When I saw him finalizing a slide at breakfast, I knew he was messing up…
I’m traveling with the whole family (even our two cats are part of the adventure 😀)
We’ll be spending four weeks in southwest France.
On the road, at breakfast in the hotel, we meet all kinds of people. Vacationers, executives getting ready for a seminar, and then…
A mix of both.
An (over)ambitious leader on the road with his family.
His two children are sipping hot chocolate, bickering, and he’s trying to finish a slide from his deck on his computer.
He’s missing his moment:
- His vacations, the opportunity he’d been waiting for to enjoy his family
- His work, it’s unlikely that he will create his best slide in this context.
And this is often the paradox.
At work, we dream of spending time with our families.
And when we’re with the family, we try to optimize our time by thinking (again) about work.
A recipe for missing both and blaming ourselves every time.
Options for reconciling family vacations and professional success
Anticipate beforehand: by delegating, by organizing better. The ideal solution, but not always possible. So if we come to the exceptional case of “the breakfast”…
How do you (finally) focus on things that really matter?
We have to choose :
- Either I go to breakfast with the family and live it intensely. I set my alarm 45 minutes early, thought about the message I wanted to get across, and finalized my slide. (my favorite if I missed the anticipation)
- Either I suggest the family have breakfast without me, and I finish my task.
Trying to do both at the same time doesn’t work.
And in the long run, it ends with this scathing sentence :
“You’re never here anyway”
Be there. Define your priorities and live intensely.
So for ambitious leaders who are lucky enough to get some.
Have a nice vacation.
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