December 17, 2025 • 25 mins
Former HGTV designer, coach, and mom of 11 Lisa Canning talks routines and the holidays
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
episode is going to be a longer one part of
the series where I interview fascinating people about how they
take their days from great to awesome and any advice
(00:24):
they have for the rest of us. So today I
am delighted to welcome Lisa Canning to Before Breakfast. Lisa
is known online as the Possibility Mom. She helps business
owners structure their lives to succeed.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
She has also had.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
A varied career in many areas, including design, which I
know she will tell us all about.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So, Lisa, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh my gosh, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, thanks for joining us. So why don't you tell
our listeners a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I have a winding road. I started out in interior
design with the wonderful opportunity to host an HGTV show.
Like literally, that is my introduction to both a television
place career. Yeah, not a terrible place to start. It
happened completely by accident, like to be very very frank,
but it was exciting, it was exhilarating. It turned into
(01:12):
a long career in lifestyle TV. I've worked with many,
many well known names. And then I had children at
the exact same rapid time that my interior design and
television career was growing. I now have very proud mom
of eleven children.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
They're all.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
There's no multiples. These are all the questions I get asked,
Are there multiples? Are they all yours?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
They're all. They're all mine, and one.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
At a time, one at a time. But as you
can imagine, the pursuit of a very hands on, very
busy interior design career and television career became very quickly
unsustainable with how rapid my family was growing. So I
made a very intentional pivot. So I guess you could
say where I started making some really significant changes in
(01:59):
terms of how I used my time, how I structured
my business, the things that I said yes to you,
the things that I said no to People started to
notice and started to ask me questions about that, And
that's where life and business coaching began. So that chapter
of my life, I primarily coach Catholic moms. I'm a
Catholic myself, and I really I think what I've gotten
(02:19):
good at is how to continue moving forward when life
feels epically chaotic, Like if you were to just distill down.
Because I can teach you how to build a business,
I can teach you how to have good thoughts about
you know, yourself, thoughts of self, compassion, positive thoughts about
the world. But if you were to really just kind
of put it all through a said Laura, I really
(02:40):
think it's when things are just so chaotic and seem
like you cannot survive. That's where I developed some strategies.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
All right, So is your business primarily spent like coaching
and speaking and things like that, now, exactly, all right,
So that's how you're spending the bulk of your time.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I'm very.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Curious, I mean, because I see some of your your
offerings advertised online and one thing that one headline that
caught my eye was wealth without Guilt.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Let's talk what is this?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
This sounds a little bit like it's bringing in your
business owner and Catholic side altogether.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So what is this?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
When I started as a life coach, I was coaching
a lot of faith based moms who wanted to build businesses,
but they felt enormous amounts of guilt around it. Both
around Is this what I should be doing with my time?
So just the concept of is this how a good
mother spends her time? And then just around money, should
(03:38):
I pursue wealth? Is it wrong to get a little
bit more money? Is it wrong to desire getting my
nails done or you know, go on a date with
my husband with a little bit more ease? And so
that's where the title wealth without guilt was born. I
just honestly, the many, many conversations with women who didn't
feel free to pursue a business or pursue money.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So what do you tell them? I mean, how do
people get over that sort of guilt? So I'm a Catholic,
I discerned I view everything through there is a will
for your life that is beyond your very narrow focus.
Right when we're stressed, when we're tired, we might just
like tunnel vision into that thing that is providing you know,
a lot a lot of stress. I view the world
(04:22):
with there is a big picture for us. There is
a great purpose for our life.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And so that's what I tell them. I tell them
that you've got some really unique gifts and talents. You
are there's something unrepeatable about you and you're meant to
use those gifts and talents at the service of others.
And so for some people we're serving primarily in the home.
We're all serving in the home. But for a lot
of people, there is a service that is meant to extend,
(04:48):
perhaps beyond the nuclear family into the local community and
even beyond that. And so it's a disservice, like we're
not doing a service to our creator, but as well
as to other people if we're not using those gifts
and talents and pursuing them to the best of our abilities.
But then, of course, in right order, and I think,
going back to my HGTV career, Laura, like that's I
(05:10):
had it in wrong order. I had this idea that
the most important thing you will ever do is make
money and be successful. And I knew that family was important,
like we all know family is important, but I could
not reconcile those things practically. It's like I had both
of those priorities very much like in front of me.
(05:33):
But when you saw my choices, I was always picking work,
always picking the needs of other people in terms of
my professional life and my family and myself. If I'm
being really honest, would constantly go on the back burner.
