067 - Check In: Working One Day a Week
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Show Notes:
Back in Episode 041, I shared my plan to work one day a week this year, which was quite the change after I closed my business last year. This episode is simply a check-in to tell you how it's been going so far.
For the full episode, hit play above or read through it below!
In a word, or in a phrase, I guess, working one day a week has been great, and it's been terrible.
If I'm brutally honest, I would say that the first four months of this year were pretty much a complete fail when it came to working one day a week. But now, it's in May when I'm recording this, June when this podcast is released, it's going great. It's going swimmingly. I love it. Man, I have learned so much about this transition to working one day a week. And quarantine or no quarantine, I've learned that our expectations can change everything.
So, let me back up and give you a quick recap as to why I really feel like the first four months were a complete fail. If you've been listening to this podcast, you probably know this already. But, January, February, March, plus the two months before that, November, December, were marked with sickness in our family. It was awful. Little kids ages four, and two, and one, myself, my husband, all of us were sick so much. It was terrible. And my nanny, the babysitter, she was getting sick, too. I mean, it was just a winter of winters. It was awful.
So, I close my business in December. I'm so excited about working one day a week. And out of the first, I think, 12 weeks, which would have been the first three months of the year, I think my babysitter came to work five days total. It would have been 12 days, right? Once a week, 12 weeks, 12 days of work. She worked five. That is less than half. I mean, it was so hard for me to wrap my head around it.
So basically, what it looked like for me emotionally, it was so hard because I would get so excited to have a break from these sick kids. And I would feel like mentally I just need a minute for myself. And something would happen where... I remember one day my daughter was diagnosed with the flu the day before my babysitter was supposed to come. The very next week, my babysitter ended up getting the flu. So, it was two weeks in a row. Then the next week after that, something else happened. And it was just this constant feeling like the rug was just being pulled out from under me.
I would make these plans with all my work. I would outline all the podcasts. I was in the middle of planning this Legacy Photo course that I was working on. And I tell you what, there's nothing more demoralizing as a mom who really loves her work and is excited to get a break from the kids and do some good work, there's nothing more demoralizing than to have all these plans and then week, after week, after week to feel like they are just pulled out from underneath you.
I've been joking this whole entire quarantine like, "Guess what? The world has finally joined in what my life felt like basically since November of last year where I would make plans and then they would be canceled. It's all related to sickness and not getting sick or not getting others sick." I feel like I had been living this life for so long. So, January, February, March trying to work one day a week happened less than 50% of the time. It wasn't working out. We were all so sick. Different family, life circumstances happen.
Then mid-March, we're still sick. This whole COVID-19 quarantine happens, and we're all forced to be locked down. My babysitter, she actually has a grandson that she was helping take care of, and they all decided, and understandably so, they were going to lock down so that they could be available for their grandson. I was like, "Okay, now I don't have a babysitter. How am I going to find a babysitter when we're all quarantined and on lockdown?" So basically, I spent the next however many weeks in quarantine just doing this thing by myself, figuring out how to really make the fringe hours work, how to work early mornings and late nights, just like everybody else.
So through all of this, this craziness where I was sick and felt like my family was quarantined, and then the whole world has been quarantined, and my babysitter wasn't able to work because of all the sickness, and then we're all quarantined from each other so I don't have any more childcare just like everybody else, I learned a few things. I learned some things, and I wanted to share them with you because I think it's just encouraging to hear.
There has been a lot of really hard things in this season of quarantine and a pandemic and everything that we've all been dealing with, and grieving, and managing, and walking through. But, it's so important to focus on the things that we have learned and focus on the things that have really benefited us, things that are lessons that we have been able to learn as a people, as a nation, as a world, as a family, as an individual that we would have never been able to learn without these crazy circumstances. So, here's what I've learned working one day a week, working on the fringe hours, working all kinds of crazy ways during this pandemic.
And I will say, right now, I have found an amazing babysitter. She has been working for us one day a week since the month of May and into June, and it has been so awesome. It's been so great. But my expectations, my hands are held open. Earlier this year, I was holding so tightly to my plan of working one day a week. When it kept getting taken from me because of sickness and circumstances, I was so upset by it. But now, I'm holding this situation with open hands, as we all are. And I am so much freer and so much happier because I'm not hanging my hat on this one plan. I'm not putting all of my hope in this one plan. I know I've learned to be flexible and have learned to roll with it. And I'm thankful for every day that I do get help.
So, back to what I've learned. First, working one day a week, and working these crazy weird hours without any childcare, it's made me hyper focused on what is most important.
Peter Drucker is the one who said, "Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things." And I feel like I have in this crazy time really not worried so much about doing things right, not worried so much about doing things perfectly. But instead, I want to just be effective. I want to be effective with my time. I want to make sure that I'm doing the right things. I don't have the ability to get things out of order or to work on something that's not as important as the most important thing. I'm always working on the most important things.
It reminds me of this talk that I heard at the Global Leadership Summit by Pastor Craig Groeschel. He uses this phrase called GETMO. This has stayed in my mind ever since then, and I love it so much. G-E-T-M-O, GETMO. Good Enough To Move On. Good enough to move on. It's like you want it to be great, but we can spend so much extra time making it perfect when really, we just need to learn how to let things go and just let them be good enough. Just let them be good enough, and then move on. And that is certainly something that I have embraced during this crazy time.
