When Trying to Make The Perfect Work Schedule Fails Spectacularly {Bonus Solo Episode}
If you’re like me, maybe you’ve been trying to build boundaries around work to create a decent work-life balance. I share when I got an unbelievably amazing opportunity to grow my business but it came at an inopportune time–my kids’ spring break!
In this quick bite-sized bonus solo episode you will learn:
How I try to build boundaries around my business and family schedule
What I did when presented with a great business opportunity outside my personal boundaries
How I time block or season block my life and work
I’m Kim Rittberg and I teach business owners and professionals how to grow their incomes, leads & credibility with video and podcasts and how to be better on camera. And I make it fun! I’ve won awards for my video work, I launched Us Weekly’s video unit, was a TV news producer for a decade and was a video marketing executive at Netflix & PopSugar. Drop me a message if you’re looking to grow with content!
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What do they say about the best laid plans today? In this special bonus solo episode, I wanted to talk to you about how even when you work really hard to create a career that fits into your life, sometimes it goes totally out the window. So I'm gonna back up one of the reasons that I started my own business. Basically, the biggest one and why I left a corporate media career is to have more control over my life. When my kids have a field trip, I want to be there. I want to pick them up from, from school some afternoons. Um I want to be less stressed on the weekends. I don't wanna be answering calls all weekend. I don't wanna be on call. I want to be there more for my Children and I still want to do work that has impact. I've done some of my best work actually, since working for myself, but that's been a huge goal. Another goal for myself is to grow as a speaker to teach more, to speak more. And it's been on my to do list my goals list. So I don't really vision board, but I definitely do make resolutions every single year. I email them to my brother Matt and he emails his to me and some are sort of more ineffable, like be more present with the kids and some are like, do more speaking engagements. So this was one of them that really popped up for me. I'd already been guest lecturing at Syracuse and N Y U uh universities and I get an email in my inbox asking me if I could speak at a large conference in Las Vegas. I'm like, he must have seen my vision board. Just kidding. I don't have a vision board, but he must have seen my New Year's resolutions. So I got an email to do a speaking engagement. I'm really excited. This is perfectly up my alley. I am psyched. I get on the phone with him and I'm getting the information. Where is the event gonna be? What are the dates of it? I write down the dates. I open up my Google calendar, check out the date. It is right in the middle of my kid's spring break and I was laughing because it was just sometimes moments happen and there are such clear um visual, physical, not even metaphorical, like actual moments where the things you want in life are. They're like right up against each other. They're budding budding against each other. And I thought, man, I work for myself so that I could be there for my kids. And but man, I really, this is perfect for me. This is the perfect audience. This I know exactly what I'm gonna say. I feel totally ready for this. So I had to say I had to think, am I gonna miss part of my kids spring break for the speaking engagement? And the answer was yes I am. And one thing I've learned is that even though I've tried to make my business and my career fit into my lifestyle, I also realized that that isn't always perfect every week or every month or every day. And I've acknowledged that some of the seasons like literally seasons like this spring has been super duper busy. But my goal is to chill a little more in the summer to not work past when my kids are in camp, so I can scoop them up and hang out with them and get ice cream and also to not work as much. So I can actually just go to the beach and go for a bike ride and just be a person and be a like a human who enjoys nature. So that moment really got me thinking about how, you know, how strict do I want to put these limits on my schedule, my availability and all of that. And obviously, this was a big example because I was not gonna say no to this opportunity. I was really excited about it. It was even better than I thought. Um I prepared a lot people say, oh, you look so good on stage. I'm like, yeah, I prepare a lot. I'm an over preparer if anything, I prepare too much. But, you know, this was such a moment that I was never going to say no to. But it has gotten me thinking about, you know, there's all these articles about how to say no more and how to put boundaries around your schedule. But I came from corporate where basically you say yes to everything um until you're at the top, but not just to show how committed you are, but also the business world doesn't stop just because like you're having lunch or you're having dinner. So building those boundaries, I think was important and I at work in the corporate environment, I really did try to go home at exactly 5 15. So I'd be home for six o'clock to be with my baby for dinner at that point. She was a baby. But, you know, building those rules around what you will and won't do. I think it's good to have them as loose boundaries for me. But I also have to acknowledge that sometimes these opportunities are gonna come and these opportunities are not always in my control and I have to start to build boundaries around what I'm gonna pursue what I'm gonna say yes to and just keep that in mind like I'm, I'm putting myself out there for speaking engagements and I'm actively not pursuing the ones that I know are in the summer because that's like my family time and we have a couple of trips planned. So it's been a good exercise in testing my own boundaries, testing my own, um, mantra of my career works in my life. Not the other way around, but, you know, it's a work in progress and I would love to hear from you all. Do you struggle with creating those boundaries? Like for any of you who say, OK, Fridays, I don't take meetings or I never work after five o'clock. Do those flecks? Do you break them? I would love to hear back from you. I absolutely love your feedback. As you know, I read a lot of them and I've really been enjoying doing these bonus solo episodes. Let me know what you think. Drop me a note and I was just mentioning speaking engagements. If you're looking to turn yourself from professional to thought leader or if you're in corporate and you're looking to really shine on stage and presentations, that's exactly what I do. I help you go from professional to thought leader, build your personal brand authentically, that feels right for you. And that's what I've done for myself and that's what I do for my clients. So if that's something you're into, send me a message or check me out at kimrittberg.com