowledge the work
and the progress that we are making, and
that's what we're gonna talk about today.
So, so glad to see you.
I see many familiar faces.
Ladies from Convivial Circle are here.
Uh, you can pitch in.
I know you all will have, um, advice
and wisdom on this topic today.
So, um, I always enjoy seeing the chat.
All right.
Well, thank you so much for coming
today to this live workshop, From
Overwhelmed to Organized: The One
Practice That Changes Everything.
And that seems like an exaggerated
clickbaity title, but really, stick
with me and you will be surprised.
So many ladies have been surprised
that this makes that much
difference, and you'll see, um,
you'll hear from other ladies
during this workshop that it's true.
One practice will help flip that script
that you have going on in your head
that's creating the noise of overwhelm.
You'll be able to silence that
and make progress with this one.
Yeah, stick around.
That's right.
All right.
So I want to talk about
this today becauseâ¦
I'm gonna get all the words showing here.
Um, because I do think it's important
that we figure out our life at home.
So many of us have maybe given
up, um- feeling like, you know,
we've given up because we, um We've
tried so many different things.
We've tried planners, we've tried
checklists, we've tried programs
to get our act together at home.
Maybe even not, like getting organized
now seems like way too optimistic.
We're just trying to not fall to
pieces, and even that seems too
hard But it's worth figuring out.
And a big part of figuring it out means
aligning our expectations with reality
instead of thinking that if we were
organized, then everything will go my way.
I think that's a real problem with how
we go about getting organized often,
is we define being organized as making
everything go our way, and we keep
trying and trying to figure out different
things to make that happen, and it never
does, and so we feel like failures.
But we can shift our definition
of organi- being organized, and
we can love our life at home.
'Cause you know they say, "If Mama
ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."
It's actually true.
We need to love our lives at home
in order to love our families well.
It is a way that we
love our families well.
If we love our home, we are, by
extension, loving our family.
And if we love our family, we will,
by extension, love our life at home.
They go together.
I know that when you look at your
home, you see all that needs to be
done, and it feels like way too much.
It feels like there's never enough time.
Once you get started into a project,
of course, that's when the toddler
skins his knee, or that's when problems
start happening and your kids need you.
Maybe your husband works long
hours and can't pitch in.
Maybe he's even deployed or
working graveyard shifts.
You know, there are all kinds of scenarios
where we, as wives and mothers, have a
lot on our plate and not a lot of help.
That's some reality sometimes.
And most of us never learned
how to manage a home.
It's not even that we didn't learn how.
I know that there are many women out
there right now who have kids and
a home, but they've never actually
seen a healthy, functioning home.
That is such, I mean, it's sad
but true, and that makes it extra
difficult because you don't even
know what you're working toward.
But that is why we need to be rallying
around one another and helping
one another out and talking shop
and talking about the nitty-gritty
of homemaking with one another.
I encourage you in whatever friend
group you have, no matter how awkward
or weird it sounds, talk about
how you're getting laundry done.
Talk about what you're making for
dinner, and make home life conversations
normal again, 'cause that is how this
kind of knowledge used to be passed
along, not with programs or, uh,
classes, but just by women talking.
But so many women don't have that
right now and really just don't
have the background experience or
even vision for what it is they're
supposed to be doing at home
And it is true.
We have a lot to do.
We have a lot on our plate, and if we
were to write down everything that we
were working on, it would be a mile long.
Like, we would never get
to the bottom of that list.
So our plans for getting on top
of life cannot involve getting
everything on our list done.
It can't involve, like, getting our
home at some kind of base level.
Like, I'm just gonna get everything
clean and organized once, and then
I'll just be able to keep it up.
I don't know how many times I've told
myself that, and it's just a pipe dream.
We're, we're all living in our house
all the time, so there is no time where
the whole house is going to be just so.
We aren't making dollhouses.
We aren't setting up
dollhouses for ourselves.
We are managing a family home
where a whole lot of life is being
lived and a whole lot of people
are becoming flourishing people.
And that makes messes, and it's our
job to just kind of keep that project
rolling, not get everything looking
like a magazine spread or, you know,
perfect for Instagram or whatever.
It's not about achieving an aesthetic.
Our job as moms and homemakers
is to be helping that life
actually happen in our homes.
Our homes are a stage for life Stages
need to be set and they need to be
maintained, but they aren't the point.
If you just have an empty
set stage, like who cares?
What value is that?
The value is in what the stage allows
to happen, the whole play of life.
But that whole play of life and
mismanagement and, uh, wrong
expectations for what we're doing
at home breeds overwhelm in us.
We look around and we see way too many
things to do, way too many options,
way too many possibilities, way too
much work, and all that too much just
spins and spirals in our head, and that
is what we call feeling overwhelmed.
It just feels like too much to
process, too much to handle.
We don't even know where to start.
How would you describe what it
feels like to be overwhelmed?
I'd love to see that in the chat.
Um, how would you describe that
feeling of being overwhelmed?
Maybe you fixate on one thing or a
million things that could be done, and
then you're aren't sure what to do next.
You just go into a mental
or emotional spiral that you
don't even know how to stop.
And so often, you know, you might turn
to your phone to just stop the noise in
your head, or you just wanna leave the
house and forget about it for a while.
And a big problem with overwhelm is
it feels like you have already met
that threshold of decision fatigue
and you can't do any more, and
the reality is that you actually
haven't made any decisions at all.
So you feel totally burnt out without
having actually done anything because
of all that's going on in our heads.
We've run a million scenarios in
our heads and seen a whole bunch of
things play out, and we feel stuck
in knowing which one of those we
should be doing, or what's actually
next in this long loop that we have.
Uh, we just don't know how to make
that decision and can't, and it feels
like reaching the end of the rope when
we haven't even started, actually.
Let's see.
Sarah says, "Feeling overwhelmed
is, uh, not knowing what to do
next because everything seems
like it needs to be done."
Martha calls it a sense of doom.
