Work-Family-Life Balance

It is Sunday morning and I am on a 7am flight to SFO from Boston. When I left the house, no person was stirring; not even the dogs. Sipping a morning mimosa or two on the flight to SFO, I read this article that I saw tweeted. The article is about work-life balance in the eyes of Pat Gelsinger and how tech companies overwork their employees. I found one quote very applicable to myself.

One of the things I talk about in the book, and encourage people to do is, if you have kids, 6 to 9 p.m. is gold. Do not squander it. You might get back on email at 9 p.m., or be doing Javascript at midnight, but make sure you carve those hours out [for family time] and protect those.

I am a morning person with a 37-mile commute to the office and I tend to be in the office by 7:45. Over the past year, my regular schedule has changed significantly and anyone who works with me would tell you that I have been working half days and leaving the office in the afternoon.

Without reading Pat’ book, I fell into his recommended routine. When I travel, my family knows I am on a work alcoholic schedule. I have long days full of customer meetings, breakfast meetings and dinners, but when I am home I try to prioritize family time. Over the past year my ten-year old daughter has invested a lot of time learning to be a figure skater. Unlike me she is not a morning person and the prospect of 5am ice time is not high on her list of things to do. She prefers 5pm or 6pm ice time. For me, that is perfect when I am not traveling. I try to be the one to take her the rink on weeknights and the weekend. I can still catch up on emails and attend the occasional conference call, but in our home 6-9pm is reserved for skating, homework and the occasional family dinner

/wrk