003. Simplicity - Redefining & Reframing (1 of 3)
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INTRO
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Lisa: [00:00:00] Simplicity, balance, and efficiency shouldn't just be items on your eternal wishlist. If you're a side hustler or mompreneur who wants to level. Up and be a true CEO, create a business that supports your family while still maintaining a life you love, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Lisa Kinser, and you're listening to The Simply Booked Podcast. I'm a wife, #girlmom of two, bookkeeper, and owner of Simply Booked, LLC. Where I help small business owners like you know and grow their profits. So heat that cup of coffee for .The third time this morning, and let's get started.
CONTENT
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Lisa: Well, hello there. Thank you for tuning into The Simply Booked Podcast. This is episode three. This is part one of a three-part series where I will explain how I define simplicity, balance and efficiency, which are all three cornerstones of not only my business, but my personal life. [00:01:00] And honestly, my personality.
So I'm going to do a deep dive into simplicity today, what it means to me and how I strive for simplicity. And while simplicity might seem simple, pun intended. I will explain a recent revelation that gave me a different perspective. And what it means to create simplicity and not just enjoy the simpleness as an end user.
So before we get started, let's think about how we view simplicity. Perhaps words like plain basic, minimal, clean, and ordinary seem to come to mind for me. So keep those in mind as I tell you this little story.
A few weeks ago, I decided I needed to organize all of the electrical cables on my desk. The way my desk is positioned in my office, the mess of cords and [00:02:00] chargers and power strips stuck out like a sore thumb. And I couldn't take it anymore. So I pulled up Amazon and found some fun cord label, sticker thingies, and some Velcro straps to help shorten some longer cables.
Tying some wires together, strapping them to the leg of my desk to hide them from view. You get the idea. It was a whole thing. I will just go ahead and say, now that all the products I mention, I will link in the show notes. So check those out if you want to see what I'm talking about or want to grab some of these items for yourself.
It would be an understatement. To say this was a very complex plan. I knew I wanted the result to look clean and aesthetic and simple, if you will. But I quickly realized that the process of creating that simplicity was quite complex, ironically enough. I didn't have to purchase many items for this, thankfully.
[00:03:00] And I must admit that once these purchases arrived in the mail, I managed to put off this task for much longer than I would like to admit. But one evening, I decided to tackle the project. I'm usually excellent at taking before and after photos, but unfortunately I don't have a before picture. And I realize that my organization standards are different than most.
So messy cables to me might look perfectly acceptable to others, but that's besides the point, okay? So, I apologize to my friends who also appreciate a good before and after shot. My husband and I share an office, so I promise to take and post photos of his when I tackle that. So hopefully by the time this episode airs, I will have pictures for you guys.
So, where was I? Oh, yeah. So I decided that I was going to tackle this project one evening after my kiddos went to bed. A bit of a side note, we have two cumbersome laser [00:04:00] printers on a rolling cart next to my desk. And sometimes I have to do the whole unplug, wait, plug it back in nonsense if they start acting up.
So the rolling cart from Ikea, has come in handy. I also have a Cricut that lives on top of this Ikea rolling cart. I'm talking about the little Cricut that you cut vinyl and make stickers out of. That lives on top of the rolling cart.
I decided that it would be the most useful if everything on this cart were plugged into the same power strip. So if I needed to roll the cart around. I wouldn't have to chance wires being crossed behind the cart and something being pulled off my desk, which has happened before. I hope my descriptions are helpful because sometimes it's hard for me to describe the way my crazy brain works.
But any who I have a pair of headphones. That hang on the side of this cart, which often need to be plugged in to charge. So that also is in my mind, [00:05:00] the charger cable needs to be easily accessible, right? So that sums up my rolling cart electronics. Then we have everything on my desk. I have an iMac computer.
