The Difference Between A Professional Organizer and a Life Coach

James Lott Jr discusses The Difference Between A Professional Organizer and a Life Coach (of which he is both).

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
It is Wednesday, October ninth, twenty twenty four. This is
the Super Organized Show with James Jr. Or as we
call it, the SS Show. James Jr. Here on JAILG Media,
the sub Organizer Network. How are you all on a Wednesday?
I know I would done a regular proper show in
a while. I've done this SOS shorts. Thanks for listening

(00:24):
and watching those. I will continue to be doing those. Also,
I am looking for guests to come on the show,
so I'm working on that too, so I'll be coming up.
But I also to come on here and talk to
you and answer issues. We will ask you questions all
the time, so I want to answer some of the
questions you can get and on these shows. And you
know I do my very blunt style. So but before

(00:45):
I do that, I do my things and gratitude. I
want to give thanks and gratitude to my girl, Regina Lark,
doctor Regina Lark, who is my soul sister, my friend.
She is productivity and emotional labor and organizing expert. It
was her birthday this week. She is just amazing. I've

(01:06):
had to see you in a while. By did reach
out to here. I sent her a video, and I'm
going to try to see her soon. Because I've been traveling.
I've been traveling a lot. I would give a shout
out to all my travel everybody else. Along with my travel,
I've been setting up I'm revamping my business, so I've
been really busy doing this travel to make that happen.
And I want to thank everyone who's assisted me and

(01:27):
helped me. I appreciate I've had to make some strange
turns and twists and get here and get there, and
my travel plans have been wonderful and thanks to that.
Thanks to my brother j R. For helping me with
my mom, and to my mom for she's stabilized and
she's moving forward. This is good for now. I just yeah.

(01:52):
And also lastly, but not lastly, lastly, but not leastly,
leastly leastly. That's a word I'm gonna words. Yes, I
have degrees, but I'm going a word Leastle's Stacy Barker,
who is my girl, pr girl who just you can
see me in a lot of articles recently. It's because
of her. So thank you somebody, Stacy for your your

(02:14):
friendship and your love and support of me. And also
to my girl Michelle Stafford. I'm throwing her to h
thirty years age on The Restless. She also gave me
a shout out because she has hired me as an organizer,
wants to hire me again. So I'm very excited, thank you,
and I appreciate every sing anybody who sees me what
I do and that leads into this this episode. It's

(02:36):
just it's a brief episode also, but it's it's it's
people have asked me, so, James, you are a certified
life coach and you're certain by pressure and you do both,
and ask me what does that mean? And we forget
this even certifications. Just like you are a professional organizer,
but you're also a life coach. Aren't they the same?
So I'm gonna give you my unvarnished opinion about what

(02:59):
that means and are they the same? And so my
answer is no, and in some cases yes, but no,
I think they can go hand in hand. I think
they can go as and as another service, which is

(03:21):
what I do to provide. But there are two different things.
And I'll tell you professional organizing the simplest, I guess
the simplest way to say it is it can range
from you doing the organizing physically, you doing it. You
move in the you move in the items over here.

(03:43):
That's the simplest way to say it. From that to
coaching somebody or teaching them how to move said items
over here. Coaching to me, coaching is I don't physically

(04:04):
do it, I don't mentally do it. I am off
the I'm off the hook. Is my my boss would
my own boss would say, I am here to watch
you do it. You do the work. I'm not doing
the work. It's not for me, It's for you. I'm
not here to learn nothing. It's just for you. So

(04:27):
much organizing listip way about organizing organizing is I am
showing you and helping you out and finding ways to
be organized or more productive or less scattered, whatever, whatever
the whatever the issue is for you, and that can
happen in various ways. Me physically, you notice I say

(04:49):
physically again, me physically showing you how to do it.
And then maybe I'm doing it for you. I set
it up and then I teach you how everything is
set up. You go. Whereas coaching for me, I tell you,
we sit down, we talk about it. You say, I

(05:11):
want to get from point A to point b okay,
I give you exercises, I give you work. We talk
it out, and but you're doing the work. You're doing
the talking. You're doing the work. I'm looking at it,
analyzing and seeing how we can go to the next step.
I'm providing the steps to your freedom, so to speak. Now,

(05:35):
if you do organizing and coaching together, that's kind of
what I am doing in both. I'm helping provide the
steps to your freedom from whatever it is that you're
stuck in. So seeing there, so in some ways it
may seem the same. And I can sometimes be used

(05:57):
in tandem together if done really correctly and efficiently and smartly,
they can because there's times when you are sometimes just
sharing and talking with someone and they're sharing with you,
and you come up with solutions that work for them,

(06:20):
or sometimes you implement. They say, I just want you
to do this. I want to make sure I find
the p's and the bottom and the carrots on top,
so then I just do it. And sometimes they don't.
There's no lesson to be learned. They don't care how
it was done. They don't want a lesson. They're a
busy professional. They just want to make sure they can
just get in and grab the carrots and peas and
know where they are. Peas and carrots, peas and carrots peas.

