I like to give things my full attention.
Various personality indicators and assessments I've done over the years reveal focus and competence to be strong drivers for me - colleagues, friends and family have commented on this too 😉
So, when I started juggling my career with starting a family 16 years ago, I knew there would be a fair amount of challenge ahead.
I remember being out-and-about with my 2 pre-schoolers on a non-work day (ha!) and picking up an 'unknown' call on my mobile. At the time I was working on a project supporting family engagement in schools and the person calling was a teacher from one of our newly set up partnerships.
"Hi, it's Gary." I could feel my brain whirring into work mode and sifting through its contacts. It took me about half the conversation to locate, but I remembered him...we'd had a meeting the previous day.
That was just one of the many moments that nudged me towards a full-focus-separator-model in managing my work and family commitments.
I decided engaging with work on a non-work (ha!) day would mean staying in control of choosing the moments to be available and check in. The alternative was potential frustration all round and probably a sizeable dent in my professional profile.
Now my children are older they get that when my office door at home is closed they cannot enter, I’m unavailable (they can text if it’s an emergency).
In my line of work, opening the door might mean having their faces beamed around the world in the background of one of my global webinars or group coaching sessions. So, it’s a high risk move.
Paying attention in this way to my preferred working style and wider priorities means I’ve got pretty good at smart working. Here are a few of my guiding principles:
Keep diary up-to-date, enable others to view and add
Plan work across the day, using times when you feel at your optimum for creative work
Don’t let emails, internal channels or notifications derail you. Have fixed times to check in and respond across the day to avoid constant interruption
Note down all priorities for next time at your desk. I use helpful stickies and online note functions. Start and end each working day with these as your focus
Be flexible, prepared and open to change of hours/days as needed. Practise reciprocal flex
Get your home/family support network in place. It's vital to know all’s well on the home front so you can give work your full focus. Learn to step away and let others do this well without you whether that's partner, friends, wider family, older children…
For me, being a ‘separator’ is a win:win:win - my work gets my full focus; my family (usually) gets the attention and engagement in whatever they need; and I get to enjoy a rich and varied work-life balance.
Of course, some weeks are better than others…