SYW096 – Cultivating Habits That Stick

Jennifer Wilson 0:00

Because habits is not just a conversation for January. It's an all year conversation and I think we're all collectively going to see so much more success and progress and satisfaction by keeping this on the front burner, keeping it top of mind.

Jennifer Wilson 0:15

Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper and author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is Episode 96. In this episode, I'm joined by Kim Edson to reflect on the past month and explore what's new for January. This is our monthly peek behind the scenes at Simple Scrapper. You can find the show notes and transcript for this episode at simplescrapper.com/syw096.

Jennifer Wilson 0:51

Hey, Kim, how you doing?

Kim Edsen 0:53

I am well and yourself?

Jennifer Wilson 0:55

Pretty darn good. I am trying to get into a pre New Year routine as this seems to happen at the end of December every year where I'm like, thinking ahead, I don't want to like try to, you know, turn over a new leaf exactly on January 1, I want to ease into it a little bit. So I got up a little earlier. So I'm working on some habits.

Kim Edsen 1:16

That sounds like a very smart idea.

Jennifer Wilson 1:18

Yeah, in theory, let's let's see if I can make it stick?

Kim Edsen 1:22

Well, I think later, we're gonna be talking a little bit about our book club plans for the coming year. And, you know, I'm sure as you know, like the baby steps, right, we always have a little by little.

Jennifer Wilson 1:34

I feel like I have more tools than I ever have before. And I've made a lot of progress. So I feel, I guess more optimism but also not even that but more capable than I have in the past.

Kim Edsen 1:49

Interesting feeling.

Jennifer Wilson 1:51

Yeah. So what's new with you these days?

Kim Edsen 1:56

Well, I'm probably the biggest change on my horizon is, um, I have agreed to work with Walgreens to administer COVID vaccinations to long term care facilities.

Jennifer Wilson 2:06

Nice.

Kim Edsen 2:07

So it has been several years since I was out in the pharmacy world actively. So I'm just trying to like, you know, stay present in the moment. There's a lot of unknowns. For me at this point, obviously, it's not like we've done this before. But I have you know, I've vaccinated people for 10 years, I used to do some long term care consulting, so I'm used to going into homes. Some of the area I'll be covering kind of like northwest Iowa, which is where I grew up. So I'm comfortable with that. So instead of focusing on all the things I'm uncertain about, I'm trying to focus on the things that I am certain about, um, I will say this was a testament to book club, this decision, um, they kind of reached out to me to see, obviously, they need people to do this. And I'm qualified to so they reached out to see if I was interested. And I had to think long and hard about it, like how it affect our family. And obviously, like my health concerns, and you know, if I was comfortable doing it, and so I have a Trello board where I keep kind of notes from nonfiction books, and a lot of them we cover in Book Club. So ones that kind of resonated with me. And so I actually turned to those notes from our book club selections to kind of help me make these decisions or this decision. It really came down to the we've read Anne Bogel's Don't Overthink It.

Jennifer Wilson 3:28

Mm hmm.

Kim Edsen 3:29

And so it was a big part of like, you know, what are your values? Like, what kind of person do you want to be? So like, that definitely helps me make my decision. And then coming up in 2021, we're going to be decisive by the heath brothers. And I've actually read that it's been a year or two ago. Now.

Jennifer Wilson 3:45

You're a big fan, right?

Kim Edsen 3:47

What?

Jennifer Wilson 3:48

You're a big fan of the heath brothers in general, you've read a lot of their books?

Kim Edsen 3:52

I've well, like two or three. Okay, no, we read Switch for book club and then I read Decisive. I think they've got another one. But anyways...

Jennifer Wilson 4:01

Made to Stick I think is one of the other ones.

Kim Edsen 4:03

Okay, I have not read that one. But I probably should. Anyways, they have this whole thing that's like to remove yourself from like the present. So imagine like, how will you feel in 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years. So that strategy kind of helped me decide as well. So all those like little tidbits come together. So we'll see tomorrow I start my training.

Jennifer Wilson 4:26

I think it's it's very I don't know, I guess I'm proud of you because I'm nervous leaving my house in general these days. And so to put yourself out there, you know, there's obviously a risk you're taking, but you've weighed all the considerations. And you've decided this is the right thing for you. And I think it's awesome.

Kim Edsen 4:44

Well, thank you. I will say like, there was several middle of the night like Google sessions, I will have the option to get the vaccine and I'm planning on doing that. And then even once I'm vaccinated, I will have to test regularly to go into the homes to push around. worse. So, yes. So we will see. Oh, and then also I have to drop this in here because super, super exciting. We have laying hens now. Now I can wander out to my little chicken coop and pick up eggs in the morning. So that's been fun.

Jennifer Wilson 5:15

Very cool. Yes, it's just everyone I know who has chickens they like, that's their choice. And they, they love it. And they love having eggs and they love, you know, having extra family members to take care of.

Kim Edsen 5:28

What they kind of, I was just telling my husband over the weekend, it is shocking, like, I am an animal person. Like, they definitely you know, are near and dear to me. But I was like, you know, their birds, their chickens. Like they're not in our house. Like how attached can you get to them, but they're so funny. They have like, the funniest little personalities and they know like who I am. So even the other day like I wasn't going out to the chickens. I was going to the mailbox, but they could see me and they have like a little run, fenced in run area. And they like hustled over to like the gate to like watch me at the mailbox. So that's the door stuff. I know. It's it's definitely enhanced her life. So that's been good. How about yourself?

Jennifer Wilson 6:11

You know, I [don't] have a lot to report it just has been a lot of the same. There's a lot of work. We're all trying to kind of catch up before the end of the year. Emily still has two more days of school this week. So we're just kind of in the groove. You know, chugging away. We do a few Christmasy things here and there. We watched Elf last night and finished our woodland llama gingerbread house. So we had this, I had this whole plan to do this, you know, woodland cottage with a thatched roof and a log cabin style. It was all these critters and then the grocery shopper substituted the woodland critters with llamas and cactuses, or alpacas, I'm not sure which they are. They're very cartoonish. It could be either. And you know, it's totally cute and awesome. It was not what I planned. But I don't know, it was a very 2020 thing to happen.

Kim Edsen 7:05

That sounds really fun.

Jennifer Wilson 7:06

And then we also started finally watching The Mandalorian. And I'm excited that we can kind of binge this over a couple of weeks and watched full two seasons and catch up where everybody is now because everybody apparently reacted to the season two finale and not I'm afraid of it's gotten to a point where I'm gonna start hearing more and more about what happened and what what everything is. And so I feel like I need to catch up if I want to watch it. Because otherwise I won't be able to avoid that the media coverage of it anymore.

Kim Edsen 7:37

Kind of a spoiler alert. I have watched that show, but my husband does. And I do know a little bit about the season two finale just from him. So he's enjoyed it. So obviously it is a big hit out in the world.

Jennifer Wilson 7:51

Yeah, well and each episode only like 30-40 minutes. So watching, there's only 16 episodes. So four episodes is like watching a movie. So it's really like four movie nights to catch up. So it's not that it's not like a Game of Thrones commitment, which we've never been able to start because it's like, at this point, this is, you know, a huge commitment of our time to dive into it.