Ashley says, "It's complete shutdown
where I want everything off my plate."
Yes.
Sarah says, "Too much to do.
Where to start?
Losing sleep."
Jamie says, "Unable to
make simple decisions."
Yeah.
"Brain ruminates either on one
thing over and over or ping pongs
from random to random idea."
Yes.
Chloe, "Trying to bail out of a boat
while water keeps pouring into it."
And so many more good ones here.
This is so good.
Yeah, that's feeling
overwhelmed, and it is
Uh, sorry, I'm getting texts and such.
Um, that is A problem.
Like, we need to figure out how to negate
overwhelm and be able to move past it.
We have to learn how to turn it
off, and a big part of that is
recognizing that overwhelm is optional.
We aren't stuck.
It's not necessary for us to feel
overwhelmed, and it's something
that we can have control over.
Let me see.
I haveâ¦
My daughter is babysitting,
and I just got a text from the
lady she's babysitting for.
The time changed
Uh
Okay.
Moving on.
Back, back to our thing.
So overwhelm really is optional.
Even if you have a lot to do,
it's not that if you actually took
everything off your plate, then
you would stop feeling overwhelmed.
That's what it feels like.
It feels like that makes sense.
All the things are making me feel
overwhelmed, so to stop feeling
overwhelmed, we just have to
remove all of the things But that's
not, that's not gonna happen.
And we wouldn't even
want that life, right?
We, we want to be raising our families.
We want to have homes that are
bustling and flourishing with life.
We, we want to be doing meaningful work.
And so it's really, we can- we need
to change the way that we respond to
what's going on, and we need to change
our expectations and our mindset
about that in order to turn off
overwhelm, and then become organized.
And we also have to tackle what
it means to be organized, because
being organized does not mean having
your act together all the time.
That is often how we describe
being organized, right?
That's how we describe other people.
"Oh, you know, she looks like
she has everything together.
She's organized."
It does not mean having aesthetically
arranged cupboards and closets with
matching containers and labels.
That's another thing.
We call that organized, and then that
is not possible in our life, and so we
give up on being an organized person.
But, like, that's an after
effect of being organized.
That's like a downstream thing.
It's not what's making someone organized.
It's not like if someone would just come
in and organize my closets for me, and
put things in matching containers, and
label everything, then suddenly that
would change me into an organized person.
Those cupboards don't make you organized.
An organized person might make
their cupboards look that way, but
it's us and the way that we handle
life that has to change first.
It's not about an alphabetized
filing cabinet with every piece of
paper in exactly the right place,
and it is not about spending an hour
writing in your planner every day.
If you want to, that's fine.
Again, maybe an organized person
does that, but that hour is really
not what's making her organized.
And a lot of that might just be basically
hobby time It doesn't have to take
that long to be organized, and that's
what we're gonna talk about today.
That is the one thing where it takes
like five minutes, not an hour So
what does it mean to be organized?
Being organized means knowing
what's most important.
It means choosing to do the
things that matter most.
It means knowing where your stuff is.
It means writing things down and
then looking at what you've written.
It means knowing why you're
doing what you're doing.
Then your decisions align
with those priorities.
So when things are
organized, they go together.
And that begins with ourselves, where
the decisions that we make and the work
that we do goes together with what's
important to us, what really matters.
And w- we're able to see that, make
the judgment call, make the right
decision without spiraling and
without doom and without feeling
like we're not getting anywhere.
Because we are noticing the right
things, and we're letting go
of the things that don't matter
Let's see.
Candra says, "I've never been
organized no matter what I do.
I organize, and then everything is lost."
Right.
And the whole point of organizing stuff
is so that you can find it, right?
So I would be interested to know
what you do to try to get organized.
You say, "No matter what I do,
I've never been organized."
What is it that you have done?
You know, there's so mu- so many
organizing books and advices and,
and shows and people you can watch
and follow on being organized, and
so often they all focus on the stuff.
Just declutter everything, you
know, get the right containers
and labels, and it's all about
achieving this arrangement of stuff.
But organization starts here, and until
we are organized in our ability to think
through our life and make good decisions,
all those other visual parts of being
organized are not gonna get any traction.
We have to organize ourselves
first before we can effect any
organization in our stuff, and it
does not work the other way around.
We think, "Oh, all this stuff is
making me crazy, so if I just get
all that stuff visually appealing,
suddenly I will feel put together."
But unless we know what we're about,
we know why we're doing what we're
doing, and then we're able to filter
decisions and make good choices, like,
it's all just gonna go to shambles
again because that is evidence of
what's happening in our heads We have
to change what's going on in our heads
Jennifer says, "I'm a 10-plus
year Misty groupie who's lost
mojo with teenagers and how it's
drastically changed my priorities."
Yes, that's the other thing, is we
go all in on organization projects or
getting things all figured out, and then
we think, "Once I get it all figured
out, we'll be good to go for forever."
But the reality is that our
priorities change, our lives
change, our responsibilities change.
And so getting organized is
something that is an ongoing process.
It's something we can get better
and better at, and something we're
always doing, not somethingâ¦
not a project that you just do
and check off and achieve, and
now suddenly you're organized.
It's something we have
to constantly be doing.
Learn to love what must be done.
Th- that's not a discouraging
message, actually, if you just
think about it the right way.
It is in your head, but you
can't just think your way
into being organized either.
Being organized or disorganized starts
in our heads, not with the stuff.
But too often, especially if we have
a perfectionism streak, we want to
figure everything out in our heads
before we actually do anything.
And you're like, "I don't wanna start
a cleaning routine, a filing procedure,
a declutter project, organizing
my spices or my books or whatever.
I don't wanna start any of those
outward evidences of being organized.
I don't wanna start a planner until
I've picked the exact right one.
And I know that as soon as I
start it, we're, we're gonna do
something that is gonna 100% work.
Until I have that guarantee,
I'm not going to do anything.
I'm just gonna figure it out.
Maybe keep making lists, but I'm
not gonna actually get started
until I've thought it all through."
