Posted June 14th, 2009 by Vicky H in Guests, Productivity, Quality Time, Technology
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Featured Guest Article
by Chris Garrett
One of the reasons I love the work that I do is that it helps me be closer to my family.
As with most people who run their own business, there are pressures and challenges involved that can work against family life, especially if you are not careful, but over all when talking to other parents I feel blessed that I can now work in a way that allows me all the family benefits that we enjoy.
I have gone from a job that I found frustrating, working for a marketing agency, a traditional commuting and office job, to having my own consulting business, running online courses, writing, running sites for income such as http://creditcardmatcher.com and blogging with friends on sites like http://promotions.co.uk/blog or for companies like http://cogniview.com – the transition was not easy but well worth the effort and I now love my work.
The best part is as well as being happier in myself, which is always a key ingredient in the recipe for better family life, I now get to see my family more often, in more quality ways.
Some of the ways technology helps me …
1) Time – my time is more productively spent.
The biggest example is sales, or rather the removal of a need to do any sales. Where before I would have to write proposals, travel down to London to pitch, present my pitch, then travel back, now I do not need to do any of that. Customers come to me via the internet, and 99% of them I have never met in person. This is a massive time saving. Just the train journey to London is over two hours one way, when it is on time. By car it is nearly four.
Of course I still travel, but I choose when and how, and it is never to pitch or sell.
2) Quality time – by taking control of my time it means I am always available when my family most needs me.
From the seemingly little things (though very important all the same) like never missing any school shows and sports days, through to traumatic events like when my daughter needed to be in hospital I could drop everything.
When I travel for business now I can take my family with me, which is a real thrill for my daughter, and means we do not need to be apart half as much as we would otherwise.
3) Systems – after leaving my job and starting my own business I realized I had gone from one bad employer (job) to another (me).
Freedom is not something you get given but something you need to take. It is only in the last year or so that I really worked that out, but it is through systemizing and technology that supports that where my freedom came from. Everything from using online tools like Skype, through to infrastructure like 3g telephone internet connections. I can outsource entirely online, and can provide my services in the same way. Digital delivery means in some cases my customers do not even need to interact with me at all if they do not want to. The best part is the whole idea of making your own schedule.
Time shifting has impacted many things, most notably television where you watch what you want to and when, but now you can time shift your work which opens up a whole new world.
4) Multi tasking – while queuing, on a train or flight, I can read ebooks, listen to audio books on my iPod, and check email.
In the car I can listen to audio books too, and of course all those other things if I am not driving! In fact on long journeys I have written book chapters, blog posts, answered client emails, updated the online courses I run. Using internet messaging and remote desktop tools I have fixed failing web servers and diagnosed technical problems all over mobile internet connections.
While my daughter watches Disney channel I can have my laptop, well, on my lap and while out and about my iPod touch serves as a terminal to access email and the web.
5) Location independence – not being tethered to a desk is only the start of it.
It gets even better than not being forced to go to an office every day and work to someone else’s schedule. Once your work is online that means you can work from anywhere there is an internet connection. I have logged in from a beach in the south of france, and from a frozen lake in the rocky mountains.
Every school holiday for my daughter means we can go away and do something fun, and my work does not need to suffer to make that happen.
Sound good? It is good, but now there are challenges and potential risks with all this that I ought to share:
Challenges and Potential Risks
1) Being distracted – It is not quality time if you are checking your email, IM and tweets all the time. We need to be present when we need to be present. It is not enough to be physically there and mentally some other place! These tools make it too easy to focus on the wrong things, and our moments with family are too precious to waste.
2) Learn to say ‘no’ – One of my biggest lessons is that we do not have to say yes to everything. My clients are spread all over the world from New Zealand to Hawaii. If I let it then my work would stop me getting any sleep, as every time a new time zone wakes up I get a new set of demands on my time. You need to find a time to be at work and a time to switch off, and when you switch off do it properly. We are now so connected that you can be followed wherever you go and there is no safe haven. Even flights now have wifi occasionally. Some people think if you CAN be online you SHOULD.
3) Workaholism – At some point we need to make the decision to end the work day. If I let myself I work 12 hours or more each day, and I work seven days a week.
Not healthy!
So I have started implementing a strict policy of work hours and building in family and health time. It is not easy but I am getting there. This is related to the previous point but it is an important one.
When you can work from anywhere and any time, how do you choose to stop? I often say that while I have not experienced burnout yet I have circled that drain a few times. You have to be disciplined and put your family first.
While we think we are doing all this hard work for our family, you are doing them no good if you become a worn out ask of yourself at the end of each day.
I would like to hear how you work and balance your family and professional life. Please share your thoughts in the comments?
Chris Garrett lives in the UK with the two most important ladies in his life; his wife and their 9 year old daughter.
Chris is a professional blogger, Internet Marketing consultant, writer, coach, speaker, and web geek. He is a founding member of Performancing and recently has co-written the book Problogger: Secrets For Blogging Your Way To A Six Figure Income
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Comments (6)
Chris, It’s great that you’ve been able to get so much out of technology for your business, yet learn to use it in a way that gives you more time for parenting. In a way I’m glad my children grew up before the rise of the internet, because I fear I’d succumb to the addictive temptations of the web workplace. Travel can wear you down physically and emotionally, so you look for ways to avoid it. On the other hand, I find the internet quite energizing and look for ways to use it more.
One thing I’ve found as I work out of the home on our own business with my husband, is the value our kids have in the knowledge of watching their parents work. It’s not a mystery as their folks head out the door in the morning and return at night. They can see what it is that we do, and they’re learning about business, and how technology can be beneficial, through experience. Which I believe is crucial for 21st century kids – the workplace for them will be vastly different than when we started out. Showing them now the opportunities that exist can only serve our chilren well in the future. It’s actually why we began our company, http://www.MobiStories.com, to take advantage of today’s technology and use it WISELY for kids, so that kids have access to reading stories while they’re out and about, or while mom and dad need a few minutes to finish their work. Way to go for continually finding the balance. Go, Daddy, go!!
It’s funny though how my daughter is so at ease with all this stuff. When I am working she is quite happy to sit at the computer next to me and surf her own social media sites (club penguin etc).
It’s so special reading this post Chris. It brings back fabulous memories of when I had so many of the same issues when I was in school and Kay was small.
Now she’s in college and I’m thinking of how ‘timeless’ parenting really is. Maybe a few minor differences, but the overall elements are the same.
@Bradshorr I know the quadundrum well, but like you I love technology, I think being informed is one of the best things that you can do in our technical age. Know how to ‘best’ use the technology and also know it’s ‘drawbacks’. I hope that’s what Remarkable Parents is giving our readers! Thanks for stopping by
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I think one of the challenges of technology is that it is always with you, like you said, it takes discipline to turn it off, literally, and be with your family and friends. I would go out with friends, and when we’re supposed to be spending time together, they would be texting or emailing friends or business associates. I found that I discounted the time with my daughter by doing the same thing, I’d say, just one more email, I need to get back to this person right away, and then, as fate would have it, she would do the same thing to me, and I didn’t like it. So, to your point, we created a no-phone policy when we’re together. We can have them with us in case of emergency, but we can’t use them. I do the same with friends, and the conversation has gotten much better.
I enjoy your blog, thanks.
@keithkriegler on twitter