The Heart Behind #makespacetothrive & How It Can Change Your Life

If you’ve been following us on Instagram long, you are familiar with our favorite hashtag: #makespacetothrive. In a world full of hashtags, this may seem like nothing more than a snippet of motivation, a pithy phrase, or something fun to add on on top of photos. But for us, #makespacetothrive is a reminder of a key practice that moves us from overwhelm, to intentional living.

The story behind the hashtag…

Back in 2016, Shelby was living in a non-stop, head-down, shoulder-to-the-grindstone hustle. She and her husband supported their tiny family with a home business and were always behind on deadlines. Every moment taken to just sit down and breathe—even just to eat dinner together without multitasking work—invited a crushing air of guilt into the atmosphere.

But there seemed no way to simply hustle more. After brain-dumping a giant todo list that took up seven sheets of paper, Shelby realized she was going to have to upgrade her productivity strategy, or she and her husband would never get ahead of the train.

In her typical style, Shelby turned to Google to help her figure it out. Her husband gave her a couple of books he thought were relevant. They scheduled a meeting with a business mentor. Something, anything had to give. But every tip and tool she found seemed to yield a mere 1% improvement to their current situation. It just wasn’t enough to move the needle.

But then she found it. The missing piece. While there are no magic bullets in life, Shelby will tell you this is the closest thing she’s ever found to one. This is the element that has proved over and over again to be THE #1 strategy to consistent achievement and success that so many people completely miss.

And what was this missing ingredient? MARGIN.

SPACE to thrive.

Margin is planned white-space for your day, your week, your home, your brain—space to breathe in #allthethings.

How creating margin can change your life…

Planning in margin (i.e. “making space to thrive”) shows up as a lot of things in our lives:

daily space to sit down, breathe deep, drink a hot cup of coffee, and have a strategy meeting with ourselves using the prompts in our planner
leaving for an appointment (or church or event or party) 15 minutes earlier than needed so that when we hit traffic or forget something or have a driveway adventure with a toddler, we’re not freaking out
taking time to re-write your goals in your best handwriting, allowing you to fully emotionally process them and then display them so they stay top-of-mind
asking: “what can I say ‘no’ to, cull, or renegotiate about this week to make it easier and calmer?”
getting up before the children (whether in the morning, or before naptime is over) and doing essential things so they don’t get missed
taking time to exercise instead of putting off health goals until your workload lightens or the kids hit a magical age
keeping our homes clean, decluttered, and well-managed so that spontaneity feels fun instead of chaotic
saying “no” to a stretch goal in the business so we can make a nicer dinner than usual for our family just because we want to
turning off all of the notifications on our phones (except for calls from our husbands and mama, of course) and limiting social media so that new information isn’t constantly taking a toll on our emotions
using our time-blocker to add 15 minutes of padding to the transitions in the day (meals, commutes, meetings, etc.), so we don’t have to feel like insane people to get anything done on time

Margin transforms your schedule from a never-ending endurance race to a strategic agenda filled with life-giving rest periods. Margin helps you focus on what’s essential, and then protects your intention, so that you can truly show up in the things that matter most. Margin allows you time to process stuff instead of letting it build up and eat away at your mental bandwidth. With a lightened schedule, opportunities to be flexible, and a decluttered mind, margin exponentially reduces your stress—which in turn empowers you to be more creative, make more thoughtful decisions, and tackle complex problems with confidence and energy.

Figuring out how to build life-giving margin into her life changed everything for Shelby. She started to set deadlines that were actually reasonable—and then hit them. She started to be on time more often than not. She began thinking clearly enough to show up in relationships, make her home a place of serenity, and actually produce work she thought was good. It helped her to find the space in her life to start this dream business with McCauley. She figured out which things were actually going to be worth all the effort in the long-run, prioritization and boundaries became intuitive, and she discovered what it was like to breathe.

So now you know the story of why our motto is “make space to thrive”. It’s so much more than a hashtag to us. It’s become our mantra for crafting life-giving lifestyles.

Are you ready to make space to thrive in your life? We created our Planner System to fuel this exact purpose.

To celebrate the New Year, we are offering 40% off our genuine leather Covers to any new quarterly subscriber who also purchase the Annual. Simply add the Annual, Monthlies subscription box and Cover to your cart and use the code “Hello2021“. This coupon is good through January 8th, 2021. We can’t wait to see the life you will build after giving yourself the tools needed to thrive in the new year!

