They say the first step is admitting you have a problem… My name is Lisa, I am a multi-tasker.  Is there a rushing rehab? A retreat for multi-tasking mavens?  Or do you just have to go cold turkey?

I have taken multi-tasking to new and embarrassing heights.  I knew something had to give the day my daughter discovered me getting ready one morning with a blow dryer in one hand, iphone in the other and my laptop on the counter.  The look of horror on her face told me reviewing spread sheets, conducting a conference call and drying my hair simultaneously was not normal. I decided enough was enough, and I was actually going to make changes.

They say if you want something done, give to a busy woman. Well, let’s stop saying that!

Women can do it all, and far too often we do. I have learned to delegate, and learned to say no–the hardest thing for women to do.

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

I just heard that internet searches for “spring cleaning” are up over 183%.  I am not surprised.    I think a lot of us are ready for a fresh start.  And our closet is a great place to begin!

I’m a gal that loves order and organization. For me the bliss of spring cleaning is not just about getting to organize my home, but also donating the things we don’t need. I am a firm believer that as we let go of the old, we open the door to receive the new. Try giving away things with an abundant attitude and watch what happens!

Whenever I clean out my closet I do so with a happy heart, because I know each and every piece of clothing and pair of shoes is going to be put to good use.  No need to cringe when deciding whether or not to give up that perfectly new sweater you never wear.  Find a great charity in your area and spread the joy.

Free yourself of old baggage—literally and figuratively—that may be hanging around in your closets.  I promise you’ll find it liberating!

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

The way we spend our time is ultimately the way we spend our lives.

What do you always think about doing, but don’t actually do?

What does your heart desire? Have you always wanted to run a marathon, take a trip to the land of your ancestors, take a photography class, learn to speak another language, plant a garden, write your history, or volunteer at a local charity?

Commit to making this be the year you actually do it! The reality is we make time for whatever is truly important to us. If it is really a priority we find, carve out, and create the time.

The way we spend our time is a reflection of our priorities. How will you be spending your time?

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

One of the things that was really important to me after starting my first business was continuing to eat dinner together every night as a family. During the early years it was a real challenge and we had to get very creative. We literally moved our kitchen table down to the office. We also ate out a lot—okay more than a lot. You know you haven’t cooked in a while when you yell, “come and eat,” and the kids all jump in the car. But to us it wasn’t nearly as important what or where we ate, as it was that we ate together.

Early on, my incredibly-ahead-of-her-time mother-in-law taught me one of the most valuable lessons on this subject: use paper plates. Linda used paper plates at almost every meal except Sunday dinner—and even then sometimes she would just whip out the Chinet. At first I thought this was a bit odd and frankly uneconomical, even a little indulgent, but after I had my own children I realized just how smart this woman was. I can’t begin to tell you how much of my sanity has been saved by paper plates. (And before I get letters about my wastefulness, please keep in mind we recycle, and all of the water I am saving by not running the dishwasher everyday!)

Seriously, paper plates are a mainstay at our house. I will never forget my then seven-year-old daughter Harlie coming home from having dinner at a friend’s house and reporting that “it was really strange… Lauren’s Mom ironed the napkins and then we had to eat off these hard plates. I didn’t like it.” I tried to explain that some people do things differently than we do and that is okay. But Harlie still couldn’t figure out why in the world you would spend so much time cooking dinner, ironing napkins, and then washing dishes. She was baffled that Lauren’s mom not only cooked so many different foods (think four-course meal), but that she also took the cuisine out of the pots and pans and served them in entirely different bowls. After years of seeing the spaghetti go straight from the stove top to the table at our house, this was simply beyond her comprehension.

Of course hearing this, I immediately started thinking that I was a terrible mom. However, immediately it was what Harlie said next that put things back into perspective for me. She said “All Lauren’s Mom did was work in the kitchen, and when we asked her to play Uno with us she couldn’t because she had all of those dishes to wash.” As quickly as my mind went down the path of unfit mother I realized that, in my child’s world, having time to play a card game together was far more important than what was being served and what it was being served on! It also dawned on me that for my daughter paper plates were (and are) just “normal.”

The point is adults should take lessons from children on adaptability. Kids are amazingly resilient and don’t have nearly as many expectations as we adults do.

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

For a long time, I was really just a two dimensional person. It was all about work and family.  For many years it stayed that way.  I had to cut out just about everything else. But I think I am wiser now.  I am trying to find more balance in my life.

I always thought of balance as a state of peace and stillness. However, I have a new concept of what balance means now. I believe that balance is really more like walking on a balance beam. You’re always making little movements here and there to stay centered and stay on the beam. You’re never completely still.

