Show #106: Nicole Avery: Being planned (in the kitchen and in general family life) so you can be present with your kids

Wow. I learnt so much this week in this conversation. Nicole Avery is a business woman, a mother of 5 and one heck of an organised person. True story. I just had to hack her incredible tips, tricks and overwhelm-preventative measures that her family of 7 take to run things smoothly - most of the time (no one is perfect, remember?). I have been so inspired to look ahead to when my travel is done for the year and develop some of the themes we discussed in a more impactful way in my own family life. We often confuse, as a society, feeling organised and well planned, with lacking the ability to be spontaneous and too serious, when in fact, the discipline of a well organised house hold actually creates the opportunity for MORE spontaneity and freedom - how’s that for a mindset shift? Enjoy this wonderful chat with a woman who’s truly gifted at getting it all well planned so that she and her family can kick all the goals they fancy, all the while inspiring us to do the same. The show notes and sponsor offer are over at www.lowtoxlife.com/podcast and I hope you love this week’s show as much as I did. Alexx x 

Being planned so you can be present with your family - Here are the questions I asked Nicole (with a few tangents thrown in for good measure as usual) 

So many of us feel overwhelmed by lack of time, chasing our tails, and many of us have 1-2-3 kids. You have 5 and literally wrote the course on how to be planned... Were you always naturally organised?   As your family grew how did you find you needed to adjust things (ie having babies / older kids in the mix - differences / meeting all needs)   A lot of people feel boxed in by planning... how can we feel spontaneous AND planned - can they coexist?   How does a disorganised, uninspired soul motivate themselves toward the idea of 'getting well planned'?   I'd imagine one of the most important aspects of motivation would be to do the work and figure out how exactly this is going to benefit you personally and as a family? ie personalisation of the 'why' = effective implementation as I talk about in my book...   Let's talk tools for meal planning  How do you help people navigate food allergies / intolerances when it comes to planning?   What happens when you've done all the planning and then the plan changes (sick kids / impromptu play dates etc)  With the families you've worked with, How have you seen people's lives change when being better planned on the food front. I'd imagine food waste saving / budget saving happen when we plan out our weeks?   Do you recommend involving the family in the plan to maximise uptake of the various meals being cooked "Tonight it's Bob's fave. Good choice bob, delicious" type positive affirmation around kid's choices...   If you had to share your favourite reasons for getting a meal plan happening to finish of everything we've talked about, what would they be?