But the reality is that our
actions have to play a part.
We have to bring our
actions to bear our choices.
Because it's only in making
those choices and working through
doing things that we really learn
what works and what's important.
It's not something that we can just
figure out in our heads and then
fully implement once it's figured out.
But that's what a lot of perfectionism
think, uh, a, that's what a lot of
perfectionism w- makes us think.
So you can't think yourself into
being organized because that
desire to figure it all out in
your head first is perfectionism,
and overwhelm is in your head.
So if you're in your head trying
to figure it all out there
first, you're gonna be spiraling.
You are going to be giving
in to all kinds of things.
And- Overthinking, overly
analytical, micromanaging planner,
planning is perfectionism too.
So we're actually putting ourselves
into that overwhelmed loop by trying
to figure it all out in our heads only.
And the things that we really learn,
we learn by doing, experimenting,
iterating, and that includes planning,
productivity, cleaning, the whole thing.
To check, I am getting a
bunch of texts, but okay.
Got a thumbs up from the lady my
daughter's babysitting for, so we're good.
You do need better thinking if
you're going to be organized.
So it's like this kind of back and forth
thing where we need to think better,
but we d- need to do and not just think.
Just thinking is what sticks
us into the overwhelm loop.
Organization requires order and action.
Unless we're doing something,
we're not organized.
Organization is not theoretical.
It is practical.
It's something that we do.
It's not just something that
can stay in our heads Let's see.
Alicia says, "Yes, I don't wanna start
until I feel like I have a complete plan,
and I'm learning that that's the problem."
The, the reality is that we
can't do everything, right?
We all have long to-do lists,
and at some point we realize, oh,
I'm never actually going to get
my whole list all checked off.
That means that we have to be choosy.
We have to choose.
We have to decide.
And so being organized is being
really good at making decisions
about choosing and letting other
things go, being okay with that.
You ha- you turn off the overwhelm by
being okay with choosing and being okay
with how you chose, not because you made
the very best or most perfect choice,
but, but 'cause you had to choose, and
you did something, and you're gonna
learn, and you're gonna keep going.
You have to work.
You have to have priorities, and you
have to work with those priorities
because there are too many things to do.
So you have to have some kind of
criteria to know what's important.
And those kind of limitations
that we all have, limitations of
time, and energy, and attention,
ability to choose is a limitation.
Those limitations can actually spur
creativity and potency, like potency
of action, where we're not just
scattering, not really sure what
we're doing here and there, whatever
catches our eye is what we do, but we
really pour ourselves into something
that matters and have a potent effect.
Because we're not everywhere,
we're where it matters most
If you think about it, you know, even
the word like organization, like a
business, has a reason for being.
They've come together.
They've gotten organized
to get something done.
A thing, not all the thing.
Like an organization means
people who have come together
to get a mission accomplished.
And if it's outside of that mission,
it's outside of their scope.
So to be organized is to have that
kind of vision or mission purpose to
the options that are presented to you
And you have to practice an action
orientation in order to escape
that kind of mental spiral analysis
paralysis overwhelm spiral.
You have to smile and start.
Smile and start is one of our favorite
sayings inside Convivial Circle, and
we just spent all of June where smile
and start was our focus for the month.
And one of the stickers that I
have to give away is a smile,
smile and start sticker.
So that's one of my favorite
little mottos: smile and start
Being organized means you know
what needs to be done, and then
you do something meaningful.
Not do the very, very best
m- the right thing, but
something, something meaningful.
Don't try to arrange all the pieces
of life just right so that everything,
your whole organiza- organization,
plan, hopes, and dreams happen
all at once forever and always.
This is just not how it works.
You get better and better at
arranging things, and making choices,
and figuring out what's important
right now, because it will change.
And so this is an ongoing skill that
we are always applying, not some kind
of status that we achieve and install.
And a real key here is that a bias
toward action melts overwhelm into
momentum, because being overwhelmed
is being stuck in your head.
And so doing something is a surefire
way to stop the overwhelm spiral, toâ¦
It changes the subject in your
head, gets your body moving, and
gets you noticing other things.
And you actually do something, and that
feels good, and so you do another thing.
So we need to practice a bias
toward action, especially when
we feel overwhelmed Oh, look,
I didn't finish this slide.
I'm Misty Winkler, if
we haven't met before.
I know this is live on YouTube,
so maybe this is the first time
you've stumbled upon my channel.
Uh, I, um, I have five kids.
My husband and I are gonna be
celebrating our 25th anniversary
in July, and we have three adult
children, two teenagers still at home.
Uh, we've homeschooled all of our kids.
Three homeschool graduates,
two in high school now.
And I have been planning and organizing
and reading about it and talking about
it and writing about it for a long time.
I'm not tired of it yet,
because I keep learning.
Um, whenâ¦
So I was a homeschool kid,
oldest daughter of seven.
And so being the oldest bossy pants
daughter that I was, I- when I got
married at 19, I thought, "There we go.
Now I will get it all figured
out before we have kids.
I'll just get my systems in place,
I'll do the things, and then I'll
be so much better than my mom."
That was one of my thoughts.
And so of course, God didn't let that
happen because He takes down the proud,
but He gives grace to the humble.
So He had to humble me, and
none of my plans, none of my
systems ever got traction.
They never worked.
And they especially didn't work
once we started having kids.
And so then I went for a while thinking,
"Well, then I'm not gonna bother.
If my systems are not going to completely
work out the way I wanted, then I'm
just not gonna, not gonna do any of it.
I'm gonna do barely enough to scrape
by, and just, you know, take walks
with my kids and read books and care
as little as possible about the house."
So that went on for a few years,
and things got pretty bad.
And then, uh, God kept nagging me.
Basically, everywhere I went, the subject
would come up, like how you manage your
home, and people would ask, like, just
start conversations about cleaning plans.
And it's like, "Sorry,
I'm not doing that."
