Episode Transcript
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Have you ever felt like yourbrain is constantly running
through grocery lists, schoolreminders, birthday gifts,
doctor's appointments, andwhether you actually switched on
the dryer or not?
Well, this episode is for you.
Hey there.
My name is Tony Ann.
I am the podcast host of TheReal Happy Mom podcast.
The podcast for busy workingmoms who need help with getting
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more time and achieving theirbig goals without.
Pulling their hair out.
So in this episode, I'm gonna bebreaking down exactly how you
can use cello to keep all ofyour mom life tasks organized
from meal planning, to managingyour home, to tracking your
goals.
And yes, you get to have goalstoo, and whether you're brand
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new to Trello or you have a fewof some of my favorite boards.
I want to show you how to makethis tool work for your life.
So I'll be honest with you,there was a period of time when
I was solely relying on my paperplanner, which works out very
well most of the time.
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But this particular time, I hadforgotten my best friend's
birthday again.
I had also forgotten about.
My son's spirit week and doublebooked a meeting, which made me
look really, really bad.
So I realized that it had to bea way to make things easier and
not harder, and I knew I neededa system that would work for me.
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Now, I had heard about Trellobefore, and I'll be honest with
you, the first few times I hadtried Trello, I just didn't see
what the hype was.
I couldn't get on board with it.
And then I tried it again afterusing a few templates, and that
is when things clicked andbecame a total game changer for
me and my mom life.
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Now, the reason why I feel likeTrello is my secret sauce is
because it is visual.
And flexible, the perfectcombination for how my brain
works, and I'm sure your brainworks pretty similar too as
well.
It works whether you are adigital planner fan or you're
just starting out, and it helpsto get stuff out of your head so
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you're not running on brainfumes because one thing that I
have learned, and I have learnedit very well, is that our brains
are really great at processingthings, but not with storing
information.
So having a project managementtool or just a tool in general
like Trello helps to make thingsso that you are not utilizing.
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So much of that brain power onkeeping all of those things in
your brain.
There's a few reasons why momsstruggled to stay organized.
The first one is moms just havetoo many pieces moving around at
one time.
You're juggling everything fromwork schedules, to school
events, meals, errands,appointments, permission slips,
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dentist visits, and don't forgettrying to sleep.
Have your own life too.
It's like running multiple tabsin your brain that never stop
refreshing and without a system,it all starts to blend together
and then things start slippingthrough the cracks.
The second big reasons momsstruggle to stay organized is
they are mentally overloaded.
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Moms tend to carry the invisibletask, like remembering
birthdays, scheduling checkups,and knowing who likes sandwiches
Also tracking bills, plan,vacations, and so much more, and
it's not just what needs to bedone, it's managing the thinking
behind all of it, and the loadgets heavier and heavier without
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a place to put everythingoutside of your brain, which
makes it easy for your brain tobe overloaded.
The third reason why momsstruggle with staying organized
is the traditional tools don'talways fit.
Mom.
Life planners tend to beforgotten.
Sticky notes go missing fromreminders.
Get snoozed as I have snoozedthem to death.
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And most of these systems aren'tbuilt around someone who gets
interrupted.
105 times a day.
So you need something that'sflexible for giving and can be
updated quickly, like whileyou're waiting to pick up the
kids in the school line.
The fourth reason why momstruggled to stay organized is
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they're trying to remember itall.
if you're always trying toremember to remember.
Your brain stays in overdrive.
This leads to a lot of anxiety.
Decision fatigue and feelinglike you're always behind and
writing things down helps out alittle bit, that's not always
enough.
You need a way to organize itand see it, and also prioritize
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it.
So this is why Trello is such alifesaver and why I think Trello
works so well for mom life.
First of all, it is visual.
Moms need to see things.
You can lay everything out inone place, no flipping through
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planners or digging throughnotes.
Trello boards give you a bird'seye view of what your week, your
task, or even your meal plan isgonna look like.
Next.
It is so simple to drag anddrop.
You don't need a tech degree tofigure this out.
You can move things aroundeasily when plans get changed
because you know, life happensand things will change.
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It's easy to rearrangepriorities, just as easy as it
is to drag around a car to a newlist.
So there's no rewriting orerasing anything.
Next.
It is customizable for yourlife.
You can create a board foranything from chore charts to
family schedules, to packinglists.
You name it, whether you're astay at home mom working full
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time, or juggling both Trelloflexes with all of your needs,
and you can build things fromscratch or you can use
templates, which I have many ofthose that you can get to get
you started fast.
The other big thing that I loveabout Trello is that it's
accessible anywhere.
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You can use it on your phone,your tablet, or your computer.
Your boards go wherever you go,which is perfect for updating
things in real time while you'reat work or in the pickup line,
or at Target.
So no more.
I'll write it down when I gethome.
You can update it right then andthere.
Also you can share boards.
You can share boards to yourpartner, to your kids.
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So you're not the only onemanaging everything.
This is really great, especiallyif you have older kids so that
you can help them, um, see whatchores need to be done or what's
going on in the week.
And it shifts the mental load bymaking the invisible visible by
sharing things with the entirefamily.
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And lastly, you can make it funand personal for you.
I love, love, love using emojis,car covers and customizable
backgrounds, as well as someother common colors to make my
boards fun and beautiful to lookat.
You can also add checklists,labels, and even due dates
without feeling overwhelmed.
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This is your space and you wantit to feel like yours, so you
can.
Customize things and make it sothat it's nice and fun to look
at, which will make it morelikely for you to consistently
use it.
So I wanna share with you threeways you can use Trello in your
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everyday task.