I understand there will never be such a thing as perfect balance in my life.  Instead, I’m constantly re-adjusting my schedule and shifting my priorities.

As long as we keep finding our center, making small adjustments, and walking the straight and narrow I think we are going to stay on the beam.

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

A while ago I was searching all over my house for a certificate I needed to find.  It was an important document so I thought it might be in the safe.  Yet as I started pulling everything out of the safe, I had to laugh.  What is in my safe wasn’t legal papers or fancy jewelry.  My safe is filled with photo albums and old home movies.

It’s something my husband has teased me about for years.  We have ended up with bigger and bigger safes so I could fit more and more pictures and things of sentimental value—not monetary value, but irreplaceable items.

So as I searched for this document, which alas wasn’t even in the safe, I had the pleasure of looking at old photos and flipping through the pages of baby books and such.

The things in my safe are the items I most treasure and want to protect.  For those are the things that represent what truly matter to me.

What do you value and what to keep safe?

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

I always wanted to be the best mom in the world – but I’ve rarely been able to live up to that standard.  When my daughter Harlie was in fifth grade and my son Bridger was in kindergarten, I gave birth to a new business.  I had so much going on – kids, husband, home, and now, a start-up. What I didn’t have was sleep!

It was late October and I was scrambling to get ready for my first serious busy season at work. Bridger’s teacher had scheduled a Halloween party for his class. Since I am not Martha Stewart, rather than sew Bridger’s Halloween costume, I ordered it from a catalog. On the day of the party I got Bridger all dressed up in his tights, bright orange round pumpkin and matching stem hat.  He looked adorable. We raced out the door and I dropped him off at school on my way to the office.

I had only been at work for about five minutes when I received a phone call – it was the school. Bridger was on the phone in tears.    “Mom, you had the wrong day!” he sobbed. “The Halloween party is tomorrow!” He was the only child at school in a costume. He had been hiding in the bathroom when his teacher found him. Now I was in tears, too.

I made the “drive of shame” home to get Bridger’s school uniform and then back to the school so he could change. I’ll never forget this angry little boy – dressed like a pumpkin – waiting for me when I got back to the school. The look on his face still haunts me and I cringe when I think about it – a “bad mother” day, for sure!

Excerpt from my new book Oil for Your Lamp, order your copy at  www.simpletruths.com

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

I have been asked more times than I can count lately why in the world I would ever sell Femail Creations.  Having spent the better part of fifteen years building up a business with my heart     and soul, how could I ever sell it and move on?

“To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.” –  Mother Teresa

My mission and passion haven’t changed—to inspire and make a difference.  However, I have learned, as Mother Teresa says,  I must keep putting oil in my lamp.  In order to teach women how to put oil in their lamps I have to pay attention to my own flashing low oil indicator light.

As excerpted from my new book Oil For Your Lamp…

“Over the last forty years, research studies have shown that women’s overall level of happiness has dropped.  This decline in happiness has no connection to whether or not we have kids, how healthy we are, what career we choose, what our income is, how old we are, or whether we are single or divorced.  The bottom line is: Women are loosing ground on the happiness scale. I think it’s because we are out of oil.

Over the years as my dream of empowering and inspiring women and girls expanded and grew, and so too did the time and energy required to fulfill that dream.  As many entrepreneurs can relate, the “start up years” last far longer than can be imagined.  I have joked that owning your own business means you can set your own hours—yep, you get to pick any 18 hours a day you want to work!

Rarely did I ever take a real day off.  Even when I took a “vacation” the laptop, cell phone and work came with me.  As the owner of the company I was never off duty.  After almost a decade like this true exhaustion set in and health challenges were mounting.  My body started refusing to comply with this inhumane schedule.

I wish I could report to you that as soon as my body spoke up, I listened. I want to tell you I wised up and started to take better care of myself.  But that would be a lie.  I am ashamed to admit while I was telling other women to nurture themselves, I was spreading myself far too thin.

The passion to help other women was stronger than the call to help myself and I unwisely started another business.  Yet even with the best infrastructure in place and devoting endless hours to the new business it became a financial and emotional bottomless pit. It had finally depleted every once of energy I had left.  It was a wake up call for me.

We all have to start with ourselves.  It was time to walk my talk.  I had to get serious about putting oil into my very depleted lamp.  I began a journey of making very difficult decisions.  I started removing things from my life that were not filing up my cup and adding things that brought joy back into my life.  Some changes were sweeping, other changes were small. I started cooking again and I started writing more books, something I rarely had time for with my old work schedule.  I tended to my garden, weeding out the draining things, and planting more of the things that replenished my spirit.

