I feel like I have been humbled and reminded of a more simple, yet thrilling time of my life.

I am brought back to this picture from nearly a decade ago when my husband and I were gutting out the interior and exterior of our first home. We moved into the only room of the house that we had finished with just a mattress, two nightstands and a microwave on the floor while we slowly finished the rest. We were both in the beginning years of our careers and what went from spending time going out with friends, was now going to be date nights in face masks, fixing up our home.

In the Ken Blanchard Situational Leadership terms, we were in the “Enthusiastic Beginner” stage of a new task. Simply put, we didn’t know what we were doing, or where we were going, but we were highly committed and excited about it. Looking back, it was one of my favorite times of my life as we were so happy to be on the brink of such an exciting adventure ahead of us. 

Now we are living in our third house since then with our two kids (2 1/2 year old and 6 month old) and two cats. This year my husband took on new responsibilities at work and my work circumstances changed where I’ve become a stay-at-home mom. Like I said, and for many during these changing times, I feel like I have been transformed back to not only date nights in face masks and spending time fixing up the house, but to being an “Enthusiastic Beginner” in our careers. 

In my transition I have found comfort and control through my passion of organizing, finding opportunities to improve efficiencies, being an engaging mom and self-care. Then I started reorganizing, reassessing, and further elevating until I found that I had enough time available to enjoy my family, keep a well-oiled machine of a house running and begin to support others in doing so as well. I have now spent time organizing others home’s and improving their processes and prioritization to find more time to spend with family, friends, and their favorite things.

Now I’m sitting in a bean bag chair in the playroom, with my baby sleeping on my chest, while my daughter is making me my fourth “no calorie” play pizza… writing my first blog post. It will be shared on my very basic website that I made from watching YouTube videos and searching on Google.

I am nervous, actually a little scared… okay a lot scared. I wasn’t going to make it personal; I was going to share anonymously while I tried it out and was learning. I would have an easier out if I failed. Then my husband told me that I needed to stop questioning myself and that I needed to go all in or not at all. The potential exceeds what could be lost.

So if nothing else, I have successfully achieved creating and posting a blog, and most importantly began learning something completely new to me (which my brain craves). Welcome all to my simple and humble beginning as Efficient She.