The house is once again a disaster. The floor is a toy mind field, and I swear the to-fold pile of clean laundry still includes some summer wear.

I haven’t really kept up with my “Homemaker Mondays“, but I can (mostly) forgive myself since the time has been at least spent productively. The past couple of days I’ve been so busy, I’m even multitasking in the shower, solving math equations in the steam. Not complex math, mind you, but simple things like “if I have 20,000 words that need to get processed for my word analyzer, and I can do 35 per hour…” Too many hours, means too many days, means I need a different approach that will accomplish the same goal in less time.

At the end of the day, that’s what makes me happen: more things checked off my to do list. More things done, even if it’s not all things done. I guess it doesn’t really matter which things, as long as they’re substantial things.

I’ve been thinking about work/life balance again lately. I’m working just as much as I ever did at Google or at Grad school, perhaps even more, yet it feels differently. Perhaps that’s because the work is for me rather than for someone else? Or maybe it’s because I have total freedom in terms of when work is done and when it’s not done, which means my designated kid time stays designated kid time. Some of my most productive hours? Between 8pm and 11, after the kids are asleep and before I head to bed myself. Or maybe that’s because there’s less lost time commuting so I’m accomplishing more, despite the toy mind field, and feel a little less perpetually behind in all things. Or maybe it’s because life in general is less stressful, so there’s less of a stress feedback loop?

Whatever the reason, I’m finding myself busier than I’ve ever been, and less upset about it. Datayze is finally starting to do well, so I shouldn’t beat myself up too much over the state of the house. Still, I should probably address that to-fold laundry pile at some point.

Posted in Work Life