🚿 The water heater hasn’t been getting the water very hot this week, so we’ve been taking those quick, bracing, “character‑building” showers. Thankfully, the issue is fixed now. But the whole thing reminded me of something my grandmother used to say: “Now make sure and wash your 13 areas.” When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time on my grandparents’ farms; one in East Tennessee, one in West Tennessee. At the end of long days running wild, my grandmother would send us in to shower one at a time before dinner. There were six of us grandkids, and there was always some kind of shenanigan happening somewhere on that farm. No one wanted to miss anything, so showers were… let’s just say, not our top priority. Sometimes we’d go in the shower with dried dirt and come out with mud. Not because there wasn’t hot water, but because we were rushing to get back to whatever chaos we were sure was unfolding without us. Looking back, I’m pretty sure her “13 areas” rule was her version of an 80‑and‑go strategy. We didn’t have to be spotless. We just had to be reasonably clean. And in our little kid brains, the challenge of finding thirteen different “areas” to wash slowed us down just enough to get the job done. 🥰 It makes me smile now; how her simple, practical wisdom worked better than any lecture ever could. A gentle nudge toward “good enough,” wrapped in a bit of mystery and a whole lot of love. This got me thinking: What are the modern versions of “wash your 13 areas” that we use now. You know, those small, clever ways we help ourselves (and each other) do what needs doing without making it harder than it has to be?

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Did you know that you can create flow states with sensory anchoring? Sensory anchoring means using a specific smell, texture, or sound to train your brain into different modes. For example, I create sensory anchors for getting into "focus mode" when I need to work by keeping a cedar block on my desk. When I'm ready to work, I smell the cedar block, turn on some medieval lo-fi music, set a pomodoro timer, and get to it. Now my brain associates medieval lo-fi and the smell of cedar with "It's time to lock in and get work done!" Have you tried sensory anchoring before?

When life's got you down, what are your go-to ways of getting through it?

🍎 I’ve long admired the work of Dr. Maria Montessori, especially her idea of The Prepared Environmen, a space intentionally designed to support independence, clarity, and self‑direction. In her classrooms, everything has a place, everything is accessible, and everything invites purposeful engagement. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how deeply this applies to us as adults, especially those of us building businesses. We don’t outgrow the need for environments that support our best thinking. 💥 We just get better at tolerating the ones that don’t. Our lives Our calendars Our digital spaces Our habits They’re all environments we either prepare with intention or allow to be shaped by urgency, distraction, and other people’s priorities. And just like a child can’t thrive in a chaotic classroom, we can’t do our most meaningful work in a life that constantly pulls us off center. A prepared environment isn’t about perfection. It’s about design. It’s about reducing friction so your energy can go toward the work that matters. It’s about creating conditions that make clarity easier to access and follow‑through more natural. This is restorative practice for adults: shaping the space around you so it supports who you’re becoming, not just who you’ve been. For business owners, this isn’t a nice‑to‑have. 💡It’s strategy. A prepared environment becomes a quiet partner in your success, holding you steady, helping you focus, and giving you the internal spaciousness to lead with intention rather than urgency. So I’m curious: What would shift for you if your environment, inner and outer, was designed to support the work you actually want to do? When will you take action?