Stephing Up

Adulting hacks nobody told me: iPhone settings you're not using, unclaimed money in Australia, free IKEA parts + more. These are the 17 things I found, across tech, life admin and money. Some of them you'll know. A lot of people won't. There's all these things we just assume everyone knows about... and they don't. This is for you if: You're paying for an app your phone already does  You hate...

I'm about to ruin your perception of time and likely your day. Hang in there, we'll still be friends at the end.  I went looking for the facts about time because I've become a broken record. How are my kids this old? How is it already September? Where did the year go? I say some version of that most days. And at the same time (this is the uncomfortable bit) I'm trying to make almost every par...

I know everyone loves the Let Them Theory … but I actually think there’s one pretty big problem with telling people to simply “let them” and stop caring what other people think. It kind of asks us to fight against our own psychology. Humans are wired to care about belonging, rejection and what other people think of us. For most of human history, being accepted by the group...

Before planners and podcasting, I was a wedding makeup artist. I did hundreds of faces, and these are 10 things I’d want you to know to get more out of your everyday makeup, without replacing your entire makeup bag. This is for you if: You want to elevate your everyday makeup look without spending money  You learnt makeup from a Maybelline mousse pot and a lot of guessing, and no one's...

Last week I shared my whole health journey (the 25 kilo one, if you missed it... it's a doozy). This week’s episode is the part everyone actually asked for: the current routine. What I train, what I eat, and how it sticks... with the reminder that this is what works for ME. It's not a cookie cutter program. Take what fits your life and your brain, then leave the rest. This is for you if: You...

Spring starts this week, which means the annual panic is about to begin. And I've had a run of questions lately about my gym routine. What I eat, how I train, how I actually stay consistent.   That episode is coming next Monday. This week you're getting the part that makes it make sense.   Because it's so easy to look at someone now and assume they've always been this way. Naturally disc...

If you’ve made it here, you’ve probably tried about 14 planners before this, and you’re wondering if this is the year one will actually stick. Funnily enough, as the owner of a planner brand, I can relate. I spent a lifetime failing at planning. And that’s why I finally designed to create one that worked with my brain, not against it. This is for you if: You've got a beauti...

What if getting organised has less to do with discipline and more to do with making fewer decisions? If your brain feels like it has 47 tabs open at all times, you keep running out of toilet paper, and you’re still doing everything manually, this episode is for you. Steph breaks down the systems and shortcuts she uses to make life run more smoothly. Because the goal isn't to become more prod...

This week we're diving into one of the biggest things that can hold us back from becoming the person we want to be... our own self-talk. I've picked out some of my favourite moments from past episodes. Whether it's unrealistic expectations, fear of failure, or simply getting stuck in the same negative thought patterns, sometimes the voice that's sabotaging us the most is the one inside our own hea...

Decluttering sounds simple—until you’re standing in front of a bursting wardrobe or a drawer you can’t open without something falling out. Then the overwhelm hits, it all feels too hard, and you just… give up. The biggest mistake people make is trying to declutter  everything at once, without a system or clear decision-making rules. In this best-of episode I’m r...

I hate housework. I'm an absolute mess by nature, and I have been my entire life. The only reason my house functions is that somewhere along the way I stopped trying to fix myself and started building the house around the person I actually am. Because everyone thinks organised people are disciplined. I'm not organised because I'm disciplined. I'm organised because I know exactly how useless I am a...

The mid-year reset for messy minds: a doable life audit, goals check-in + my 3-day reset plan. Potato day included. It's July. I don't know how that happened either, and I'd like to lodge a formal complaint. I've been doing this reset for years, and the messy-minds version is deliberately simple. Because if you're anything like me (ADHD, seventeen tabs open in my brain, big plans in January), you'...

Your acne isn't a mystery or a moral failing. It's a stack of small fixable things. Stop asking what's causing it... ask what you changed. I've struggled with adult acne for a decade. Deep, cystic, painful acne all over my cheeks and jaw. The kind you can't cover, because you can hide the redness but you can't hide the texture. I'd avoid certain lighting. Some mornings I'd go to put my makeup on a...

