On balance and support

Wow, it's really sunny outside! After lunch, I'm going out for a stroll along the seawall. I might even stop by Granville Island for a little food and window shopping.

Thank goodness it's the weekend, I had a busy week. But an interesting one as well. On Thursday morning, I was volunteering for the annual Women's Executive Network's Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 event at the Terminal City Club. A few students (all women) from the MBA program were asked to help out. After helping with the setup (starting at 6:30 a.m.) and manning (or womaning?) the registration table, I had an opportunity to attend one of the sessions. It was titled Risk to Win: Take Uncharted Paths to Achieve Career Success. Each session was held as an open discussion with three or four panelists who were all winners in this year's Top 100. The discussions were loosely moderated, which made it a bit difficult to latch on to the points being presented (too many anecdotes). However, I did come out of this session with some questions of my own on balance.

One of the panelists was referring back to a discussion she had with her women (mostly executive) friends. She had asked them if they were to redo their lives all over again, what would they do differently. The unanimous response was "spend more time with their kids." Not that this was a surprise, but it made me realize how difficult it is to make the decision about how to balance your professional and personal (family) life. It also made me think how the path to try and "have it all" is unrealistic and somewhat selfish. Something's gotta give.

Fortunately, at this point in my life, I can allow myself to be selfish. Being single and having no kids means I can focus all my energy on my education and career. I've spoken to a few other students who are not in this situation, and have heard of how some of them are running into problems at home. I'm sure the fact that the MBA seriously cuts into any free time we might have does not help maintain healthy relationships.

Speaking of career, I must say that what I really appreciate about my current job are my coworkers. I've been fortunate enough to deal with people who are professional, respectful, and kind enough to give me advice (when I ask for it). Many of my coworkers are experienced managers and being able to discuss challenges openly makes me feel supported in my new position. I know I'm not "getting" everything or doing everything I should be doing, but if I feel I'm struggling with something, I have people to turn to. They also will kindly hint at my mistakes, without being judgmental. Well, at least not in my face ;)

OK, time for lunch, then a nice walk before hitting the books again.

All weekends should last three days...

You can get so much more done and yet still relax.

The Zero 7 concert on Saturday night was excellent, this band is really good live. Too bad I was a bit tired, maybe the missing pint of blood had something to do with that (no worries, this was not an accident or a vampire, but a blood donation on Saturday morning). But Zero 7's music is moody and relaxed, which was perfect. No mad dancing around. Just chilling with a few drinks with my ladies Lara and Gerri.

Sunday was nothing special, a lot of reading in preparation for the week to come. And way too many self-assessment tests. I never liked doing these tests, even in fluffy magazines. I especially didn't appreciate having to write them by hand and calculate my score the old-fashion way. The book mentioned that these tests were available online, I think that was a lie. Why am I completing self-assessments? Because my one-week intensive course is about management skills (the ones that you have and the ones that you should have). It's interesting, but there's a limit to how many questions I'm ready to answer with "Never", "Rarely", "Occasionally", "Sometimes", "Often" or "Always". There is never an option for "It Depends".

This morning, I was up at 4. Yes, a.m. and I did go to bed last night. I was volunteering at the Vancouver Triathlon, which was a fundraiser for the WWF. I am a supporter of the WWF and received an e-mail about a week ago about the event needing more volunteers (I guess it's tough to find people during a long weekend). It was a lot of fun, except for the 4 a.m. part when it was dark and cold outside. I was helping in the transition area, where athletes are switching from swimming to biking, and biking to running (basically, the entire area is a big bike rack). I've never seen so many people with wetsuits in my life. Or stripping out of wetsuits... did I mention I was covering the area for the men-under-40 category? :D

More reading today, even if it's a bit hard to not go play outside, it's beautiful.