A phone charger that's a three in one gadget. That can also charge AirPods and my apple watch. I have a Google home. And a desk lamp. A podcast mic that's on a big moveable arm that hangs over me. An external hard drive, a USB hub, a small bladeless fan that is super cute and looks expensive, but it's not, um,
And my Mac book also lives on my desk. Sometimes when I'm feeling bougie, I opened up my Mac book and use it as a second monitor side note, if you own apple computers, you know, or maybe you don't know. That you don't have to do anything special to link them and use them as a [00:06:00] multiple monitor scenario. Somehow my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard work with both screens without any setup, I can just move my mouse from one to the other seamlessly. It is like magic.
So I have a rather sizable L-shaped desk also from Ikea. So it sounds like I have a lot of items on my desk, but it looks relatively minimal. However, once I sit down to work, it's generally covered with paper and notebooks and planners, sticky notes, pens, highlighters. etcetera.
I'm kind of messy actually. No, I'm not kind of messy. I'm very messy. But I'm organized. So it's a weird contradiction. This desk is essentially my happy place. So it must look nice and as uncluttered as possible. In my standards. So back to my cable organization story.
Once I got the cables beautified behind the rolling cart. I [00:07:00] started on my desk and this proved to be a much larger task. Since I have many smaller electronic gadgets that I just listed off for you. First I pulled my desk away from the wall. And unplugged everything.
Then I had to decide where these gadgets would live on my desk because I want to avoid cables crossing over each other if possible. So this nifty Ikea desk has this mesh thingimajig underneath it, that's intended to help organize cables and keep them up out of the way. So I knew I wanted to utilize that wherever possible. Once I got the cables and charger cords labeled. I started tucking the wires. Underneath the desk, threading them through this mesh netting to hold them in place. And then they all came out of the net [00:08:00] close to one of the desk legs that's close to my wall. This is important because I then tied all of the cords together with velcro straps and attached them along the back of the desk leg and down into a power strip that is neatly tucked away next to the desk. Along the wall nearly out of sight.
Do you remember when I said this episode was about simplicity?
Does any of this that I'm describing sound simple at all? Not in the slightest, like many of my other self-inflicted projects. This relatively straightforward task turned out to be much more complex and specific because what can I say? I know what I want and I want it done right. I hope some of you listening can relate to my particular flavor of crazy, but [00:09:00] it's okay if you don't.
Once I finished my cable beautification project, I stood back and admired my work for a while. I marveled for probably a good 15 minutes while I realized that this small task not only took me four hours. Yes. Four hours to complete. Lots of crawling on the ground under my desk, not to mention lots of changing my mind halfway through, which is probably why it took four hours. But, you know, I learned an important lesson. I learned that just because something appears simple when it is completed and it's simple to use, the complexities are usually hidden behind the simple exterior.
I feel like I have the mind of a programmer and perhaps I missed my calling as a software engineer or something, but I feel like I had to go [00:10:00] through a whole mind-mapping, project management, problem solving cause and effect. Figuring out my end result and working backwards for the entire process.
To come up with this beautifully simple end result. I have no less than 12 wires in close proximity that were all a huge tangled mess, and now they're practically out of sight, and easily identifiable when the time comes that I need to unplug something or move something around.
So therefore the word simplicity took on a whole meaning to me throughout this project, it no longer means basic or plain to me. Now simplicity, I would say means thoughtful. Planned. Intentional. And reductive. This means I will allow myself a little more [00:11:00] complexity if it helps me achieve a simple result. This might look like giving myself more time to build a workflow and let my programming brain get as detailed and specific and in the weeds as possible. Knowing that the result will be a simplified process in the future.
So, what do you guys think? I hope this three part series will be helpful to see some common words that we hear thrown around all the time from a different angle.
But please let me know what you think about this episode. And don't forget to check out the show notes for all the goodies I mentioned, in case you want to simplify your cable management as well. And I'll see you next time.
OUTRO
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Lisa: Thank you so much for listening, and you've made it all the way to the end! To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today's episode, please visit simplybooked.llc/podcast. [00:12:00] And before you go, make sure you leave a rating and review because even though it just takes a few seconds, it really does make a difference. Thanks again for joining me in this episode of The Simply Booked Podcast i'll see you soon!