So that's what I tell the moms that come to me,
Because they're desiring the pursuit of excellence, the pursuit of
(05:54):
more money, the pursuit of building something that might have
even legacy and generational wealth. They're pursuing that, but they want.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That in right order. But I love that you're saying
the two are not actually in conflict. That it is
possible to be a successful business owner and loving involved
parent of in many cases many many children.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
But there is a very important requirement. Absolutely, you can
pursue many different things. Should we all pursue many different things? No,
you've got to discern that you've got to, like, you know,
prayerfully look at your life. There might be seasons where
you aren't as active outside the home, and then there
are seasons when children perhaps are more independent, where you
(06:40):
might be able to. But again, big caveat. We're not
all designed the same. But the practical thing that we
have to look at is we have a central nervous system.
I cannot emphasize that enough. Like we are bodies that
get tired, that get taxed, and do need to be refueled.
Part of this might be that I am forty one
(07:02):
years old at the time of this recording. I am
in perimenopause time, so there's all kinds of you know,
hormonal changes. I obviously just had a baby that I'm nursing,
so there's all kinds of things are going on hormonally
that I think are making me very interested in this topic.
But we have to acknowledge that we have a central
nervous system that cannot run on empty, and so that
(07:23):
has to be taken into account in terms of the
things that we put in our calendar. So, yes, all
of these things can be pursued, but they have to
be pursued in this beautiful, holistic lens where you're honoring
the fact that we're humans and we also need rest,
and we also need time to breathe, and so that
(07:45):
has to be looked at and how we make our choices.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Got it all right, Well, we're going to take a
quick ad break and then I will be back with
more from Lisa Canning. Well, I am back talking with
Lisa Canning, who has had a varied career working with HGTV.
She now coaches mostly Catholic moms, you're saying, who are
also business owners and with eleven kids, I know that
(08:12):
there is a lot of organizational strategizing going on in
your life. So I'm hoping you can share some of
that wisdom with us right now, because I know when
people hear that, they're like, it must be total chaos.
And I'm guessing that your life is not, in fact
total chaos. So let's talk about some of the systems
that you have going on right now.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I mean, it's often total chaos, just oh, keeping very
very very real. But here are some of the things
that I have actually I think gotten somewhat good at.
And the first concept I'll go kind of mindset and
then very practical as well, so protection of time. So
this is a little bit of a mindset approach. What
I've learned is that if I want something to move forward,
so for example, weight loss, okay, and healthiness just like
(08:54):
healthiness in general, especially with as many children that I've had,
there have got to be certain appointments in my calendar
that move that goal forward. So what does that look
like for me? It's the protection of time to work out,
It's the protection of time to plan and think and
cook healthy meals from my family and to shop for
said meals, right, So there's times in my calendar where
(09:16):
those are protected. I'm fierce about this with motherhood and
marriage as well, between four and six pm unless it
is like absolutely you know, necessary and can't be avoided,
That time is absolutely blocked off in my calendar for
connecting with my children when they get home from school.
Once those things are in the calendar and protected. And again,
(09:38):
so mindset, you fit in all the other things around.
I mean, this is not a novel concept, but I
find that when I let those important things go, I'm
not as peaceful. I feel a lot more guilt, you know,
I can, I'm more reactive. These really essential components that
make me a healthy person but also help me to
(10:00):
show up well for my family are just so so important. Okay,
So that's number one, protecting those key things, and then
number two is then everything else in life that I
truly cannot show up for, right, Like, no one I
can't outsource my marriage, I can't outsource the mothering of
my children. I just cannot write, and I can't no
(10:20):
one else can take care of my health. Like these
are such hard concepts that I don't know. I'm pretty
hard headed, LORDA, I can be very uh you know,
oh no, somebody else can do that. No, no one
else can do that. And then it's just a very
simple concept of what can then be delegated, automated, or
simply deleted in specific seasons. So I do things like
grocery delivery that's like pretty clutch for me, and I'm
(10:44):
using AI kind of creatively anything clerical that can be
sped up through AI. So for example, I'm doing for
the holidays. Okay, as you can imagine, with eleven children,
I have many different like presents and cards and things
that I need to fill out. AI can help you
(11:04):
like organize all that stuff. Even putting names of kids
on little like things you designed on canva. AI can
actually help you so that you're not sitting there doing
all that cute stuff yourself. So delegate, automate, delete all
the other things. Yeah, I love delegate, automate and delete.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
But we still have I bet that. I mean, I
want to.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Talk to some about that, like automation of various systems.
I mean, like, do you have same things that you
eat over and over again? Is there like certain laundry
times and systems. Let's let's get into all that.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
There's I have almost everything on repeating calendar appointments.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So, for example, this is so niche.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
But like my contact lenses, I have too many things
in my brain that I cannot like, I just cannot
hold and so anything that could get slipped, So like
replacing my contacts monthly, I can't you expect me to
remember what day I'm supposed to change my contact You
think it picked like an easy day, like the first
or something, But no, I don't know. I make my
life so complicated, but I decomplicated, or I'd make it
(12:05):
less complicated by putting these recurring appointments in my calendar.
