The Hidden Reason Why Your Home Never Stays Organized w/ Lisa Woodruff

[00:00:00] Run Your Household Like You Would Income Generating Enterprise because your household is business. But we don't approach households with that CEO mission mindset. Dr. Lisa Woodruff is the founder and CEO of Organize 365. With a doctorate in applied psychology, she is researching the invisible work of household management. Organization is sold to Americans as a design aesthetic.

[00:00:26] The truth is organization is a feeling and is operational structure that gives you the freedom to use your time. Why does being organized feel so good? Because it's an executive function. If the space isn't organized, that is a deficit in your executive function. There's bad information that does not help you become more organized. Sure. Hit with a few of these. First of all, you can have a very organized house and nothing is labeled.

[00:00:56] Welcome to the ReLaunch to a Rich Life podcast. And today's conversation is for you if you are one who holds everything together. The calendar, the paperwork, the plans, the people. And somewhere along the way, you slipped off your own list. You are not failing. You may simply be carrying work no one ever taught you to manage.

[00:01:25] My guest is Dr. Lisa Woodruff. She is the founder and CEO of Organize 365, host of the Organize 365 podcast, and more than 24 million downloads and creator of the Sunday Basket System. She is the author of four books, including Escaping Quicksand, and was named Cincinnati Female

[00:01:54] Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024. What makes Lisa incredible, remarkable is how it began. As she approached 40 with her home, her finances, and her family's health spiraling, she quit her job, put her house back in order, and discovered that the things she had always been good at could become a business.

[00:02:19] Today, with a doctorate in applied psychology, she is researching the invisible work of household management. So if you have ever wondered whether your overwhelm is a personal failure or it's a system problem, we are going to go there today. Lisa, welcome to Relaunch to a Rich Life. Thank you so much for having me. Well, this is fun because this is one of my...

[00:02:49] I would say I lean into this more than anything because it's my to-do list, it's my organization, and when I feel like there is a breakdown in my external world, I literally go back to, have I stopped doing my own processes that I know have always been near and true and dear to my heart? And when we first had our conversation, I'm like, yes, yes, my listeners need to hear all this.

[00:03:18] And you've taken such a different, amazing approach to organization that I want to talk about how you have transitioned from when you organize your life, your household, you organize your business, it all comes together. But let's start where I also love to start, which is the idea around your relaunch, an event,

[00:03:44] something that happened in your life, which I kind of touched on, that really changed the trajectory of your life. Yeah, well, you know, I think, you know, just from observation, I don't have academic science behind this, but, you know, through my observation and talking to hundreds of women, we go through these cycles as women, for sure every 10 years, but really about every five years where we just kind of take stock of where we are,

[00:04:10] how far have we come, how far do we need to go, what systems we need to put into place, what do we personally need in order to keep going in this beautiful life that we are creating? Well, in my, you know, 33, 34, 35 year old timeframe, in that timeframe, I had been a stay at home mom for, you know, five or six years. That's all I ever wanted was to be a stay at home mom.

[00:04:34] I loved everything about it. But life started getting really hard. So my parents got divorced and my father ultimately got sick and passed away. And I was the executor of the estate and my sister and I needed to settle that estate. And the kids had extra challenges at school. And this was the same 2007, 2008, 2009 timeframe, you know, like not a good time to, I don't know, nobody had money at that time. And money kind of makes the world go round. And everybody kind of recovered from that 2008, 2009,

[00:05:03] and our family did it. So then the next five years, it was just like, everything was really hard. It was like, you're walking with concrete on your feet and everything was taking twice as long as it needed to take. And my to-do list was coming twice as long as it used to be. And so I was going to bed exhausted, waking up exhausted. We needed more money. So I was like, okay, I'll go back to teaching. I didn't know how that was going to work because I wasn't doing it while I was at home, but maybe if I earned more money and the school I taught at, I earned $500 per week and I was working full time and I was

[00:05:33] getting up at 5 AM and going to bed at midnight. And I just, it wasn't working. And I finally said, to my husband, I was like, I have to quit my job. And he's like, he's like, okay, but like, then we have even less money. I'm like, I know, but then at least maybe I can get this house right. Because like, I'm not being a good wife. I'm not being a good mother. I'm not being a good homemaker. I'm not like, I'm failing at everything except teaching. And it would have kept going, except my administrator told me that I wasn't a good teacher. And I was 39. No way.

