Last month, I attended Spark and Hustle in Boston, an entrepreneurial women’s conference hosted by Tory Johnson. It was the third one I have been to this year. If you’re a small business owner, I highly recommend attending one of these! I got some great insight from each, but the closing speaker in Boston said something that really resonated with me. Her name is Meg Hirshberg and she is married to Gary Hirshberg, the Cofounder of Stonyfield Farm, which is now the largest organic yogurt company in the world. Meg’s story was inspiring to hear…it was a long and difficult road being part of an entrepreneurial family. Meg now writes a column for Inc. Magazine on balancing work and life in entrepreneurial settings. Her talk at Spark and Hustle was thought provoking. The biggest take-away for me was this life lesson: Be 100% in what you are doing right at that moment.
That one comment really hit home. I am very guilty of multi-tasking, and often at the expense of my family and personal life. I say yes way more often than I say no, and often times to things that I really don’t have time to take on. I’ve done this my whole life, so its a behavior I need to unlearn. I’ve worked corporately, for small businesses and a start up, and I’ve also been an entrepreneur. I tend to pour my heart and soul into my work. I have a hard time letting it go, because there is always something more to do, something more to improve upon. I’ve taken business calls during dinner and children’s games. I almost always work on my vacations.
Granted I am not the worst offender. I am there for my family. I drive the carpool to practices and most of the time I am watching the game from behind a camera, recording memories for my children and their friends. I carve out time to do fun things with my family.
But there are a lot of times that I am multi-tasking when I shouldn’t. Meg’s comment was truly common sense, but until she said it, I never really thought about it in that way. Going forward I am going to make a conscious effort to be 100% in what I am doing at the time. Thanks for the reminder, Meg. I needed to hear that.