Today I’m a video editing machine. More specifically, my computer is a video upload, download, rendering and editing machine. I’m logged in to different browsers under different YouTube accounts uploading (and downloading) multiple videos. I actually have to have a fan running on my computer it’s getting so hot from all the processing I’m doing. The work is for three different projects, so I’m very hesitant to start another work-related project at the same time. It is just too much for me to keep straight at once. As it is I nearly uploaded a video to the wrong YouTube account. Even though I’m ‘sitting around’ waiting for it all to complete so I can move to the next item on the checklist, I think I’ve hit the limit of my multitasking. If I throw anything else in to the mix I will start making mistakes.

All that video work means that my computer is pretty much useless for anything else expect for maybe straight typing and a wee bit of web browsing. So what am I doing that doesn’t require a ton of brain cells? Pinterest. It’s an addiction. I’m making a ‘vision board’ of what I would like my basement work area and desk to look like. Of course I’m years away from actually finishing my basement, but the motivation is enough to keep me going. More specifically, I need to purge the cellar and garage to streamline and de-clutter. Last year for my birthday I told my husband I wanted one of those construction dumpsters and a solid weekend of help to get rid of junk. Instead of doing it in May when it was warm, we’ve decided to do it in January. (It is currently 17 degrees outside…) Hey, whatever! I just want it done!

I feel like I’m slacking off quite a bit today, but in reality I’m getting a ton of much-needed loose ends taken care of. What a great start on the first official day of work in 2012. (Freelancers and small business owners know they have been working straight through the holidays, with a slight nod to Dick Clark on 11:55pm on December 31st). To be completely honest, Pinterest is a great idea that I’ve shared with a few of my coaching clients as a way to keep track of certain aspects of their goals. See, I guess I really am working!

The Women of Google+ project is settling into a bit of a schedule as well, which is nice. We’ve got a few brilliant writers contributing to the site. I had over 100 inquiries, but as I progressed through the list, people either fell out of interest or weren’t qualified at all.  Without a schedule, it will be impossible for me to handle it on my own. As it is, I really wish I had the ability to hire for the project, but I’m not making money from it – and therefore can’t spend to fuel it.

I’m planning a lot more time in my office over the next few months, and my speaking schedule has kicked right back into high gear after some (much needed) time off from Thanksgiving to New Years. I think I’ve been in my office three days in the last four months! I have either been home working with the kids, or out on the road. Being in a proper working environment will help me get back on track as well!

Ok, I’m done with my little ‘mental break’ – now it’s time for more video work!!

Here’s the obligatory New Year’s resolution post. But it won’t be a list of crazy, unattainable things I wish I could do, just to feel sorry about it in March.

Women of Google+ Goals

This one actually deserves a listing of its own. Here I have many goals and plans, but for now it’s enough for me to say that I want to bring this BIG and bring it GLOBAL. I honestly could use some funds to get that going, as the idea is moving very quickly and could be in danger of growing too big too fast without the money to keep the momentum going. I’ve planned for this to be self-funded, but the demand and interest has exceeded my wildest dreams a thousand-fold. The project is no where near in danger, no worries there. What I do fear is that I will not be able to keep up with the needs of the community and still pay for it all (in time and money) myself. I am very hesitant and skeptical of investment money, and honestly don’t know who would invest in a website and community built around tech and communication savvy women. Actually, when I write it out that way, who the hell wouldn’t be interested?! As far as I’m concerned, women rule the Internet, and if someone wanted to be seen by the cutting edge movers and shakers, Women of Google+ is where they would go. Just my humble opinion.

Professional Goals

This one is actually very easy for me to visualize. All of last year I worked on shifting myself professionally and I see I’m on the cusp now. I feel like I’m standing on the edge of the cliff peering over at all the wonderful things I’ve been working towards and planning for what seems to be over two decades. My toes are on the edge. I’m ready to jump, arms out wide with a smile on my face. My family and experience are my wings.