Nobody knows what they’re doing, and that’s the good news. This is the story of how I started a business backwards. I launched Steph Pase Planners from a camp table with postnatal depression and no business plan.  If you'd told seven-year-old me, the one sewing Pokemon toys out of old bed sheets and selling them on the street, that she'd one day run a stationery brand, she'd have...

Do the hard thing first: why you're not lazy, you're avoiding a feeling. The hardest part of any task isn't the middle. It's the start. That's the wall. I’m a chronic task avoider, and in this episode I’m sharing my tried and tested ADHD guide to beating procrastination and the avoidance loop. This episode is for you if: You'll dread one tiny email and somehow clean the whole house to...

A realistic, doable glow up with no 4am alarm and no 14-step routine? Welcome to my 10 sustainable changes to come home to yourself (created by a mid 30s Mum who lost herself for a minute).   This episode is for you if:   - You've started a glow up every Monday and quit by Wednesday (it's not you, it's the plan) - You've disappeared so far into motherhood/work that you caught your reflec...

I thought meditation would fix me. Instead, I put my phone on silent for six years. Here's the truth: I am not the girl who lights a candle, sits cross-legged on a linen cushion and meditates her way to inner peace. I've tried. Instead, I spent years wondering why every wellness routine on the internet seemed to work for everyone except me. The good news? Nothing was wrong with me. My nervous syst...

We’ve been sold the same message for years: start Monday, go all in, be perfect, and somehow transform your life in eight weeks. But what if that's exactly what's keeping us stuck? I’m here to tell you, I’ve done (and seen) some things. My own health journey has been vast.  From beer and noodle box for breakfast, to bodybuilding extremes, and everything in between. I’v...

I thought rest was something you earned. It turned out I was wrong. Here it is … We're talking about the brutal truths I had to admit to myself, the 7 different types of rest, why scrolling isn't actually rest, and the simple mindset shifts that finally helped me stop feeling guilty every time I sat down.  This is part 2 of a two-parter - Episode 11 on weekly planning is the practical...

If you've ever bought a planner and you just can't seem to stick to it. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, constantly behind, or like everyone else somehow got the instruction manual for life except you — this episode is for you.   One of my most asked questions is ‘Steph, how do you do it all? How do you plan your week? How do you have everything running so smoothly?’ F...

The reason your meal prep keeps failing isn't because you're not disciplined. It's because you're copying systems built for people who like cooking. If that's not you, those systems will never work. You know the spiral. You're on Pinterest, you find recipes that look amazing, you go and spend hundreds of dollars on groceries (including six herbs you've never heard of), and by week three you're hat...

Have you ever stood in the kitchen at 7:14am holding two odd shoes and a half-made sandwich, wondering whether it's Wednesday or Thursday? It’s no secret that I’m a hot mess. And mornings (and the 35,000 micro decisions we need to make by 9am) are always extra messy.  So if you've ever been late to the meeting that mattered because morning-you wrote the wrong start time in your he...

"Mummy, can you put your phone down?" I’m taking you back to the day my 6-year-old shamed me with one sentence... and these phone and tech rules I made because of it.  I know we can all relate to the struggle of succumbing to our devices. Hey, I love a good scroll, but when a kid says that to you, it hits you hard.  Honestly, I have no control when it comes to technology. It felt l...

Here’s the truth: Your brain isn’t broken… it’s just overwhelmed. Whether you have ADHD or not, we’re all living in a world that’s busy, noisy, overstimulating—and expecting us to remember everything . So instead of trying to “be better” or “get more disciplined”…what if you just made life easier? In this episode, I’m...

You don’t just wake up one day burnt out. You don’t suddenly lose your spark. It happens slowly. Quietly. While you’re still showing up… still getting things done… still functioning. Until one day, you look at yourself and think: I don’t even recognise who I am anymore. If you’ve been feeling flat, disconnected, or like you’re just going through th...