Organizing for Students with Tiffany Blassingame

We could all use guidance, encouragement, and tips for students to work more productively in a remote environment. That’s why episode 36 of The Positively Living Podcast is about organizing for students!

In this episode of the Positively Living Podcast, Tiffany Blassingame and I are sharing the importance of organizing and provide time management strategies to help busy adults and their families develop a more organized approach to home, work, and school.

If you want to be more productive, simplify your life, reduce stress, and feel encouraged as you develop new habits and tackle projects, then I personally invite you to join the Positively Living Membership Community. For a Netflix-level investment of $11/mo (or $120/yr) you’ll receive access to exclusive content like live guest Q&As, group coaching, and custom workshops.

Today’s episode includes guidance, encouragement, and tips for students to work more productively in a remote environment, which is a shift many of us had to make in 2020. My guest and I came together with the intent to discuss parents and students, so if you are a parent or teacher, you’ll want to listen to and share this episode. But if you’re an adult struggling with any aspect of working from home, you’ll want to listen too…maybe twice! I joke, but only a little. While we began our conversation discussing the brain development of children, the conversation shifted into advice that can help everyone from homeschooling parents to adult employees working remotely. We cover tried and true productivity and organizing tips that will help you make the most of your work-from-home efforts.

In a conversation among moms, there are topics that will always come up. Struggles with school is one of them. There are many options to choose from such as morning routines, homework, and technology, but the full list can often feel endless. The Moms I talk to (and Dads too) are trying hard to keep on top of it all. Education is important and as parents, we take our responsibility seriously but can often feel out of our league and way too exhausted to keep up. Today’s episode honors that and encourages you to celebrate all you do and to keep working on ways to still get the job done without as much struggle. This episode is dedicated to our parents and teachers everywhere, who are raising and educating the next generation with grace, patience, and flexibility. Thank you for all you do.

Today I welcome Tiffany Blassingame to the Positively Living Podcast.

Tiffany started Simple Organization to provide organizing and time-management strategies to help busy adults and their families develop a more organized approach to home, work, and school. As a divorced parent of a teenage son, she understands the delicate balance between raising children, progressing toward personal goals, working in your career, and being a good steward to others and to yourself. It sometimes feels impossible to keep it all together! Simple Organization is designed to offer strategies for living a more simplified lifestyle. Her approach to organizing is focused on creating systems that work for you (and your home). Her goal is to help make things better (and that doesn’t mean perfect). Tiffany’s specialties include working with families of elementary, middle, and high school students as well as college students and educators. Her primary areas of interest include divorce recovery, work-life balance, and time-management/productivity strategies.

Our conversation begins with a double confession. She and I — both professional organizer moms — have experienced the frustration and worry that comes from struggling to help our children manage school and manage it remotely. Yes, even those with a toolbox full of tools find this whole process challenging, so take heart. Tiffany’s key point that not every school struggle is academic is so critical to remind us that there is more at play than the schoolwork itself. I think remote schooling has highlighted the importance of socialization and cultural exploration. But another aspect we need to address is organization.

If you’ve listened to the podcast before, it shouldn’t come as a shock that I encouraged Tiffany to nerd out a bit with me to help us understand the executive function of the brain and how that relates to children’s coaching and organizing needs. She covers the changes that take place from birth through mid-20s and offers a detail about young adults that surprised me, actually almost shocked me, once again highlighting that when you understand something better, you gain perspective and can find more appropriate and more effective tools.

Tiffany and I discuss environment, routine, distractions, multi-tasking, and lists. We cover screen time worries, debunk multi-tasking (no shock there) and provide you with a variety of small adjustments you can make to maximize productivity.

If you’d like some more support for your student, you can follow Tiffany on social media where she offers a free online course called Top 3 Tips for Organizing Students. I also recommend listening to episode 1 – The #1 Tool to Achieve Productivity, episode 3 – Four Steps for Effective Time Management, and Episode 20 – The 5 Gs of Working from Home

Today’s episode offers many options for you to try, but please know that trying your best is the most important thing for everyone involved. One of Tiffany’s favorite sayings is “Broken crayons still color.” Be sure to celebrate what you get right and keep the faith that it will work out.

Thank you for listening! Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips to create space for what really matters in your life

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