It wasn’t easy for me to admit how far off track I had gotten.  After all it was my mission in life to inspire and empower other women, and here I was failing at that for myself.   However, the gift of burn out, and a soul crying out for OIL, finally snapped even me out of it.”

To purchase your copy of Oil For Your Lamp visit  www.simpletruths.com

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

The other day I was searching for a photo for a new picture frame I’d just bought. I sorted through dozens of vacation snapshots—the ones I keep telling myself I will some day put in adorable scrapbooks—but for now they sit in shoe boxes.

As I poured over the pictures I had a few good laughs going down memory lane. The good times, the bad times, and the  what-were-you-thinking clothes and haircuts.

Then I found the unthinkable—an old picture of me in a bikini!  My husband had managed to snap a full-length shot of me on the beach. I was instantly transported back to that day almost 20 years ago. I vividly remembered changing swimming suits three or four times that morning trying to find one I thought best hid my love handles.

As I thought back about the morning, and how self-conscious I felt about wearing a bikini, I feel really stupid. Because you know what—that mother of two looked just fine. And yet I wasted precious energy and time stressing out over my not perfect body. What an idiot!

Twenty years later I would love to have that body back. That very same body I anguished over back then!  It was a real ah-ha moment for me. Twenty years from now I will most likely wish I had the body back that I have today.

The reality is even the women we think have perfect bodies aren’t content. We are ALL spending way too much time on if-only. If only I wasn’t sagging here or there.  If only I didn’t have stretch marks. If only I didn’t have these saddle bags.

The moral of the story is… love the body you have RIGHT NOW.

Think of all the energy we waste worrying about wrinkles, cellulite, belly pouch and gray hair. Does it really matter? NO. Never was that more clear than when I stared at that photo from two decades ago and lamented over the time and energy lost worrying about nothing. I vowed right then and there to spend my time appreciating health and well being instead of berating myself over silly things like stretch marks.

Let’s start today loving and accepting ourselves—lumps and all.

I challenge you to give yourself the gift of perspective. Go get out an old photo of yourself. Remember what you worried about back then… Not so bad, huh. So be gentler with the body you have today.

Don’t waste another minute of your precious time worrying about cellulite! That is what self-tanner is for. Ha!

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

I was chatting with a friend yesterday who was at the end of her rope.   She said she felt like she was clinging to her last shred of sanity.  We have all been there at one point or another.    As she was sharing her feelings of exasperation it dawned on me that men never seem to feel like they are going “crazy” when they are overwhelmed?  They innately realize what they need is a break, not a break down.

“Over the years, I have often called my dear sister, my lifeline, when I felt like I was crossing the line between sane and crazy—when I thought my own nervous breakdown was imminent.  Every time I reached out to her, she reminds me—over and over again—that I can check into a five-star hotel, order room service, and get a massage every day for a week for a helluva lot less money than what it costs to check into a sanitarium. She should know! She is still trying to pay off her medical bills from her a stay in the psych ward and she says she would have been better off at a resort. She jokes that all she got was bad hospital food, scratchy sheets and poor counseling.

So whenever I am so stressed out I feel like I am teetering on the edge of sanity, I call my lifeline—she reminds me there is a reason so many women feel like they are about to have a nervous breakdown: they need a break. And she gives me permission to take one.”

That was an excerpt from my new book, Oh Thank Goodness, It’s Not Just Me. Available  www.Simple Truths.com

Women, you are not alone!  We share so many of the same feelings and experiences.

A trip to the stress-free beach beats a trip in a straight jacket any day!

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

This is the year I am going to stop fighting nature… I am apparently born to be a bad packer. I have spent a lifetime trying to master the art of packing. I really want to be one of those people who can show up with a small carry-on bag for a 5-day business trip.  Alas, valiant efforts and hundreds of thousands of frequent-flier miles later, I am still a bad packer.

So I am surrendering!  I am giving in to my bad packing ways. This year I am going to embrace my inner over-packing self.  I am going to check in my luggage–filled with too many shoes and too many clothing options, and I am just going to relax and smile when they give me that judgmental look and tell me they need to weigh my bag. I am going to stop stressing out about trying to be a good packer and continue to over-pack—with abandon and joy!