It just, in all kinds of different ways,
it kept coming back up until I got the
hint and the conviction that I was wrong,
and I was gonna have to figure this out.
So- That's been, like, 15 years
now figuring it out and sharing
what I've learned along the way.
So I runâ¦
Now I run a membership community called
Convivial Circle, where we have hundreds
of ladies, many of whom are here today.
Shout out to my ladies here.
Dawn Simpson.
Let's see.
Well, I'm not gonna be able toâ¦
Megan Jackson.
Those are just the ones I see right here.
Stacy Thomas.
Um, or at least Stacy has been.
Now it's been a while since I've
seen you, Stacy, it seems like.
Okay.
Um, so
What I have found in all of these
years of writing and helping other
ladies with organization is that
we all have these same struggles.
And I don't get tired of talking
about it, because I still
have to keep doing it myself.
It's not something like, "Oh, now
I've finally attained this level, and
I can tell everyone else how to come
up and be, like, do it like I do,
because everything's all together."
No, this is, like, a cohort of all
of us who are interested in learning
to love what must be done, in
continuing to apply ourselves to our
lives, to be engaged with our lives.
And we're on board with
doing that together.
And it's easier to be engaged and be on
board, continuing to learn and grow and
keep iterating and learning, when you have
a group of other ladies doing that too.
So that's what Convivial Circle is.
Um,
Stacy says, uh, she should come back.
Yes.
Well, maybe I'll give you a minute,
give you a reason to here in a minute.
All right, so the one practice, it
is ti- ⦠Oh, and I turned off my
slides because that one was notâ¦
There we go The one practice,
it's time to get to it.
Now that we've talked about the difference
between being overwhelmed and organized,
and what being organized really means,
that we have to have a bias toward
action, and we have to be practicing it.
This is where the daily card comes in.
Probably all of my convivial
circle friends here saw it coming.
You, you probably saw hints too.
It's the daily card Um, so if, if you've
been doing the daily card, whether you're
in Convivial Circle or not, 'cause I've
have lots of episodes on the daily card.
Uh, and I have a guide called
The 3x3 Daily Card Method.
That's what we're gonna talk about next.
Um, I would love t- for you, those of you
who are doing it, to share in the chat
what it is that you love about the daily
card, and the practice of the daily card.
And the word practice there is key.
The daily card gives you your
bias toward action with a fresh
new chance to practice every day
Um, I've heard way more
objections than this.
Again, another slide here that
could have been filled out more.
I've heard all the objections and
excuses for the daily card because
this was one of my first go-to things.
I mean, I did not invent
picking a top three for the day.
That's, like, almost every productivity
thing out there will tell you,
pick a top three for the day.
This is-- I didn't create it.
I didn't invent it.
I just tried it and discovered
that it really helps, and
it fits mom life so well.
And so the reasons why we choose a
top three might be different for us
as moms than it is for, you know, a
corporate CEO, but it still does work.
Whether or not it works
for him, I don't know.
But it works for me at home with all
kinds of different projects here and there
going on, where it seems like there's
no way I could boil it down to three.
It's like, but if I do, I actually get so
much more traction with everything else.
But I know because I've been doing it
for so long and telling other ladies
about it for so long and trying to
convince so many women in Convivial
Circle that this is what they need to be
doing first before anything else, that
all the reasons why you can't do it.
And we share a weekly top three
in Convivial Circle, and so often
it's like, and they're coming in
with five things and six things.
Like, let's narrow it down to three.
But I know, I know these excuses
personally 'cause when I first
started trying the daily card, and
I was like, "Okay, well, this is
basic productivity recommendation.
Everywhere I turn, they're talking about
this," but they're all businessmen, you
know, giving this productivity advice.
I-- A-and they're just talking about,
like, three things, you know, in
your office, li-like your workday.
Like, my workday is my whole life.
And all the pieces and parts of
my life are all intermingled.
So I'm gonna separate things out,
and I'm gonna have three- Top threes.
Uh, and I did this.
I- And some of you, if you've been
around long enough, you've seen my cards
that had, like, a I on a index card.
You can make a daily card
anywhere, in a planner, on a
Post-It Note, on an index card.
I would draw a line across the
top, and then make columns, and
then have a box at the bottom.
And so I would have home th-
home and family, personal
things, I'd have homeschool
things, and then project things.
If that's right.
Anyway, I split my life up
into three parts, and each
part got its own top three.
And it was better.
That worked way better than my many
multitudes of super long lists.
So it was better.
But after a while I tried actually
giving myself only three and
found it worked even better.
But it was hard.
It was hard to, like, believe
it or trust it or to let go
of all the different things.
Like, I c- I have so much more than three
things to do, I can't narrow it down.
But the reality is that we figure
out how to narrow it down by actually
trying, by practicing, and you get
a chance to practice every day.
You don't have to pick
the right thing every day.
You get better and better at picking
the right thing the more you practice it
Katie says, "I love the daily card.
Honestly, it's been the only thing
I've been able to do consistently
as far as planning or routines."
And I bet it makes a bigger
difference even than those
other planning and routines do
And Dawn, Dawn's been around for forever.
She says, "I'm guilty
of five or six things."
But she's doing it now.
She's making an actual top three.
Yes.
Alicia says, "I usually get more than
the three things done, but picking
three helps me really think about
my priorities and have time for the
unexpected parts of mom life, like a child
whose meltdown lasted for two hours."
Right?
You can't predict things like that, but
that's your job to take care of, and
we generally don't pencil in parenting
when we're making our plans for the day.
But it takes a significant chunk of time,
and you might just be in a stage where
that needs to be one of your top three.
All right.
So eventually, I got to the point where
I practiced picking only three things
for the day, and then recently, like
two years ago, I went back to three
lists of three, but only because it,
it's not picking nine thing- every
day I'm not picking nine things.
I'm still only picking three things.
But I realized I needed to acknowledge
the little things that make the most
difference, and really practice them
as habits and get them installed.
And so I set myself up another,
um, three-by-three format, which
you can see on this sample here.
