About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to see Karol Rose of Flexpaths speak. This burgeoning company, and Karol along with it, is changing the way we think about work, workstyle flexibility and life in general….and I’m thrilled to be writing for them. After I saw Karol speak, I wrote about her theory of work/life balance - which basically states that the quest for ‘balance’ is a myth and a recipe for heartache and stress.
Karol maintains that we should reach for work/life effectiveness instead, and this weekend I was the poster child for her theory.
Take a two year-old boy + a three year-old girl + a Blackberry/Mac/Writing/Blogging/Twitter obsessed mom and subtract my wife (you know, the reigning Mother of the Year champ) and put them together for 53 hours with no outside help whatsoever.
The perfect storm?
It could have been, but I took Karol’s advice to heart. I needed to be effective at home this weekend. So, I turned off my computer, ignored my Blackberry’s charming gong that tells me I have yet another email and sunk deeply and contentedly into my role as Mom…And I had the time of my life.
Sure, some writing ideas popped into my head and I scribbled them down. Once or twice I checked Twitter to see what was happening. But my mindset was all about home. I can assure you that if I had had the goal of getting a few work things done this weekend, we all might have imploded.
In this case, ‘balance’ was found by tipping the scales profoundly and completely in the direction of home.
Apply this lesson where you will. If you’d like to be effective anywhere, anyhow, anytime - Just. Do. IT.
Cross-posted on Writing Roads
Image courtesy of Zen
A poster child for work/life “effectiveness” (NOT balance): [link to post] via @writingroads
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Reading: ” How To Be Effective « This Mommy Gig” ([link to post])
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@MarketingProfs I’d say “being in the moment” is what worked for her [link to post]
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This is so true. You can have it all — just not at the same time.
Great advice, and some that I’ll try to keep in mind. Since I work away from home (and try to limit work while I’m home), I’m mostly in that mindset anyway. It’s staying completely focused on my Boy while he is awake in the evenings that I need to work on. Writing, Twitter and scrapbooking can wait until after he’s asleep.