Don't brew with friends around, it gets really distracting and your far more likely to make mistakes.
My first step (for all grain) is to start heating the water first, then start measuring and cleaning and getting everything set up.
Make sure you have all ingredients on hand and set out, pre measured if possible.
I like to print my beersmith recipe sheet and tack it up with a sheet of notebook paper next to it. I take notes of every step on the notebook paper as I brew and then fill in the beersmith sheet with my measurements (pre boil gravity, volumes, temps etc...) I keep all of my recipes in a three ring binder for easy future reference.
Dont drink at all until your done with the boil (even a beer or two throws me off and I tend to get lazy and miss little things.
I like to use my spare time (waiting for the boil, during the mash rests etc...doing things like other beer chores. Cleaning kegs, bottling, racking to a secondary etc..
Good luck, and welcome to what can be a very rewarding hobby!
Prost!