#too #much #work = #no #time for #thinking
10:58 PM IFTTT , WordPress 0 Comments

So I am veeeeeery good at this work-life balance thing:
I get up really early, start work early, start my first meetings at 10am, once my top 3 priorities are set for the day, and my e-mails have all been cleared.
I pick up my sons from school every day at 2:40pm, at home by 3:40, I spend time with them, watch a show while I run on the treadmill (so it feels relaxing instead of really hard), make dinner, spend time with my husband, and even talk to my friends and go out.
Every Saturday, my husband and I go on a date, every week I see at least 1 person of my family (love them all), and work in the evening only if the 7 hours at work were not enough, or if I want to write.
I absolutely love the work I do, so I enjoy every single minute of being at work. I adore my team, so I really like spending time at work. If I feel like staying in my pjs all day, I can work from home… I have it really good! I designed it that way, and every year I make sure that my life is happy and balanced. It works.
Sometimes, however, things can happen:
1) something requires immediate attention (not often)
2) I get inspired by something and don’t want to stop until I finish making it happen (quite often)
3) Something in my life changes and I don’t take the time to figure out the impact on my daily life.
Since I finished my Masters in Boston, I have been so busy I don’t even have time to stop and think.
Fortunately, I have put all of my goals and to dos in my to do program, and they faithfully appear every day. I know what to do without having to think about it, and I know that whatever is on my to do list is exactly what I need to do in order to achieve my personal and our company’s vision.
So why, for the last month and a half, have I been so busy with work all day and all evening until the minute I have to go to bed?
This evening, I took a few minutes to think about that question. I had to, it was driving me crazy to not be in control of my day, and to not be able to establish a balance. I don’t like not being able to control my circumstances, and at the moment, my to do list is definitely in control. What happened? I figured it out. It was tiiiiiiiiny tweaks that added up to a huge imbalance:
First, when I was in Boston, I decided that I simply HAD to be present for my team at the office. I want to leave a good 4 hours in my day to be there for them, see where I can help, coach, listen, understand. The most important role of a CEO is, in my opinion, to mentor and reinforce the vision – to stay on track.
Of course, this took care of 3 to 4 hours of my time during the day. That left me with 3 to 4 hours, except… Summer is here, and I want to get home at 2pm, which means I have to leave at 1:30, which shaves 1.5 hours of my day. That’s 4 hours + 1.5 hours = 5.5 hours of my time at the office spoken for.
I also somehow ended up with 2 people I mentor, even though I vowed to mentor no one this year, just to catch up and focus on a few projects i want to complete. Still, that’s better than the 5 from last year. I hold 2 board positions, which equate to about 1 hour of work each week day – minimum.
This leaves me 30 minutes of time each day. Of course, on top of that, I have all the meetings I had already scheduled before I had the brilliant idea of being available to my colleagues, so I am now at minus 2.5 hours per day, and, I haven’t even answered my e-mails, or done anything from my to do list, which is non-negotiable. Assuming I can do my to do list in 4 hours (if not more), I am now at minus 6.5 hours a day, which is all the time I have at home after work, before I go to sleep.
This means that although I’m home, I’m not really there for my child, except for maybe 1 hour a day, which I force myself to take. If I work very very fast or sacrifice some of my long term goals (a bog no-no in my books), I can squeeze in a run.
So, that explains it! I changed strategy in Boston, reduced my at-work hours for the summer, took a couple of trips (perfect to get behind on your work), and focused on one thing at work that needs to get done right away.
I understand now why I feel like all I can do is work, every day, all day. I also know myself and know that unless I decide to do something (in other words, I am not forced to do it), I don’t whistle while I work. Little by little, I become a little more resentful of whatever it is that is eating away at my freedom. This time, it’s work.
I have to admit that blogging every day helps me tremendously. I get to put things into perspective, as well as remember with gratitude all of the amazing moments I lived in one day, and write it down so I remember later. I also feel that this time is my time, I control it and I enjoy it tremendously.
So now I figured it out.. What do I do next?
Well, not much. I am traveling next week and won’t get much done (I am doing most of it this week – double the work), and then I have to get back to meetings, commitments, and to dos. I can see that the rest of the month, as well as next month, will have to be sacrificed in order to make sure the rest of the year is good. I’m ok with that, now that I understand it.
Does it mean I have no work-life balance? Not at all. Like everything in life, balance is not an exact measurement applied day after day. The way I see it, balance flows. Some days or even weeks or months, will be filled with work, and others, completely dedicated to family. I just lost sight of that lately, and just felt a bit sorry for myself, and overwhelmed with a to do list no one could possibly accomplish.
Fortunately for me, every August I go on an annual retreat by myself, to look back at the year just passed, and look forward to the coming year, to ensure that I set myself up in a way that allows me to be there for my passion (aka work), my husband, my sons, my family, my friends, my dog, my community (through volunteering) and myself. All I have to do is acknowledge that things will be a bit different till the end of August.
I’m ok with that.