We’re halfway through the first month of the New Year. How are you doing with your fresh start and goal setting, planning, new habits, or resolutions? Making time to set goals, write them down, and implement them is integral to how some function. However, for many of us, planning is elusive, or our intentions quickly get derailed.

Does this sound familiar? You want more organization and less clutter, so you commit to decluttering and organizing your entire house. While the goal is doable, it’s so big that you feel overwhelmed and unmotivated. You give up and go down that negative self-talk path. What if you had the right support to help you clarify what is most important, create a doable way to reach your goals, and provide accountability and advice? Can you feel the big exhale?  

It’s all about surrounding yourself with people that will help you thrive. Marcy Stoudt, the founder of The Executive Mom Nest, understands the value of teams. She launched The Nest, an exclusive network of women whose vision of success includes career, family, and self. The Nest is a unique and trusting community for new moms to explore ideas, ask for feedback, and seek advice. Members have access to Advisors in diverse industries, including marketing, finance, design, nutrition, life coaching, and organization.

“Surround yourself with people that will help you thrive.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

I’m thrilled that Marcy invited me to join the Executive Mom Nest as their Professional Organizer Advisor. To celebrate the New Year, The Nest has an incredible giveaway that I’m participating in, and excited to share with you. 

Fabulous ‘New Year, New Me’ Giveaway

Giveaway Description:

The Executive Mom Nest’s ‘New Year, New Me’ giveaway provides you with support and guidance to become the best version of yourself as a mom, businesswoman, and mompreneur. It’s a chance to close the gap between who you are and who you want to be. Bring harmony to your career and home.

Prizes: 

The giveaway winner will receive three amazing prizes from Nest Advisors:

• A one-hour virtual organizing session with Oh, So Organized!, and a signed copy of the book, The Other Side of Organized – courtesy of Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

• A business introduction video paired with branded graphics for social media – courtesy of Branded Interviews, Alison Nissen

• A one-hour executive coaching session with Marcy Stoudt – courtesy of Revel Coach

Rules for Entry:

• Follow Executive Mom Nest on Instagram.

• Tag three friends in the comments on the Giveaway post.

• Get a bonus entry if you share the post to your Instagram Story.

• The giveaway closes on January 22, 2021, and the winner will be contacted shortly after.

How are you doing with your New Year plans? Have you taken on any new projects or goals this year? Have you run into any snags? Who is on your success team? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation by adding your comments below, and pop over to Instagram to enter The Executive Mom Nest giveaway.

When we need help, we don't always think about building a team. It’s more common to think that we can or should do everything ourselves. Maybe we consider enlisting help from one person, but a team? Not so much.

In the last few years, I've realized the importance of building teams that are invested in a single purpose. While we can accomplish a lot on our own, creating a team can greatly influence the outcome and experience in positive ways. Teams have many advantages that include reducing stress, boosting creativity, increasing fun and providing emotional support. The teams I focused on building in the last two years were Team Wilma and Team ICD.

Team Wilma

Wilma is my mom and has vascular dementia. She's always been fiercely independent, so the idea of enlisting help has never been one of her strengths. She was the person that helped others, which is something I admired and found inspiring.

At a point it became clear that I needed to gather a team of people, affectionately named, Team Wilma, to help us navigate life with the changes happening because of her illness. Keeping her safe, healthy, and happy have been our top priorities. Without family, friends, caregivers, medical professionals, and household vendors, this would be have been daunting to manage. I am so grateful for all the people that love my mom and are part of Team Wilma.

Team ICD

Building Team ICD was one of the first priorities when I became ICD (Institute for Challenging Disorganization) President in 2014. I knew that without our current, incoming Board and management team working together, we were going to have a difficult time accomplishing our many initiatives. We invested in getting to know each others' strengths, doing team building exercises, strengthening communication, and working towards shared goals to benefit ICD.

On July 1st, I handed the baton to Sue West, the current ICD President. I'll remain on the Board (team) for another year as Immediate Past President, but it will be Sue that will lead us. It was a wonderful feeling to pass on this strong, well-meshed team.

All teams require effort, patience, nurturing, and adjustments. Sometimes team members get added or subtracted. Each member adds value. The key is harnessing that value and making each member feel appreciated and essential.

As you think about getting organized, are you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated? Are you trying to do everything on your own? Maybe it's time to build your team...Team Organize! Who will be the fantastic members of your team? Will you enlist help from friends, family and professional organizers? Will you need donation resources or removal professionals? Will you enlist additional emotional support from a therapist or coach? Going it alone is possible, but building a team of people that are focused on a common goal to help you can make all the difference.

Who will you include on Team Organize? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

Given that it’s the era of iPhone, iPad, iThis and iThat, I thought that it would be interesting to add a few more iThings to the list. How about iHelp and iAskforhelp? These are very different yet equally important. We tend to lean more heavily towards one “i” than the other. Which direction do you gravitate towards?

Let’s dig deeper by asking some questions.

iHelp

• When was the last time you helped someone?

• Was it months ago? Years ago?

• Was it today or yesterday?

• Were you asked to help or did you volunteer to help?

• How often do you find yourself in the helping mode?

• Who do you help? Do you help family, friends, colleagues, or clients?

• What are the benefits you receive from helping others? 

“It’s impossible to do everything ourselves.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

iAskforhelp

• When was the last time you asked for help?

• Do you freely ask for help?

• Do you feel guilty asking others for assistance?

• Do you feel like things will get done better, faster, or more efficiently if you do them yourself?

• When you aren’t sure about the next step, do you procrastinate or reach out for help?

• What type of help are you most comfortable asking for? Is it for home repairs, life guidance, organizing help, or family care?

• What type of help are you most uncomfortable asking for?

• What prevents you from enlisting help?

• Last time you asked for help, what was the outcome?

• What are the benefits you receive by enlisting help?

While I would like to have a combination of both helping and enlisting help, I’m more often in the helping others mode between clients that are in need of organizing help, coordinating care as my mom ages in place, and my role as President for ICD.

Yet even though I’m often in the iHelp mode, I recognize the value of asking for help. It’s impossible to do everything ourselves. I’m a huge advocate of teams, especially building teams. The energy of a focused group can accomplish way more than the energy of one.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What is your relationship to helping and enlisting help? Come join the conversation!

Letting go lessons can be found in the most unusual places. This past weekend my husband and I traveled to South Carolina to watch our daughter, Cassie, and her teammates (Go QC Boston!) play in the Quidditch World Cup tournament. There were 80 teams from around the country (and Canada, too) vying for the number one spot. In two days the teams played anywhere from 5 to 10 highly energetic and physically taxing games.

All teams had spent many months preparing, practicing, and participating in other Quidditch tournaments. They arrived at World Cup ready for the ultimate challenge to play the best of the best.

This was the lesson. I don’t know if it was like this for all the teams, but for QCB, it was about letting go of the outcome. They approached each game with the best they had. They enjoyed working as a team, supporting one another, staying focused and in the moment. While they played to win, as each game ended, they let go of the outcome and focused on learning more from their wins or losses. It was quite extraordinary to witness.

How often do we invest so heavily in an outcome that we miss the joy that’s part of the process? Maybe we’re so concerned with the outcome that we prevent ourselves from potential learning and growth.

“How often do we invest so heavily in an outcome that we miss the joy that’s part of the process?”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How does letting go of the outcome change your perspective?