Creating Stations

00:02 Hi, this is Katie, and thank you for joining me on the My Senses, My Space podcast, and this is a podcast about feeling the world intensely, creating time to support your needs, and planning your space and life to fit you.
00:17 And today I wanted to talk about stations. And what I mean by a station is that there is a particular area of your home or your workspace in an office, wherever it may be, that you are focused on a particular set of tasks when you're working there.
00:41 And I think, I think it's kind of obvious like to say to start with like your workstation your desk like when we sit down to a desk, we are making art, we are typing up proposals, we are, you know, balancing an Excel spreadsheet or Google.
01:00 Spreadsheet, whatever it may be. There are specific tasks that you're going to perform in this space. But let's think about other areas of your home as well.
01:12 So if you also look at your whole entire home, and it could be that you only have one or two rooms, but there's still, if you look around, space.
01:22 There is an area to prepare prepare foods. There is an area to take a shower. There's an area to sit and watch TV.
01:32 There's an area maybe for pets. It can be many different things. An art table, a craft table. An area for your kids to play games, and all of these can overlap too, right?
01:46 We can have a dining table where we sit and eat, but we also play games there, or we also put out an art project there, or, you know, and that's more like a multi-purpose station, right?
02:01 We're looking around, we already have things set up. But then you can also look at these spaces and see what tasks am I performing in a cyclical nature?
02:14 What is coming up every single day that I'm doing? So when you're getting ready in the morning and you're brushing your teeth every morning.
02:23 Do you have like kind of a station and it could be your medicine cabinet that you are able to look in there and go okay I need to brush my teeth, I need to brush my hair, I need to take these pills and then I can leave out the door and when you see those things in there It's like a station of a step-by-step
02:43 what you need to do for your routine in that space. Now, when you're sitting down to, you know, balance your checkbook, so you're sitting down at your desk, and you're grabbing whatever ledger you're needing, whatever spreadsheet you're using, maybe a calendar.
03:01 Calculator, you're opening up your bank account and you're looking at it so you have like these set things to start in the middle and end in that space.
03:17 And the more that you use that space, the more that you're like repeating over and over that you're doing that same thing in that space, you're going to realize, oh, maybe I need to add something to this space.
03:33 Maybe I need to subtract something from this space. So for instance, like your medicine cabinet, are you missing something that you're always forgetting how the morning a medication a vitamin a and I know it can be kind of controversial to have vitamins in a hot space you want to be careful of things
03:51 like that so every space is going to have that there's going to be some conditions that you'll have to work with but thinking about that space is there one thing that you can add to improve your whole routine in that space.
04:05 So, say you're making coffee or tea in the morning. You have your mugs, you have either the coffee or the tea bags or whatever that you're putting into the cup.
04:17 Do you have those all in one place? Or are you darting around the kitchen, trying to find this? This or that.
04:23 You know, are things buried? Are things, do you have space to put them away? Maybe, you know, you were washing them out the night before and you don't really actually have a space to put them back to.
04:37 Now, it's not uncommon to have like, oh, I use this every day. So I wash it out and I just pick it back up in the morning like that works That's fine But do we have space to then proceed with the routine in that area?
04:56 That would be the question. So there's so many modifications that you can do to any of them this, you can make your space your own, right?
05:06 But we're looking at how not to be the most efficient because that's not the goal either. What makes you the most comfortable and consistent in getting the things done in this way.
05:21 And I am all for variety having ADHD I need to like change things up so that I can have fun with them so a different cup or my spreadsheets I use a lot of like really complex ones that I love finding templates for on like Etsy I don't build them I just use them and they're just it's so great to see 
05:42 like all the charts moving, but maybe the colors drive me bonkers and I get to go in and I get to change all the colors and add emojis and make it my own.
05:55 So things will change as you are setting up these stations of setting up these routines your stations. But it's like, what do you feel you really need?
06:12 You need just consistency so everything looks the same. So when you are entering that space and needing help and guidance, for me I need help and guidance.