Kim Edsen 8:13

Yes. Well, and I mentioned a little bit before I started to record that. My husband and I watched Home for the Holidays. It's a Norwegian, I believe show set. It's on Netflix. And it was recommended by the Strong Sense of Place people and similar thing where yeah, it's six seasons per...or six episodes per season. And they're like 30 minutes each. So there's two seasons and like, we knocked it all out, and, you know, like a week or so. So it was it is fun. And it's nice to have a shared shared experience.

Jennifer Wilson 8:45

Oh, for sure. That's that's one of the things that I love. Is it like a holiday theme to it?

Kim Edsen 8:52

It is, I will preface to say it is not child friendly. There are definitely like mature topics covered. But yes, so the premise is, this woman is like 30 and not in a relationship and it's like the first Sunday of Advent and she's at her parents house and they're all like, you know, kind of badgering her about her relationship status and so she just blurts out that she has a boyfriend and she'll bring him for Christmas but she does not have a boyfriend so hence the process of her dating and kind of meeting different people and whatnot but um, and then the second season kind of picks up on that it kind of fast forward to the year and then where she's at with her relationships there. I will say I was really surprised like there's a really funny moments and there's some really just likable characters and then there's some really like there's really sad moments but it's almost like the poignant I don't know like, you know, I definitely had some tears in my eyes, certain spots. And so if we liked it, it was good.

Jennifer Wilson 9:54

Check that out.

Kim Edsen 9:55

Well, apparently I've been like a TV watching machine. I watched Dash and Lily my one of my daughters. I recommended that and that is a teen. I think it's like, it was originally like a YA type book. And it tells a story about these two kind of teenagers in New York City. And they kind of start up a relationship. They're like, book pen pals. Like, I don't know how to explain it, but it was cute. I watched it while treadmilling so...

Jennifer Wilson 10:23

You know, it is that time of the year for you like nesting and you know, you can't be out in your garden as much. So...

Kim Edsen 10:30

No, no.

Jennifer Wilson 10:31

Now do you grow stuff over the winter, like winter greens and things like that, are you you put it away for a period?

Kim Edsen 10:38

We do not. I have looked at those those like aqua aquaponic type kits and, or garden indoor things, but my cats eat plants. So I think that would be a challenge to find a good location to keep it. And I don't know, I just envisioned that all like something leaking just being like more of a mess than it's worth. So, now we are strictly, you know, warm season gardeners here.

Jennifer Wilson 11:07

When you know, that reminded me a few weeks ago, we were talking about we've never been able to have like, large, you know, indoor house plants that had like soil and a big pot that sat on the floor because of the cat. And you know, maybe it's a you know, silver lining, obviously, we're still grieving her loss and trying to figure out if we want a new pet someday in the future. But you know, like that's something that we can do now is have actually plants that have soil and you know, take up space and are part of more decor rather than just something sitting on a shelf well out of the way.

Kim Edsen 11:37

Yes, that makes a big, big difference. Well, and then I finally turned to terrarium have to lidded terrariums, because I can have them out on like a coffee table and has a lid on it. It's a little microbiomes situation going on in there and the cats can't bother it. So...

Jennifer Wilson 11:54

My mom has had one for like, we'll see I'm 40 and she got it I think when they got married in like the early 70s. So she's when she had this terrarium for almost 50 years.

Kim Edsen 12:05

That is awesome.

Jennifer Wilson 12:06

It is it really is.

Kim Edsen 12:09

Yeah, they're so fun.

Jennifer Wilson 12:11

I get to like develop, you know, if someday I'm inheriting this, I need gonna need to develop a green thumb by then because I would be devastated to, you know, a 70 year old terrarium that I'm not gonna be able to keep it alive.

Kim Edsen 12:24

Yeah, that would be that'd be some pressure. I will say, for me. And maybe it's just like the plants or whatever how it's worked out like they've been very low key maintenance, because a lot of times I will check them when I'm watering like other houseplants bottoms. They don't even need that because they just like recycle the water within, you know, because they're lifted, right? So you can see sometimes there's like condensation on top. And so I really need to water them. And I had gone to a workshop at our like, local Botanical Gardens. Was it one or two Christmases ago? I don't know. It was just when I started these. It was two Christmases ago. And they said like, sometimes it can be the opposite problem or people get like mold and things. So occasionally I'll like take the lid off and air it out. But I mean, really, they've been they've been easy.

Jennifer Wilson 13:10

Nice. Alright, Kim, what's exciting you in scrapbooking right now? I have a lot of things to share.

Kim Edsen 13:17

Okay, well, I probably have less things. So this is well balanced. Um, I will say just telling, like smaller stories. So I've been taking like photos and notes for documenting like a December project. And I've never been one to work on it daily, I tend to do it kind of more in batches. And I attended our member crop on Saturday morning and kind of got like three pages put together. And it was just so much fun. And I'm really enjoying kind of those like small, everyday stories. I think it's, that's one reason why I do like the December project because I don't do Project Life. So it's kind of an opportunity to incorporate some of those everyday things. But also, if they're just the smaller stories, it's just like design choices. It's easier to just, yeah, I feel like there's more flexibility with your designs and templates or sketches that I'm choosing, because I'm not looking for large volumes of text necessarily. So I'm it's been fun.

Jennifer Wilson 14:15

Yeah, like sometimes I just printed out a photo and then like, okay, where I just needed to leave space on the photo so that I could put a little, you know, like a little journaling tag over the photo. So I could write a few lines and then that was it. Like it was really super simple. And I it's the smaller formats are so awesome for that.

Kim Edsen 14:33

Yeah, but like I said, it's, it's been nice. It's just been a very low key. It's been enjoyable and just like having my camera out. I'm more apt to just like snap ever in the back of my mind, right? Like we went for a hike and I took my camera with me. And back in the day like when I was doing Project Life that's what I did like my camera. I went everywhere with me, and I've kind of gotten away from that. So it's good to get that back kind of in my everyday life.

Jennifer Wilson 15:00

Interesting because I have not picked up my either my big cameras at all. I've been using my phone, but I definitely have. I feel like I'm in a habit of noticing. Like this morning, you know, it wasn't that early but this the sun was still coming up and I noticed you know those look sunrays and you know, I'm gonna just pause here and take a photo out the window. So I really feel like December Daily helps me reconnect with scrapbooking with taking pictures and just with the whole the way that it fills me up. And so it seems like it's just it's that perfect lead up to the New Year. It...

Kim Edsen 15:38

Well said.

Jennifer Wilson 15:39

You know, it could be any subject matter. But you know, because it's something that we're doing anyway, we're celebrating the holiday season. It just really yeah, I am like, I'm totally in the groove now. And I am so excited for 2021 and the scrapbooking I'm gonna do next year.

Kim Edsen 15:54

Okay, tell us about it. What's the plan?