[00:06:02] And you were thinking, and you were thinking, you were thinking this is the only thing that I'm really good at. Exactly. I'm like, you know, maybe I wasn't a good teacher. I mean, I don't know. Maybe I was really terrible at it, but I knew I was bad at everything else I was doing. And it was the only thing that was getting a hundred percent of my attention. And I was like, well, if you don't even value the effort I'm putting forth, whether I'm good or not is irrelevant because I'm doing everything for these other people's children and you. And if you don't value it, then I'll just go home and I

[00:06:31] will give myself back to my husband and my children in my household, which I used to do. And I know I was good at that. So I did. I quit in December of 2011 and started my company in 2012. I was about to turn 40. So whenever a woman says to me, I'm going to blow up my life. I'm like, oh, um, how close to 40 are you exactly? I think are you before it or after it? Because you're definitely 38 to 42. And they're like, well, I'm like 39. I was like, that tracks. So go ahead.

[00:06:57] Okay. You know what I got to say? This is so like on point because when did I get, when did I go through my, you know, big, I was divorced. I had all these things. It was, you know, I didn't meet E, my husband until I was 40, I think 41 or 42. So you are, you are speaking my language. I felt like I wasn't a good mom. I was working all the time. I was traveling

[00:07:22] all the time. I didn't feel like I was doing that well. I mean, I was literally looking around for, you know, some validation that I was doing something, anything. I wasn't taking care of myself. I wasn't working out. So this, I am sure there's a lot of people like I'm doing right now, nodding their heads saying, oh yeah. Yeah. And like in getting my PhD, I was like, okay, so where is it about this 40th birthday? Because women all know this is the big one,

[00:07:48] zero academic research. Where is it about like every 10 years we do zero academic research? Where is there about adult life stages? Menopause isn't even considered a life stage. I'm like, it's the inverse of puberty. How is that not a life stage? They're like no science behind that. It's like, what are you guys studying exactly? Because these are the things we need to know. And so the question I asked myself, and you probably asked yourself this about the same timeframe as this, look, the women in my family live into their nineties. I hope to be a hundred. No way in heck I could

[00:08:17] do this for another 60 years. Like I couldn't live this life another 60 years. I didn't know if I could make it one more year. Like I literally went on antidepressants. I was like, I can't keep doing this. Lisa, it is crazy because my, the women in my family lived into their hundreds and my mom unfortunately got a bad misdiagnosis. So she ended up passing at 78, but I understand what you're saying

[00:08:43] to such a degree that it's like, if, and when I do live into my hundreds, for goodness sakes, I'm not even halfway there. Like, can you please do something I'm passionate about? Yeah. And that was it. What can I, I had been in 23 direct sales companies in 2011. I had nine schedule C's on my tax return, which means the year that I quit, I was teaching, I was cleaning houses, I was professionally organizing, I was tutoring, and I was in legitimately

[00:09:11] enough direct sales companies that were kicking off that much cash that I had to report it to the IRS. I was like, who do you want me to be? Everything. I was like going crazy. And I was like, enough of this. Obviously I can make money in lots of different ways, but I'm going to lose my mind and they're going to put me in a little round room. So what is the one thing that I could do? How can we like pull all this together? So I sat down in January of 2012 and I was like, what is the commonality here? And every single thing that I was being paid to do, I either was hired or I was good at it

[00:09:40] because I was organized or I got somebody else organized. So I named the company Organize365, great SEO keyword, because that was really big back then. And then I just started blogging. I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that for the next 40 years, I'd be talking about organizing in some form or fashion and that was going to be the company. And I got to ask you this because I had a really great conversation with a gentleman recently who said, be careful what you write a book

[00:10:06] about because you will have to talk about it forever. Do you feel like now that you've been doing this a while, that you're still as passionate, that you're still like, this is your jam. This is what you want to be bringing to the world. More so. More so. And what I wish academia would study, and maybe the educational psychology, PhDs have studied it, EEDs have studied it is, but they can't find it either. I believe there's a three-year learning cycle. Montessori will say that, but I think it's

[00:10:36] for adults too. So I've been in business 15 years and every three years, the company is different. I would agree with that. It has evolved. It has evolved. We do something called 3-3-3 in our business. And it's like, what is either your three-month goal or your three-year? Don't do anything more because I have seen the same thing that my dad sat me in the back of the Cadillac with the bucket seats as we drove up to our summer cabin. And he'd be like, what's your five-year plan?

