No More BS (State of the Blog)

My attempts to “get organized” had always failed before they had barely started, and in that moment sitting on the T-ball game sidelines wondering where my son’s cleats were, I knew I wanted to make some changes. Using a blog to document the process seemed like a great motivator. 

Through the years, this blog evolved. It also became something that was hit or miss for me. Sometimes I posted, sometimes I went long stretches where there were crickets. How could I get my blog organized when my life so was not? 

Finally, in 2022, I decided it was time to shit or get off the pot, so to speak. Sporadically posting added no value to the world and gave me no sense of whether or not I wanted to actually keep going with “the blog”. I decided my goal would be to publish two posts a week.  One post would be a blog post dedicated to my attempts to get my life together. The other post would be my Sunday weekly review where I would evaluate my life in 10 main areas. 

I love myself some goals and this goal was no different. For the first few months I was doing fantastic with my preparation and posting. Blog posts were written and prepared a month in advance and all I had to do was press publish on the right date. My Sunday reviews were written “live”, but those were fairly straightforward. 

I’ll never forget when we went on a week-long vacation and I had everything ready to post beforehand. On the morning my post was due, I woke up and grabbed my phone and hit “Publish”. It felt amazing to be so “together”. 

Sadly it did not take long to get behind (there is no surprised face here). Kid activities, work projects, house demands and general life all got in the way and eventually I was posting week to week (barely squeaking out a post) and unable to get ahead. This caused me to write posts that I wasn’t as proud of, thinking “if only I had more time to really put more into this”. 

Finally, I hit “Publish” on my last weekly review post of 2022 and…I just never came back. I told myself I would take the month of January to get ahead again on my blog posts and then restart in February.  The end of January came and I just wasn’t feeling it. I wanted another month, so I took it. 

It was during these two months off that I tried to dive into what I really wanted to do with this blog. I had accomplished my goal of one full year of weekly posting. I knew it was feeling more like a chore than something I truly wanted to do. I also knew I wanted to continue to write about my attempts at “getting organized” as a busy working mom. 

I realized the issue was the time suck that was occurring. I started breaking down the hours in my day and week and it dawned on me that I was trying to fit in a huge list of daily activities that literally could not actually fit in one single day. It was physically impossible. This list included: 

• Three different apps I’m trying to develop 

• Learning piano 

• Reading a million and one books 

• Completely decluttering my house 

• Fully organizing/beautifying every inch of my home 

Oh yeah, and working 40+ hours per week and doing all the kid activities, keeping my marriage together, working out, getting at least 7 hours of sleep…the list just goes on. I tried to tell myself I should be working on all of these things a little bit every day AND working on this blog. 

When I finally broke it down (and I’m a numbers girl so yes, I actually broke it down in a spreadsheet), I realized I would need a 50+ hour day to truly get everything done I wanted to do. That realization completely shifted my thinking and I realized it was time to make some changes. 

I have decided that I’m coming back to this blog, but I’m going to do it my way. A different way. A simpler way. Instead of looking at what so many other blogs are doing, I need to get back to what the point of this blog was and who my audience is.   

I am here to write about my successes and challenges as a working mom in the tech industry who is trying to get her shit together in all areas of her life.  Hacks, tips, vents, tricks, all of it. 

What does this mean for the blog?  

First, I am going to quit trying to force long posts. You know when you search for a recipe and you click on a link only to get a post with a looooong drawn out backstory before you get to the point…the actual recipe? Yeah, no. Nobody has time for that. 

My posts will be short and to the point. I am a working mom that has a super long list of blogs that I want to follow but never have time to catch up on. I have about .3 seconds to read a blog post. Any value add has to come in those miniscule seconds or I’m off to the next thing or handling the next request. 

I think my posts should reflect this (except this one, ha). I know you’re busy and I appreciate any second of your life you can spare to read my words. I may, at times, post longer form posts if the topic supports it, but I will make sure to post a TL;DR; or some type of summary. 

An example of this are my book review posts. I would procrastinate often on writing these type of posts because I would want to add a lot of notes and quotes and good detail. Why?? Who the hell has time to read all that? I sure as hell don’t! So my book reviews will follow a much shorter template with just the bare minimum you need to know.  

This blog is for you. For you to know you’re not alone in this parenting thing. To know you’re not alone in your struggles with organizing and meal prepping and getting healthier and setting goals and building your life as you designed. And I can do that while respecting your time and giving you some quick value before you get back out there! I want to get you in, give you some value, and get you back to life. 

All that to say…I’m back. In a new way. In a shorter way. In a “hacker” type way. Quick hacks, quick posts, quick ideas, quick support.  Then off we both go to get on with our days. Recipe at the top. No bullshit and no added words just to fill the space. 

I’m so glad you’re here. How can I help you? Why do you read here? Thank you and here’s to a fantastic 2023.