Jennifer Wilson 15:56

So I have kind of an audacious goal. And I don't think any, even in my, the year that I made the most layouts, I don't think I made 100. And that's gonna be my goal next year. And I know for some that's like, Oh, that's nothing and for others, like, Oh, that's a lot. So, but for me, it feels it feels like a challenge. But it also feels really exciting. And one of the ways that I am working towards this is I actually in so many areas of my life, I'm really focusing on batching. And so I've done this a few times. And it's kind of always been kind of a backburner theme. But I'm really trying to be intentional about it. Because my brain loves that my brain can likes to plan things out and see well, this goes here, and that goes there. And whether we're talking about how we're doing content inside the membership, or batching, for five layouts at once my brain likes that type of process. And so I'm going to be doing layouts in groups, you know, not exclusively, but a lot of the time. And I really think that's going to help me get a lot of stories told and just feel really productive and satisfied.

Kim Edsen 17:08

Well, I think you made an interesting point about that particular number 100, feeling challenging, but also achievable. And it's one thing to like, throw yourself out, like this huge goal. But deep down, you'll know, it's not likely that you'll ever reach it. So and there's definitely a balance between like finding that right space where it's challenging, but also, it's motivating, because you feel like you can actually achieve it.

Jennifer Wilson 17:33

When and on the same note, though, I am not going to beat myself up that if I get like, if I get 80 that's still a huge accomplishment. And maybe also pass it I don't know. But I think having having something that feels both challenging and exciting, is something that you can reach for and will stay motivating. And I just think that we sometimes let's just all speak for myself, I have set my bar lower and lower over the years. And while I think maybe I needed that in those years, I think next year, I need that extra nudge to come out of pandemic mode to get back into creative production and also just creative engagement with with myself, my hobby, my life and the rest of the world.

Kim Edsen 18:23

So I have questions, and maybe you don't have answers. So you're doing the batching. Do you have any sort of like scheduling in mind? Like, will you like week one, you'll write the stories and choose the photos and then week two, you'll assemble and then repeat or? Or is it like a goal of like, you know, so many per month that you break it down to like smaller goals or, you know, tell me more.

Jennifer Wilson 18:50

So yes, I do have it all scheduled out. And I started with our workbook. And I really looked at the whole year and looked at the way my obligations were laid out, I knew that I was going to want to work on December Daily next December, probably really next November and December, I want that to be just a fun playtime. You know, just like let's go all in and make things. And so I knew that I would want those layouts done basically before then. So that's looking at January through October. And then I also knew that May we're running a virtual conference for my university job. August is back to school. And in theory, we're going to actually be going back to school at that point. And October is kind of, you know, the crunch time for gearing up for next year's Planning Party and making final decisions for what's going to happen. You know, we're fast forwarding now to 2022. So I then took those months off the table. So that's minus two minus three, so that's minus five and so 12 minus five is that is that 8?

Kim Edsen 19:51

7.

Jennifer Wilson 19:52

Okay. So, so really, I'm going to be trying to do most of those over those seven months. And I have two specific projects where I'm batching, a certain number of layouts. And then I also have a goal of filling in gaps in my albums. And so I'm going to be starting to print out more photos, identifying gaps in previous years, printing out those photos, putting a little story card with them, like, you know, what's the date? What's the topic? And where's the story going? And so that I can just pick those up and do those in batches of probably three or four.

Kim Edsen 20:29

Okay, so interesting. You talked about doing December Daily, but so you're not counting your December Daily plans in these 100 layouts?

Jennifer Wilson 20:38

I was not, no.

Kim Edsen 20:40

Okay. And how do you define, like, quote, unquote, counts as a layout, like is there like size or like content, or you'll just like go with your gut like this counts?

Jennifer Wilson 20:50

Um, I'm trying to, I have to reference my Trello here, because I put it all in my Creative Hub. for the new year, I completely redesigned my Creative Hub. And I'm so excited about it. I did lots of color coding and added emojis. And so I will look and see what I included and did not include.

Kim Edsen 21:13

And also like, Man, that that is like a two page layout, does that count as two layouts, or one because it's, it's two pages?

Jennifer Wilson 21:19

It only counts as one. Okay, if it's one story, it counts as one, one layout, because actually a lot, I'm I have this, it's kind of the next call it next level hybrid. Maybe that's a future name for a class, I don't know. I've had a lot of fun doing hybrid on one side with printed journaling, and minimal striking embellishment, whether it's like a chipboard title, or one, one embellishment that's, you know, strategically placed, and then making a more scrapbooky page with paper and layers on the other side where the photos go. And so that's going to be something that I'm doing a lot of not exclusively, but that's something that I'm going to do a lot of those two page spreads, because I know that I can sit down and type stories and get those that one page done, and kind of get ahead with that. And then I will batch create the photo layout part on the other side. Does that make sense? It's kind of...

Kim Edsen 22:24

Yes. Oh, totally makes sense. And then it gets around that hole, like I talked about earlier by trying to like find designs that accommodate large volumes of journaling. But yeah, also let you do the fun stuff. It's kind of like matching how people will match pocket pages for extra photos with a layout they've made, but you're just using, you know, the other side more so for journaling?

Jennifer Wilson 22:45

Correct. And you know, there'll be there are times when I will maybe include a photo collage as the other side and not do a layout, but I'm not typically the person that's wanting to include all the photos or more of the photos I it's typically not difficult for me to select the two to three to five, the typically two to three photos that I'm going to use on a page. And sometimes it's even just one. I'm not, let's try to get them all in there type of scrapbooker.

Kim Edsen 23:17

No, I think it's just very exciting.

Jennifer Wilson 23:18

So to answer your other question, though, I am including I believe I'm including doing one layout or spread every month for one little word as part of this, but I am not including December Daily, or Project Life in the 100.

Kim Edsen 23:40

Whoo. See, I would totally count.

Jennifer Wilson 23:44

Maybe by the end of the year, I will change my answer. Yes. But I'm really thinking of it as like a one or two page spread that's completed. Yeah, we'll see. Maybe maybe I will be able to get a bigger number at the end if I do it choose to include those. So we will see but that's that's where I'm that's where I'm sitting right now. And I'm feeling excited by it. I know that having kind of smaller project boundaries around it and some deadlines like I have specific month set for some of these certain projects that I want to do like, February, March, I'm working on this one. And so that tells me what to do. I kind of know where I'm going but knowing what I'm working on I think is going to be really, really energizing this year.

Kim Edsen 24:34

When it kind of removes that part of the barrier of starting was like where to start. Well you have a plan in place. And it sounds like I always go back to this because I think it's very helpful how Elise Blaha Cripe in her book we read for book club at some point. Anyways..

Jennifer Wilson 24:50

That was January 2020.

Kim Edsen 24:53

I think it was too, um, talked about having like the smaller deadlines a growth in your bigger goal right? It's like checkpoints. Yeah. And you need that because, well, one, if you don't, I think it's motivating to have those checkpoints because it kind of keeps you like, Okay, I'm on track, or I'm a little behind, but I can catch up. Or maybe if you're not anywhere near where you thought you'd be. Okay, so what's that you can maybe like, revamp it, like what's not working? So I think it sounds like a great plan.

