If you did a search of my calendar right now for the words "due date", you'd get way more results than normal. It feels like so many people I care about are having babies soon! It's caused me to reflect on what I wish I had known, and what I was glad that others told me when we were preparing for welcoming our first child into the world just three years ago.

As one of my friends says, "I have a children's book problem." It is one of the biggest contributors to my Amazon Prime problem (I'm not the only one, right?).

Management is a practice. It requires intention to do well. Some people are more naturally talented at coaching and supporting others, but none of us is going to be a truly excellent manager by winging it. Putting in systems is an important start.

You connect it to your social account (I have mine connected to Instagram) and they automatically turn those photos into a book as soon as 60 photos get collected. If you use my referral link, you get your first book free.

Here's how we've reduced the overwhelming number of toys while helping our kids practice being generous with those in need.

We signed up on the OhmConnect website last fall and since then they've paid us $218 for doing almost nothing.

I love changing up the decor in our home for the seasons and at holidays, but I don't have a lot of time or storage space to hold a huge amount of seasonal decorations. So, for the last few years, I’ve been finding a way to meet both needs by using free printables that I find online in inexpensive frames that we’ve collected over the years.

Our travel plans have increased in complexity in the last three years with the addition of two more humans to the family. Even though they are small, the amount of planning and stuff required for them is immense. I joke with my parent friends often that these are "trips", not to be confused with "vacations". I hear that when kids get older they like to sleep in; I'll believe that when I see it. Our toddler and preschooler have yet to get that memo.

A few months ago, I asked in a Facebook group in which I participate if people could share ideas and policy language for practices that organizations and companies can put in place to make their workplaces more equitable and family-friendly ("family", in this case, defined very broadly). Here's what I found.

In the midst of the busy lives we lead, taking time to clean things up, freshen systems, and invest in future ease can be challenging. Every professional should make time to take a week (or even just a few days) every year to “polish” their systems, which will pay major dividends in your productivity for the rest of the year. 

At my organization, we pride ourselves on doing what we say we are going to do. A big part of living up to that value is to be great at setting an ambitious vision for impact and then doing the day-to-day work to realize that vision. Below are practices I have seen our best project managers bring to their work on a consistent basis.

We all know that getting and giving good feedback to our colleagues and volunteers is a critical part of running successful organizations and winning our campaigns. It’s important to offer feedback regularly in our work – sometimes daily and weekly – to our colleagues. But we all know that structures can support us to be better than we might be without them.