Clients

I have a dear friend that cringes every time he hears someone refer to themselves (outside of sports) as a coach. I agree, it makes me cringe too. Strangely I have had to use this label on myself to describe the position I’ve evolved to with my career. If I could call myself a professional personal trainer I would, because that’s more in line with what I do. (But no gym weights are involved.) I had written someplace that I felt like there were enough social media practitioners around that I could step down from my seven year position of working with corporate clients. Of course I still have a few I’ve hung on to, but for the most part I’ve come over the last year to discover where my true talent, experience, and passion fall.

What I’m concentrating on now is working with individual professional women that want to conquer their fears of using social media to propel themselves or their business ahead. So far I have filled all but two of my ‘slots’ for clients for the first quarter 2012. My next goal is to stockpile my digital knowledge into online resources I can package and sell. Hey, it’s like cloning me!

Speaking engagements

I have been speaking in a professional capacity almost as long as I have been a professional. I remember my very first time speaking in public. I was 20 and my company’s annual convention was in Atlantic City. I wasn’t even old enough to drink at the event! Luckily I was naive and didn’t realize people were supposed to have a fear of public speaking. I loved it!

Since then I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve spoken publicly. I’ve taught at colleges, keynoted at top industry conferences, bombed spectacularly at a TEDx talk, and did my best ‘stand up’ act at Ignite, as well as hundreds of other events in between. My audiences range from 10 to 750 attendees. Most of my speaking is done outside my ‘home’ industry of social media. Somehow I have craved acceptance in this space, and the lack of my stage time at these events ate me up. No longer. Besides, those events don’t really pay. I have adjusted my expectations to seek out well-paying and mutually beneficial speaking engagements, and that doesn’t always include the ‘glamour’ of appearing on stage in a room full of your peers. Preaching to the choir doesn’t get clients.

I think I would be open to more interviews as well, as in the past I’ve shied away from them thinking I had nothing interesting to say. I have come to see that isn’t true.

Book deal

I’ve been entertaining the idea of writing a book for over a year, but never really moved on the plan. Now I have offers and need to make sure that I’m writing exactly what I want to write, even if that means starting some of the process over again. Through my Women of Google+ project, I’ve had a lot of doors open for me. Part of that stings actually, since I have the same experience and knowledge as before. I used to classify myself as a D-Lister compared to other professional friends that had seemingly ‘made it’ by publishing books. It’s my time. And trust me when I say that I am already smashing through any ceiling I had set for myself. I own this.

General Goals

While I do have separate ideas for things I want to perfect or establish this year, there are some general things that will help improve my entire life.

Get a schedule

What this means is roughly outlining what I need to be doing every day and every week – and sticking to it. Seems simple, right? Not for me. My personal life, family life, and work/professional life are all just LIFE to me. It blends and overflows. If my kids are in school, my work life is easier. When they are home (like they are this week due to winter break and pneumonia) my life is chaos. Learning to adjust to a day with either of the kids home is one thing, but both my 4 year old (home sick) and my 10 year old (home on break) here for 14 days is difficult. Anyone that knows what it is like to be “in the zone” working just to look up and realize you’ve missed a meal or two understands how disruptive it is to have to stop every 15 minutes and mentally switch tasks. Sometimes, like today this week, I really have to learn not to fight what I can’t control externally and go with the flow. Schedule be dammed. Besides, that is what the hours of 9pm – 1am are for.

Get help

No, not psychological help, but that is debatable. I am actively working to the point I can hire an assistant at least part time. I toyed with the idea of a virtual assistant (VA), but to be honest, all of the hourly rates I’ve come across rival what I charge my own clients an hour (when it’s hourly work). I have been a professional admirer of Laura Roeder for some time and got to meet her briefly this past year at BlogWorld Expo and chat over lunch. Although I missed her talk at the show, one takeaway I got from her was hire an ‘in person’ assistant at a fraction of the cost (but still a very fair salary). While some VA’s are charging $80 an hour, I can hire a brilliant assistant and put her in my office for a fraction of that to keep my calendar, respond to email, and do some social media work/PR work. Right now I just don’t have the funds to pay for it, so this is something that will most likely come to fruition at the end of 2012. Besides, it takes ME over two hours a day just to read and respond to my emails, not including any proposals that I need to write up for speaking or whatnot. Paying someone $800 a week just for email is crazy.