Jennifer Wilson 25:22

Well and I think also the discussions we had during the Planning Party about having different scales of accountability, and both internal and external. So I would say this is the biggest scale, like, here's the plan. But in order to implement the plan, I'm gonna need need to lean on my own internal accountability to then, okay, what's on deck for this particular month and figuring out when that's going to happen, and then on a nearer term, shorter term timescale. Okay, how can I lean on the community to support me? So I've already put it on the calendar that I want to attend the Wednesday noon crop every single week? That's just kind of a standing appointment? And, you know, there's going to be certain things that I try to work on during that time.

Kim Edsen 26:05

Well, I'll be excited to see how it goes. Follow along.

Jennifer Wilson 26:07

Yep, for sure. I'm sure we will discuss that throughout these episodes every month, next year on the podcast.

Kim Edsen 26:15

You have to give us a count page count?

Jennifer Wilson 26:17

I will do that maybe, I don't know.

Kim Edsen 26:20

Seems like a lot of pressure.

Jennifer Wilson 26:22

Yeah. No, I'm looking forward to sharing my progress throughout the year. And I hope to do that in multiple ways here on the podcast and on social media videos, we'll see we'll see what happens. I'm excited to just create. Part. I mean, a lot of this is creating for myself, you know, some of it will is kind of a work responsibility, but most of it is not. And I think that has been a key to my own productivity over the years, is I don't create well, or as well under pressure as I do when I'm kind of guiding my own ship, if you will.

Kim Edsen 27:00

And so any of your stories planned to be Bucket List Stories.

Jennifer Wilson 27:05

Yes. So I mentioned One Little Word. And one of the things that I really want to do next year, is I wanna I am all in totally committed to the progress to the process, I am feeling excited about my word, and I want to kind of peel back and go deeper, like, I've always told more feelings based stories of my scrapbooking. But I think even a lot of those has been has been more outward like feelings towards my daughter and my husband and things that have happened in my life. And less like, the feelings that we have inside that sometimes we don't like to talk about. So I need his time to, you know, let's go a little bit deeper and do some things that maybe are more challenging. So I'm, that's, that's really what's on my Bucket List now. There's some bigger past stories, I still want to tell. But that's really where my my heart is leading me for the next year.

Kim Edsen 28:06

I think that's exciting.

Jennifer Wilson 28:07

What about you on your Bucket List?

Kim Edsen 28:10

So this is kind of, so I've thought a long time about making a layout about my paternal grandfather, he died when I was six years old. So I really do not have a lot of memories of him myself, just like a handful. But I've heard so many stories about him over the years. And it's just kind of popped up here and there that I've like, Oh, I should tell that story. And then but now it's getting to the point where it's not just you know, like one story. So I must feel like, I know Stacy Julian had this like extended story project concept as part of her 20 in 20 last year, and I wasn't in that class, but I kind of like feel like I have like a kind of a big understanding of basically, I mean, I don't know how she had to do but basically, it's kind of like not necessarily one layout, but maybe like a set of layouts that kind of like tell this overall story. So, um, my grandma lived for like another 25 years after he passed. But she still talked to him, like all the time, and she would like choke up and really get emotional like remembering him. So it's kind of like the testament to like their relationship, kind of stories about his personality. He was a medic in World War Two, he was in Italy in Northern Africa. And that was like another thing where it came up again, when I was blue. He did went to Washington DC last year. And I was looking at information on the World War Two Memorial because I took pictures and I kind of remember like the symbolism of everything. So I was kind of getting some background information and I was doing my layout about that. And she can like put in names of people and kind of get more backstory as far as like their like unit or whatever they were in and then I will work with Ken and he had we have started an Etsy shop because he's all this memorabilia and stuff that he wants to. Nobody in his family really wants and has some value to some people. And so some of it is when he was a boy, he collected World War Two, like division patches and like he had like my grandpa's division patch, like so it's kind of all these stories have just been building and building and building. And at some point, I just, I wanted to start getting them down.

Jennifer Wilson 30:26

Oh, for sure. Well, and we're gonna have to compare notes on our grandfathers in the war, because mine was in Italy and Northern Africa as well.

Kim Edsen 30:35

Oh, interesting.

Jennifer Wilson 30:37

Yeah, we're gonna have to... I need to look up... but I don't know exactly what. He was in the army. And so I don't know what, what regiment or anything like that. But we'll we'll compare notes and then update that information.

Kim Edsen 30:48

So yeah, cool. And I think it gets hard. And that kind of goes back to it. Where I always struggle with these types of stories is one words led to him is not just like one story. So then how do you go about that? And then to it's not like my story you talked about right, your emotions related to like, your family and versus your own personal experiences. And so I guess, you know, that's probably the direction I will come with. It is like, you know, my experience, like growing up and hearing about this person that I never really knew well.

Jennifer Wilson 31:20

Sure, um, what I think I ended up, maybe, and maybe this is something I do a lot. I think I write it in terms of I wonder, like, I wonder if blah, blah, blah, I wonder if bla bla bla like I you know, I really just kind of put out my curiosity to, to really be playing that I don't have all the details of the story here is what I know. And here's what I would like to know, you know, maybe someday we'll but most likely not. But I think that's, it's fair to kind of get those questions on paper too.

Kim Edsen 31:51

Yeah, that's a good tip.

Jennifer Wilson 31:54

All right, let's transition to this past month theme, and then our upcoming journey. So this was a Curating Photos month, this is the last of our monthly themes. And now next year, we're going to two month journeys, and I'm so excited for that. But let's just talk about Curating Photos for a moment. So what kind of what is your takeaway from this experience?

Kim Edsen 32:18

So having we've gone through, you know, different versions of this kind of concept over the years. And I think what I noticed, the most, or what stood out to me this time was how many people have like a plan in place, and how they're committed to just doing it in small bits at a time, like, I always felt like it was used to be like, well, once I get my photos organized, then I'll scrapbook like it was this huge, like, project, anything, what I've seen within the group is a lot of just acknowledgement and acceptance of the fact that yeah, this might be a very big project, depending on what you have what you're dealing with. But there's lots of concept as far as like, I'm going to work on it once a week at the Monday night member crop, or I'm going to, like they have like ongoing plans and a commitment to doing it a little bit at a time, because they recognize that all those baby steps add up to big results.

Jennifer Wilson 33:10

You know, my my observation is very much on the same note. So for this new session of Photo Crush, we just released kind of, we updated the classroom had a whole new like intro series of steps and then a part one, and then part two will be released the 102 level in August. And so we have this brand new checklist and so many members that well I've like I basically done all the things on your checklist already, and maybe you know, doesn't mean not going to revisit them and improve them. But I was so surprised by how many said they really felt they felt good. It felt solid, even though there's always work to do they felt so good about their photo libraries.

Kim Edsen 33:48

Yeah. And compared to the past, don't you think that's, I mean, that's a big difference. Yeah, I think people have really made progress. And I don't know, if it's maybe, you know, as technology's changed, people have, you know, got their feet under them a little bit with like, how they're dealing with all that or like the evolution of right, like transitioning from like, primarily, like a camera to phone photos to, you know, subscription, online photo services, and backups, and all of that. I feel like for a while there like it was, it felt like it was all new, and it was constantly changing. So maybe we've just also gotten to a point where there's a little bit of consistency or familiarity with all those concepts, so you feel better able to address them. I don't know.