I would say that I honestly, I keep it very simple.
I have about five rotating meals and they are honestly
designed based on my energy, so meaning none of them
are complicated to cook. But like I'll do some of
the more complicated meals that I enjoyed doing, but need
(12:27):
a little bit more languid time on the weekend when
there's a little bit more time, whereas week nights it
is so simple. I used to do a lot of
crock pot cooking and that would free up my time
and energy. But truly, just anything that you can put
on repeat, Like anything in my life that can be
put on repeat is on repeat. Groceries are basically on repeat,
(12:52):
and even the way I entertain, so we love to
have people over. I basically cook the same meal when
I entertain. Laundry is pretty much daily, but again everything
is on It's often habits stacked with something else. So
coming home from school, it's my automatic after I've dropped
(13:13):
off the kids from school, who walk into my laundry
room and run a load like it's become so second
nature at this point, habits stacking many things together.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And I'm sure some of your kids need to contribute
to all this too, right, you have at least the
older ones are able to functions as sort of people.
Things could be delegated too, I would.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Imagine, and I'll just be very honest. All of that
is also very repeatable. So every child has the exact
same chore in the morning and in the evening, and
there's often fights about it, like they're like, why do
I have to do the dishwasher every time? I'm like, listen,
this is just how it's happening. This is how we
(13:52):
are being set up for success in our family. I'll
tolerate like they'll switch chores with each other sometimes whatever
that's negotiated on their own hidline.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So I was gonna say, that's like employees at a restaurant shift,
you know, trading shifts, right, because one can't make it,
it's still they got to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I mean, but is it one kid.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Empties the dishwasher every morning and somebody else has a
different shore every morning or is there a rotation there?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
No, it's literally like one child empties a little dishwasher,
the other child fills the dishwasher, and there's a child
to wipe all counters, there's a child to sweep. I've
got all kinds, all ages, all stages. I have some
kids who change diapers. That's like their job in the morning,
make sure that child has a clean diaper. And it's
(14:39):
I wouldn't say it's like perfect or it's peaceful, but
what it is is expectations have been said. I really
think that's what it is, Laura. When people ask me,
I don't understand, how do you survive? You must be
so like overwhelmed, And again it is chaotic. It is
overwhelming at times, but everyone has an expectation in the
(15:00):
family for what it looks like to contribute and to
have our household be successful, and that expectation has been
set and it's reinforced. I'm sure that it works in
some families to do short charts that are cute and
you rotate a wheel and you move it around.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
In my family with as many moving pieces as I have,
doesn't work for me. The expectation is clear and it's repeatable.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, well, I've certainly found I mean, my family is
nowhere near as large as yours, but especially with my
youngest kid, I found things were actually easier because I
had older children who you know, could pinch hit in
the moment, and like, you know, I could run somewhere
for twenty minutes and leave a kid with you know,
the little guy with the older siblings, and it was great.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It was like, oh, I have I have more help
with that. Now.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
I'm curious though, I mean, there's always one off things, right,
I mean, you know, things can be repeatable, but then
like I don't know, four of the kids are in
band or something and they have a concert this week
and it's a new thing that has come in. Do
you have a planning time where you look at these
one off aberrations that are not so easy to just
set up on automated systems.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I learned this a really long time ago, and that's
just simply to look at your calendar for the week
ahead and so on Sunday evenings is typically when I
do it, and it is to point, like truly, the
specific goal for me of the look ahead is what
is an anomaly? And then you're planning for Okay, maybe
(16:32):
that evening. Then I do need to pick up dinner,
so forget the simple meal. I'm picking up dinner, or
even like we have a cleaner that's on repeat. Okay,
our cleaner comes every two weeks. It's set and forget.
But there might be weeks where you know, oh I
have somebody coming over for the weekend, like my mom's
coming to watch the kids on the weekend. It actually
would be helpful if the cleaner got there on Friday
(16:54):
so that the bedroom in the bathroom is all clean,
you know, that kind of thing. So there might be
things that need to be shift shifted given these unique situations.
So I learned that a really long time ago, and
it is a really really good practice again for the
practical things. But we cannot forget on the mindset coach,
So I'm always going to go this like the ability
(17:16):
to create really great thoughts for yourself, to be able
to look at a week and be like, where am
I going to need? Like Lisa at her best, where
is there going to be time in the week where okay,
you can just chill? You know, where do we know?
Oh my gosh, I have this to look forward to,
(17:38):
and so you can create the thoughts and the energy
and the margin if needed, to support yourself to show
up in your best way.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Absolutely all right, We're going to take one more quick
ad break and then we will be back with more
from Lisa Canning. Well, I am back with Lisa Canning.
We are talking organizational strategies with her household of many.
(18:07):
But let's talk a little bit about Christmas, because even
something like making a Christmas gift list or a Christmas budget,
it's just a different matter when you have so many people.
