WORK, LIFE BALANCE
Who better than Hedda Pier – an Interior Designer, to set the tone, design and palette for a successful and harmonious Work-Life Balance, from within!
I think I have – somehow, fortunately – managed to achieve more ‘work-life balance’ than many people I know. This is largely due to being an entrepreneur.
I have two children and my husband and I both work four days a week. It initially took some convincing for my husband to go down to four days with me; it is so ingrained in us – particularly men – that we are less successful and professional if we work less. Now that my youngest is in school, we have a day to ourselves each week. I thought about going back to five days but I realized how happy it would make me to have time for myself.
What could be better for your mental health and productivity than having time to do the things that give you energy?
I feel like in the past year I have become more ‘me’. Not mama. Not businesswoman. Just Hedda. I use my day off – which should not be confused with a weekend where there are countless kids’ birthday parties, sports competitions and family events to attend – to catch up with friends, do an online Architecture course and to go to the gym. Sometimes I just feel like reading a book or watching Gossip Girl on Netflix, I have learned to give in to that, which is not easy when you are always running. Most importantly my email signature says I am free on Friday so I DON’T CHECK IT!
I once saw a hilarious YouTube video about the difference between men and women’s brains – to me this sums up all the struggles I have at home managing life / work / kids / marriage (Google: Mark Gungor – brain boxes). I have all the tabs open at the same time. My husband can only handle one at a time.
For example, if the ‘work’ tab is open, there is no point in discussing my daughter’s birthday party with him. My husband and I puzzle through each week figuring out pick-ups and drop-offs and play dates and swimming / gymnastics / rugby lessons. We haggle with each other over time; “So if I do this drop off, I want to stay at work late Friday…’ For an entrepreneur / mother / wife; time is the biggest currency. If you can win me time, you’re winning. If you’re costing me too much time, you’re out. This is true for clients, suppliers, activities and even friendships. Life is very efficient, and yet it is a house of cards, if one of the kids is sick there is even more haggling.
When I’m away, I know that my business partner, Holly Marder, and our team will (wo)man the fort. Holly and I are both mothers, both passionate about our work and our business and both perpetually strapped for time. Life is manic. We have been in the studio with our kids when for whatever reason there was no school or no daycare. Let’s just say thank god for iPads in those situations. When you have to meet a deadline, it just needs to get done, nobody is going to ask you how or where it was done, as long as it gets done.
The upside of working with another woman and mother is that she understands the choices that need to be made.
Holly and I can have a work meeting and be talking about seven different projects at once, rolling from one to another without even noticing (all the tabs are open!). Until one of us goes ‘I need to run, I have to pick up the kids today!’ – and bolts out the door. As entrepreneurs, we have that flexibility, and that is what I have loved about my work and my business. I have managed to create it around my family and with my husband’s support, just as I support him. I don’t feel that I have had to compromise my role as a mother and at the same time I feel I am moving forward in my career. At this stage in my life, I am just happy to be where I am.
