This week has been mostly off for me. Monday was taking my middle kid in to the hospital for further tests and such for her GI issues. More tests are scheduled.

Tuesday through Thursday my wife worked a bunch and since it was one week in the summer we decided that I’d just take the time off and hang with my younger two kids. That has meant beach days and hanging with dad.

I did get to write most mornings while the kids had screen time and dealt with a few emails.

What I Shipped

Monday I wrote about getting support at home. You can’t fight a battle at home about your business and still hope to succeed in running that business. I talk about this in my upcoming book The Art of Focus as well. Make sure you get on the email list to get it for free when it comes out.

Wednesday I talked about time and social media based off a question we bantered around in Slack. I don’t schedule time for social media, but I do schedule time.

Thursday I dug in to Story Driven by Bernadette Jiwa. You can listen to it, or read it. Make sure you subscribe to Should I Read it so you don’t miss a book that matters.

Also, Should I Read it will take a one week hiatus, just couldn’t get to recording with taking care of kids so I’m not worrying about it.

Freelance Friday Five

1. Do Men Really Care About a Woman’s Stereotypical ‘Beach Body’?

Nope I don’t care that much. I want her to feel good about herself but there has never been a time when I didn’t think my wife was so beautiful. And most respondents agree with me.

2. What will it take to fix work-life balance?

I know there has been an arms race over parental leave in Silicon Valley, for example, such that companies are offering better and better parental leave policies. That’s commendable and important. On the other hand, it doesn’t take three or ten months to raise a child, it takes 20 years. I haven’t heard about Silicon Valley firms embracing flexible work policies like job shares, telecommuting, non-marginalized part-time schedules or flextime. Those are quite different from paid leave.
>
We have talked about me getting a job off and on over the years and it always comes back to the lack of flexibility. We’d rather have me make less money and be able to hang out with the family. Like last night when I cut out at 3pm and we went to the river. I did my run then swam with the kids for a few hours. Much better than making a few extra dollars.

The next one ties in as well.

3. Work-Life Balance Is About Years, Not Days – Thrive Global

Interesting thoughts about diving in to kids and family when you’re younger and then work as the kids get older. Also l, how does that change as people are waiting so much longer to have kids.

It harkens back to my ideas of seasons of life. Are you in a season when career is taking a back seat in favour of something else?

4. 5 Mental Models to Remove (Some of) the Confusion from Parenting

Some good models to use in your parenting roles. We’ve totally had a hard time adapting out of what worked with our first child as we raise the next two bundles of energy.

5. 301 – Building relationships, focusing on your strengths, and why you need a therapist with Justin Jackson — Live In The Feast

This was a great episode where Jason and Justin talked about mental health and how we don’t need to do all this hustle crap. The life you want comes in little bits.