Jennifer Wilson 34:28

I think it's a huge combination of factors. There's kind of the maturity of the technology and our comfort level with it. There's maybe a little bit of like, this year, you know, some folks had a little bit more time to, to feel connected, figure out how things work and take more action than they had in the past. Just the fact that we you know, we continually revisit this inside the membership and our members tend to stick around for a long time. So we keep always going back to this. So there's that iterative improvement that you get Yeah, and just I think that there's just, I don't know, I just think it's a huge combination of factors. But yes, it is it is. There's definitely a visible shift. There's less kind of that the flailing around Oh, my gosh, I don't know what to do. Maybe some of that is even just a, you know, we've all collectively developed a greater confidence in googling and finding answers. And it's much easier to get to the answers that you need as, as all those tech companies do their best to try to get us to that information faster, and all the ways that they do that. So...

Unknown Speaker 35:33

No, it was just it was interesting to see that that shift for sure. I mean, it's good. I, you know, it's, it's, obviously, we're always there to help people when they need help. But it's also nice to kind of like, celebrate, you know, those victories together as well.

Jennifer Wilson 35:46

Oh, for sure, yeah. And I just, there's just always such a supportive collaborative environment. And I think that even well, outside of, you know, our designated periods for Photo Crush, our members are always helping one another, always reaching out. And I think that just the ongoing, knowing that you have this place to go, when you have a question, you're going to get your question answered, then you're kind of back in business. I think that's also helped helped this not need as much, I don't know, dedicated time, I don't know how to say it. Like, I just feel like our members are so in such great shape.

Kim Edsen 36:25

Well, I also, it is good to have a place where if you do want someone's insights, like it's like a trusted, like a trusted resource, or what I'm thinking of like an evaluation. So like, for example, so I helped with kind of marry all sorts of tasks, and his son had wanted something like legacy backs, don't know what that is. So basically, you send in like, slides, or photos and VHS tapes, or whatever, in a box, and then they, they digitize it all for you and send it back. So there's like legacy box, and I'm memories. And, um, but the one that a lot of our members have used is scan cafe. Mm hmm. So again, so even just like working with him talking about like, what would be the best options for his son and you know, their families memorabilia, I could say like, hey, in My Simple Scrapper group, a lot of people have used this and then you know, you can explore that. So one, it kind of gives you a place to start or to, you know, I think somebody can come on and say like, Hey, I'm thinking about using this service, or this subscription, or this software or whatever. Does anyone have experience with it? And yeah, you can read other reviews online. But it is nice to hear the thoughts of people that are like minded, right? Like they may have similar values or concerns related to memory keeping that maybe I don't know, the average person isn't as into it doesn't have those same views? I don't know. No, I feel it's definitely it's good to have that as like a resource.

Jennifer Wilson 37:55

I think that is very true. And I think that also reflects maybe even some of the ways that we that we teach how we suggest you construct your photo workflow, because the end goal here is not just to protect your photos, but to have them for scrapbooking. And so your end goal really dictates the procedures that you use, and really kind of how your library is constructed. Because you know, some folks who aren't scrapbookers, they just want their photos safe, we'll just send them out of the cloud as easy as possible, because they're not going to actually do anything with them, which is probably the vast majority of people. But scrapbookers we want to do stuff with them. So we need we maybe need them in a different place or in a different format a different way.

Kim Edsen 38:37

Yes, such a good point.

Jennifer Wilson 38:39

Alright, let's talk about habits. So this is our first journey theme for 2021. This will cover January and February, we're going to have inside the membership, a Journey Classroom. And this is something new, because we've always had classrooms and we have groups and we have, you know all the things you'd expect inside of a community, but really going to have this kind of guided plan. So there'll be an item of you know, like, let's know, we're going to come together for our four day Refresh Retreat, and so you'll be able to access that there. And then later on in February, we'll have a new self paced class and if you want to elect to do that, then we'll send you to where you can do that. And if you don't, you can check that box and say no, I'm done with this. I don't need to do that. So it's it's gonna be the ultimate in choose your own adventure with with the guidance to lean on as much or as little as you need it.

Kim Edsen 39:35

When also sounds like a little bit like one stop shop, right? Like yeah, this is where you go to kind of get a feel for like what's going on. And then from there, like you said, you can make those choices to what is interesting to you or what you want to go through, but you're not searching around and several different locations. You go here and this will get you on the road to you know, and they have more time you want to go explore the things go for it, but definitely some guidance for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 40:01

When we've long, you know, every time we have an official event, it's recorded, if we have a chat, there's a transcript, but they've all kind of been posted in different places like they're there. But I think having the Journey Classroom will allow us to archive that material, because we recognize not everyone is able to participate live, depending on their schedule where they live around the world. And so I think we're, we're gonna be able to, like meet a lot of the members needs to, to have a little bit of simple, simpler navigation and easier access to the newest stuff in one place. So I'm really excited about this format. And just the overall idea of let's take a take a concept. And then we each think about what we need from this concept, because we're all, you know, we're probably all thinking about habits in one way or another, but some of our members are really going to be thinking about their creative habits, some are going to be thinking about their lifestyle habits. And you know, you have to think about, okay, what does this mean for me? Where do I want to go with it, make that plan and then pick and choose your priorities? Because we can't do everything? And I think that's, that's really what the journeys are gonna facilitate, is that ongoing mental process of identifying, choosing and and taking action?

Kim Edsen 41:18

Sounds amazing.

Jennifer Wilson 41:19

Yeah. So we're gonna have six, six of our Refresh Retreats in 2021. They're going to be long weekends four days. And so I'm curious, Kim, what has been your favorite part of Refresh over the years, we've done this for so long now. And it just keeps getting better and better.

Kim Edsen 41:36

I just like the feeling of excitement surrounding it, right, like, we're coming up on Christmas. And it was like the excitement of Christmas morning and the holidays, but I kind of feel that way about refresh, right? It's always like, Oh, goody, it's here again. And I think one is it just gives you something to anticipate, to look forward to. So that is exciting. To a lot of times, I mean, they're always available, people could do whatever self paced, but a lot of times, you know, it's a community event, so that you're in it with other people. So you can head about that shared experience. And that's exciting. And then, and we've said this before, but that kind of nudge or that prompt to like take a pause, kind of see where you are and where you want to go forward. So I just like all the excitement like about it.

Jennifer Wilson 42:19

There is a really, really special energy every time and it's it's different. It's not like, you know, we've had a lot of like, you know, for National Scrapbook Day and other you know, we did it for our 10 year anniversary a couple years ago, we've had like big crop weekend's but it's different than that, yes, there's a lot of crop time. But the activities are really encouraging you to think differently, try new things. And to really feel that sense of rejuvenation in your hobby.

Kim Edsen 42:50

Yes, it can be very insightful. And maybe it's the thing is, it's not even like you expect it, right? It's just kind of like the the bonus of it. I'm like, I'm not going into those weekends thinking like, Okay, I'm gonna really evaluate my hobby and revamp it and see where I'm going forward. It just kind of naturally happens.

