Free Video Training: Get Organized Using The Routine Block Planning Method
Ashley Brown 0:00 [Intro]
Planning is a proactive way to manage all the moving parts in your life. It gives you a roadmap for what's to come and lessens the mental stress that can come from keeping everything in your head. In this episode of the routine and things podcast, I'm sharing a new way to plan that will change the way you manage the things on your plate. Stay tuned, I'm sharing the routine block planning method, and why is your solution to an organized life.
Ashley Brown 0:39
Back in 2018, when I was a stay at home mom struggling to manage my household and my sanity, I decided to use planning to get more organized. I went to the store I grabbed a really simple planner. When I got home, I opened it up just to stare at the lines on the page for 10 minutes. Then after some time, I decided you know what let me plan based upon the areas of my life I was constantly thinking about and managing. Long story short, I stumbled upon a new way of planning that changed the way I organized my days. It's called the routine block planning method, which helps you simplify your planning by organizing daily tasks into four routine categories: self care, family cleaning, and cooking. And lucky for you, I put together a free training that tells you all about it. In this free 15 minute video training, you'll learn how to get organized using the routine block planning method. You'll learn how it works and why is the solution to living a more organized life. To start watching head to routineandthings.com/training or just click the link in the show notes.
Ashley Brown 1:47
Hey, girl, hey, welcome back for another episode of the routine and things podcast. I feel like every time I come on here and talk with you, I am so bubbly and just giggly and like just so excited. I just feel like that's just my nerves being like, I'm super excited to share what I'm sharing. Because this just brings me so much joy. I am ecstatic about today. I am ecstatic about talking to you today because I get to share with you about the routine block planning method. Yes, did you hear that? The routine block planning method, a new way to plan a new way to organize your life, a new way of thinking about how to manage the things on your plate. Yes, it is about daggone time.
Ashley Brown 2:34
It is about daggone time because I know if you're anything like me, you love planners, you plan. Or either you have the intention of planning and it comes from a very great space. And so you probably do have some type of planner and you probably plan in some type of way in your life. If you have any of our planners, let me just say thank you so much. And you planning pads of ours, I appreciate you. And the reason why I'm so estatic about this today is because this planning method I stumbled upon as a stay at home mom and I'm gonna share this story with you because the routine block planning method came from a very challenging time. As you probably already know about my business in general routine and things it came from my season of a season of overwhelmed my season as a stay at home mom where I couldn't manage a lot of my life and routines brought me back to a point where I felt like I could manage things.
Ashley Brown 3:31
And that's when I started the business. But this is the same, basically the same story of how the routine block planning method came to be. You will also hear me refer to this method of planning as routine blocking. So I use those terms interchangeably so that if you hear me say routine blocking if you hear me say routine block routine block planning method, it's all the same thing. But I discovered this planning method during my time as a stay at home mom, it absolutely changed the way that I planned and also that I organized my life. Now, let me share the story with you and just take you back to that time. So storytime here, so when I was a stay at home mom, this was back in 2018? Yeah, 2018 crazy. Oh my gosh, almost four years ago, this was back in 2018. And I remember when I started feeling really frazzled and just overwhelmed. It just felt like I couldn't manage life.
Ashley Brown 4:26
I was very very stressed but I still felt like I was busy. It was really weird. But I remember being like okay, I need to plan that was like the first thing that I went to. I didn't even go to routines first. My first thought was I need to plan because that's all that I knew I had. I planned all my life like it was always helpful for me so I was like you know what, let me start back planning just because I'm not a working mom does not mean that I can't plan and let me go ahead and still plan because it's going to be helpful. So I went to the store I specifically went to Target you know, I love Target if you don't know i love it and I got a really simple planner. From there, I forgot what the brain of the planner was. But it was just a very simple planner. I love simple planners. I'm all about simple planner. So I'm always grabbing a simple planner.
Ashley Brown 5:08
So I grabbed that simple planner, I got back to the house with baby girl, I say, You know what, let me sit down. Let me start planning. I opened it up. No joke. I stared at that page for about 10 minutes. I stared at the page for about 10 minutes because I had no clue about where to start. I was like how to freak do I plan? Like, because I knew how to plan for work and like home. But then it was like what what do I how do I even plan for just my life? How it looks now? And so what came to my mind was okay, well just plan how your mind like how you're thinking, like, what are you thinking about that you need to do. And so I started writing down the things that kind of started brain dumping and being like, I need to do this for baby girl. And I need to clean this.
Ashley Brown 5:49
And I need to make sure that I have something to eat for when my husband get home tonight. And then I need to make sure at that point in time I was like, also need to care for myself, I was really in this train of thought that if I'm going to maintain this household, I gotta take care of me. So that was also factored into it. And so when I started to just write down all the things, I've realized that certain things fit within certain categories. It was kind of like compartmentalization, honestly, because that's how my mind works. And I was like, okay, if I'm thinking about these things, and I see that they're fitting in within these categories, and why do I not just plan like this. And so the categories that I was constantly managing things within included self care, and included things for my family, and included cleaning, and also cooking.
