I struggle as a wife, and mother to balance my work and family life. I have always prided myself on the ability to work when I needed to and help my family when they needed me. In doing this, sometimes I would feel guilty for either not working enough or not spending enough time with my family.
I am a night owl by nature and I seem to be more creative in the wee hours of the morning. Currently, it is 1:00 am (case and point). I recently read a blog on this subject that I found quite interesting. http://www.modishblog.com/modish/2011/11/time-management-easy-way.html My husband is not a night owl and he can’t understand why I would want to stay up really late working, and not getting enough sleep. The only problem is the “not getting enough sleep” portion of that equation. It doesn’t matter what time I go to bed I still need to get up with the children to get them off to school, so that does pose a problem sometimes. I always joke that if I were able to make my own hours I would stay up till 2 or 3 am and sleep till about 10 am every day. I know that is what my internal clock would be happy with. Unfortunately, the school system dictates otherwise :) The “lesson” that I learned from this article was to be true to your self and your energy. It is important to work when you are able to perform at your best and to rest when you need it. That being said I can stay up working till all hours of the morning, sleep for a bit and get the kids off to school, and if I need a nap at 3 pm I shouldn’t beat myself up for it, I am just catching up from the night before.
One of the ways the author of the blog I mentioned earlier was able to understand the energy patterns of her day was to track her patterns for a whole week, then at the end of the week, she had a clear picture of what activities work best at what times of the day. I also learned that the best part of being your own boss needs to be that you are a good boss and that you treat yourself with respect. Always make sure you work hard when it is time to work and spend quality time with family. For me, that is why I decided to be my own boss, so I need to stop punishing myself for doing just that.
If you are your own boss, how do you handle your work, life balance?