And so I have a place for the top three.
I have one, actually.
It'sâ¦
I do keep a planner, but my Post-It can
fit on the front of the cover, so I don't
even have to open it to see my daily plan.
Um, so I have a spot here for
my top three, and then there's a
little box for the home routines
that make the biggest difference.
This is a visual to remind me that
this is what will matter most.
Even if you don't get to the whole
thing, if you do these, you've done
enough to keep everyone afloat.
So the AM is morning, right?
Morning 15.
Not 15 things, 15 minutes.
So 15 minutes in the morning, and then
the PM 15 is 15 minutes in the evening.
And all of us have different
things that happen in our 15-minute
morning and evening routine.
Maybe some of you who have your
morning and evening routines, you
could share what's on yours just to
showcase how different they can be.
And by picking, by limiting yourself
to 15 minutes That allows your
creativity to come out and you start
realizing what actually matters.
It's not something you figure
out in your head first.
It's something you do and iterate and
learn what needs to go in there by
trying a whole bunch of stuff out and
seeing what really makes a difference.
We're gonna get to that bit.
Okay, then the second box
there are personal routines.
So you have your overall top
three tasks for the day, and then
house routines, personal habits.
Every day, read your Bible,
drink enough water, and smile.
Smile at your kids, smile at your husband,
smile into people's eyes, and that will
transform the atmosphere of your home
right there, that one thing So this is
now the three by three daily card method.
And for a long time I did use an index
card, and I'll still often, you know,
in posts or on YouTube or whatever,
talk about an index card option.
Fits on an index card just fine, right?
But it's kind of fun to have the,
to just use a Post-it since a
Post-it is three, three by three.
Right?
It's three inches by three inches.
So, uh, and I have
little custom ones here.
These are available in my shop, um,
that's this template that you can see.
Or if you buy the three by
three daily card method guide,
it comes with templates.
But it's just fun, and when it's fun,
and also makes it easier to practice.
All right, let's unpack each
of these three sections.
So first we have that top section
where you choose your top three tasks.
And to figure out your top three tasks,
you have to ask yourself, "What will make
the most difference if I do this today?"
What's taking my time today?
What is it that I need to do
that I've been procrastinating?
And maybe that's a long list, but
pick one, one thing to just stop
procrastinating on, and that can open up
and unlock just that sense and feeling,
"Oh, I'm a person who can do things.
I can get over this, get over
myself, and just do something."
And then we end up doing so much more.
So for example, uh, even still
with only two high schoolers, on
a homeschool day, homeschool goes
on one of my top three lists.
Because ⦠It's not because if I
didn't put it on there, I would forget
to do it, but it's because that is
my most important thing for the day.
And so I need to acknowledge that
even if nothing else happened,
it still counts as a good day.
And that is a huge step right there for
becoming organized instead of overwhelmed.
Because when we're overwhelmed,
we spiral into thinking about
all that we aren't doing.
But when we're organized, we do what
matters most, and we acknowledge
and tell ourselves that we made
the right choice End of story
That shuts off, it
eliminates the overwhelm.
And being organized is about choosing
the thing that keeps you on mission.
It's being held together.
All your work and your life is a piece.
It's a whole, and you are living that out.
You're making appropriate decisions
for your whole one-piece life.
That's being organized.
So even if nothing else got done,
homeschool is one of those things
that counts, and that takes time.
And so I have to let it take up
the space on my daily card to
remind myself of that reality.
Even still
And so we've done daily card
challenges, and we're about to start
another one in Convivial Circle.
So July is gonna be our daily card
challenge month in Convivial Circle.
We didn't do one last year, but we've
done a daily card challenge in previous
years, and so I had a lot of, um, response
from people to pull on, and I had a
really hard time narrowing them down.
But, um, Haley, last time we did a daily
card challenge, she said, "Picking three
things to focus on finishing in a day
is manageable and something I think I
will be able to persevere in doing."
And that's what so many of
us need, is just that ability
to, to stick with something.
That's what we maybe
don't believe we can do.
But if we do a small thing and keep
at it, that allows us to change that
perception of ourself and our ability
to manage the life that we have.
Katie said, "The practice of daily
cards helps anchor my thoughts and tasks
to be more realistic and achievable.
Instead of thinking and spacing off into
distraction, 'What should I do now?'
I have a plan and can go after it."
You can hear that bias toward action
in that Uh, Chelsea said, "I think it
came-- I came to the obvious realization
that some days I just don't have time to
dedicate to my much too long to-do list."
Right?
That's all of us.
"I think doing small daily cards as
well as taking a realistic look at
each day to decide if I can truly fit
it in, and it being okay if I can't,
will really be helpful and freeing."
Um, Michaela said, "I get so much more
done when I pick only three things."
That's kind of one of those, it- in
our heads, that doesn't make sense.
But when you practice it, and
you do it for a while, it's true.
When you narrow things down and you
know what you're about, you are just
better able to make choices and to
get things done, and you feel like
the kinda person who gets things done
instead of being stuck in overwhelm.
And so you do get more done when
you narrow your list down to three.
Rachel said, "Three things per day
is more than enough, and helps focus
my mind in a productive direction."
And Candace said, "Choosing the
top three keeps my plan realistic."
So huge.
So helpful.
And here's what I've seen over the years.
If you do choose a daily top three,
then you know what's important, you
know where to start each day, you are
forced to identify priorities, and maybe
even you'll figure out what they are
by making choices, and you recognize
the limits of your time and your
energy, and you're working within those
instead of in wishful thinking land.
And if you just do whatever, or
try working from your super long
list, then you're easily distracted
because you have no anchor.
You just do what feels good at the moment
or what pops in front of your face, rather
than what you've chosen for a reason.
And so often you don't notice or you
don't choose progress over time, 'cause
progress builds slowly, and it's easy to
miss Jen said, "A daily card helps me hit
the ground running because I have clear
priorities for the day, and it helps
me be flexible if new priorities arise,
because I know I can regroup as needed."