[00:11:05] I mean, my God, I was like eight years old. What's your tenure? I'm like, so maybe that's where mine came from. It's like, give me three. But now you've just backed it up because I believe as I look back at my own career. So let's go into what you're seeing. Because I know that people these days, your story is incredible. And more and more women are admitting that they have something that they

[00:11:33] want to go do, but they're still hesitant. You were like, hey, pull the ripcord. I was just told I'm not a good teacher. I'm going to go. Yeah, great. I'm running, I'm doing all these different jobs. Organization stood out for you. How did you, how did you decide, like, let me roll the dice on this? Yeah. Well, it was something I was good at. And when I started the company, I thought it was

[00:12:02] something I was good at and other people weren't good at it. So it could be my thing. I could leverage into whatever you were doing that would make whatever you were doing better. But what I learned in the first three years was that it was a learnable skill. Organization was a learnable skill because the people I started professionally organizing started canceling on me multiples. And I was like, what's going on? Did they all run out of money? Did I offend them? Like what I do wrong? And I called them and they were like, no, we just paid attention to the questions you were asking us. And we finished, we finished without you. And I was like, finish without me. I'm screwed.

[00:12:32] And I was like, oh, wait a minute. I always wanted an online business. I didn't want to be doing in-home organizing anyway. Like I am a teacher. Like, so what am I doing? How did I teach them? Can I teach that online? Because the only solution up to that point was, and this is something you touched on in the beginning. I just want to address. Organization is sold to Americans as a design aesthetic. Like your background is to die for. I'm like, oh my gosh, I wish my background looked as good as Hillary's. Like it looks amazing. So on brand, you even match it and everything. Mine's okay.

[00:13:01] I'm more of a functional organizer. It's all right. I know I'm not a magazine person. Like you could be a magazine spread, Hillary. You look fantastic. And that's what we want. That's what we want. We want your background. But mine is powerhouse. Like it will run a whole household, but it doesn't look sexy. And so you're like, maybe it's not right. Maybe it should be matching more. When the truth is organization is a feeling and is operational structure that gives you the freedom to use your time and whatever you're uniquely gifted and created to do. And that is our mission.

[00:13:31] So how we market and sell versus do. But before you continue, I really also believe that organization is individualistic, right? You can learn the processes, but until you get clarity on why are we even doing this? Why is it important? What will it do for you? How will it increase your health, your wealth,

[00:14:00] your relationships, which are, you know, the three pillars that we always talk about? I really would like to have you share because the idea of taking it from the home to the business is where we kind of just say, okay, home, let me do my closet. Let me clean out this drawer. And when you and I first talked, there was so much more to it.

[00:14:24] So you are a CEO mindset person and you are a mission driven person. And so it is impossible for you to have this conversation without thinking big picture, how this impacts your business, how it impacts your family. That is unusual. Most people are project and task oriented and they approach their houses like, okay, what's the whole to-do list? What's the next project? How soon can we get

[00:14:50] this done? How much money do we need to get this done? You approach from the top down. So you said that if you write a book, that's what you're known for, or you could just write a lot. So I've written six books. I'm getting ready to write my next one. My next one will be built on this framework that I'm holding up. You can see it at the Organize 365 website. It's built on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You're starting at level five as the CER. What I realized recently when I created this framework,

[00:15:13] when I finished my PhD was, I came home and I organized my house. I cleaned it and I organized it and I managed it. I did the bottom three layers of that pyramid. And then I self-actualized at work. So I left because I organized my household and gave it enough systems that I could step out and run my business. And I invested in masterminds and courses and content and PhDs in order to grow my uniqueness

[00:15:38] in the workplace because that is appropriate. And I self-actualized at work. I did not self-actualize at home. I got this organized enough so I could step out of the home. What I want people of all household types to be able to do is have that CEO mindset that you just had in the home. And that's enough. Like the permission to spend money, to become the best you at home, the permission to invest in systems in your home, to run your household like you would a income generating,

[00:16:08] enterprise because your household is income generating to the world. The American household is responsible for 68% of US GDP. That's why when we hit a recession, we get stimulus checks. That's why when our spending goes down, the interest rate falls in the United States. Because if Americans don't spend money, the whole world feels it. We are a business, but we don't approach

[00:16:34] our households with that CEO mission mindset that you just applied. This is so spot on. And when I think about the people that I coach and a lot of times they get narrowly focused. What you're saying is, and we talk a lot about identity, and I do have to tie what

[00:16:57] you're doing to that identity that can carry forward what you're creating. How are you, when you start working with someone, and I heard you say online, are you doing one-on-ones? Are you doing online? What's kind of your mix? And then how do you get started? So it's basically a school. I've created a school, and we teach you how to do levels two, three, four, and five. And when you get to level five, you're mostly working with me, but it's all in small group

[00:17:27] instruction. We have our own app, and every product is a lifetime purchase. So once you purchase that level, you have access to that level for a lifetime. It has an online course where you're learning from me. It has a co-working time, usually with one of my team members. There are usually some live events with me, and they're physical products. You get the school supplies in order to do those levels. But for those listening, and they're still not clear, what is it that you are sharing with them?

