A Week in the Life:
Elisabeth, job situation “it’s complicated!” speaks to the challenges and advantages of juggling multiple roles.
Editor’s note: Elisabeth’s fantastic blog will give you a great sense of her day-to-day life. I’m a fairly recent reader, but I’m loving her reflections on making it work. As someone whose parents moved closer in recent years (3 hour vs. 16 hour flight), it’s worth it’s weight in gold.
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What’s your kid/family situation?
2 kids (aged 8 and 12) + a husband!
What is your job situation? (Job, hours, WFH vs butts in seat)
It's complicated! I have two part-time positions at a local university. I run the peer tutoring department + I'm a project manager in the Biology department. I also co-own a small business (this is the complicated bit since the working hours vary wildly for this since we recently sold the main product we developed). Since COVID, I work exclusively from home. While I'm paid for a set number of hours each week, how much I actually work varies - ranging from 15-40+ hours, depending on the time of year.
What's your childcare situation? (daycare, wraparound care, nanny, magical grandparents)
My parents are temporarily living nearby (until March). Other than that - we have nothing. Both kids attend a public school. They do a smattering of in-service camps and, in a pinch, we have a local babysitter, but I really need to up my childcare game.
A Week in the Life
Mondays-Fridays
My days vary considerably! For the most part, I have high levels of flexibility over when I handle particular projects and set meetings.
The Weekend
I do work on the weekends. Since we don't have regular childcare - and my husband travels overseas for work ~40% of the time - I fit in work during evening hours/weekends as needed. I have a multi-monitor setup in our home office and try to carve out at least 2 consecutive hours on a weekend to power through work tasks. Not surprisingly I am so much more efficient if I can put in noise-cancelling headphones and work for several hours vs. regular interruptions.
Reflections
What was your biggest success this week?
Handling a variety of financial responsibilities: I completed corporate T4s for our small business; I dread this process every year. It's never as bad as I make it up to be in my mind, but I'm always so happy when this responsibility it behind me. I also finalized our corporate taxes with our accountant. And, switching roles, I ended up being able to pass the buck entirely to a colleague for an audit being done on the research project I manage.
What was your biggest obstacle?
Feeling overwhelmed a few times with all the responsibilities and the lack of time, especially since the kids were extra needy this week (some emotional stressors at school, lots of sibling fits, and a snow day)!
How are you making it work?
Hmmm. Some days it feels like I'm making things work, and other days I feel like I'm failing at both work AND home. I do regularly feel overstretched, but most of the time...it all fits. When I get too overwhelmed, I try to identify what I need to let go of and start saying No as my default answer until I feel like my head is above water again. Planning. This helps SO much. I use a paper planner for 90% of my scheduling and I love fine-tuning my hacks for organizing life! My hobby. Writing on my blog is a great mental break for me and I love the community support. Delegating.