Children hold your calendar hostage during cold and flu season
This past week I have had my calendar and task list hijacked by a cold virus that hasn’t even found its way to make me ill but it has decided to drive up the internal temperatures of the two little things in the house. The upside to this is that I have an excuse to hang out with them during the week, the downside is that this unplanned vacation is anything but and I am sinking into declaring inbox and task list bankruptcy.
How do you balance kids with work?
Honestly, how do you? You don’t, kids win every time. However, how do you deal with coworkers that find your unplanned absence annoying? The situation for my wife and I is extra fun as she just recently returned to work from maternity leave and they are already down one staff member in their group, I am working on a startup when I am not working my more than full time job at VeloCity, and I still have responsibilities as Past President of the UW Staff Association. Thankfully we both have understanding coworkers but not everyone does.
I don’t have an answer for those that don’t have a supportive work environment but here is my two point strategy for not letting the big things slip (and it may help contribute to having understanding coworkers):
- Work with your partner—even though you both won’t be sleeping and probably have short fuses
- Prioritize the big things and find an hour in the day to triage (see it as being forced to focus on value, not volume – that might help)
Then repeat the following every time you think you are about to drive yourself crazy with thinking about the things you should be doing:
Nobody on his deathbed ever said, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” – Paul Tsongas
When you are busy second guessing your decisions about going to the doctor or not going given temperature, time, colour of the boogers/poo, should they go to daycare, or damn daycare for the bug sharing, etc you find work is a pleasant distraction but don’t let it guide your decisions. Once in a while I find myself heading that way and I have to keep coming back to what is most important and it isn’t work.