Jennifer Wilson 43:07

Yes. And so and then we've we've had some, like, you know, more traditional activities that we maybe had some one that were a little more out there, or unusual or fun. And I love I love having a member who like says, I don't want to do this. But then they say, but I will do it. And then they feel on the other side. Once they get to the other side. They're like, oh, thank you for doing this. I see it now. Like I get it. But sometimes we're like, Jennifer, really, you really want me to do this.

Kim Edsen 43:36

So you know, the one that most comes to mind was to remember Carol Anne's was like, I don't even it was her purple unicorn glitter page or whatever. Yeah, it was the one where it was all like randomized numbers would assign like a topic and all these things. And she just, she ended up with just like the craziest combinations of stuff. But man, she made that page. And so it was awesome.

Jennifer Wilson 44:00

Well, I think sometimes we need to figure out how can we take the randomness that's given to us, which is what happens in life. And I think 2020 is like the ultimate case study of that. And then how can we react to that and create something beautiful from it still? So...

Kim Edsen 44:17

Yeah, well, and to learn from it, right? Like, what are the lessons in this great example? Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 44:22

So you mentioned Trello earlier in our conversation, and it's really become a favorite tool for myself or so many of our members to keep track of goals, projects and tasks. I'm curious, what role does Trello play in your full arsenal of paper and digital tools? Because we've talked a lot about the various things that you use over over time, and where does Trello fit in that?

Kim Edsen 44:45

So I mentioned earlier I have, like, I guess there's like three main Trello boards that I used kind of to organize things. One I do have a non-fiction board where I'll like make notes of I'm reading a book of just things that I think might be helpful or applicable in the future. And I don't necessarily reference that regularly, it's just kind of if something comes up, or if I'm in there poking around, I'm curious, I'll go there, I have one that kind of tracks long term, like projects or plans just in my personal life, like around my house or tasks I want to do. And so that's just kind of like a holding place that again, I'll refer back to, like, once a month or so just kind of check in and see where I want to go. And then probably most applicable to this conversation, as I do have a creative hub set up within Trello. And I should pull that up. So I can give a better explanation of exactly what that looks like. But, um, we've had different variations, or like, there was a template to kind of get us started at one point. And then some members shared what they had. And so I kind of use tips and tricks from that. So with on that board, I have different lists, kind of the most active one is I have what I've completed in 2020. And I actually have enjoyed that because I was never very good about keeping track of that via paper. But within Trello, I just like drag my card over to that. And that's good. And then I have a very next steps list. So that is kind of where I check in every month. And I keep like a quarterly roadmap. So that was like a version kind of taken from a previous, mm, Simple Scrapper template, and then...

Jennifer Wilson 46:26

We like to rearrange things and give them new names around here.

Kim Edsen 46:32

Yep. And then I kind of just track like, where I want to work, what I want to be working on, like within the next like, quarter, and then by month, and then from there, you know, it's divvied out, I'm usually by album. And then I have a so kind of stories I want to tell to go within each album. And then I have a list of like, anytime stories that maybe aren't necessarily tied to any like, particular like time or place or experience. But just stories I want to tell.

Jennifer Wilson 47:03

Very cool. I love I love, I have loved seeing how you and so many of our members have taken the all the different ideas we've shared over the years and just really made it your own because some are gonna resonate, some are gonna be like, Oh, yeah, my brain loves organize information this way, and some are gonna be like, no, I, I can't do that, that doesn't, that doesn't work. That's not a natural mental conversation I'm having. And so that we just, you know, share these different ideas and kind of information structures, if you will, that then you can apply and then tweak and Trello makes it so easy to just to rename, rearrange, drag things around to really make it work for you.

Kim Edsen 47:43

And I think that is key, because I mean, this is this has worked really well for me this last year. And you know, I went through different versions or variations and organizational structures to kind of find what works for me. So, you know, there is some trial and error involved with that I do have not always very consistent, but some color coding, I want to say Nicole man shared hers. And I really liked how c et assigned a color like to each family member, I have labels. So I have a color for each person in my family. And then I also have one that's like overall, like bigger family or like other type story. So not that I really use that to any huge extent. But it does kind of give me an idea of like, okay, so maybe I told a ton of, you know, Grace stories lately. So maybe I want to tell a story about Caroline, or maybe I want to tell a family story, or it just kind of like changes it up a little bit and kind of gives me a feel of like the types of stories I've been telling. And not that I can't just continue on that same road. But it's just like another I guess, level of just kind of getting a feel for what my scrapbooking hobbies looking like at this time. So and then she also would upload sketches. So if she had a story to tell, she could like type in her journaling, and she would upload a sketch to go with that story. I have done that in occasion, especially if I was doing a lot of like, pens batch planning, like you're talking about or if I had to be in mind. And so I've kind of gotten away from that a little bit. Or if there's like, I knew I wanted to use a particular photo with it. But when I have done that, in the past, I found that very successful as well. Because then it's just like everything's right there. Like this is the story I want to tell this is the sketch I want to use maybe the photos I want to use. So it's almost like a kit type thing, right? Like this is what I'm starting with.

Jennifer Wilson 49:34

Yes. What I think it's interesting because we all have, I guess those of us using digital tools for the most part. A lot of us also have some sort of paper tool that we like using with that and so it really takes a lot of conscious practice experimentation to figure Okay, I like to have these things digital and I immediately want to go look for a checklist and cross something off. Or I like to have these things and paper because I want to be able to write down something down or, you know, I mentioned earlier that I'm going to be, you know, kind of doing a little bit more prep with printing photos and keeping stories. And I really don't want to have those on Trello. Because I don't want there to be another step, I want it to be to the point or I need to grab these items and then make the page. So I need to get that kind of out of Trello. And into a format that makes it easy to take the next creative step. It doesn't mean, I might not have a list of those somewhere else in Trello. But I really need that physical format too. So it's always, always that balance. And just because we keep some things digital doesn't mean you're not going to have things in the real world as well.

Kim Edsen 50:47

Oh, no, I always think it would kind of as a funnel, right? Like, you start at the top, like this is all the information, like you know, like long term, and then monthly and then weekly, and then daily. And then like down to like, this moment, right. And I will say like my bigger like, the top of my funnel is definitely like more digital. And then like, as I work down to like my daily than that is or my weekly and dailies paper.

Jennifer Wilson 51:11

Yes, I can even see like, as I'm listening, I'm going to go through 2015 album, and I'm gonna be flipping through, I could be noting down in Trello, hey, here's the gaps that I'm noticing. And then once I print those photos and jot down a story, then that gets checked off. It's kind of like it's my, you know, layout prep list or whatever, if you will.

Kim Edsen 51:33

Mm hmm. And I've done that with past albums. And then a lot of times, and I know, I'm gonna say it was Laura Alberts, who had talked about, right, like putting the photos and whatever, like the memorabilia or whatever that you're going to use on that layout in the page protector in the album. So then I would just keep that album. So like, most recently, I think I did like 2008 kind of filled in gaps. So like that just lived in my craft room. And then when I wanted to work on when I could just flip through and like find like, okay, like everybody just held this one today. And like everything was right there.

Jennifer Wilson 52:04

I like that idea a lot.

