Let’s face it. Once you give birth, your brain is never the same. If you’re like me, my memory is one step away from nonfunctioning. So I rely on technology and backup processes to get me through the day. Here is how I set up my tickler system to combat my mommybrain:

Remember the Milk - I have recently started using RTM for my moment by moment tasks. As long as I remember to enter the tasks into the application, I have a nice reminder list with deadlines, priorities and several ways to access it. I can go straight to their web site (rare). I’ve also integrated RTM into my Gmail accounts so my task lists show up on the right hand margin of my Web browser when I’m checking emails. I also have the iPhone app and can reach for my iPhone in the middle of the night and enter To Do’s easily. Yes, I actually do that and find it better than the old paper/pen on the nightstand method. I can also share specific To Do lists with my team using the premium level of RTM.

Google Calendar - I love my Google Apps and my calendar is shared with everyone who needs to get on my schedule. Then I’ve set it up so every calendar entry is emailed to me, sent to me via text and also shows up as a popup on my Web browser 10 minutes before I’m supposed to do something like get on a call. I have also learned to block off travel time on either end of a meeting instead of blocking off only the meeting time so that 10 minute warning is still padded if I have to get in my car to travel someplace.

iCal - I have iCal on my Mac and on my iPhone and for backup reminders when I really, truly cannot forget something, I add one more reminder in my iCal. A little popup comes onto my computer screen and an SMS pings me in addition to the Google Cal ticklers. Extra reenforcements are sometimes warranted, especially when you combine mommybrain with overloaded brain.

Humans - I know I said this was about technology, however, one of the best things I’ve done to help me remember things is to first confess to all my team members that remembering things is not my strong front. I’ve given them permission to nudge me, bug me, pester me and wave shiny objects in front of me in order to get me to do things and remember what I should be doing in the first place. I figured it was better to be honest and to enlist their help in sending me brain ticklers than to frustrate everyone around me because I forgot to do something. When you are mommybrained, you need all the help you can get including a human support network.

These methods may sound extreme, however, they are a reflection of how truly lacking my memory has become so rather than fight it, I have to acknowledge it and put solutions in place. The only thing I need now are reminders to remind me to enter my reminders!

What is your method for reminding yourself of important things? What technologies do you use?

Is multitasking really the most effective way to get more done? Problogger, Gina Blitstein, explores the phenomenon with Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of, The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World.

As busy people, it often seems there’s not enough of us to go around and there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything we need to do done. In an attempt to tackle a seemingly endless list of things to do and attend to, we take on more and more at once. Many women even wear their ability to multitask as a badge, awarded in recognition of their ability to juggle numerous responsibilities and tasks simultaneously. While we employ multitasking as a way to accomplish more in less time, does this strategy actually help us do that?

Author Christine Holbaum says, “Science has long since proven that multitasking is a myth. According to neuroscientific research headed by David Meyer at the University of Michigan, the brain cannot concentrate on two comparably difficult tasks at one time. What actually happens in the executive lobe of our brains is task switching. It takes a great deal of energy and focus for your brain to switch back and forth, yet so many of us attempt to multitask every day.” When our thoughts and emotions are divided between several things, no one of them is getting the attention it deserves. Not to mention that multitasking is physically and emotionally draining! We all know that when we feel drained, we have a diminished capacity to make our sharpest decisions.

In short, declares Christine, “Multitasking does not make you more efficient. It simply makes you more exhausted.” She suggests the following tips for stopping the multitasking madness:

• Eliminate distractions. At the workplace in particular, we are often distracted by externalities such as the radio playing, someone else talking loudly on the phone, unsolicited instant messages from people or simply the Internet itself. Close all the applications you don’t need to work on the task at hand. You’d be surprised how quickly you can finish that report when you’ve not intermittently updated your social media pages in the process!

• Prioritize. It sounds simple, yet it is challenging for many to stick to their plan. Once you’ve eliminated some of the common distractions in your workspace, set priorities. If you dread finishing that assignment, but know it is due first, break it down into bite-sized chunks. Tell yourself you will work on it for five minutes and allow yourself a break if you need it. Pretty soon you’ll be in the flow of things and forget how much time has gone by. It is a great way to offset procrastination. Reward yourself for the good job done such as having your favorite hot beverage or a visit to your favorite card shop in between. It will help you stay motivated and focused.

• Take time-outs. Everyone’s focus wanes at some point in the day. Remember to take mini-breaks every now and then.

It seems the key to true productivity lies in your focus. Juggling seems to be an apropos way to illustrate the ineffectiveness of multitasking. The goal of juggling is to narrow your focus. Even though there’s seemingly a lot going on, the juggler’s steely focus is on catching just one item at a time, albeit quickly. If the juggler had to catch all the items at once, he would drop them all! Clearly then, the answer to accomplishing more is to focus on one thing at a time.

Multitasking is madness! When it leaves us overwhelmed, exhausted and still overworked, multitasking is sabotaging rather than reinforcing our best efforts at productivity. Let’s try a fresher, kinder, more focused approach to tasks and see if we can tackle our to-dos without becoming a slave to the multitasking myth.

Are you ready to dispel the myth of multitasking by taking on your tasks one-on-one?

