Inside the Mind of CEO Super Mom, Pamela Redmond Satran (CEO of Nameberry & Author of Younger) – A Special Mother’s Day Edition
In honor of Mother’s Day, we couldn’t be happier to shine the BrainHacker’s spotlight on CEO Super Mom, Pamela Redmond Satran. If you are unfamiliar with the name Pamela Redmond, you will certainly recognize her brand and projects. There is a great chance you have browsed her website Nameberry, read one of her many popular novels, or seen the hit TV show Younger(based on her novel).
In short, Pamela is the ultimate mompreneur and we were lucky enough to sit down and pick her brain as she shared hacks for managing motherhood and business.
Pamela Redmond Satran is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books of both fiction and nonfiction, including How Not to Act Old, 30 Things Every Woman Should Have & Should Know, and Younger, the novel that’s the basis for Darren Star’s hit TV Land series starring Hilary Duff. She’s also the co-founder and CEO of Nameberry, the world’s largest baby name website that reaches around 6 million viewers each month.
“Younger”is a story of inspiration and transformation for every woman who’s tried to change her life by changing herself. After being mistaken for younger than she really is, a middle-aged single mother decides to take the chance to reboot her career and her love life as a 26-year old. The book follows this New Jersey woman who finds herself in a situation that’s familiar to many women who have left the workforce to raise children: She lacks marketable skills. Her résumé is skimpy, but her financial situation creates an urgent need for a paycheck. Her husband of 20 years has squandered their money and left, and her college-age daughter is off exploring the world. The only jobs she is qualified for are entry level but she is too old to land even those. So she reinvents herself as a 20-something. And in short order, she lands both a job and a young boyfriend.
Pamela’s Top Two Hacks for Success:
#1: Assess the Day
Each morning Pamela takes a few minutes to assess the day. She takes a personal audit of what needs to be done, where she is headed, and she asks herself how she wants to feel by the end of that day. It’s an integral part of Pamela’s morning routine as it encourages productivity and focus. It has also helped her master the skill of prioritizing.
For example, she says,
“Today I got up and made a to-do list and focused on getting things done on that list. If the goal of being productive was not in the plan, I would not have been able to focus as much.”
Each day is sure to be different, but assessing the day allows you to declutter your to-do list so you can focus on the most important items at hand.
#2: Boost Motivation with Smaller Tasks:
Although this is an age-old method, Pamela’s insight gave it new light. Motivation is an essential element of success and Pamela helps fuel it by crossing off items on her to-do list.
“One of the challenges of being a writer is that you are alone in a room and have no encouragement or feedback.”
To help combat the lack of encouragement and feedback, Pamela chooses to focus on small individual tasks at a time. For example, instead of writing an entire chapter within a day, she instead focuses on perfecting one specific scene. The simple act of crossing off items on a to-do list is a blissful feeling which encourages us to be more productive.
It is safe to say that Pamela Redmond knows a thing or two about success. She successfully ran and managed several businesses and wrote over twenty novels, all while actively raising three children! Pamela has quickly secured her place as one of the most inspiring female career figures for working mothers around the world!