Kim Edsen 52:07

It's worked well. For me, anyways.

Jennifer Wilson 52:09

One of the things you mentioned with the color coding, when you were talking about family members, I immediately started thinking about library of memories categories, and those who are taking Photo Freedom next year. You know, if you've been wanting to maybe balance your layout making across the categories better, because I know and I mentioned this when I was interviewed for Stacy's podcast, I do mostly like all about us. A little bit of the other categories that I'm most of my layouts are just so like personality, feelings driven, I don't tend to scrapbook some of the other stories as much as I would like to. And so I think that if you color code, you can see, you know, the breadth and where the types of stories you're telling. And if you have a goal of maybe having more balance, that would be another way to do it. Same with, as you mentioned, with the family members, if you notice, you're you know, telling more about one person, I could see, you know, my husband might not ever get a color because I asked I very rarely tell stories about him. So...

Kim Edsen 53:11

Exactly who I was thinking of Yes.

Jennifer Wilson 53:12

Yeah, it's helpful to be able to, to see those gaps in by using some sort of categorization of your stories.

Kim Edsen 53:20

Well, and it's just it's very easy to do. It's very, it's a big visual impact for the effort that you put forth. Oh, and if it's something that you think will be helpful, like I would definitely say it's worth trying. Like I said, I'd never done anything like that until I saw Nicole's version. I was like, oh, maybe I'll give that a go. And I have liked it. It just makes me feel like I have more of like I said, I have an idea of like, what's going on in my hobby, because I'm definitely for me, it is about like the process. So once I've made a layout, it is like shocking how many times like I'm looking at my completed 2020 layouts. I was like, Oh, yeah, I made that one. Oh, yep, I made that one too. Like I just forget about the layout. I don't regularly go back and look at them that often. Or this point, a lot of these now I'm doing more digital, like I don't have them printed, because my plan is to do is in a book. So it is it's a good reminder to see like all the things that I have achieved, because oftentimes, like I do more than I give myself credit for. So it's good to have that, I guess confidence boost?

Jennifer Wilson 54:24

Oh, I think I think we all do. Sometimes it feels like we're not making progress. But when in reality we are does sometimes it doesn't. there's not as much visual evidence or maybe you haven't gathered it in the right way or yet. And it's helpful to have a way to, to really to visualize it multiple ways. We all like maybe not all of us. I like to visualize my data in different ways so that I can have it make more sense to me. And so I can see that being really useful.

Kim Edsen 54:54

So you said you've updated your hub, do we get any like, sneak peek tidbits about what kind of changes you made or do we need to wait about those?

Jennifer Wilson 55:01

Well, I think a lot of it will be shared in a new class that I'm releasing in early January called The Trello Habit. So in 2020, I taught the Bucket List Project. And this was a nine month class that combined how to use Trello with how to tell deeper stories. And there was a lot of success and energy from that. But I could see that those that didn't succeed as much Trello was the barrier. And so we really needed to kind of separate those two things like doing doing it in Trello is really an optional step. And so we'll be moving those into two different classes, the first one being The Trello Habit, and I'm going to be kind of sharing how to build your Creative Hub. And mine is I'm calling mine my Creative Life Hub, because I'm including kind of home organization, home decor type projects in there as well. Because it's all kind of using my crafty skills and that side of my brain. But yeah, I thought a lot of my new hub will be shared in that particular class, but I'll definitely have some sneak peeks and a little tutorials leading up to it as well.

Kim Edsen 56:09

Oh, I can't wait to see.

Jennifer Wilson 56:11

Yeah, I you know, and I went, I debated on how to structure kind of what I was going to do every month. And I'll give you this sneak peek, I haven't color coded by each of our journeys. So January, February is one color for the habits turning to know that these kind of months are connected, even though they are different calendar months. But then I have my all my cards organized by season, I'm a very kind of natural seasons oriented person. And for me, the natural seasons are like December, January, February for winter is for an example. Yeah, like meteorological seasons, yeah, they don't line up orders of the year, and that doesn't really matter. Right. Um, and so we're going to be sharing options, because you need to, you need to organize how it makes sense for you. And so this is just my example that I'll be sharing. But there's, you know, if you're very, like, you know, calendar, your quarter oriented, or if maybe you love these six journeys, and you just want to do everything two months at a time. Maybe you just want to have a list of months, there's so many different ways that you can organize your priorities and what you want to do, and will be kind of helping you do that and showing how easy it is to customize it in Trello.

Jennifer Wilson 57:27

Well, and for some people, they may have other areas in life work kind of like right, like maybe their teachers. And so it's like the school calendar year really impacts their planning, or maybe like, like my husband's in finance. So it's like the fiscal calendar year. So like, right, like, everyone has different kind of markers like for you at seasons. And for somebody else. Maybe it's like a school schedule.

Jennifer Wilson 57:47

Correct.

Kim Edsen 57:48

So yeah.

Jennifer Wilson 57:49

And I think that's just that's just part of this whole idea of doing things your way. And we're always trying to give you those options. We want you to kind of give you a framework and idea about where to go. But then you have to take those steps to try and figure out what's the best way for you?

Kim Edsen 58:09

Well, and that's a good point about the framework too, because I think sometimes, you know, like something isn't working for you. But you're not certain like what tweaks you can make or how can I change this to make it work better for me. So I think just kind of that permission, but also like it would be helpful to have like examples from other people that maybe align with kind of your perception or how you approach things as well. So I think it'll be looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

Jennifer Wilson 58:37

Yeah, I think this is my third, my third year having a creative hub in Trello. And the first year was like, I wasn't quite sure what I was doing. Last year, I made some improvements that made it more useful for me. And then this year, I really feel like okay, now I know what I'm doing, how I use it, how often I use it. And then you have to set that up kind of with that kind of with that process in mind. Because not every tool we use is a daily check in tool, some are less frequent, and you kind of have to honor and respect that and then set your systems up with that in mind. Does that make sense?

Kim Edsen 59:16

Oh, no. 100%. And I will say that this was this year, so I'm probably like a year behind you was the year I felt like my Trello boards have really worked well for me. And I think part of it is because I had set up reminders to check in there once a month. Because otherwise Yeah, you just be going along and it would just be kind of haphazard. And not that I'm like very strict. I mean, sometimes it's you know, my reminder comes up on the first of each month. So depending on what's going on, maybe I won't get checked in until like the fifth or whatever, but like then it's just it's on my radar. Otherwise, sometimes it just isn't there. So now I totally make sense to find a way to incorporate in your life and my regular Gretchen Rubin reference, but she'll talk about how like, sometimes it's easier to do something every day, then to then not doing every day, or doing it more randomly because you're not in, it's not in your routine or your habits. And so you have to find some way that you can incorporate it into like the longer term routine versus like the day to day.