I know we have lots of stories of ladies
making a new card halfway through the day.
Like, you make a plan at the start of
the day, and it's just a Post-It note.
Someone gets sick, the day is over.
I mean, your plan is over,
but the day is not over.
Like, tear that daily card up
and make a new one for the day.
It's low stakes, and
you're able to iterate.
You're able to adjust and be
flexible and work with your reality.
And writing it down, even on a
small piece of paper, helps you
stop working from your head.
And when you work from your
head, you will feel overwhelmed.
It will be inevitable, because
you do have too many things to do
to track them all in your head.
And a daily card is a visible reminder
of what to focus on, of what matters most
All right, so let's go on to the next
section, and I think I didn't fully finish
explaining that routine section there.
So I already talked about the morning
15 minutes and the evening 15 minutes,
and then T10 is transformation 10.
So this is what we do instead of
some kind of elaborate cleaning, deep
cleaning schedule or whatever Some
ladies end up eventually creating
zones or creating a plan, but the
basic bare bones managing the housework
plan is morning 15 minutes, evening 15
minutes, transformation 10, where you
will look around and you say, "What
area is bothering me most right now?"
Not what needs it, not
what you should be doing.
You look around, "What's
bothering me right now?"
Maybe it's the laundry.
Maybe it's the dishes.
Maybe it is the table by
the front door that is just
collecting all kinds of stuff.
But you look around and you identify
for this day, what is one thing that's
bothering you the most, and then you
spend 10 minutes tackling that thing.
You'll be surprised how much
you can get done in 10 minutes.
So youâ¦
It is more than you think it is.
But also, this builds and creates an
identity within ourselves that we are a
person who can just take care of things.
We don't have to let it bother us.
If there's something that's bothering us,
we could do something about it, and it
doesn't have to be a complete overhaul.
It could be 10 minutes, and
that would make a difference.
And the more we do that, the more
it just becomes second nature
to not let something bother you,
but to take care of it instead.
It takes a while.
It takes a while of practice, but that is
an identity shift that happens when you
practice just taking care of the basics
And so here are what some of
the ladies were saying last time
we did a daily card challenge.
"Even when life is too crazy to get
out my planner," though you don't
have time for a whole planner, "a
simple three by three on a note
card or a slip of paper is helpful."
And Angela said, "Consistency
is worth paying attention to.
The habit is what carries me
through on busier days, which
might otherwise cause me to forget
to be working on my routines."
So you are keeping the bare
basics front and center.
You're counting them.
You're allowing yourself to count
them as a win and as enough.
And it's something you can do even
on days that are way out of hand.
You can't do the full plan.
You can't do everything.
Your day does not go
according to your plan.
You can still do this And Elena said,
"Naming the few things that needed to
be the focus of my time for the day
helps me feel so much more accomplished
instead of guilty that I didn't do more."
That's what we need
So 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes
in the evening, transformation 10.
That is 40 minutes a day
for housework basics.
And once you have a few weeks of doing
just that, you will be surprised at
the traction that you get in your home.
You know, so often we look for big
cleaning routines and checklists
and other people's systems and
try to implement multi-checklist
cleaning things for the day.
And like, "Every Tuesday
I'm gonna do this."
And then you find out actually every
Tuesday my day doesn't go according
to plan, so that never happens now.
Well
This 40-minute system, system, very
open-ended, loose system, gets you
traction in your housework, and you get
traction where it matters most, where
everyone in your family will notice.
It will help you practice identifying
what actually does matter in your
house with your family, 'cause
it can be totally different.
Someone else's checklist
might not fit your life.
You're not working off of
someone else's checklists.
You are engaged in what's happening in
your own house, and you get consistency
that builds slowly but surely.
With that full meal deal cleaning
system that you try to install
from someone else, if you miss a
day, the whole thing breaks down.
You overload your expectations and
your schedule with idealistic plans.
And I don't know about you, but, like, my
house does not get dirty at even levels.
Like, my kitchen needs way more
cleaning than the living room, and
sometimes our living room gets way
more messy than it does on other days.
So it's like trying to apply the same
amount of cleaning in, like, a consistent
way often just doesn't work because
our homes aren't used consistently.
And so it ju- that's why it doesn't
fit Whereas this is spending a targeted
amount of time paying attention
and just doing what needs to be
done in your house at that moment.
That will make the biggest
difference right there.
And I like what Nikki had to say, "I need
to check in each day and make sure I'm
on track with what needs to be done."
And that's why we put
it on our daily card.
It's basic.
It's the bare minimum.
It's a minimum viable routine,
but if we check in with that,
we'll actually get traction.
We don't really move beyond it.
We can add to it.
We can do more, but we still have
to be doing these three things
I think most cleaning schedules don't
stick, not because you're bad at them,
but because they're too elaborate.
The more consistently you can
do the daily minimums, the
easier everything else becomes.
That's where we need to
be putting our attention.
Then we also need to be tracking
our personal care habits.
Personal habits, self-care,
whatever you wanna call it
These are the things that do affect us,
that make us show up better as wives and
mothers, but that are so easy to neglect
and to push to the back burner and to
have them displaced by whatever flares up.
And so we need them in front
of our face every day to check
off Read your Bible, drink your
water, and smile at your people.
Uh, Katie Lynn at our last, uh,
daily card challenge said, "Doing
the daily card helps me focus on
what was most important each day.
It's uncomfortable to put down things that
I know I will be doing anyways, but that
really helped me remember that those are
the tasks where my energy is best used."
So that's true for all three of these
sections, but I put it here because
that is so true of just drinking
your water, reading your Bible,
and smiling at your people We just
want those to happen on autopilot.
But if we don't think about it, if we
don't count it and let it count in our
own heads and on our paper as important,
it'll just fall by the wayside, and we
don't want it to fall by the wayside.
Catherine said, "It's not only okay,
but beneficial to include the same
things on the daily card day after day
if those items are true priorities."
