I am the furthest thing from a Unitasker (Only doing one thing at a time) unless of course I’m sitting on my couch with O watching Dora. Even then though I suppose you could argue that I might be doing something else even if it’s mentally. My wife complains often that I do too many things at once. I’m actually eating a bowl of cereal as I write out this post. Does that constitute at multi-tasking? I have so many things I want to do and I just can’t seem to juggle them all. We all here about the “Busy Mom” who works (or works at home), cooks, cleans, yadda yadda yadda. Now this is true just about all the time but I think we underestimate just how much Dad’s have going on as well. Now granted maybe the things I think about aren’t doing chores around the house or cleaning the yard or going to Target. I do all those things but they’re just not first on my mind.
What is first on my mind? Well aside from spending time with my babies and being with my family the list goes on. You could say I’m a Jack of all trades, Master of none. Yeah, I like to get into all kinds of things. I dive deep, really deep into the topic to find out everything I can. Then when I get my fill I’m done. It’s weird, I haven’t done this with other aspects of my life. For example, I’ve always enjoyed being in relationships and never was really one for dating. I love techie gadgets such as my iPhone, TV’s, Web Stuff, Photography, Wine (I love wine!), Reading, and of course Blogging. I think blogging about my Daddyhood is going to stick with me. Why would that be when everything else kind of fizzles? Well, I’m a parent forever and I love that I’m going to be a parent forever. There’s so much on the topic that it could fill a lifetime of blogging.
So where do I stand with juggling my responsibilities, my hobbies, my family time, my friends, personal time, etc.? Well, to be honest I’m not doing a great job. I get distracted easily (Is this a guy thing?) and I find it troubling to set priorities and stick to them. That probably doesn’t sound good but it’s true and I don’t write made up junk. Well, maybe I do but I’m not going to on this blog.
Knowing the different areas in my life I need to focus on I need to break up my time accordingly. I have to appropriate the right amount of time to each area so that I’m balanced. If I spend too much time surfing or blogging I’m going to miss out on other important areas. Imagine if I spent all my free time blogging about being a Daddy to the point I’m not spending time with my babies. Yeah, that means I’m a fake Dad…One who writes about it and doesn’t actually do it! That’s the last thing I want and hope that never happens to me. I worry about these things though because I just can’t keep to doing just one thing at a time. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way.
What tips and advice do you have for keeping this Dad’s life in balance?
Well, I can only say from many years of “live and learn” experience, that before you respond to any stressful situation in life, you should take some deep lower abdomen breaths. Try to breath in and hold for a few seconds concentrating on a location about 2 inches below your navel. Then proceed with a strong controlled exhale. If this does not work oh well there is always the “throw the nearest object” technique. However, you would be much better off taking one thing at a time instead of “multi tasking”.
Leave that to the women in your life. Learn to delegate once in awhile and share other times.
I have to agree with Dad Becker.
Dig this post…and I feel ya. I’m a total tech nerd (i mean i have about 10 computers in my garage not even in use) and get totally immersed in something…then get bored. I think it comes with the tech guy territory. You want the latest and greatest, to experience everything with your kid(s), and to be able to talk intelligently and make recommendations to other people about gadgets. I’m trying to get my other site http://www.epicgizmo.com back up and going if you ever want to guest post about one or more of your cool gadgets let me know. I think my mind just threw up in this comment box…and there in lies the problem…
It was a little throw up but certainly much less than the yakking I do on a regular basis over here! I checked out your site and it's very cool! I'd love to post something over there sometime, very cool! Diving in to a lot of things can be dangerous in the tech world like you said as it changes every day. Lucky us, huh? Thanks for checking out the blog!
Hi Josh!
I agree – there is so much stuff going on that sometimes it is hard to keep the balance.
Actually, I wrote about this topic just recently:
http://www.productivesuperdad.com/productivtiy-elements-balance-craig-jarrow/
I think that what works for me is setting clear boundaries (when I’m doing what) and then communicating those boundaries with my family.
This way everyone is on the same line and no unreasonable expectations are set.
Cheers,
Timo