In the meantime, I’m making notes of the types of things I can delegate and the process that goes with it for the day I can hand some of these things off. In order to do that I’ve had to time box out my effort so it’s easier to track along the way. When I hit my email for example, I do it once in the morning and twice in the afternoon. This makes it easier to track how much time I spend as well as keep my distractions to a minimum.

Get organized

While this goal kicks off with a super-duper humongous purge of home and office, it’s not a one-and-done deal. I need to work on this every day. I’ve come to realize that it’s the little slip-ups every day that lead to disorganization and losing focus. My kids are the perfect example. Leave one glass in the living room and before you know it every plate and cup in my cabinet is stacked on top of the XBOX controller. Developing some sort of ritual to keep my areas organized will be crucial.

My pie in the sky hope is that I want to gut my basement and purge a dumpster worth of unnecessary clutter. I want to get my crafting area back. I would love to get our basement finished, but that carries a price tag we just can’t swallow. What I really need for that is one of those home makeover television shows to show up and do it for me. My organization needs are pretty quirky. I want a fairly large office space in the basement where I can have my computer, audio and video recording studio, AND a crafting space with several stations. Not an easy task, and not an organizational effort I’m qualified to do on my own. Professional help will most likely need to be summoned (that’s why I hope for television producers to call me), but I can at least purge now.

Personal Goals

I started going to the gym on a regular basis March 2010. A few months later I got a trainer to put me in the right direction. That will continue this year and into the foreseeable future. I’m 40, and I owe myself my health at least.

More husband time

Well now, doesn’t that sound delish? After 12 years of marriage, two kids, and several businesses together, the assumption would be that I’m sick of seeing my husband. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only problem is, when we do see each other it’s in the context of family or work. I would love to spend time – maybe an entire weekend – with him out of the house. I’d like to eat a nice dinner out where I can take my time and not worry about getting the kids eating vegetables (to be fair, my son will eat them no issues).

More girlfriend time

A girls weekend sounds crazy, but it’s just what I need. Wine, food, desserts. Gossip and giggling. Makeup and fancy clothes. That kind of girl time.

More kid time

Yes, more time with my kids! We took a trip early December to Florida and went to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Universal Islands of Adventure (more specifically, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter). It was amazing to spend that much uninterrupted (read: no technology) time with them. I’d like to do more weekend trips with them and my husband because I know that the time we spend together and the memories we make will be what they remember as adults.

More me time

I don’t exactly know what this means. But I know I need it. I rarely go shopping, with the exception of grocery shopping. Sometimes it would be nice to just meander through a store and not worry about chasing kids or getting back in time for a client call. My entire life seems to be run by an egg timer. The idea of just pissing away an afternoon on myself is outrageous. Day spa trips seem even further from my grasp, but since it’s something I’ve half wished for for years and never done, I’m not so willing to put it on my list. Being a woman of a certain age, I would love to get monthly facials and massages, but that is a luxury in money and time I just can’t swing.

This also includes getting back to my hobby of paper crafting. Besides I have a CO2 laser cutter (basically has a laser beam that is controlled via a CAD program on a computer to cut shapes out of paper or thin wood or acrylic) just begging to be set up and played with again. This actually works out to be more girlfriend time too!

Turns out I get to Poke the Box too! Be sure to check out the latest project from Seth Godin’s The Domino Project.

SXSW Pokes is a free eBook that collects stories of inspiration from people attending SXSW this year.  SXSW Pokes is a collection of some of the best stories and organized them into an eBook called SXSW Pokes. You’ll find 50 inspiring stories about taking initiative from accomplished entrepreneurs and up-and-coming stars.  Download the book now and get inspired!