We we need that visible
reminder day after day.
We just do.
Yvonne said, "After a winter of sickness,
I was struggling to get back on track.
This challenge, this daily card
challenge, put me where I want to be."
And a big part of that is
because the little things that
matter most are on the card
So with your basic personal habits,
you're anchored in your day, you
do the things that count, and you
keep yourself in working order.
And if these things are not on our
list and we're not tracking them,
we let loud tasks or emergencies
displace the most important things.
We get afternoon headaches
because we're dehydrated.
That's-- it takes us out of the game.
Like, just drink your water.
And I don't know if this happens to me,
but your kids think you're upset because
you're just in your head, ignoring
them, not seeing them, not smiling.
Your face is thoughtful.
Like, we think we're being-- we're,
we're just in our heads, we're
thinking so hard, and we look
grumpy, and that's what our kids see.
Our kids just see our face.
They don't hear what's
going on in our heads.
They see our face.
And so our face needs to communicate
to them that they are loved,
wanted, attended to, that they
matter, and that they make us happy.
We communicate to them that they make
us happy by smiling when we see them.
And that's why we need that reminder.
It needs to be in front of our face.
Maybe that's humbling, but it's true,
and we need to accept that and just
put it on our list and then do it.
And Cassie said that this
daily card helped her.
It kept her on track even
when life fell apart.
This is something you can do when
life falls apart, and it still works.
So when we have our busy family life,
we're-- feel overwhelmed, we feel
lost and scattered because we aren't
grounding ourselves in reality, and
that's what these personal habits do.
They ground us in reality when
we read our Bible, when we
drink water, and when we smile.
These are spiritual and bodily things
that affect everything else, and our
body and our soul can't be afterthoughts
Lisa said that, "A daily card really does
help me feel less overwhelmed, but I'm
also more likely to get three th- three
things done each day instead of being
busy all day and accomplishing nothing."
Right?
We have all had those days, and
this helps us get out of that mode.
Andrea said that, "It," the daily card,
"makes me think but not overthink."
Right?
We need to think better, but
we can't just be in our heads.
It's simple but super effective Stacey.
Stacey.
That's the Stacey who was here.
She was here for a previous
daily card challenge.
She said, "It's a staple to my sanity."
It's kind of funny when your
words come back to you, isn't it?
Um It's a staple to my sanity.
Mine too.
It's why I keep coming back to it.
That's why I keep talking about it.
That is why we keep doing a daily
card challenge in Convivial Circle,
because the practice of it builds.
It builds momentum.
And the thing is, because this isâ¦
It's not just in our heads, I can't
convince you with words and arguments
or even stories that this will work.
You figuring out that it will work
for you requires you to practice it.
Unless you do it, you won't figure it out.
It is not something you can figure
out in your head and then just do.
It's something you figure out by
doing, not by comprehending That is
something I have seen over and over
and over again in convivial circle
Stacy, I'm definitely gonna
be sending you stickers since
you got called out like that.
Yep, Stacy T.,
that was you.
Learning comes by doing.
Your brain will give you all
kinds of excuses and arguments.
I know I heard them all in my own head.
This isn't gonna work for you.
But your toddler self, your inner toddler,
needs discipline, and the daily card
gives you the daily redirection, visible,
written down, but small and doable, the
redirection that your inner toddler needs.
And that's what we are going to do
in July inside Convivial Circle.
Convivial Circle is where we are
all stepping out of overwhelm into
living organized, recognizing that
that does not mean that we are living
picture-perfect lives or living lives
where everything is going our way, but
that we are able to make appropriate
choices in the moment for the life that
we have right in front of us right now.
That's being organized, and that's
what we are all practicing and
getting better at day by day.
So the daily card challenge is July.
July has 31 days.
But the challenge is to make
a daily card 20 times, because
we are not perfectionists.
We are also intentionally
undoing all of our perfectionist
tendencies in Convivial Circle.
We're calling out perfectionism.
We're not allowing it.
So the daily card challenge is to
make a daily card 20 times in July.
Just make one, even if you don't
check off all three things,
'cause you're not going to.
Because you don't end up choosing
the right three things until
you've been doing it for a while.
So this is the practice.
This is putting in the reps to
figure it out, and we're going to
have a live seminar, kind of like a
workshop, every week, talking about
the daily cards and brainstorming.
There's gonna be an ongoing chat in
our chat space where ladies are sharing
what they're learning and what they're
doing, what they're putting on their
list, what didn't work, what does work,
and you're seeing how different people
apply it in different circumstances, and
that helps us all break out of our ruts
and get more creative and stick with it.
Because we see we're not the
only ones having a hard time,
but it makes a difference.
And we see those testimonials, and
we hear what-- how other women are
succeeding with it, and that gives us
the desire to keep pushing on ourselves.
So we have, uh, the challenge sheet
and a worksheet, and we've got the
templates where you can print off
the daily card format if you want on
Post-Its or on index cards, um, or
just follow along with your own format.
The template, the form doesn't matter.
It is just the practice that matters,
and that's what we're gonna be doing
together inside Convivial Circle.
Who will get stickers?
Well- People who are live here at the
end here will get s- I'm gonna pick
five or so people to get stickers today.
But everyone who finishes the
daily card challenge, 20 daily
cards in July, will get stickers
So there'll be a pack inâ¦
I haven't put together what the
prize will be, um, but everyone
will get prizes in the mail.
If you finish it, you
complete the assessment at
the end, then you get a prize
Maybe I'll throw in, maybe
everyone will get a Post-it pad.
I'd have to order more.
So anyway, I'm gonna make up prize
packets for everyone to win at the end.
I love sending out stickers,
and bookmarks, and magnets,
and all kinds of goodies.
So everyone gets a little goodie
bag if you finish the challenge,
which is just 20 index card, 20
daily cards in the month of July.
And you're participating, you're
getting all kinds of support.
Our community manager, Stephanie,
is just on it replying right away.
