Resolutions- There are a ton of them. Lose weight, get healthy, quit something, start something, change jobs, move, read more, learn more, go back to school and on and on they go. What do you chose? How do you chose? What can you stick to? Here is what brought on mine.
"Mom, mom, mom, can you come watch t.v. with me?" whined my 4 year old at nearly 8pm." "In a minute, let me finish working." 32 seconds later, "mom, are you ready?" "No honey, mommy is still finishing up her work." "Okay, he says a little sadder this time." I continue to try and finish up texts and emails so that I can sit with him awhile before bed, wanting to wrap up as much as I can and reflect that I didn't miss an important email, or client that may need an answer before the following day. This time he gave me about a minute and a half. "Mom, are you coming in the living room now?" "Almost honey, I am finishing this important work." Sitting practically on top of me in my office chair, I am slightly getting annoyed while finishing up my work. Doesn't he know that if he just leaves me alone for 10-15 minutes I would be done and able to enjoy him, oh wait, it is 8pm at night. Geez, and I am still working, while most of my clients got off at 5 or so and have enjoyed being off for about 3 hours now. This is the setback that comes with the flexibility of the job that I have that allows me more time at home. I am almost jealous of the people who go to work from 8-5 with no child interruptions and then come home to no work related thoughts until the next day, just free to spend time with their family, and then I realize those people also miss out on the middle of the day field trips, the school programs, day award ceremonies, and so on and I remember how truly blessed that I am!Yes, it is amazing, but sometimes we sacrifice normal family time with our spouse, our children, our weekends, to have this flexibility and freedom, is it worth it, well in my opinion, HECK YES! However, it needs to have its limits and as a professional, who works for myself and can set my own hours, my own limits and my own expectations my clients have of me, I need to remind myself to do so and to not waiver, unless extremely necessary. What I teach my clients to expect of me, they will follow suit, if they want to use my services. I need to be confident enough in what I have to offer them to put my phone down by 7:00 on week nights and walk away! If I don't have deadlines that need to be met, a deal that is in need of negotiating with a timeframe in mind, or something that is a disaster and about ready to fall apart, I need to evaluate a little better what I can push off until the next morning, at 5:30 when I am usually getting my start! Besides making enough money to provide for my family and live a comfortable life, nothing that I do is life threatening, or so important that I cannot set a stop time to make room for my loved ones. In all reality that is why I chose this career in the first place, so if I am not carrying that out, it is really pointless. My clients expect me to be available to them after "hours" and on weekends, because that is mostly when they are free to look, to talk and to work deals. So yes, I do have to be flexible, and yes sometimes I have to alter my days or my work hours to accommodate them, because that is how I make my living, however, when a child is aching to spend time with you right before they go to bed and they finally come back for about the 7 or 8th time in 10 minutes to check and see if you are now ready to come watch t.v. with them, and they have to say, "MOM, you have been texting all day, STOP TEXTING!" you realize you need to walk away and make a better choice, because the little innocence of your 4 year old son, will be 10, than 13, than 15 and in college before you can blink an eye!