So I am curious how far ahead that tends to
start and what the holiday planning process looks like for you.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I used to do holidays really last minute, and if
I'm honest, obviously like sometimes things happen where things are
last minute, but more and more I am tending towards like,
how can I actually get it all done in November?
So this will be the first year where I actually
I think I'm going to try to wrap. I'm going
(18:50):
to try to do everything, like literally everything that I
possibly can, put it all in a massive like I
don't know where I'm going to store it. That's the problem.
I have no idea where I'll store all this, but
I will figure that out. But I'm going to tempt
to get everything done in November. But a couple of
things that I do have is everything is in a
Google sheet, So I have records of what I've gotten
(19:11):
my children for the last I don't know, maybe ten
years in a Google sheet with prices and with categories.
So I tend to get everybody gets something to where
everybody usually gets a book, and then everybody gets something
kind of fun. And that's been just so helpful because
(19:32):
I can do a lot of the planning in advance.
I can shop Black Friday sales and you know, just
get get it done. And that's also how I stay
in budget. So I swear by this Google sheet that
I've created.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Google sheets are very helpful and just out of curiosity.
Are you aiming for the same dollar amount for each kid?
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Do my children listen to this podcast? So okay, very
very honest. The little kid kids who are unaware of
what things cosed are not proportionate to the price that
I spend, the dollar amount that I spend on their
older teenagers, like like their siblings who are teenagers.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So I mean, it is.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Pretty and I'll be very transparent. It's dark like like
it's like I think I literally spent on my two
year old last year twenty five dollars, like like literally,
whereas the teenagers are getting into the like the two hundred,
two hundred and fifty type of you know, realm in
my family. If this is interesting to people, we do,
or at least last year, we did group gifts, so
(20:37):
the older kids got a bigger gift and then they
got a few small things to open, and then the
younger kids got a group gift and then a few
small things open and then something we did last year
that I anticipate we do this year again is a trip,
so just some type of experience. Last year we went
to go see a beautiful concert in a town not
(20:58):
too far away, extravagant necessarily, but we value experience, and
again in a family as large as mine, it also
is just kind of practical. It's like we all get
to enjoy it. It's all somewhat you know, age appropriate
for all, and we create fun memories.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
And the group gift idea is fascinating. I ponder that one.
We'll see if maybe we'll make that happen this year. So, Lisa,
I always ask my guests this question, what is something
you have done recently to take a day from great
to awesome?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
So I am a Catholic. My face informs everything I do, right,
So for me, going from great to awesome is really
taking time to reflect and contemplate when I go. When
I look back on my forty one years of life,
like truly, if I were to evaluate it like just
(21:55):
from a really like twenty thousand view, you know, kind
of lens, it's the times where I was not rushing.
It was the times where I was not making decisions
based out of fear, the times when I didn't let
the urgent win and I trusted that there would be
(22:16):
enough time. That sentence, I just said, like, that's what
great to awesome means for me, because again, you can imagine, like,
if I'm being really transparent, on the other side of
you know, what viewers and what listeners cannot see is
like three piles of unfolded laundry. I could get very
(22:39):
stressed about that, and sometimes I do. But what great
to awesome looks like for me is this peaceful, deliberate
confidence that there are going to be like, there is
time for the things that truly matter in this moment,
(23:00):
so right now, that's talking to you, and there will
be time for the unfolded laundry, and that what's good,
what's good, what's yeah, what's what's great awesome truly is
when I don't feel any type of tension between literally
any of my competing priorities. And for me, what that
(23:22):
looks like is walking in contemplation, taking that time to pray,
and having a deliberate posture of I'm making time for
what truly matters right this moment, and I trust that
the rest will get.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Done absolutely, or the laundry won't get folded. We put
a lot of things in the drawers not folded. It
turns out to that time a lot of kids shorts
and shirts and things like that. You know, whatever it'll
be okay. So what pants you know what.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I want to do one day when I renovate my
dream home. I think I'm going to do a communal clock.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Like everyone just goes in and finds what they can No,
you just.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Go from the laundry room to this huge closet. I
check back with me and see if I've done it
one day as a concept.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
All right, giant group closet. Love it, Lisa. What are
you looking forward to right now?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I love the holiday season, so I am truly looking
forward to, you know, times buy a roaring fireplace, times
just very aimless with a with a hot beverage, watching
the snowfall, and the time that you get to spend
a little bit unplugged. I'm really looking forward to that
this holiday season.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Wonderful well, Lisa. Where can people find you?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Oh, come join the party at Lisa Canning on Instagram
is where you can see the journey of my eleven
gorgeous kids and what it's like to juggle multiple businesses,
multiple passions and multiple children. And then my website Lisa
Canning dot ca.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
A wonderful well, Lisa, Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you to everyone for listening. If you have feedback
on this or any other episode, you can always reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
(25:45):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
episode is going to be a longer one part of
the series where I interview fascinating people about how they
take their days from great to awesome and any advice
(00:24):
they have for the rest of us. So today I
am delighted to welcome Lisa Canning to Before Breakfast. Lisa
is known online as the Possibility Mom. She helps business
owners structure their lives to succeed.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
She has also had.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
A varied career in many areas, including design, which I
know she will tell us all about.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So, Lisa, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh my gosh, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, thanks for joining us. So why don't you tell
our listeners a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I have a winding road. I started out in interior
design with the wonderful opportunity to host an HGTV show.
