This is one of the most challenging daily struggles for me: letting go of work life to focus on real life.
I pride myself on productivity, but I have a really bad tendency to overspend my time dealing with my job and not enough time dealing with my family. The above advice on leaving the office on time is pretty black and white, literally. But if there's one absolute truth: it's that there's nothing absolute.
Absolutely, I try to leave work at 5 p.m. to see my wife and child. But there's always ONE more email or ONE more report. I need, or rather HAVE to, let it go and hit the eject button from my desk chair.
But in this technologically absorbed day and age, work isn't based on geography or 9-5 time constraints anymore. Your physical office space doesn't have a force field keeping your duties inside. Your cell phone means you're just a call or text away 24/7. Emails can be sent directly to your pocket, wherever you are...including on the toilet (yep, some of my best Re:'s come from the throne)
This availability creates a constant struggle for the subject of my time and attention. But this battle isn't between exterior sources, it's inside me between my own expectations. I have to make the decision to give my family the quality time they deserve. I have to resist the urge to check that message from my phone's inbox (I imagine being addicted to crack is something similar to this obsession of clearing my new messages).
My career will always add another thing to my "to-do" list, but my daughter will never take her first steps again. My boss will always need more answers, but my daughter won't always laugh at my cow noises. So I intend to get in her face and moo and moo until she gets annoyed and slaps me away. Because even though she's throwing a fit, that means at least I'm spending time with her and not at work.
Do YOU struggle with balancing work and family? Let me know how you deal with it in the comments below! I'm always looking for greater solutions to great problems.
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