[00:17:54] Is it steps and tips? Yeah, I'm teaching you. You're teaching how to organize using your process. Yep. And we have webinars all the time. Because what happens is you are doing one or two of these levels really well, and you don't even realize the other ones exist. So you're really good at cleaning and laundry and cooking, and you're all right at the organizing. I'd like to say I'm not good. I'm not good at any of those. And those are the easiest to outsource, actually.

[00:18:24] I know. Laundry, not so great. I do it for the household, but I'm not crazy about it. Cooking, thank God my husband's now doing it. Yeah. So in every level, like we could go into every level. So in the maid, you usually love one, one you don't care about, and one you loathe. Okay? And you get to pick the kind of maid you are. You could be Cinderella, or you could be bewitched, and you just wiggle your nose, and some magical fairy comes and cleans your house and does your laundry, and your spouse does the cooking. I'm definitely bewitched.

[00:18:53] Yeah. And most female business owners are, because it's so visible. That is visible work. It's really easy to outsource. The organizing, you can hire it out, or you can do it yourself. Usually we do it ourselves. When we get the house organized for the phase of life we're in, it'll stay organized for three to five years, so we're good to go once we invest the time. So in that course, I run you through a 52-week curriculum. I don't know. There are hundreds of videos. There's co-working time. There are worksheets. There's like, I teach you how to organize your whole house like you know

[00:19:22] how to organize your kitchen and your closet. Because you know how to organize your kitchen and your closet, because there's so many examples out there. How many examples are there for a storage room? How many examples are there for, you know, like I get to every space, because I used to organize entire houses, so I know all the spaces there are. So I get to all the way organized. Why does being organized feel so good? Because it's an executive function. We have eight executive functions. One is planning,

[00:19:49] one is organizing. So organizing is literally one of your executive functions. You must have an organized, why do you think classrooms are organized? Like kindergarten classrooms are organized. So that you can learn. Your executive function is there for you to learn. If the space isn't organized, if your materials are not organized, that is a deficit in your executive function. I'm going to even throw this one out. Okay. I had a client who was really, I mean, crushing it. She

[00:20:17] was doing so well. And then all of a sudden her business just stalled out. And on camera, because we were doing a Zoom call, she just was not relaxed, was not. And I said, can you turn your camera around? And can I, can I just see where you are right now? She's like, I don't want to do that. I said, why not? She said, because it's a disaster. And I said, interesting. You are at the height of your

[00:20:44] career from a interior design, but the interior space you've created for your office is a disaster. How do you think that's impacting you? And what you just said is exactly what happened. Executive function. Yeah. Totally makes sense. And so, yeah, go ahead. In order to self-actualize and have space to create what you're uniquely gifted and created to do, you must be supported by your executive functions. You can't, you can't like sideswipe them.

[00:21:14] You'll get so far and then you'll crash and burn because you don't have any base under you. That's why this will be the next book. This will be the TED talk. I'll finally do one. And for those that are just, for those that are just, you know, listening, we will put the link to get this incredible pyramid in our notes for this podcast. And you will get it because I'm immediately going to go over there because I am one of those like inquisitive minds want to know, I want to know what you're talking about, but I have to get to, okay. There are a whole lot

[00:21:43] of myths out there. There's bad information that does not help you become more organized. It actually causes confusion. Can we, can we hit with a few of these? Sure. Um, first of all, you can have a very organized house and nothing is labeled. I don't have anything in my house labeled and yet my house is very organized. I'm not going to be in a magazine. That's okay. Another myth would be that you should,

[00:22:10] when you go to start organizing, I call this Swiss cheese organizing. You've got a weekend to yourself. You're going to get organized. Let's say you have children. What are the spaces you're going to hit? Well, you're for sure going to clean the toy room, their bedrooms, the kitchen, the hotspots, right? Absolutely not. Let's not do that anymore. We're going to clean the spaces that support us because what's going to be a mess even on Tuesday, all those same spaces, right? But if you take a weekend and you clean out your closet and your purse and your nightstand,

[00:22:36] you're going to feel like a boss for six months. So start organizing yourself before you organize anyone else in your family, it will give you more capacity. And then the other myth, the other myth is that digital is better than analog. So when we go back to the executive functions, there is not a single academic study I can find that does not support this. We learn better and

[00:23:03] retain information when we write it with our hand, with a pen or a pencil. Even if you use a stylus on an iPad, it is not the same as a pen on a paper done with like brain scans. They were like, nope. And the thing is when they do these studies, they have you write things down that aren't even your to-dos. And you can remember them weeks later because it puts it in a different part of our brain. I don't know how it works, but it works. So these digital systems are great. And if they work well for you, that's great. You mentioned personal productivity. Personal productivity is digital.