Like literally, that is my introduction to both a television
place career. Yeah, not a terrible place to start. It
happened completely by accident, like to be very very frank,
but it was exciting, it was exhilarating. It turned into
(01:12):
a long career in lifestyle TV. I've worked with many,
many well known names. And then I had children at
the exact same rapid time that my interior design and
television career was growing. I now have very proud mom
of eleven children.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
They're all.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
There's no multiples. These are all the questions I get asked,
Are there multiples? Are they all yours?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
They're all. They're all mine, and one.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
At a time, one at a time. But as you
can imagine, the pursuit of a very hands on, very
busy interior design career and television career became very quickly
unsustainable with how rapid my family was growing. So I
made a very intentional pivot. So I guess you could
say where I started making some really significant changes in
(01:59):
terms of how I used my time, how I structured
my business, the things that I said yes to you,
the things that I said no to People started to
notice and started to ask me questions about that, And
that's where life and business coaching began. So that chapter
of my life, I primarily coach Catholic moms. I'm a
Catholic myself, and I really I think what I've gotten
(02:19):
good at is how to continue moving forward when life
feels epically chaotic, Like if you were to just distill down.
Because I can teach you how to build a business,
I can teach you how to have good thoughts about
you know, yourself, thoughts of self, compassion, positive thoughts about
the world. But if you were to really just kind
of put it all through a said Laura, I really
(02:40):
think it's when things are just so chaotic and seem
like you cannot survive. That's where I developed some strategies.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
All right, So is your business primarily spent like coaching
and speaking and things like that, now, exactly, all right,
So that's how you're spending the bulk of your time.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I'm very.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Curious, I mean, because I see some of your your
offerings advertised online and one thing that one headline that
caught my eye was wealth without Guilt.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Let's talk what is this?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
This sounds a little bit like it's bringing in your
business owner and Catholic side altogether.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So what is this?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
When I started as a life coach, I was coaching
a lot of faith based moms who wanted to build businesses,
but they felt enormous amounts of guilt around it. Both
around Is this what I should be doing with my time?
So just the concept of is this how a good
mother spends her time? And then just around money, should
(03:38):
I pursue wealth? Is it wrong to get a little
bit more money? Is it wrong to desire getting my
nails done or you know, go on a date with
my husband with a little bit more ease? And so
that's where the title wealth without guilt was born. I
just honestly, the many, many conversations with women who didn't
feel free to pursue a business or pursue money.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So what do you tell them? I mean, how do
people get over that sort of guilt? So I'm a Catholic,
I discerned I view everything through there is a will
for your life that is beyond your very narrow focus.
Right when we're stressed, when we're tired, we might just
like tunnel vision into that thing that is providing you know,
a lot a lot of stress. I view the world
(04:22):
with there is a big picture for us. There is
a great purpose for our life.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And so that's what I tell them. I tell them
that you've got some really unique gifts and talents. You
are there's something unrepeatable about you and you're meant to
use those gifts and talents at the service of others.
And so for some people we're serving primarily in the home.
We're all serving in the home. But for a lot
of people, there is a service that is meant to extend,
(04:48):
perhaps beyond the nuclear family into the local community and
even beyond that. And so it's a disservice, like we're
not doing a service to our creator, but as well
as to other people if we're not using those gifts
and talents and pursuing them to the best of our abilities.
But then, of course, in right order, and I think,
going back to my HGTV career, Laura, like that's I
(05:10):
had it in wrong order. I had this idea that
the most important thing you will ever do is make
money and be successful. And I knew that family was important,
like we all know family is important, but I could
not reconcile those things practically. It's like I had both
of those priorities very much like in front of me.
(05:33):
But when you saw my choices, I was always picking work,
always picking the needs of other people in terms of
my professional life and my family and myself. If I'm
being really honest, would constantly go on the back burner.
So that's what I tell the moms that come to me,
Because they're desiring the pursuit of excellence, the pursuit of
(05:54):
more money, the pursuit of building something that might have
even legacy and generational wealth. They're pursuing that, but they want.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That in right order. But I love that you're saying
the two are not actually in conflict. That it is
possible to be a successful business owner and loving involved
parent of in many cases many many children.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
But there is a very important requirement. Absolutely, you can
pursue many different things. Should we all pursue many different things? No,
you've got to discern that you've got to, like, you know,
prayerfully look at your life. There might be seasons where
you aren't as active outside the home, and then there
are seasons when children perhaps are more independent, where you
(06:40):
might be able to. But again, big caveat. We're not
all designed the same. But the practical thing that we
have to look at is we have a central nervous system.
