June 28, 2010

I attended a conference this weekend (EVO Conference), where it became a bit cliche around the phrase “being authentic”.  There was a ton of truth behind it though, even though my friend Angry Julie and I are constantly mocking the phrase now.  It’s not that it’s a bad phrase, or a bad thing to be.  It just seemed like the phrase was EVERYWHERE during the conference.  I realized a few tough things though while I was listening some great people (Brene Brown and Karen Walrond).  Brene said something about a person creating an online persona that she ended up resenting.  I completely agreed with that. 

I initially started this blog as a way to drive traffic to my super duper software called Daily Home Planner back in August of 2007.  What I DIDN’T expect, or plan on, was the many opportunities that ended up coming with this blog, or the popularity that it would gather.  I’m DEFINITELY not complaining about the last 3 years.  They have been fantastic.  I’ve been invited to various full expenses paid brand events, I’ve blogged for other companies like SC Johnson, and I’ve even spoken at a few expos and conferences.  I especially didn’t expect to even appear on TV several times! 

I’ve come to a point though where I’m not FEELING very authentic, and I’m starting to resent my online persona.  I have always tried to incorporate personal stories into my tips and posts.  It’s not that I’m not organized.  I’ve been to some other people’s homes, and I am definitely not super messy.  My husband’s biggest pet peeve is clutter, so our home is definitely tidy, I mean heck, our 600 DVD’s are in alphabetical order for crying out loud!  But do you know what my worst fear is?  What my worst fear has been ever since I STARTED this blog?  That the news would want to do a story on me and they would want to tape all of my cupboards and drawers! 

The problem with me is I have all the tools and systems in place.  It’s the implementation that sometimes falls short.  Definitely not for a lack of planning.  I plan.  I plan A LOT.  The problem lies in the fact that my daily routine typically gets thrown out the window within the first few hours.  Whether it’s by a help desk call that comes in (which is usually the case about 90% of the time), or I end up distracted on the internet by something shiny.  So in a day where I have planned out things for my entire day, and then I end up on help desk calls for my job for 5 of those hours, it doesn’t leave much time for cleaning the bathroom.  It also doesn’t leave time for making my husband that dinner that I planned to make, that I purchased the ingredients for at the beginning of the week, whose ingredients sometimes go bad before I actually get around to making the meal.  (Have I mentioned how much I despise cooking?)

So what’s the point of this post?  First, please don’t think I’m perfect, that my house is perfect, my kids are perfect, and that I use every minute of every day effectively, cause I SOOOOO don’t.  Second, to let you know that the tone of this blog may be changing a little bit.  Mainly because I feel like I’ve exhausted all of the “tips” I have.  I mean really how much more can I get organized through the blog?  You can probably find a post about any topic in the house already.  Just do a little search.  So it may turn into more of a how I struggle to keep it all together every day. 

Another reason for this post is to inform you that I’m thinking about selling the blog/domain/twitter/facebook.  Everything must go!  If you are interested in becoming “The Organized Mom” and want to just start out on a Google page rank of 4 website, with subscribers, traffic, and search engine results already built in, then contact me at sarah@organizedmom.net  Like I mentioned previously… I am feeling resentful of “The Organized Mom”.  While organization is important to me, it’s not what I’m PASSIONATE about.  I beat my head against the desk every day trying to come up with posts for this site.  My passion is in technology.  My passion and what makes me irresistible (TM @lizstrauss) is explaining technology to and helping to fix technology for non-techie women.  I LOVE helping women achieve their goals, using the technical tools that are at their disposal.  I can whip out a tech4mommies.com post with the snap of a finger.  I LOVE writing on that blog, and one of the things I love about it is that technology is constantly changing.  There is ALWAYS something new for me to talk about. 

So, what do you think? 

This is me…authentic. 

(phew!  This was probably the easiest Organized Mom post I’ve written in a while!)