When I got married, I told my husband that I didn’t want to change my name for my professional work but that I’d use his name along with my name for my personal life (but NO hyphen). This was 2004, not the 1700s, so I felt that a combined last name was appropriate and acceptable. But I simply refused to give up my maiden name in my work. Why did I have to anyway?

Much to my surprise, my husband asked about taking my last name along with his.

“I never liked my middle name much,” he said then after I said what a great idea I thought it was, he called my dad to ask his permission to carry on the Sherman name. My dad - who only has two daughters - cried because he was so touched.

So my husband went through all the legal rigamarole to add my last name to his including putting an ad in a newspaper and going before a judge. By 2005, both of us had the legal last name of Sherman Risdahl.

Then my next book came out. I decided to use Aliza Risdahl for short.

And suddenly, my new book could not be found under a search for Aliza Sherman. Of course it couldn’t. What was I thinking? At the time, you couldn’t even find it on Amazon.com although since then I was able to get all of my books to be connected to any combination of my names.

Then there was email. People I had been doing business with over the years no longer were getting my emails because either their spam blocker grabbed them or they didn’t recognize Risdahl and trashed them without opening them.

Google wasn’t happy about my name change either. if you put in my new full name, all of the decades-worth of search results suddenly disappeared from view. It was as if taking my husband’s last name instantly wiped out 10 years of hard work to establish my name in my industry and to make my name easily findable online.

What do you do when you spend a decade building your brand and suddenly you change your brand name?

Even though fundamentally nothing else has changed in business, you are suddenly an unknown or at least an unfamiliar entity.

I was pretty upset by this situation, to say the least. While I love my husband and love being his wife and connected with him, he knew I was hard pressed to give up my career. Then again, he may have known it in theory, but in practice he didn’t really want to accept it. He acted disappointed each time he saw my maiden name in any business context, and I’d have to remind him why I was using it.

Of course, I wanted to please him, but I had also learned some hard lessons about always trying to please someone else and ignoring your own needs. That doesn’t work for anybody involved.

Over time, he mentioned my maiden name showing up in places less and less. I’m not sure if he has gotten used to it or simply gave up on the issue. He knows I love him, and I make a point to use his name or our double last name everywhere else and our daughter uses his name or our double last name as well.

Did you take your husband’s last name, add it to yours, hyphenate or keep your own? Why did you choose to do what you did?

Problogger, Gina Blitstein, discusses the mind-body connection and offers up ways to promote harmony by balancing mind and body.

Stress is a fact of life, whether you’re a CEO, parent, student or all of the above. Stress can be felt in your mind and in your body too. Ideally, your mind and body are in sync, helping each other get through the challenges of the day. When the body and mind are not working in harmony, both suffer.

"Finding ways to keep your sanity and balance in life is necessary for a happy mind and healthy body." says Renee Rayles, author of The Super, Sexy, Single Mom on a Budget . Renee practices "Me Time" every day in order to stay balanced in her busy life. She suggests the following practices:

• Journaling , writing a gratitude journal that will help you focus on the positive aspects of your life.
• Yoga.
• Take a long, hot bath with candles and wine.
• A girls’ night out if not every weekend then every other weekend to let loose and catch up with your girls!

Renee’s philosophy inspired me to think about how I deal with stress. When I imagine feeling my best, I immediately think of the importance of strength and vitality. Maintaining the feeling that I am able to take on the challenges of my life requires a daily commitment. I try to take care of myself physically through living a healthy lifestyle which includes eating well and getting enough exercise. I’m no fanatic about it by any stretch of the imagination but the fact remains that the more diligent I am at caring for my health, the better I feel.

The second – and equally vital - component of feeling my best is keeping my mind in good shape. Since I tend to live in my head, I find my thoughts are commonly a barrier to accomplishing what I want to do. Sometimes my body seems to go one way and my mind another! Fortunately, I have discovered something that helps me keep both body and mind in more harmonious coexistence: The practice of yoga.

Simply defined, yoga is a collection of movements which stretch the entire body, leading to increased flexibility and strength. Through practice of the poses, the mind is released from outward distraction as concentration is focused inward on the physical effort required of the poses. Thus yoga forges a connection between the body and the mind. Repeating the poses reinforces this mind-body connection, so that over time the two communicate with increasing ease.

It is an absolutely liberating experience to become so engrossed in a pose that you forget to worry or ruminate or plan! Yoga teaches the skill of living in the moment, which is a healthy thing for someone who prides herself on being the ‘Planner Extraordinaire!’ It’s a great way to find balance in my life between the me who “does” and the me who “is.”

The most valuable aspect of yoga for me is that it is a process – or journey. There is no competition; no winning or losing. It is strictly between me and my body. The point is that you practice the pose not that you achieve the pose. The point is the striving toward and releasing yourself – body and mind – into the pose. With each attempt, your body gives in more freely and with increased confidence. The only things to master are the physical and mental connections within yourself.

Many people consider that connection of the physical and mental a spiritual experience. For me there’s no better way of creating, celebrating and nurturing my inner and outer strength and vitality. Neither my body or mind can be strong if they aren’t working in unison.

Yoga teacher and founder of Iyengar Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar, had this to say about the benefits of yoga, “Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.”

Could yoga be a way for you to conquer stress in your mind and body?