If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
- Herodotus
I'm on a bit of a mission for self-fulfillment. While I absolutely adore the folks I work with every day, I think I'm spending a little too much time working with them... or more accurately, replying to them. Mornings start with the 6:45 email check and then the 7:00 conference call, then back-to-back meetings all day with the occassional break for a lunch away when it's not a lunch meeting, followed by more meetings and then a break at 5:30 to pick up the kiddo from daycare. 6-8 p.m. is Mommy Time - dinner, play, bath (as evidenced by my 2-Hour Mom Blog), then kiddo's bedtime and back online to do the emails that I couldn't do throughout the day at work, and then bed by 11. Good grief, that's like 13 hours a day! And I'm not even an attorney!
I'm currently reading a book called The Way We're Working Isn't Working, and I just finished this little snippet from HBR called "Don't leave your personal life at home."
Both talk about taking time to make a connection with your world at large, and making the time for self-renewal, even if it's just throughout the day. Before I had the kiddo, I used to volunteer with the local Humane Society, designing their quarterly newsletter and participating on the Board of Directors. I really liked feeling connected to part of my community and being able to use another side of my skills to help an organization. I know very well that as the kiddo gets older, I'll become involved in his school and whatever activities he wants to have an interest in. I love how the HBR article calls out that taking the time to be involved can even end up helping your career. I'm THRILLED to have been elected as Treasurer to the Corporate Event Marketing Association last month, so I now have a community engagement for the next couple of years (even if it's not my geographic community). Getting reconnected with my industry and outside of my bubble is super exciting and energizing to me!
My next challenge is to find the time to have mid-day renewals and not be ground to a pulp between 7 and 5:30. I found this article in Smart Meetings about taking a mini-escape during the day. #1, 3, and 5 take too much time away from the computer, but #2 and 4 are promising. Though I must admit I'd much rather have an engaging free-flowing lunchtime conversation than have to talk about a book... of course, those free lunch conversations inevitably end up being about work so perhaps a book conversation is a really great idea! A hobby during the day intrigues me... I do sometimes take 10 minutes to Tweet or blog, but that doesn't exactly get me away from my computer. I really love the photography idea (although that is not a hobby of mine, I do have a camera!). I think what I would really like to do is bring back some of our team fun - Laptop & Lunch (where we book a conference room for 2 hours, bring our laptops, order pizza, and watch a movie in a conference room). Or Game Time Lunch Break where we play Scategories or other fun games over lunch. The more team members we can bring in, the more renewal we can share!
More on The Way We're Working Isn't Working and The Energy Project in my next post.
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