06:22 In the mornings because my brain doesn't fully I'm a night person and I just need a lot of help in the mornings to step through routines and the more consistent they are where they're not all flashy and fun the better I am at getting through that routine and using that space for what it's meant for.
06:43 Or like that's my toothbrush, that's my toothpaste, there's my mouthwash, there's my floss. It's all right there. They can be lovely things to use, but I'm not going to switch them up a lot.
06:57 There's something to that consistency for me that really helps guide me through because I'm. Little brainless at that point. But if I'm making coffee and usually I'm making decaf so I can have it later in the day, I want to have some like fun mugs around.
07:15 I want to have some variety to what kinds of coffee I have and to what kind of flavors I want and to kind of mix that up.
07:23 Because I'm enjoying that and I'm not particularly in this whatever it takes to get it done both that I'm in in the mornings.
07:33 But that's me and that's how my brain and energy work is that my mornings are very slow and my afternoons pick up.
07:42 Now lots of people are different. They have their mornings and they want, you know, either to put on some cool running shoes that are different colors or go on this amazing run that's in a different area of the neighborhood, switch it up, make it kind of exciting.
07:59 Do that. I mean, that can be a station unto itself of use. Sitting down, putting on your workout clothes, and wherever you're running to is a station as well.
08:10 If it's a moving station, you are the station, you are going through these areas, but it's still this repetitive routine that you're doing and you're experiencing.
08:22 And some people, want to go the same route every time. Some people may want to mix it up. So it's whatever makes you feel most comfortable with the energy level that you're at and the comprehension that you can operate at.
08:39 Mine's just very low in the mornings. But then in the afternoons I can really sit down and do a lot better, think a lot quicker, really plow through like work or spreadsheets or whatever I'm working on a lot easier at that point.
08:58 I mean sometimes it's mid-morning it just depends on the day because we don't have consistent energy all the time, especially if you have a chronic illness or if you're neurodivergent and you're dealing with a lot of overwhelm, every day can change.
09:14 But having these stations can really help you go through the motions that you need and knowing like, okay, well, it's bedtime now, so.
09:24 I'm going to use my bedtime type products where it could be a bedtime moisturizer, it could be an eye cream, it can be a specific, you know, way that you wash your face or whatever it is in the bathroom, but have them segmented somehow where you have morning stuff on one side and evening stuff.
09:44 Stuff on the other. And so when you go in there, if you're one who doesn't do well in the evenings where you're a morning person and you're like, okay, I just got to get through these things in the evening so that I can be ready for bed, but my brain's starting to turn off.
10:01 The station that you're setting up, which has the routine in front of you. This is the product, then this is the product, then this is the product.
10:09 You can go in there knowing that it's going to be a whole lot easier for you to get through that routine knowing your station is there.
10:19 So I pose this question to you. Are you in need of a station? Somewhere that doesn't quite exist yet? Or do you have some stations that are kind of half set up and you may need to experience them a little bit more to see if you need to add or subtract something?
10:37 Or do you have too many stations and you need to kind of like go no no this is getting way too complicated for my life.
10:44 Let me bring it down and have some multi-use stations so as I was saying like these tables or desks that actually have lots of different uses like maybe your child uses them for homework and they pick their they pick their stuff up right okay I'm a parent I know within encouragement they pick things
11:06 up and then you can use it in the evening time for something else. Maybe you have a book station. Maybe that's part of like your bookcase where you have like a few books there and you know which one that you're reading at that point and then you can put it back easily or knowing like Like, it's almost
11:26 like a docket where it's like, these are the books coming up. That these things are the next one. Like, okay, I'm reading this one.
11:34 Or if you like to hop books around, they're all there, right? Or you have some library books there that you just picked up, you can put them in your station.
11:42 So you know when you sit in that spot. That's your reading spot, whether it's a chair or your bed or just somewhere really comfy.
11:51 So yeah, know that stations are constantly changing. There is no static to them as in there's always something like a little new you can add, something new.
12:05 Can take away to make it feel a little better because they're really well-loved and well-used. You can think about setting up stations for other members of your family or friends and seeing if that helps them as well.
12:20 So I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for joining me on the My Senses, My Space podcast.