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9. Company Is Coming: How to Get Your Home Ready for Guests Without the Panic · Simple Enough: Organizing, Productivity, and Mindset for Entrepreneurs

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: A guest coming to stay will get more done in your house in the next few days
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: than six months of good intentions ever did.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about why and how to get your space and shape quickly.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you're smart and capable,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: but overwhelmed by too many decisions,
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: half-built systems,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: and things you keep meaning to get to, you're in the right place.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Simple Enough.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is quite as panic-inducing as hearing, we'll be there on Friday.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you really suddenly realize that, oh my gosh, the guest room is a mess.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: You notice the things you've walked past for months, and this can be motivating or terrorizing.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: You get to decide.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Having guests can be a great motivator because all of a sudden you're noticing all
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: the things you meant to do,
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: you meant to take care of, and it gives you a new perspective.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: We care what other people think, especially our loved ones.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And really, it's none of our business what they think.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I want you to take the guilt out of it for now and use
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: the externally imposed deadline that works because it's not a character flaw.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's how our brains work.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: We want to know when it has to be done by.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: It can give adrenaline and motivation and that's okay.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I also want to give you permission to triage the situation
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: so you can make it better for next time.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't the week to organize the house properly.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's about the minimum effective dose and a plan to do better once they are gone.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: You have my permission to do the fast imperfect thing.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And later,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'll ask you to do one small thing afterwards
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: that will make it different this time around.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Your guests don't notice all the little things you're worried about.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: They don't notice that you didn't redecorate the whole room since the last time they visited.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: What they notice is the energy.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is it comfortable and welcoming and not frantic?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't apologize or explain how much work you had to put into getting ready for them.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: You want to appear as effortless as possible.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: That way they won't notice as much of the stuff hiding under the bed or in the closet.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: But what they will notice is that they have space to sleep.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: That they have a surface to set some things down and that there's no dust in
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: the corners and cobwebs and pet hair and you might want to clean the mirror
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: and definitely wash the linens.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But they're not going to be looking under the bed for that pile.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're not going to be looking in the cabinet.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Maybe.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I actually used to have a medicine cabinet,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: this old-fashioned one in a house I lived in,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: and I used to keep my old chemistry set,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: a few remnants of it are back here, in the medicine cabinet.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that way I knew when people were snooping.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: They'd come back out and be like, what's with the bakers?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so...
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Probably they won't look under the bed, but you never know.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think it's worth worrying about because
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: the important part is you have room for people to stay, the people you love.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the one time that shoving it in a cupboard is going to be allowed.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a little bit of a process I want to talk you through.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's about figuring out where things go and putting your toys away, right?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's what leads to the piles in the guest room in the first place.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So as you are working over the next few days on getting this ready,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: and it shouldn't take that long,
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: even if it's quite full,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to take the things back to where they go that have a home already.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to hide away the stuff that doesn't have a home yet.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And once the guests are gone, we're going to completely...
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Take care of that.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you will be setting some time aside to take care of those decisions.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: But while you're putting things away,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to also take two minutes to throw away any actual trash.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: That always piles up, especially in the guest room.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: It takes.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: It tends to be all the stuff that you had to do in a rush.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I had to pull out the gift wrap for that birthday party.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or, oh my gosh,
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I found these Christmas decorations hiding in a place they weren't supposed to be,
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: and I didn't get them all the way to the garage to go with
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: the Christmas decorations, right?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a different thing when you ignore it after the guests are gone.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: But for now,
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: the actual trash is going in the trash,
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: the things are returning to their homes,
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: and there will be a pile of things you still need to deal with once
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: the people are gone.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if you ignore it after they're gone,
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: it's just going to slowly suck the energy out of you like the monster under the bed
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: or on the bed or like the Christmas gift wrap that's all over the room
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: from last Christmas.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's the difference between tucking it away and hiding it from yourself.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: OK, so we're going to deal, deal with it.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: After they're gone.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the trick to that is to reframe and think of it not as,
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: oh my gosh,
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I have all this extra stuff to do,
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: but to think of it as I reset the space for the next activity in the space.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So before they arrive, You're resetting it for the guest.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're washing those linens and making the bed.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're wiping down the mirror.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're putting out the clean towels.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: You're getting the cobwebs out of the corner.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And afterwards,
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: you're going to reset it by rewashing the linens and making the bed
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: and making it easier for next time by maybe now tackling the pile in the closet and
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: in some of the drawers so that they have more space next time they come.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: A little more flow and energy.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you find homes for all those things that have been lingering
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: that you hadn't found a home for yet.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't even need them.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Neither do you because you've been hiding them under the bed and in the closet.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: I really want to let you know that it's what organized people do.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: We just make it easier for next time.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And thinking about what worked and what didn't each and every time someone comes
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: to visit and stay.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So whose gaze are you really tidying for?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And why does that panic set in?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And what does it say about the standard you set?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: These are all great questions to ask yourself about how you're going to do it better next.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And why do you think others deserve a tidier space than you do on a day-to-day basis?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: You deserve it too.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And thinking about what you want is Who and how you want to be in your space.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's never having another guest sleep over so that you can have
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: a dedicated gift wrap room.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: But this is the time to find out.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Once they're gone this time, you get to decide how that space will be used in the future.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you can better honor the work you've done on it already by just resetting it for guests.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: We want to do this time and time again.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I find that a lot of people struggle with it.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Often the guest room is a multipurpose room.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I notice my clients often think that having guests is a whole interruption
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: and requires a complete week of time to devote to their guests and a complete week
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: to reset after they're gone.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: But really, it's not about these superhuman skills.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's about incorporating it into your day to day.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I also have a friend that loves drop-ins and always has a place for me to stay,
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: always available for guests, and she just expands on her day-to-day.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: The linens are clean and set out, I make the bed myself, and she sets an extra plate for dinner.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's about it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: We always have fun anyway, but she doesn't change her entire routine around it.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I realize the holidays are a little bit different,
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: but company doesn't have to send you into a spiral.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't have to be so hard.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Really keeping it as a routine and expanding on your daily is going to make it
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: so much more enjoyable for everyone involved.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the one thing I was going to ask you to do,
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: we already talked a little bit about the reset.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's the given.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: You hadn't dealt with the things, but now it's time.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to deal with the things you disappeared for the visit.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And where do they actually live?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Where do these things go now?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where do they belong?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do they belong?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And look at it from this fresh perspective of creating who and how you want to be
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: as someone that has guests.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you need it at all?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Does it add to the guest experience or the activities in the room between guests?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it belongs elsewhere.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: But the biggest part is I want you to honor the clear space.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can use it.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Just don't trash it.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed today's show and don't want to worry about missing an episode,
• 8:48
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• 8:52
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• 8:53
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• 8:56
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• 9:00
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• 9:01
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• 9:06
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• 9:11
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• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for spending this time with me today.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Before you go,
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: choose one thing from this episode that could make life just
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: a little simpler this week.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not perfect, just simple enough.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Come join me on Substack at morethanorganized.substack.com and remember,
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: organizing doesn't have to be so hard.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you soon.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, have a delightful day.