Who’s the CEO of your home?
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Do take time to be “Present”
Although it can be difficult to do in the corporate world, I found it critically important to be “present” when home with my kids. Being in corporate banking for so many years in management I had become a so-called, self-proclaimed expert at multi-tasking and really thought I was most effective at it. Well, truth be told, once I was home, it didn’t take long before my 7-year old daughter called me out on the fact that I was not “present” and engaging with her really took dedicated effort on my part. My ability to do only one thing at a time took some getting used to and I had to learn to slow myself down and truly connect with one thing at a time.
Post-It Notes with “Be present in all that I do”
My best practice was to have yellow Post-It Notes with “Be present in all that I do” written on them randomly placed throughout my home as constant daily reminders of what was most important. Slowly I began to notice the details of what I was doing and in time, I began to take in the small things around me that really mattered. The details of lunch and the small print from the mail I would read became daily activities. I can clearly recall cutting a cucumber one day and noticing the beautiful artwork inside and the colors of a salad I was preparing for lunch. I had never really taken the time to be “present” in the details of the natural beauty that was nurturing my body and filling my spirit with joy.
Being present to the details in my corporate world was equally important when it came to reading the fine print in documents, client requests, and corporate instructions. Knowing when “close enough” was “good enough” and when “exact” had to be perfect was critical to getting the job done right the first time. Being present was a constant work in progress.
So whether you’re a home-maker, running a Fortune 500 company, a little of both, or a lot of both, the skills you develop and utilize for all of it is interchangeable. The faces, places, and titles may change but the mission remains the same. You are a leader and have a job to do. So whether its 5 loads of laundry for a family of 6, with a board meeting scheduled to follow, both are equally important. Dinner still needs to be ready by 6:00 pm, and the kids will need to get dropped off by 7:00 pm for soccer, and don’t forget, your boss needs a ride to the airport at 8:00 pm and your kids still need to be tucked into bed by 9:00 pm!
So whether you work at home or work outside of home, you are always leading yourself or someone in something everyday. Do it strategically, as a CEO, Operations Manager or President of your own company. Remember, you really are your own BOSS!
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