The first one is a weeklyplanning board, which is one
that you can find a template forin the show notes.
So make sure you check out thedescription in the show notes.
You'll find a link to get aweekly planning board so you can
see it in action and customizeit just for you.
So this weekly planning board,you wanna think of it like your
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command center for the week.
It can include things like yourweekly priorities, whether it be
errands, appointments, or toptask.
It can also include meal plans,your to-do list, grocery
shopping, anything else that youfind that you wanna make sure
you keep top of mind.
And you can add checklists eachday like packing, lunch, return
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library books, all of thedifferent things that you need
to do so that you can stay ontop of everything.
This Trello board can help yougo into the week with a clear
plan and know exactly what isgoing on and when and how to get
things done.
The second way that you can useTrello for your Everyday Mom
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task is by creating a homemanagement hub.
This is perfect for keepingtrack of reoccurring tasks that
always seem to sneak up on youlike daily chores, weekly or
monthly task.
Like for me, I seem to alwaysforget to change the air filter
out.
On the air conditioning unit, ormaybe it's home projects like
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painting the bathroom ororganizing the garage, and then
also with home maintenance, withlike, maintaining the car and
other seasonal things that needto be done throughout the house.
So you can add due dates,labels, assign tasks to your
partner if you share a award.
All of these things, um, can bedone to help you with managing
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your house and having a centralhub for all of the reoccurring
things.
Next you can have a mealplanning or grocery list board.
This really helps to streamlinedinner time and cuts out the
question of what's for dinner,and the stress that comes with
it.
So you can create a board thathas your go-to meals that you
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create on a regular basis, evena list of different recipes you
want to try, and then alsocreating a meal plan day by day,
so you know exactly.
What you are having on whichday.
And then don't forget abouthaving a grocery list so you
know, what things you need toget.
And you can put labels on thingsthat may be even store specific.
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Like, oh, you like thatStarbucks, non-dairy coffee
creamer at Target.
Or maybe you want a certain typeof seasoning that is at Trader
Joe's.
You can put labels on yourgrocery list so you know.
Where to go for specific things.
And then lastly, I love havingfavorite recipes and attaching
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links or pictures, to reallymake things fun to look at, and
then also make it easy to accessthose recipes that I want to go
back to.
So, like I said in thebeginning, when I first started
using Trello, it didn't reallystick and I wasn't really
excited about it.
But I have a few tips that willhelp you with making Trello.
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Your number one tool of choice.
So first you wanna start withone board that solves a real
problem.
Um, it's easy to wanna go andtry out different templates like
having five boards at one time,but all this is gonna do is
cause more stress.
So pick out the thing that iscausing the most stress in your
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life, whether it be meals,schedule, or housework.
I want you to pick one and startthere.
The success with One Boardbuilds momentum and confidence
to add more that you can addlater.
I always like to suggest if youhave no idea, start with the
weekly planning board.
And like I said, you can go inthe description and you can get
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a link to get a free template sothat you can start planning out
your week with Trello, and thenalso get a tutorial to show you
how you can use and customizethe board for your life.
The second to, to making Trelloa system actually stick is
keeping it simple and easy touse.
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You want to avoid overorganizing with a million labels
and all the checklists and colorcoding everything.
If it takes you more than a fewclicks to update, you're
probably not gonna use itconsistently.
So remember to keep it simple sothat it can be sustainable and
you can always build on itlater.
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The next tip is to use a weeklyTrello check-in.
This is one that I have toremind myself to do on a weekly
basis.
This is just checking in andjust blocking out a few minutes,
the same time each day of theweek to reset and review your
board.
You want to move task around,archive completed cards or task,
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and then update things asneeded, especially if you have
like a meal plan or a grocerylist, you wanna keep things up
to date.
So make it a part of your weeklyrhythm or routine, whether it be
on Sunday nights, Fridayafternoons, or even Monday
morning.
Go ahead, check in and updatethings.
Next tip is to make it fun andvisual.
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Like I said, I love, love, lovemaking my Trello boards pretty
and fun to look at.
You can use emojis, you can addheadings and tasks, so it is
easy to scan, like puttingemojis for laundry or for
school.
And you can also pick somereally cool backgrounds to make
you want to look at things evenmore because you're more likely
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to use it if you're actuallyexcited to look at it.
So make it your happy space andmake it fun and exciting to look
at with, um, customizing thebackgrounds, adding some cover
cards, and even using a littleemojis.
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My next tip is using checklistsand labels and due dates, but
only if they help.
So checklists are great forroutines like daily chores or
packing lists, and labels canreally help organize tasks by
categories.
So like say for instance, youhave a label for work, home, or
errands.
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And then due dates really,really work well when you have
deadlines, but know that noteverything needs a due date on
it.
And these features are onlythere to support you, not to add
pressure.
So only use these things if theyhelp.
So hopefully these hopes arehelpful for you.
If setting something up fromscratch feels like too much,
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don't worry.
Like I said, I have a Trelloboard that you can use to get
started with Trello to today.
Remember that Trello isn't justfor business, it's also for busy
moms just like you who can'tseem to remember everything
because our brains aren't meantto do that.
So check out Trello and keepthings small and simple and
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build it from there.
And check out the descriptionfor the Trello board that I want
to share with you to help makethings easier for you to and to
get you started with Trello.
If this is your first time.
So that's it for this episode.
I hope to see you back againnext week for another full
episode.
Make sure you connect with me onInstagram.
Let me know if you are a Trellolover just like myself.
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And if you want more help withorganizing your mom life with
Trello, you can send me amessage and I can send you even
more resources to help you withthat.
So that's it for this episode.
Take care, and with lots oflove.