Ashley Brown 6:36
And so I say, You know what, every week, I'm going to write out these four categories and put things up under them for the things I'm going to do in this week. And that's how I'm going to plan. And that's where it started. That is how the routine block planning method came to life. And I ended up sharing this with my best friend, she still plans like this, she still she's like girl I plan like this every week, it changed my life. Because it did like it was it's such a like simple way to think about it. But it's also just revolutionary, because it's so simple. Because that's what your brain many of us our brains go into those categories. What am I doing for me? What am I doing for my family? What am I doing in terms of keeping my home clean? What am I going to cook tonight? It's just our brains are consistently thinking like that. So why not plan in that way?
Ashley Brown 7:29
And what I noticed during that time, too, is that why it was so hard for me to figure out how to plan when I sat down at that very simple planner was because it didn't have much structure to it. The planner, all I had was lines and then in a certain light corner said notes. It was very much leaving the planning up to my interpretation. And so that wasn't helpful for me in that season of life because I had so much swirling in my head and I was so overwhelmed that giving me a blank sheet of paper to plan, that's was essentially what it gave me a blank sheet of paper with lines, was not at all helpful. It was not at all helpful. Now I can understand in certain seasons of life, it being helpful, but for me not having a planning system for me not like just having so much in my mind, it was hard for me to prioritize at that time when I didn't have anything helping me to do so.
Ashley Brown 8:20
So that's why the routine Block planning method is so instrumental and just revolutionary is because it basically guides your thinking, it basically helps you to focus on these things that you're already consistently focusing on. So why not plan within those categories, like is just simplistically revolutionary. I don't even know if that even makes sense. But that's what just comes to my mind. It changed the way that I planned. It changed the way that I organized my life. And even today, I still think about planning in that way. So I'm so excited about this for you. Because I know if right now you're in the busy season of life where you feel like you want to manage life better, and you feel like maybe you're constantly getting off track or constantly distracted, or you just feel like I don't even know where to start. I don't even know what I should be planning. When I do plan I don't follow through.
Ashley Brown 9:14
When I do start planning after some time I stop planning. Those are all signs that however your planning is not helping you. Because if you're not following through on the plans that you're creating, if you are not consistently planning, that means that however you're planning currently doesn't work for you, is not you it's not that you can't stay consistent. You know, it's not that it's because something is off with your planning. And sometimes we have to try different things to see what works for us right? and so this is another avenue for you. This is another solution for you when it comes to organizing your life especially in planning specifically, the routine block planning method can be very, very helpful. And as you probably have heard this planning method is going to be a part of the routine and things planner, which launches October 5.
Ashley Brown 10:04
I am so excited about this so it launches October 5 of this year 2022. And its going to include this planning method routine blocking, and I'm so excited for it. I'm so so excited it is a part of a three step process where you brain dump schedule important events, and then you routine block. So you're going to be able to use this planning method to change the way that you plan, change the way that you organize your life. And it's going to do so much for you so, so much for you. The routine block planning method is all about helping you organize your weeks with ease, focus on your daily priorities, and keep top of mind what matters, including your self. And I'm going to be talking more about this in later episodes this month.
Ashley Brown 10:45
So make sure you come back and stay tuned. But I'm telling you planning in general is really great at lessening mental stress and anxiety. And this planning method is going to help you simplify how you plan and organize your life in a way that is manageable, and that you can actually follow through with let me say this again, the planner comes out October 5. If you want to ensure that you're more likely to get a planner, you want to go ahead and get on the email list, you can join our email list by getting any of our freebies right now we have a free training, get organized using the routine block planning method, which explains what routine blocking is how it's going to be very helpful for you how it will change the way that you organize your life.
Ashley Brown 10:46
You can get that by clicking the link in the show notes or go into routineandthings.com/training. And that's free. And that's a way to get on the email list. But you want to make sure you're on the email list, especially if you think you want a planner because there will only be a limited quantity this year. And so I don't think that everyone is going to be able to get a planner, but if you might be one of the first people to get it. And so if you want to make sure that you're more likely to get a planner, make sure you're on the email list so that you can get the first email of when the planner is ready for you to buy. And you're also going to be able to shop early as a part of being on the email list. So super excited about this.
Ashley Brown 11:49
But I want to share this with you today just because I wanted to share with you how this method of planning even came to be. And I'm just so excited about it. I'm so so excited about it. So that is so that's it for this episode, I just want to share with you the background story of how the routine block planning method came to be how I even stumbled upon this planning method which I'm so grateful to God for but it is definitely revolutionary. And I'm so excited for you to even try it and see how it works for your life. So that's it for today. If you found this episode, helpful, fun, enjoyable. Please leave a rating and review. I would love to hear what you think about the podcast, what you think about the show, and until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are, whatever you're doing, Stay happy, and hopefully I will talk to you next week.
Ashley Brown 11:40 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, take a screenshot and share it on social I would love to know you're listening. And for tools to help you start maintain and enjoy your routines. Be sure to head to routine and things.com Here's to staying happy