I cannot emphasize that enough. Like we are bodies that
get tired, that get taxed, and do need to be refueled.
Part of this might be that I am forty one
(07:02):
years old at the time of this recording. I am
in perimenopause time, so there's all kinds of you know,
hormonal changes. I obviously just had a baby that I'm nursing,
so there's all kinds of things are going on hormonally
that I think are making me very interested in this topic.
But we have to acknowledge that we have a central
nervous system that cannot run on empty, and so that
(07:23):
has to be taken into account in terms of the
things that we put in our calendar. So, yes, all
of these things can be pursued, but they have to
be pursued in this beautiful, holistic lens where you're honoring
the fact that we're humans and we also need rest,
and we also need time to breathe, and so that
(07:45):
has to be looked at and how we make our choices.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Got it all right, Well, we're going to take a
quick ad break and then I will be back with
more from Lisa Canning. Well, I am back talking with
Lisa Canning, who has had a varied career working with HGTV.
She now coaches mostly Catholic moms, you're saying, who are
also business owners and with eleven kids, I know that
(08:12):
there is a lot of organizational strategizing going on in
your life. So I'm hoping you can share some of
that wisdom with us right now, because I know when
people hear that, they're like, it must be total chaos.
And I'm guessing that your life is not, in fact
total chaos. So let's talk about some of the systems
that you have going on right now.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I mean, it's often total chaos, just oh, keeping very
very very real. But here are some of the things
that I have actually I think gotten somewhat good at.
And the first concept I'll go kind of mindset and
then very practical as well, so protection of time. So
this is a little bit of a mindset approach. What
I've learned is that if I want something to move forward,
so for example, weight loss, okay, and healthiness just like
(08:54):
healthiness in general, especially with as many children that I've had,
there have got to be certain appointments in my calendar
that move that goal forward. So what does that look
like for me? It's the protection of time to work out,
It's the protection of time to plan and think and
cook healthy meals from my family and to shop for
said meals, right, So there's times in my calendar where
(09:16):
those are protected. I'm fierce about this with motherhood and
marriage as well, between four and six pm unless it
is like absolutely you know, necessary and can't be avoided,
That time is absolutely blocked off in my calendar for
connecting with my children when they get home from school.
Once those things are in the calendar and protected. And again,
(09:38):
so mindset, you fit in all the other things around.
I mean, this is not a novel concept, but I
find that when I let those important things go, I'm
not as peaceful. I feel a lot more guilt, you know,
I can, I'm more reactive. These really essential components that
make me a healthy person but also help me to
(10:00):
show up well for my family are just so so important. Okay,
So that's number one, protecting those key things, and then
number two is then everything else in life that I
truly cannot show up for, right, Like, no one I
can't outsource my marriage, I can't outsource the mothering of
my children. I just cannot write, and I can't no
(10:20):
one else can take care of my health. Like these
are such hard concepts that I don't know. I'm pretty
hard headed, LORDA, I can be very uh you know,
oh no, somebody else can do that. No, no one
else can do that. And then it's just a very
simple concept of what can then be delegated, automated, or
simply deleted in specific seasons. So I do things like
grocery delivery that's like pretty clutch for me, and I'm
(10:44):
using AI kind of creatively anything clerical that can be
sped up through AI. So for example, I'm doing for
the holidays. Okay, as you can imagine, with eleven children,
I have many different like presents and cards and things
that I need to fill out. AI can help you
(11:04):
like organize all that stuff. Even putting names of kids
on little like things you designed on canva. AI can
actually help you so that you're not sitting there doing
all that cute stuff yourself. So delegate, automate, delete all
the other things. Yeah, I love delegate, automate and delete.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
But we still have I bet that. I mean, I
want to.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Talk to some about that, like automation of various systems.
I mean, like, do you have same things that you
eat over and over again? Is there like certain laundry
times and systems. Let's let's get into all that.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
There's I have almost everything on repeating calendar appointments.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So, for example, this is so niche.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
But like my contact lenses, I have too many things
in my brain that I cannot like, I just cannot
hold and so anything that could get slipped, So like
replacing my contacts monthly, I can't you expect me to
remember what day I'm supposed to change my contact You
think it picked like an easy day, like the first
or something, But no, I don't know. I make my
life so complicated, but I decomplicated, or I'd make it
(12:05):
less complicated by putting these recurring appointments in my calendar.
I would say that I honestly, I keep it very simple.