December 9, 2020

Two sisters. One Planner.

Posted by By Clari Mercier

Posted in Our Story

It all began when a frazzled 23-year-old wife, mom, student, and freelance team leader slapped a well-worn spiral notebook onto a makeshift desk and quickly sketched out a worksheet. Shelby had ambition and grit, but she needed to get organized. Every planner she bought only seemed to add to the overwhelm. She just needed a way to get the cacophony of needs and responsibilities out of her head and onto paper so she could step back and sort through them with a clear mind.

One of the original worksheets that Shelby created.

A few weeks later, she carried a folder stuffed with these homemade worksheets into her sister’s home. Her brain clutter was spilled out on each sheet, her objectives were clarified, and her goals for the future were finally mapped. Every stroke of the pen had lightened her mental load, and it reflected in her step.

“Here’s something I made and have been using lately.” Shelby handed the folder to her sister with more than a little sheepishness. McCauley had been journaling solidly and had prioritization skills of steel. She was also a young wife and mom, and was developing a business of her own from her living room floor. Shelby didn’t think her sister needed much help in the department of mental organization.

But to her surprise, McCauley drooled over the designs. “I want to try these. Can I keep a few pages?”

Over the next few weeks, McCauley used the planner sheets. Then she called a meeting. With babies in carriers and drafting supplies covering every inch of the kitchen table, Shelby and McCauley shuffled planner features like puzzle pieces, discussing the parts of the original designs that were magic for them both. They focused on creating the best planner in the world, tossing out any manufacturing conventions that limited the planner’s functionality and elegance. Weeks later, their sides were splitting with laughter as they jabbed ice-picks through the spines of handmade booklets, learned how to sew binding, and fantasized the perfect leather cover that would bind it all together into one beautiful unit.

Soon, they’d each replaced their entire networks of calendars, sticky-notes, and journals with their newly designed planner prototype. They were most shocked to discover that they’d developed a system that was structured enough to get them both organized, yet flexible enough to work for their polar opposite personalities.

One of the original prototypes of the Evergreen Planner System.

“We’re going to turn this into a legit business, Shel.” McCauley’s eyes shined

“I would’ve never believed we would both love the same planner. Can you imagine how many other women this could help?” Shelby asked.

But it was only the beginning.

In those moments at McCauley’s kitchen table—with nights spent distilling top productivity principles down into a single spread, drafting husbands to help with typesetting and leatherwork, and testing various paper weights with calligraphy pens while nursing our babies—the Evergreen Planner System sparked to life.

McCauley working on one of the original Evergreen Planner prototypes.

As the sisters tested the final renditions of their new system, they were shocked by it’s quality. Not only was it comprehensively useful in basically every area of their lives, but it was becoming absolutely essential to their progress and personal growth. The novelty never wore off. It not only organized them powerfully as they tackled the daily responsibilities, it also propelled them forward in the long-term goals that beat inside each of their hearts. It kept them focused, helped them develop working memories around their most important objectives, and became a central hub for decluttering their minds.

But it was only the beginning. Turning this planner system into a business was no longer a far-off fancy: getting this incredible tool into the hands of as many women as possible became a core mission.

Three-and-a-half years of field testing, half a dozen babies, hundreds of hours of productivity research, five major prototype models, and (approximately) 7,665 cups of coffee later…and the Evergreen Planner system finally came to life in December of 2019.

It is the only planner on the market to feature the innovative dutch-door feature, which allows you to plan each day in the context of your weekly goals and agenda. Gorgeous, minimalistic, and ridiculously intuitive, the booklet planner system boasts an unprecedented balance of robust structure with fully customizable flexibility. The locally made, genuine-leather Cover has surpassed even the sisters’ wildest dreams. And the entire system is supported by a quarterly subscription box that keeps your planning habits fire, and a supportive online community.

Shelby and McCauley have been blown away by the immediate enthusiasm that the planner system generated. Clari joined the team early in Spring, turning the visionary duo into a powerhouse trio. Every “this is the planner of my dreams” and “this planner finally helped me follow through on my most important goals” message that the team has received has been like gasoline on fire.

And as the first birthday of Evergreen Planner draws near, Shelby and McCauley remain confident about one thing. This is only the beginning.

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Are you interested in trying a piece of the Evergreen Planner system for free? Check out this free printable day planner sheet! Like those original sheets Shelby created, you can use this printable to effectively plan your days until you’re ready to jump into the entire Evergreen Planner system.