(06:43):
Say it's an old joke. Some folks just want that's
all they want. They just want, They just want to
know where to find it. They don't, they don't, they don't,
They really do not care about anything else. We're in
culturing coaching. It's fully participatory, active. You have to answer,

(07:10):
you have to do it. I can't just tell you, okay,
So what you're gonna do now is you're gonna put
this over here that make you feel better. We don't
do that in coaching. We don't tell you. Coaches are
not and same with therapist, same with the organized. We're
not therapists. We're not psychiatrists, therapists, clinacles, clinicians, and we're

(07:32):
not doing not that. We both sides may act as
a support system during your journey, your mental journey of
organization or productivity. We are not to give you any

(07:52):
medical advice or any kind of advice to do. That's
what we do, not what we're here to do. So
I so I get that, and that's kind of what
I you know, I'm I'm very much needs to be
a nurse, so I have bad in my background too.
All these things like to tell people, but that's it's
it's I feel like, I hope all you guys are

(08:12):
following along. That's like to me, that's just one of
the simplest ways to say it, because it's it's it
really is this. I was an organizer first, and then
this lighting is just so horrible, folks. I am so sorry.

(08:39):
I'm trying to like, like, what is going on there?
It's first, it's it's cold outside. That's that's That's not
even better. It's really overcast outside. I live in l
A and there's marine layer happening, and I'm just like, oh,
what's going on? Okay, sorry, just try that. If it

(08:59):
is there are folks who are watching me. If you
just listen to me, then be something. But no, I
I I'm talking about it sound as simple as possible.
That is just like but like, for example, I've been
promoting my latest organizing but productivity book, Unlocking Positive Results.

(09:19):
There's a little mini book like thirty pages, part of
my or super Organizer series. I have won small steps,
these large awards, which are organizing tips. Now you got
productivity tips. Aster. New books coming out on how to
let go of bad clients, and you know, other like
active listening. I'm a whole bunch of coming out. So
but they're here just for you as tools to read them,

(09:43):
may relate to them and maybe implement some of them.
It's not and so it's under the super organizer umbrella,
but it's kind of it's kind of a coaching tool
that's related to organizing, but also a part of your life.
So the lines can get a little blurred in certain areas.
And that's why when I was an organizer, first I

(10:05):
became a life coach. I thought this, I can work
together and I have clients who very I do, very separate.
I charged this price for coaching, this price for organizing.
It is very separate. Then you start a business, but
there's a way to do it where you can actually
kind of coach. I've had coaching sessions where we didn't

(10:26):
do any organizing. We just sat and we talked. They
had their notebooks out, we were working, workshopping ideas, doing stuff,
and then our next session was an actual organizing session.
That's one waiting This one example on how to use
it together. You sit and talk first, have a session
like that, getting your going, get it going, and then

(10:47):
the next session That's what I'm saying. So it's kind
of like I've done that, I've done that whole where
it's like this session is this, and it's two separate things,
but it works together in that one person's life because
sometimes in the just regular session will uncover something that
helps in another area of their life. Actually, that actually

(11:09):
can happen to organizing. We'll do what we're doing something
and a light bulb goes off with something and they're like,
oh my goodness, I get it. I get it, they
get it, and so I guess it's both both. So
there is small overlap. But to me, I do you
beat this a dead horse and boring your death. I'll
come to an end. But I do see both or

(11:34):
pressure organizing and life coaching beneficial. But I see them
both as two separate entities that can work together if
need be. But it has to be clear lines on
what each one, but each part does. It's like the

(11:54):
the one hand feed the others. They have to they
have to work in tandem together somehow. And I would
say for some people even he have a therapist or
it'sychi whatever, all three or counselor all three co work
together for you and out of the folks who have
all three and they're trying to work it all out
and none wroll on any of that. Nothing wrong with

(12:16):
any of that. I love it. So I just think
it's that's that's great. Let me say, uh, I think
it's everything. Oops, where am I screen? Go? Okay, there
we go. I am so happy to talk to you
about any of you have any more questions about organizing,

(12:37):
maybe life coaching. I do have a life coaching podcast,
A Lot of Help with James lot Junior. You check
that podcast that I talk to all kinds of professionals.
We all walks of life, about life, about mental health,
physical health, all kinds of health on that show. A
Lot of Help dot com is the website. I am
available to be hired for coaching. You also hire me

(12:59):
for just one on one sessions. Again, email me our
message be out of this to get more details. I
have folks kind of be just for one session. They
need something on the workout, and we did it and
we these kind of started. So that's also that's also
available to and organizing. I'm available for hire two for

(13:23):
that I'm James I Jr. I would talk to you
next time.