Throwback: How to Get Everything Done in a Day Without Wasting Time or Getting Distracted | 485

Pioneering Today Podcast - Homesteading in a Modern World

Melissa K Norris

Cookingfromscratch, Oldfashionedliving, Selfsufficiency, Home & Garden, Gardening, Heirloomseeds, Homesteading, Growyourownfood, Education, Survival, Pioneeringtoday, Leisure, How To

4.9 • 931 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this throwback episode, I'm chatting with my friend Anne Briggs from Anne of All Trades about real life homesteading, what it takes, what works, and how to keep moving forward even when life gets busy. Anne left the tech world and dove into homesteading, and over the past decade she has learned everything from blacksmithing and woodworking to raising goats and building her own furniture. As of 2025, Anne is now a new mom and learning how to reevaluate her daily life and rhythms to fit into motherhood.

In this episode, you'll hear:

A fresh word from Anne on how things have changed since becoming a mom.
How Anne learned new trade skills by teaching herself and seeking out mentors.
Why the phrase "don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle" helps her stay grounded.
Why starting with goats might not be the smartest first move (and yes, she shares some hilarious stories).
Simple time management tools for the homestead, including how she uses the Pomodoro technique and limits phone distractions.
How small, consistent steps add up to big results over time.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done or wondered how to balance work and homesteading, this conversation will encourage you to start where you are and keep going. Join me for an honest, practical talk with Anne about what it really looks like to build a hands-on, meaningful homestead life.

For more information and any links mentioned, visit the blog post here: https://melissaknorris.com/485

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, pioneers. Welcome to episode number 485. This episode is a special one because it is done with one of my dear, dear friends, Anne Briggs. Many of you know Anne as Anne of all trades online.
0:22.2	And if you have had any experience with Anne, then you know how dear she is.
0:28.8	I don't know that I've ever met a more real person who tells you exactly how it is and is not afraid to share the hard things that she's going through,
0:41.1	but more importantly, what she's learned during those seasons and how she has overcame them.
0:47.3	And I reached out to Ann to let her know that we were republishing this as a throwback episode.
0:53.0	And Anne is now a new mama.
0:56.8	And many of you I know have followed their story of infertility and a miscarriage and have
1:04.3	rejoiced right along with me as they now have a darling baby boy whom I get to see
1:10.2	pictures of quite often, but I haven't got
1:12.1	to meet him in real real life just quite yet and so I asked Ann because this
1:17.8	throwback episode is talking about how to get everything done in a day without
1:22.1	wasting time or getting distracted and so I asked Ann to give us an update on
1:26.8	now that she is a mama with a new
1:29.0	little one if these tips that she shared how she's using them in this new season of
1:34.6	her life and if she had any new additional advice to share and in true and style she
1:40.4	definitely has but what I found very very interesting as Anne sent me, which
1:46.0	you're going to get to hear in just a minute, an update is Anne is coming at it through the
1:52.2	lens of obviously being a new first-time mom. However, the advice that she was sharing spoke
1:59.6	straight to me because as I shared in the pressing pause episode
2:03.5	with you guys, I am dealing with some health issues with my arm right now. And at the time of this
2:08.5	recording, I am waiting to get a MRI, have to wait for the insurance to approve it. But I have
2:16.4	from the x-ray on what they could see, it looks like I've
	...

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