If you have any struggles or questions,
or you just wanna give up, post something
and she'll be right there for you
Let's see.
Kim says, "What if you're traveling?"
Like, well, are you
traveling more than 11 days?
'Cause there's onlyâ¦
You only have to do it 20 times in July.
And also, you know, if you were on
vacation even, make your daily card.
It's not like you should stop reading
your Bible or drinking water or smiling.
And there still might be, maybe
it's your car that needs a
transformation 10 every day.
And there's still, like, three
things you should be doing probably.
It's just gonna be different.
It's not gonna be the things that you
normally do around the house, but,
like, what, what's happening today?
Like, the daily card is just how we think
through our day and identify what we
should be doing so we can end the day-
satisfied and happy with what we've done
Uh, Rebecca said that practice
really makes a difference.
"I'm getting better at identifying
my true top three for the day, and
writing daily cards wasn't as much
of a challenge this time around," s-
she's done multiple, "because it has
become a normal part of my rhythm."
And that's what I want to have happen
for you, too, where you've put in
the practice, you're getting better
at identifying your true top three,
and it doesn't feel like a challenge.
It's just managing life and
managing yourself day by day.
It becomes a normal part of your rhythm.
That's what we're gonna do inside
Convivial Circle for the month of
July with our daily card challenge.
When you join Convivial Circle, you'll
get instant access to everything.
We have more than a dozen courses,
master classes, replays, lives,
a member exclusive podcast with
replays, all kinds of things.
Daily chat, um, we have different
discussion areas where you could
talk about all kinds of things,
homeschool planning, um, books
you're reading, kind of anything.
We have f- It's just ladies talking
shop, like-minded women talking shop.
Sandra said, "This challenge helped
me see that it is a practice,
and I get to iterate every day.
That small shift in my mindset
has been monumentally impactful."
Uh, again, these are other ladies.
Last time we did a daily card challenge,
Katie said, "I've been executing my daily
card and weekly review consistently.
It's so rewarding to be setting
and achieving goals that are
important and challenging, but
also realistic and doable."
Rebecca said, "I like
the focus it provided.
Instead of perusing my long task list
every time I finish something and
choosing something to do, I worked on
the daily card until it was finished.
Then I could go on to other things.
It greatly reduced decision
fatigue and distraction."
And isn't that what we all need?
Jenny said, "This one small action
really does bring clarity and beget
more directed action than flying blind
when you wake up in the morning."
I like that, beget more directed action.
It just comes out.
It comes about when we have that focus.
Again, I had a hard time choosing
which ones to put in here.
So Chrissa said, "Writing a
daily card helps me fight off
overwhelm and cheerfully tackle
what I can actually do every day."
That's what the daily card
challenge is all about.
Zara said, "I have so much more
freedom and peace in Christ when
I identify my minimum top three.
I also discovered that doing a challenge
is a great way to reboot a habit."
So if you've done a daily card
before, but you've fallen off,
this is how you get back on it.
Jessica said, "I feel so much more
accomplished and way less overwhelmed when
I've been consistent with a daily card.
We have a busy season, and people
have asked me if we're overwhelmed,
and I can honestly say no."
So many of the responses after our
previous daily card challenges were about
the fact that they were not overwhelmed
by what they have to do anymore.
That's why I picked this topic This
practice is a doable way to change our
default response to the things that we
have to do, so we don't feel overwhelmed,
but we do what we need to be doing.
Lauren said, "I've tried so many
things already, and nothing made a
difference in me managing life and home.
But I was wrong.
What a gift this community has been.
My whole life has been turned around.
I'm in control of my emotions
and the daily duties.
I'm completely at peace.
I feel so much more available for
all the Lord has for me each day.
If I slip up, I just go back
to the plan and move along.
No stress, no spiraling, no sulking."
I'm ⦠It had alliteration.
I had to include it.
"My husband has expressed that he
could totally see this shift in me, our
kids, and the atmosphere of our home."
That's what we are after in Convivial
Circle, and Lauren is not the only one
who has this kind of story And so right
now, if you join for the Daily Card
Challenge in July, if you join in June,
so today or tomorrow, June only has 30
days, so within the next 48 hours, you
will get instant access to a 20-minute
action accelerator, a quick start mini
boot camp video on what a daily card
is and how to get one put together.
So you could just jump right in and
hopefully get traction faster on
making a daily card work for you.
How to choose what to choose,
and you can dive right in
with confidence and momentum.
It's kind of like a quick catch-up.
There are ladies in our community
who've been in there for 10
years, five years, three years.
They've all been practicing daily cards
because it is one of our core things.
And so this is the, the quick
catch-up, get you up to speed,
and I will send you that video
if you join in the next 48 hours
I hope that you will check out
Convivial Circle and join us for
the Daily Card Challenge in July.
It is one of our top favorite challenges,
and we all enjoy the progress that
we get to make and that productivity,
and this time of year is perfect.
You know, July, August, we can
focus on implementing this habit for
ourselves, managing life, so that
when the extra responsibilities and
schedule gets added when school starts,
we have a way to handle all of that.
Because when we try to implement a
whole new management system along
with the school year changes,
it's overloads our system.
It's too much all at once.
We need to use this summer to install the
personal habit, and then that's in place,
and all of the extra responsibilities
that happen in the school year now
have a place to go, and we have a
way to stay focused on what matters.
That's already built into
our day and our rhythm.
And really, five minutes a day is
all it takes to make your daily card.
Some ladies, I like to do it at
night, do it the night before so
that I wake up with it ready to go.
But you can write it with
your coffee in the morning,
like night before, morning of.
And if you haven't made one, just make
one at lunch, and that still counts.
The midday daily card is also a thing
that we s- that still we get benefit from
because writing things down, keeping it in
front of our face makes a big difference.
So I hope that you will join us for
July for the Daily Card Challenge.
And if you do that in the next day or
two, I'll get you that accelerator lesson,
and we can jumpstart into daily cards.
All right.
Thank you, everyone.