Member-only story
Productivity is Useless if You Forget Your Why
It’s 11:30 pm, and my 4-year-old is still awake, playing in his room. He comes into our room to ask for more food and tell us a story. I’m frustrated that I won’t meet my sleep goal for the night and may have a hard time getting up at 6:30 am tomorrow.
It’s days later and my alarm goes off at 6:30 am. Like every day for the previous three weeks, I restrain myself from hitting snooze, and I get out of bed. I’m just about to exercise and start work at 7 am like I’ve been doing so well at for the last few weeks. That’s when I hear my daughter crying.
I pick her up in my arms and try to rock her back to sleep. But it’s no use. She’s wide awake. Instead of going for a run, I throw on a jacket, wrap her up, and the two of us go outside for a walk.
The other day I had a video call with my coach. I had to sit in the corner of my bedroom so I wouldn’t be interrupted by my kids playing.
At one point, I lamented at the difficulty that I’m having at getting back to my morning routine once my kids wake up. My coaches response surprised and embarrassed me a little bit:
“You’ve worked hard to get to a place where you can work at home and be with your family. Take advantage of those little moments you get to be with them that you otherwise wouldn’t.”