Burn your own trail.

Today is January 1, 2011. The buzz in my social media circles is choosing a word (or three) to define and structure what you want to ‘be’ this upcoming year. I like the idea as long as you develop some sort of trigger to keep the words and ideas behind them top of mind.  Too often New Year’s ‘resolutions’ get forgotten by March (hello Valentine’s Day and Easter candy!).  I think the key isn’t to identify your three motivating words, but to find your trigger points to know what it will take to remind yourself of your words and keep on track.  Good intentions produce nothing without consistent action.

While I wasn’t originally going to pick my three words because I’m not really a fan of jumping on the Internet meme bandwagon, I realized that if I keep doing what I’m doing I’m going to keep getting what I’m getting.  I’ve been blessed with the ability to work hard and be productive with both my business and (hopefully) my family, and understand that my ability to be a driven, successful person is based on every decision and experience I have had up to this moment.  But – like many women – I have neglected ME.  You see, I turn 40 this year.  FORTY. I need to start paying attention to me.  When I turned 30 I was a bit unsettled, but had just married my husband the year before and was about to have our first child and it was all exciting.  I had a plan, or at least a general roadmap of where I was going.  I knew my 30s were the decade I was officially a ‘grown up’, where we would grow our family and plant roots and become stable.  What the hell do my 40s have to offer?  Our family is complete, we are as settled as we are ever going to get and our businesses are established.  I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO COME NEXT.

I have a project manager mindset having been in the role by trade and experience for over 20 years.  I’m analytical.  I like mapping everything out in front of me, looking at all possible outcomes (and risk), and developing scenarios for each outcome that increase positive results and/or lessen risk.  In my world there is always a next goal – you either constantly ‘level up’ or you sink.  You can’t do that with LIFE.

So if I don’t know what is next, all I can do is concentrate on making what I have better.  While I haven’t picked my three words yet, I do know what categories they need to be in.  (See I’m at least drawing the outline even if the data isn’t there yet – my analytical mind approves.)

Professional

Personal – Mindfulness

Self

I know that in my professional life what I have to do, but taking the time to really sit and reflect to find ONE PERFECT WORD that embodies the full breadth and depth of my intentions is needed. On a personal level – my family and life away from work – it’s actually a little less clear.  Part of defining a word for my personal self is taking a good hard look at where I’ve fallen down and where I’ve excelled, and try to take into consideration both for moving forward.  The self word is the hardest.  I never put ‘self’ on the list.  Maybe putting me on the agenda is enough, but being that this is a new decade for ME as well, I think I need to not just the acknowledgment that I exist but make myself a priority.

Once I figure out what my words are I will come back and edit this post for the sake of completion, but in the meantime, what have you decided to concentrate on this year?  For me it’s not only a new year, but a new decade on the calendar and in my life.  BIG. CHANGES. ARE. NEEDED.

There is something about having a big pot of comfort food on the stove or in the oven cooking while you spend time with your family.  Maybe the holidays bring that craving out in people or maybe it’s the long winter nights (and short days…) While digging in my cabinet for a different recipe, this one fell out and landed right in my hands.  I took that sign to mean COOK ME and within 10 minutes I had put dinner on the stove at 2pm.  I got this recipe about 8 years ago from friends of ours that always cook it for Superbowl parties.  My daughter will not likely go for it because it is a bit spicy, but my son will gobble this up.

You may even have all the ingredients in the house right now, I found the ground beef in my freezer and put it in the cooking pot frozen!  I’m not a particularly domestic person, but do like to cook from time to time (NEVER like to clean) and this is one of my favorite ‘for a crowd’ meals.

What are some of your favorite comfort foods? What does it make you think of when you cook or eat it?  I’d love to know!  Enjoy & enjoy your new year!

Cincinnati Chili

Bring water to boil. Add meat and all ingredients. Simmer uncovered for 3 hours.  Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve chili over hot spaghetti, and top with cheese and onion. Serve with oyster crackers.