Secondly, it's created in me this newfound appreciation just for today.
Between having all of my plans canceled with all the sickness we were navigating through and feeling frustrated all the time that I wasn't getting the childcare I needed, and I was just stressed out, and all my work was getting piled up, and built up, and I was trying to figure out how to do all that, and then between COVID-19, and the quarantine, and everything, I have realized these plans that I've been trying to make all year, and I'm sure you felt this way, too, they've been taken from me. They've been taken from us. And really, all we have is today. All we have is today.
And if you haven't listened to Episode 050, go back and listen to it because I wrote that from the depths of my heart when I was really navigating a lot of this that I'm telling you about. Because really and truly, the gift of today is all that we ever have. And that lesson that really had to be hammered in me time and time again with canceled plans and this entire season of life has been one that I really hope I take with me the rest of my life, to not worry about the past and not get so set on the future that I can't just enjoy today.
The third thing that I've learned and gained from this time in our lives is that I've just become really resourceful.
I have blocked my time more. I really use my time wisely. I wake up super early. Some mornings I'll wake up at 5:00 AM. Some of these podcasts that you have listened to were recorded at 5:00 or 5:30 AM in the morning. I'm hoping my voice doesn't sound groggy. This is not one of them right now. It's like 4 o'clock in the afternoon. But, I have woken up early to do what I needed to get done. I have stayed up late. I have called in help from Will, from my sisters-in-law, from grandparents. I make the most of the hours that I have, and I become incredibly resourceful.
The fourth thing is that I just plan out my day of work.
So now that I have this day of work, I plan it out extensively the night before, which has been really helpful. Even when I didn't have a regular babysitter, if Will's sister, Jess, could come in and help with the kids or whoever, Grammy, or if Will could take them for an afternoon, I would take time to plan those hours out before they started, which is really, really helpful. And I think that's a practice I really want to take with me as well.
And lastly, I've just come to terms and I have this abundant peace with the fact that I am never ever going to finish all of my work in one day a week, and I'm okay with that.
This is something that is so hard for me because I love to get all my work done. Who doesn't? I love to have a long list and accomplish it all. But, I have really come to peace with the fact that I'm never going to finish at all. And my one day of work each week, I set out to do it for one day because I was convicted that that's the time that I want to spend working every week. And any other time that I spend working is going to happen when hopefully my kids are asleep. I mean, every once in a while, I'll let them watch a movie and I'll get things done. I don't have a problem with that at all. I mean, we're all doing that right now.
But, my heart in creating one day a week is just to set up those boundaries that this is mama's day of work. And if I work any other times, any other of the days, the six days a week, it's because I want to. It's because I'm planning to, and I know that I'm never going to get it all done in that one day. And that has freed me.
I think when I worked more days (last year, I worked three days a week, plus sessions, and weddings, and different things like that), I almost was more frustrated because I felt like I should be getting more done all the time. But now that I've said one day a week, I'm like, "Hey, I know I'm not going to get it all done in one day. There's no way. I'm just going to choose a handful of little things to do today and then call it a day and be okay with it." And that has been really, really freeing.
So, that is my check-in, my honest check-in. I feel like, honestly, it was just a total fail in the beginning of this year. Then, quarantine happened. Then, I became really resourceful.
Y'all, I even launched my entire Photo Legacy course in the middle of the quarantine with no childcare. That is how resourceful I became. I recorded all these videos in early morning hours, in late night hours, and I got help from friends. I mean, it's crazy. We're all doing this right now. But, I just say that to encourage you and say let this fuel you to be resourceful and to do these things. And now I feel like we're about to re-open. We're just learning a new rhythm.
I just encourage you: Take the lessons that you have learned during this time and be proud of them, and take them into your future moving forward, whatever that may look like.
Work and Play Cornerstore:
This is where I bring a book I'm loving and a thing I'm loving. I could possibly get a commission from anything bought through these links, which will help me continue to bring this podcast to you every week.
Today, I'll be adding the book It's a New Day, as well as our skillet.
First, let's talk about the book. Now, this book is something that my friend Lara Casey actually asked me to contribute to. It was put together by Cultivate What Matters, and you can find it at itsanewdaybook.com. This is an inspirational book written by myself and 25 other amazing women from business owners to authors, just to remind you that each day is a fresh start. I have really loved reading it. I mean, they're short. My contribution is like a very short two-paragraph thing. Each author or writer's contribution is just very short, but it has been so encouraging. So, I hope that you enjoy it.
The thing I'm loving is our skillet. I just realize I use our skillet multiple times a day. This is something that should be in the Work and Play Cornerstore because I love it so much I don't even think about it anymore. We have a small one and a big one. You don't use soap on it. You just scrape it out, wash it off, and you just keep cooking with it, and it has ... It just is the best. I use it almost every morning when I make breakfast. So, I hope if you don't have a skillet, I just am encouraging you. You need to get a skillet. They are awesome.
I'm going to close with the words from Peter Drucker again because it's worth repeating.
"Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things."
I hope that today you move forward in effectiveness doing the right things. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you next time.
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