Jennifer Wilson 1:00:18

Well, that's a great segueway to talking about, you know, so this is our Habits Journey, it's one of six themes for the year. But we're starting this because we're going to really be using habits as an underlying theme throughout the year, because we know that's kind of that's the foundation of doing the things we want to do is good habits. So we're starting off our book club with a revisit to Atomic Habits by James Clear. And I, I've just started kind of rereading it myself, I went through our longer study guide for it. And there's just so so much good stuff in there. And we'll be using that not only just for one month of book club, but as kind of a reference throughout the year as our study resource, we're going to be connecting this idea of building strong habits, and his you know, Four Laws of behavior change, to the five other books we read, and even some of the past books we've written and how we are moving throughout the year. Because habits is not just a conversation for January, and you know, late December, it's it's an all year conversation. And I think we're all collectively going to see so much more success and progress and satisfaction by you know, keeping this on the front burner, keeping it top of mind.

Kim Edsen 1:01:35

Yeah, this was a book that was not even really on my radar until it came up in Book Club a couple years ago. And it is was quickly proven to be a strong favorite of mine. And I get his newsletters once a week. And now my husband gets them and so we like talk about them. And I like I just feel like sometimes you read books about like habit change, or things to make. And one they might be like super scientific, and they feel like,

Jennifer Wilson 1:02:03

When's this gonna be over?

Kim Edsen 1:02:04

Yeah, yes, and then two, or maybe they're just like, sell like, yeah, like this is these are changes that you can make. But then there's not a lot of information like how to actually achieve those changes. And I feel like this particular book, Atomic Habits kind of brings very accessible like science type information and stories to like actual concrete examples of things that you can do to make changes. And one thing, I grabbed my coffee this morning, just to kind of review and preparation for talking today. And I think one thing that kind of jumped out at me, when I was just looking over is the idea that it is not so much the focus of changing like you yourself, but he talks a lot about changing your environment or your surroundings or so and like how that like making small tweaks in those areas, impacts like your habits and like what you do and your behaviors. So it's kind of sneaky, right? It's like kind of getting at the ground level to help either like smart bad habits or like kind of get you like on the track towards your good habits. So I feel like it's less about like, the person themselves and like, like making bad choices or making good choices. And like that just feels like very like I don't want to say like shaming sometimes. But in this I feel like it kind of takes us out of the equation and they're looking at like this bigger picture of like how you exist in the world and how you can make positive changes to live like the life that you want or your that you're looking towards. I don't know like I really really like it.

Jennifer Wilson 1:03:40

I think it takes some of that the willpower conversation out of it. Obviously, that's, it's still part of it. But if you there's ways that you can set yourself up for success, so that you don't have to, like have the mental energy to will yourself to do it. You know, like you are taking choices when you do have the capacity to do that like something as simple as like setting out your medication the night before. We'll help you remember to take it the next morning.

Kim Edsen 1:04:09

You know the last week I finally bought like a pill organizer thing like a week long thing. So I would remember take vitamins because it's ridiculous and like they're right there. Why don't I take them? Yeah, but right, like sometimes like they're upsetting to the stomach. So I don't take them right away in the morning because I want to eat and then by the time I eat that I'm like off on my day. So yes, it is. You said it so well that whole like willpower component.

Jennifer Wilson 1:04:30

What and I just think that this this conversation we're going to be having and then the ongoing connection to this book. And these ideas will just help us get more to the nuance and subtleties of how we get things done. For example, last night I posted inside the community. I have a goal next year of making sure that I send my podcast guests their questions five days in advance, instead of like 18 hours in advance, which is what I've been typically been doing, because I think a lot of guests would prefer to have more time to marinate on the questions. And Okay, so what are the different ways that I can do that? And so we started talking about like, well, when a guest books a time, what would that trigger? And, you know, what's the next step? And so there's so many different ways, but we have to get a little bit more granular. It's not just about using Trello, or having a planner or getting up early. Like, let's think about the specific tiny things we want to get done. And then how do we make those marginal improvements to to make that one little thing work better? And then how then can we apply that to something else in our lives? But we have to think a little bit smaller, I think, then we have been?

Kim Edsen 1:05:42

Oh, no. And I think you hit it on the head there with like, the whole idea of like, the marginal improvements. Because I think that's where you end up with, like long term success, for sure.

Jennifer Wilson 1:05:53

So I wanted to read one quote that I underlined, when I jump back into it, and it says, we all deal with setbacks. But in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. And, you know, I think we can all look as you know, there were I'm sure there are a lot of folks who actually made really great strides, my husband lost 60 pounds this year, think he gave those to me. I think a lot of us maybe felt a little held in place paused life, hold on pause a little bit. You know, it was a hard year. And I think we're all looking at 2021 with a little bit more hope and optimism, okay, let's, let's, you know, think towards the future that eventually life will go back to something that looked more like normal, and how can I bring my best self to that?

Kim Edsen 1:06:43

Well, and also maybe its idea of looking at, you know, there's always going to be parts of your life that you cannot control. But what components that you do have control over and the choices that you make in relation to those things?

Jennifer Wilson 1:06:55

Yes, 100%. Well, this has been a fabulous conversation. For those of you listening that want to continue this conversation about habits our next Your Way Workshop, which is our free monthly event is on January 6, and we'll be talking all about creative habits. So these workshops are so fun, I break everyone into small groups of three or four. So it makes it for friendly, really comfortable, cozy conversation, have some discussion questions, icebreaker type things, and then we'll all come back in a group at the end to share some takeaways and lessons learned. And yeah, I just I love these so much. It's a great format. And I hope you will join us if not for the January one but for at least one of our Your Way Workshop next year. Kim, any final thoughts from you?

Kim Edsen 1:07:44

Know, just ready for the new year, man, see what it brings.

Jennifer Wilson 1:07:50

Yeah, I'm, I'm excited. I always have this kind of energy, but I feel there's more gusto in it than there has been in the past. I feel like I definitely am coming out a little bit of the pandemic fog and ready to you know, even if my life is still quite a bit at home, and the first half of next year, I'm going to be you know, making the most of it. That sounds great. And I wish you all the luck with your journey. And I'm sure you're gonna be doing a little bit of traveling to give these vaccines.

Kim Edsen 1:08:19

That is what my understanding is, but again, with the uncertainty, yeah, we'll just see how it rolls out. They're being very accommodating. As far as you know, my availability, it's only part time so I'm not committing to full time. So it's like two or three days a week. And I've asked for now my kids are so hybrid at least through for certain through part of January. So they're usually at home on Mondays and Tuesdays and every other Wednesday, so, and my husband's working from home. So my plan is that those would be great days for me to go out and do the immunizations because there's less you know, concerns about getting them to and fro and whatnot. And sure, obviously, Dan, you know, his company is very committed to flexibility and understanding with that so you know, he can definitely get the girls where they need to be and you know, get some meals go and all that. Like I said, it's been a It's been years. So this is like a new chapter for sure. And you know, like I said it's very short term just through like the first few months where we're doing all the long term care, immunizing the plan so but yeah, it'll it'll be exciting.

Jennifer Wilson 1:09:23

I wish you a smooth transition to that that experience. So yes. Well, everyone thank you so much for listening. This has been such a joy to to record this podcast and you guys are always telling us how much you love the chatty episodes I have with Kim and of course I love recording them as well. And I'm so looking forward to a new kind of season a new year of podcast episodes next year. Thank you so much and remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.

Jennifer Wilson 1:09:54

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