Well mommas, the end of the first quarter of 2018 is under our belts and I must say, personally, it hasn’t been the best one on record.  In fact, if Saliba and Company were a publicly traded business, we’d probably be apologizing to our investors right about now and hiring a publicist for damage control.  I can just see the headline now……

        “SalibaCo falls drastically short on first quarter expectations. Company stock valuation expected to plummet.”

Before we dive in to the detail on this matter, I will admit that I’m extremely self-critical and a bit of a perfectionist.  I have to work really really hard at accepting things I cannot change and learning to deal daily with the natural disaster paths left by 3 young children. I am also a victim of sometimes biting off way more than I can chew and end up having to juggle several projects simultaneously.  My life is not meant to be lived idly, I don’t have that gear in my driveshaft. 

So on with the quarterly report………

“Initial reports pointed to the positive.  Yearly expectations were outlined and a plan to execute (in theory) was in place.  Then, the Memphis Moms Blog January blog post deadline came and went and the blog entitled “My Plan for an Intentional Year…” still sits, to this day, in draft mode on the flash drive.  Wholly incomplete.  Attempting to put words to paper psyched out the company “vice-president” enough that she decided to abandon the entire concept.  Words like “vision boards” and “seasons” or “manifestation exercises,”  or just about any other psycho-babble-nonsense goes against the core of our family business; chaos seems to be the norm. Chaos is the company status quo.”

Let's take a closer look at the Key Performance Indicators that show this “company” is in turmoil this quarter:

• Overwhelming number of Capital Improvement projects. The sheer number of improvement and expansion projects is unmanageable.  Upper management has outlined an overly aggressive list of projects to accomplish at one time.  Tackling any of these has proven to be almost impossible do to given time and monetary constraints.
• Failure to complete and follow through with family nutritional strategy. The overall plan to create a monthly menu for the company to follow fell short of expectations.  Taking the guesswork out of meal planning sounded like a grand plan; however, the menu never came together and the project was abandoned.  In fact the “employees” have eaten cereal for dinner twice this week alone. 
• Inability to adhere to earlier operation hours. Leadership planned earlier operation hours to allow for a more smooth transition into the work day. The plans to open 30 minutes earlier on weekdays have fallen woefully short on expectations. The snooze button has been used in excess these first 3 months of 2018. 
• Unsuccessful promotion of a positive workplace environment. The employees, at times, have endured rants and loud verbal assaults from upper management.  The attempt to curtail yelling in the office has been a complete failure.  Management attributes the bellowing out at employees as a side effect of stress, at the upper level, due to mountains and mountains of laundry that overwhelm the business on a constant basis.
• Underlying economic conditions persist. The company, as a whole, experienced unforeseen expenses at the end of Q4 2017. These additional out of pocket expenses have caused ownership to halt any anticipated expansion and improvement efforts in Q1 2018.

Company Outlook

On a negative note, employee morale is at an all-time low, while time-outs, eye rolling, and back-talk seems to be at an all-time high. Employees complain about unfair working conditions including: poor snack choices, less screen time, too many baths, and excessive teeth brushing requests.  Stress to keep up with the obnoxious amounts of laundry is crippling the people in upper positions in the company.  Laundry, household sanitation, shopping, and meal preparation require full time attention.  The administration is unable to fill the opening at this time.

Positively, looking ahead, management is aware of the issues facing the company and is in the process of making changes in the organization as a whole.  Company-wide meetings will be held this week to discuss changes needed from all parties to correct the downward shift in morale and hopefully correct some immediate issues.  Here is hoping that the company can pull together and self-correct downline.

In Conclusion:

I know you’re asking why I wrote this somewhat silly post about my year so far. Well, because looking at it this way helps me not to be so hard on myself.  Taking this perspective of our year helped me look at where I was going wrong and hopefully how to make some positive changes for the next 3 months.  Admitting shortcomings and analyzing behaviors from this perspective seemed helpful and it actually was. Here is what I found out about myself through this post:

• Long, completely exhaustive “to do” lists or project lists is overwhelming to me. I need to pick a short list of accomplishable tasks that lead up to the completion of something on the “Master List”. 
• I can’t take on more than I can take on. It’s just that simple. There were a few days recently that I was not only going from day to day but from hour to hour trying to keep up with the demands of parenting, work, family, and everything else. Getting back to the basics of a physical planner that I hold in my hand seems to work best. Pencil to paper; it’s that basic.
• Waking up earlier does make a difference. I decided to make a real honest effort to get up just 20 minutes earlier and it made our mornings so much smoother.  Now, lost shoes and the neglecting to teeth hygiene are going to continue if I get up 20 minutes or 2 hours earlier.  No magic wand will fix that. But it is better!