I have about five rotating meals and they are honestly
designed based on my energy, so meaning none of them
are complicated to cook. But like I'll do some of
the more complicated meals that I enjoyed doing, but need
(12:27):
a little bit more languid time on the weekend when
there's a little bit more time, whereas week nights it
is so simple. I used to do a lot of
crock pot cooking and that would free up my time
and energy. But truly, just anything that you can put
on repeat, Like anything in my life that can be
put on repeat is on repeat. Groceries are basically on repeat,
(12:52):
and even the way I entertain, so we love to
have people over. I basically cook the same meal when
I entertain. Laundry is pretty much daily, but again everything
is on It's often habits stacked with something else. So
coming home from school, it's my automatic after I've dropped
(13:13):
off the kids from school, who walk into my laundry
room and run a load like it's become so second
nature at this point, habits stacking many things together.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And I'm sure some of your kids need to contribute
to all this too, right, you have at least the
older ones are able to functions as sort of people.
Things could be delegated too, I would.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Imagine, and I'll just be very honest. All of that
is also very repeatable. So every child has the exact
same chore in the morning and in the evening, and
there's often fights about it, like they're like, why do
I have to do the dishwasher every time? I'm like, listen,
this is just how it's happening. This is how we
(13:52):
are being set up for success in our family. I'll
tolerate like they'll switch chores with each other sometimes whatever
that's negotiated on their own hidline.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So I was gonna say, that's like employees at a restaurant shift,
you know, trading shifts, right, because one can't make it,
it's still they got to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I mean, but is it one kid.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Empties the dishwasher every morning and somebody else has a
different shore every morning or is there a rotation there?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
No, it's literally like one child empties a little dishwasher,
the other child fills the dishwasher, and there's a child
to wipe all counters, there's a child to sweep. I've
got all kinds, all ages, all stages. I have some
kids who change diapers. That's like their job in the morning,
make sure that child has a clean diaper. And it's
(14:39):
I wouldn't say it's like perfect or it's peaceful, but
what it is is expectations have been said. I really
think that's what it is, Laura. When people ask me,
I don't understand, how do you survive? You must be
so like overwhelmed, And again it is chaotic. It is
overwhelming at times, but everyone has an expectation in the
(15:00):
family for what it looks like to contribute and to
have our household be successful, and that expectation has been
set and it's reinforced. I'm sure that it works in
some families to do short charts that are cute and
you rotate a wheel and you move it around.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
In my family with as many moving pieces as I have,
doesn't work for me. The expectation is clear and it's repeatable.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, well, I've certainly found I mean, my family is
nowhere near as large as yours, but especially with my
youngest kid, I found things were actually easier because I
had older children who you know, could pinch hit in
the moment, and like, you know, I could run somewhere
for twenty minutes and leave a kid with you know,
the little guy with the older siblings, and it was great.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It was like, oh, I have I have more help
with that. Now.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
I'm curious though, I mean, there's always one off things, right,
I mean, you know, things can be repeatable, but then
like I don't know, four of the kids are in
band or something and they have a concert this week
and it's a new thing that has come in. Do
you have a planning time where you look at these
one off aberrations that are not so easy to just
set up on automated systems.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I learned this a really long time ago, and that's
just simply to look at your calendar for the week
ahead and so on Sunday evenings is typically when I
do it, and it is to point, like truly, the
specific goal for me of the look ahead is what
is an anomaly? And then you're planning for Okay, maybe
(16:32):
that evening. Then I do need to pick up dinner,
so forget the simple meal. I'm picking up dinner, or
even like we have a cleaner that's on repeat. Okay,
our cleaner comes every two weeks. It's set and forget.
But there might be weeks where you know, oh I
have somebody coming over for the weekend, like my mom's
coming to watch the kids on the weekend. It actually
would be helpful if the cleaner got there on Friday
(16:54):
so that the bedroom in the bathroom is all clean,
you know, that kind of thing. So there might be
things that need to be shift shifted given these unique situations.
So I learned that a really long time ago, and
it is a really really good practice again for the
practical things. But we cannot forget on the mindset coach,
So I'm always going to go this like the ability
(17:16):
to create really great thoughts for yourself, to be able
to look at a week and be like, where am
I going to need? Like Lisa at her best, where
is there going to be time in the week where okay,
you can just chill? You know, where do we know?
Oh my gosh, I have this to look forward to,
(17:38):
and so you can create the thoughts and the energy
and the margin if needed, to support yourself to show
up in your best way.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Absolutely all right, We're going to take one more quick
ad break and then we will be back with more
from Lisa Canning. Well, I am back with Lisa Canning.
We are talking organizational strategies with her household of many.
(18:07):
But let's talk a little bit about Christmas, because even
something like making a Christmas gift list or a Christmas budget,
it's just a different matter when you have so many people.
