Take Advantage of Important Moments….And Let Others Do The Same

While I wish it had been under much different circumstances, over the last few months the pandemic has provided my family an opportunity to l be together under the same roof. I know this was the case when the kids were young, but having them together as adults and older teens is very different. Plus we had our two grandkids with us

By the end of August, we will be down to only one of the four kids at home and that's it. Things will be much quieter, my house will not require careful navigation around and through the obstacle course that is the grandkids toys and I will probably miss the bickering that still happens (age and maturity doesn't change everything). But as I thought about this over the last week, I realized that this is probably a situation we will never have again.

Looking to the future, it appears that most if not all of our kids will be going in very different directions both from a career standpoint and geographic location. So while I'm not grateful for the impact of the pandemic, I am very grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Luckily, my current career has provided me the maximum amount of flexibility to take advantage of this. I was able to take time out during the day and spend it with the family. Weekends, we have been able to get away (if you have read my previous posts you know that means camping camping camping) and enjoy time together. And for the most part, there haven't been a lot of pressures making us miss out on time together.

Leadership Application

As leaders there are two different things for us to pay attention to here.

First, watch for key opportunities and moments in our own lives. It is very easy to get caught up in building your team, company, managing projects, etc. If you don't look for and take advantage of these unique situations, you are going to look back and regret it. While there will times where you absolutely have to prioritize work/career over everything else, if you find yourself always missing out on the things that matter most, then maybe you need to change something so you don't continue to be in that situation.

This is applicable for leaders of every type (especially those leading your families). I strongly recommend working to set your life up to have at least a certain amount of flexibility. There are many ways to do this and you will need to identify what makes the most sense in your life.

Second, leaders need to recognize that those they lead are going to have these types of opportunities as well and we need to build a culture that makes it easier for them to be taken advantage of. Build into your business enough flexibility that if someone comes to you with one of these opportunities, you do everything possible to help them take advantage of it.

Summary

I feel so blessed to have had the last several months with my family. I know that that there are other times when I will have to prioritize career/team/job/assignments over some family time, but I do believe that as leaders we have an opportunity to build a culture and team that helps ourselves and those we lead prioritize appropriately.

Let’s make that a goal. If we are successful in doing so, out team and our own lives will be more in balance and that always results in improved performance and success.