[00:23:32] Analog is universal. You write a note, you leave it on the kitchen counter, the whole family sees it. You put it in your phone, only you see it. And then you have to retrieve it and give it back to the family. So I prefer analog over digital for learning and running households. You can make it more productive for yourself personally by digitizing it, but also have an analog system. Ooh, I'll tell you something that we did as a family a few years ago. We started using an actual

[00:24:02] paper calendar where everything is written down so that everyone can see. And you know, what's funny, even when the kids come home to visit, they'll flip back and, and, you know, ask questions about, oh wait, you know, oh wait, you went with Danny on this and I did. And so I agree. I think it's fantastic. Now, one of the comments that, um, or one of the statements I said about you

[00:24:25] was that 25 million downloads. Yeah. What do you think is the number one kind of when, when you first start working with somebody and the reason that you get 25 million downloads is, is you're saying something that really is resonating for those listening, what out of the gates would you be like, start here? This is your, you know, the, the pin mark on the calendar. Start here.

[00:24:53] Yeah. I usually don't say start here. I think a lot of why, and it's a solo podcast, so it's not a guest podcast. So I think a lot of the reason why people listen is because they feel seen. Like, just think about yourself at the beginning of the podcast. You're like, wait a minute, that was me. Wait a minute. Like I put in words, what people are already feeling. And they're like, oh my gosh, she's like reading my mind. I'll say out loud things that nobody says out loud. And they're like, me too. Like, we're all thinking the same thing. We're like, why has nobody ever said it before?

[00:25:20] Because nobody stayed in the household for 15 years straight. And really my whole lifetime, like me, like I obsess about what is the female head of household thinking now? What is she overwhelmed with now? How can I teach her like a school teacher? How can I help her free up her time? Because my thing, what teachers want is they want your light bulb moment to come up. I want you to have time and capacity to do what you're uniquely gifted and created to do. And if you're

[00:25:46] house is organized and your systems are in place, then you have to wrestle with what are you uniquely gifted and created to do? Like when your house is a wreck, you're like, I don't know. I'm so busy. I'm so busy. I'm so busy. And then when your house gets organized, you're like, dang you, Lisa, I don't know. And I want women to struggle with that because we are where a lot of the solutions are going to come from that humanity needs. But if we're so busy chasing our tail, we're never going to be able to get those out into the world.

[00:26:15] Lisa, where can people find you? Organize365.com and Organize365 on Instagram. And for those that last takeaway, I didn't ask you a certain question. What else do you want to say? The other thing that I wanted to say was that, and we didn't address this, is being the CEO of your home. I didn't say it for a long time because it seems so masculine. And so like, I'm going to take ownership over this. And I just want to give you permission to do that,

[00:26:44] no matter who you are, to be the CEO of your home. Often people will then say, can you share it? Like, should you share the load? I mean, yeah. I mean, people that you live with should do some of the work. Can you make anybody do anything? No. So what I do is I can only control myself. I'm a CEO of business. I'm also CEO at home. If the family supports me and helps me, that is awesome and wonderful, but the buck stops with me. So I'm going to make sure it's going to get done. Lisa, you are so good. I knew that this was going to be a great episode.

[00:27:13] Thank you so much for being here. And those listening, if you know somebody that needs to hear this episode, you do. I guarantee you, I've got at least a handful that I'm thinking about. Please go ahead, share this episode. And also, if you haven't subscribed, why not get organized in this so you get our podcast to you each and every single week so that you can learn and hear more

[00:27:42] inspiring relaunch journeys so that you can continue to be very present in your own life around your relaunches that are coming at you. So at this point, I just want to say again, Lisa, thank you for being here. And I look forward to bringing this message out to everyone. Again, show notes. You can get a copy of what she has as the pyramid. Let's all get to self-actualization.

[00:28:10] Let's get there together. And I look forward to being back next week. Until then, live now, love now, relaunch now. All right. Your next level is waiting. Thanks for tuning in. This is amazing what we're doing right now. Relaunch into a rich life. If today's episode sparks something in

[00:28:36] you. Don't keep it to yourself. Please share it. I'll tell you more later about how that actually helps you have more success yourself. Subscribe so you don't miss one episode. Let's create unstoppable momentum together. So until next time, keep relaunching, keep rising, and remember, it's go time.