So I am curious how far ahead that tends to
start and what the holiday planning process looks like for you.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I used to do holidays really last minute, and if
I'm honest, obviously like sometimes things happen where things are
last minute, but more and more I am tending towards like,
how can I actually get it all done in November?
So this will be the first year where I actually
I think I'm going to try to wrap. I'm going
(18:50):
to try to do everything, like literally everything that I
possibly can, put it all in a massive like I
don't know where I'm going to store it. That's the problem.
I have no idea where I'll store all this, but
I will figure that out. But I'm going to tempt
to get everything done in November. But a couple of
things that I do have is everything is in a
Google sheet, So I have records of what I've gotten
(19:11):
my children for the last I don't know, maybe ten
years in a Google sheet with prices and with categories.
So I tend to get everybody gets something to where
everybody usually gets a book, and then everybody gets something
kind of fun. And that's been just so helpful because
(19:32):
I can do a lot of the planning in advance.
I can shop Black Friday sales and you know, just
get get it done. And that's also how I stay
in budget. So I swear by this Google sheet that
I've created.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Google sheets are very helpful and just out of curiosity.
Are you aiming for the same dollar amount for each kid?
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Do my children listen to this podcast? So okay, very
very honest. The little kid kids who are unaware of
what things cosed are not proportionate to the price that
I spend, the dollar amount that I spend on their
older teenagers, like like their siblings who are teenagers.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So I mean, it is.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Pretty and I'll be very transparent. It's dark like like
it's like I think I literally spent on my two
year old last year twenty five dollars, like like literally,
whereas the teenagers are getting into the like the two hundred,
two hundred and fifty type of you know, realm in
my family. If this is interesting to people, we do,
or at least last year, we did group gifts, so
(20:37):
the older kids got a bigger gift and then they
got a few small things to open, and then the
younger kids got a group gift and then a few
small things open and then something we did last year
that I anticipate we do this year again is a trip,
so just some type of experience. Last year we went
to go see a beautiful concert in a town not
(20:58):
too far away, extravagant necessarily, but we value experience, and
again in a family as large as mine, it also
is just kind of practical. It's like we all get
to enjoy it. It's all somewhat you know, age appropriate
for all, and we create fun memories.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
And the group gift idea is fascinating. I ponder that one.
We'll see if maybe we'll make that happen this year. So, Lisa,
I always ask my guests this question, what is something
you have done recently to take a day from great
to awesome?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
So I am a Catholic. My face informs everything I do, right,
So for me, going from great to awesome is really
taking time to reflect and contemplate when I go. When
I look back on my forty one years of life,
like truly, if I were to evaluate it like just
(21:55):
from a really like twenty thousand view, you know, kind
of lens, it's the times where I was not rushing.
It was the times where I was not making decisions
based out of fear, the times when I didn't let
the urgent win and I trusted that there would be
(22:16):
enough time. That sentence, I just said, like, that's what
great to awesome means for me, because again, you can imagine, like,
if I'm being really transparent, on the other side of
you know, what viewers and what listeners cannot see is
like three piles of unfolded laundry. I could get very
(22:39):
stressed about that, and sometimes I do. But what great
to awesome looks like for me is this peaceful, deliberate
confidence that there are going to be like, there is
time for the things that truly matter in this moment,
(23:00):
so right now, that's talking to you, and there will
be time for the unfolded laundry, and that what's good,
what's good, what's yeah, what's what's great awesome truly is
when I don't feel any type of tension between literally
any of my competing priorities. And for me, what that
(23:22):
looks like is walking in contemplation, taking that time to pray,
and having a deliberate posture of I'm making time for
what truly matters right this moment, and I trust that
the rest will get.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Done absolutely, or the laundry won't get folded. We put
a lot of things in the drawers not folded. It
turns out to that time a lot of kids shorts
and shirts and things like that. You know, whatever it'll
be okay. So what pants you know what.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I want to do one day when I renovate my
dream home. I think I'm going to do a communal clock.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Like everyone just goes in and finds what they can No,
you just.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Go from the laundry room to this huge closet. I
check back with me and see if I've done it
one day as a concept.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
All right, giant group closet. Love it, Lisa. What are
you looking forward to right now?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I love the holiday season, so I am truly looking
forward to, you know, times buy a roaring fireplace, times
just very aimless with a with a hot beverage, watching
the snowfall, and the time that you get to spend
a little bit unplugged. I'm really looking forward to that
this holiday season.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Wonderful well, Lisa. Where can people find you?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Oh, come join the party at Lisa Canning on Instagram
is where you can see the journey of my eleven
gorgeous kids and what it's like to juggle multiple businesses,
multiple passions and multiple children. And then my website Lisa
Canning dot ca.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
A wonderful well, Lisa, Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you to everyone for listening. If you have feedback
on this or any other episode, you can always reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
(25:45):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Before Breakfast News
Host
Laura Vanderkam
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