Once I made this life-changing decision, the metaphorical weight of trying to be a good packer was lifted, and the literal weight of my suitcase increased.   I am oh-so liberated!  Now when I get my bag out to get ready for a trip, I no longer kid myself that this will be the trip I leave with only a carry-on bag.  I no longer stress out about it, I simply pack what I want and stop worrying about it.  Freedom!

It got me thinking about all of the things we continually try to change about ourselves.  I have no doubt I lost months of my life while trying to blow-dry my naturally curly hair as a teenager back when Farah’s straight, smooth locks were all the rage.

What areas of your life could you just release and accept?  Perhaps we should stop fighting our quirks and accept them as part of our endearing nature?  What are you going to surrender to?

Loving my liberation!

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

So many of us are counting down the days until 2009 is over, eager to greet a new year with new hope.  If 2009 has you feeling like you’ve been hit by a train, I offer up Hartley’s words of wisdom for us all.

I met Hartley last year while I was on a trip with a group of friends. Early on in the trip, I was at the hotel in the midst of arranging a taxi to pick us all up at a certain time the next morning and trying to find out about a ferry schedule. Okay, I was being my organized type A self when a man named Hartley stepped in. I explained to him I wanted to make sure we arrived at our next destination on time. He just smiled. I tried to clarify that I really needed to know what time we would need to get the taxi to pick us up in order to arrive at the ferry on time. Hartley smiled again and told me not to be in such a rush.

Hartley just kept saying we should fear not. Fear not?

My friends and I ended up talking to Hartley for almost an hour. He gave us quite a lesson in life. A sermon really. Hartley talked to us about the way it is back in his country of Dominica and how much slower and gentler things are. Fear not he preached. It will all work out. Slow down and take time to enjoy life more. Don’t worry so much he said. Learn to fear not.

The rest of the trip was pretty much a series of disastrous events—let’s just say there was plenty to be afraid of on this trip—but we listened to Hartley, feared not and laughed a lot instead!

I have decided with the fresh start of a new year on the horizon I am going to be following the wise words of Hartley the bellman and take this life lesson with me into the New Year. I am going to slow down, take a few breaths, enjoy life more.

Sounds like a great mantra for a new decade, Fear Not.

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

This year I was going to deck the halls, hand-write holiday greetings and actually mail them, make sugar cookies from scratch, and finish all of my shopping before Thanksgiving. Ha!

That didn’t happen.

About this time each year I think most women basically have our hair on fire. There is just so much to do!  The sense of overwhelm is well…overwhelming.  Can you relate?

And by the way what is the deal with Santa Claus getting all the credit?  We know darn well that in most cases it’s Madame Claus that is doing most of the work!

It is the season for giving after all, so let’s try giving ourselves a break.
 How about this holiday season instead all the “should’s” and “have-to’s” on our list we cut ourselves some slack?  Instead of super-sizing our work load this time of year, I dare you to down-size it!   Besides the smaller the tree the bigger the presents will look!

The best gift of all is taking it easy on ourselves. Here’s to actually enjoying the holiday season.

Cheers!

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

I have always been the one to say age is only a number.   My birthdays have never mattered to me.  I have decided that it isn’t actually my birthday but rather my kid’s birthdays that have started making me feel old.

I had managed, thus far, without much fuss to have several birthdays, crossing the threshold of four decades just fine.  However, as my children cross into their second decade, for some reason now the birthdays are starting to hit me—their birthdays!

Well after over two decades of the proverbial kids blaming everything on the parents, I get to blame something on them for a change—it’s their fault I am starting to feel old!   Ha!

My Dad always laughs and says; “I don’t understand how I can have kids turning 50 when I am only 49!”  His favorite joke is finally starting to make sense to me.

Let them eat cake!

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®

Funny as it sounds, I’m a big believer in the power of procrastination. I used to spend a lot of time agonizing over projects I was dreading. That alone was a waste of time. Now, when I don’t feel like looking at spreadsheets or some other less appealing part of my business, I throw myself into something else as mundane as cleaning out a closet. Some of my most productive moments happen when I’m in procrastination mode. You would be amazed at how much you can get done when you are trying to avoid doing something else.

Next time you have a project that you are dreading move on to something else you have been putting off.  If you have been thinking about organizing the spice cupboard in your kitchen for months but never seem to have the time, move that to the top of your list when you are trying to procrastinate doing your quarterly taxes.  Then get your quarterly taxes done when you are procrastinating scheduling your annual pap smear.  See how effective this method is!  Eventually everything gets done because there is always something worse than the next thing!

Just when you think that spreadsheet is looking bad there is always a root canal waiting around the corner!  Ah, the power of procrastination!

Lisa Hammond
The Barefoot CEO ®