Read on Twitter
I want to share some of the things that are helping me balance my new roles of 100% home-schooling, 100% mom, and 100% professor. I say this from a place of tremendous privilege given that I still have a job and our family is healthy right now.
1. I only take 30 minutes meeting now. The kids get frustrated if I am not paying attention to them for longer than that. If we need more time, we schedule another time to talk.
2. I don't attend meetings in the morning while I am helping the kids with zoom and their work. It was too hard to manage multiple zooms simultaneously and to contribute meaningfully. Then I do meetings in the afternoon and the kids can have play/iPad time.
3. If I have a meeting (e.g., patient session), that the kids can not be present at, I put it in our family calendar so my partner knows he has to be available to cover at that time. I try to limit that to no more than an hour a day because his job has less flexibility than mine
4. I try not to have back-to-back meetings so that I have time in between to attend to my kids needs.
5. I hesitate to share this because I don't think its reasonable for everyone, but I have been waking up at 4-7 am to get a solid chunk of time to work. That is when I work best (read @DanielPink when to figure that out for you) and it starts my day off right (and quiet).
6. I don't hesitate to ask for special accommodations (e.g., shorter meetings) given the current circumstances.
7. I have cancelled all non-essential meetings and am flexing my "no" muscle liberally. My default is now no.
8. I try to be compassionate with myself and understand that these circumstances are unique and will not last forever.
9. I try to get in at least one 20-minute high intensity interval training class in from one of the many apps and it never fails to help me feel better.
10. I try to do something special with the kids right when they wake up to start the day right like telling them a story.
I hope these hacks help others. Please share yours so we can support one another.
