Categories
Work/Life Balance

Quarantine Life A Challenge For Sure

Quarantine life is definitely challenging.

The kiddo is obviously home and has to learn, wife has to find a job (she’s a real catch for any company looking for a business manager or biz ops person, hint hint), and I have to keep Goldstein Media well oiled and moving.

So far it’s being done, but not without a lot of stress.

I wish I could say that this extra time with my family is fun and relaxing, but it’s only the former sometimes and never the latter.

By the way, I refuse to call this “The New Normal!” There is nothing normal about this. It’s “The New Not Normal!”

How is everyone else doing?

(This was originally a status message on LinkedIn. Thought I’d post it here as well.)

Categories
The New Reality

Finding The Right Balance

Scale - Finding the right balance

With the majority of the globe on lock down/quarantine. I’ve seen a trend toward more online interaction. While this is good, we need to remember to not only take time for ourselves, but also our family that is with us in real life (IRL).

Last weekend I attended WordCamp San Antonio virtually. It was so much fun, but it took a toll on my 7 year-old son. He missed me.

This weekend there is yet another WordPress/digital conference. Though I’d like to attend, I’m going to only make one or two sessions and spend the rest of my time getting some work done and spending time with the family.

It’s all about priorities. And my family is #1.

Photo by mali maeder from Pexels

Categories
The New Reality

More Social Now?

Before the Covid-19 corona virus pandemic, I was in a flow. It was regular and comfortable. Now that we’re all stuck at home, I feel that there are more things going on and that I’m being more social than I was before.

Yes, we are home schooling our 7 year old son. That takes time and changes stuff up a bit. Yes, my wife is now on furlough from her job. That’s making things much more stressful. But on the whole, I’ve been busy — connecting, reaching out, communicating.

Is that possible? Seriously? Did it take a global deadly pandemic to make the world come together? More people are reaching out and doing Zoom and other video chats on a regular basis.

I’ve gone to a WordCamp virtually, last weekend, and today there is an online conference (10 hrs of content), about the WordPress Block Editor.

I’m in a Zoom call at least daily if not multiple times a day. I’m connecting with my tech community much more than I did before.

I’m loving it. But why did it take a freaking pandemic for this to happen? I can’t answer that, I don’t think anyone really can.

Have you found yourself becoming more social online? Let me know in the comments.

Categories
General

It’s Been A While

hands-on-head-in-front-of-computer-with-coffee

Hey. Yea You. It’s been a while since I’ve posted over here on this site. I’ve been busy. Yea we’re all “busy.” I’ve been building out a tech site called Insights on Tech. Check it out. I’m really proud of it.

So reality struck and I’m now out of my co-working space for at least two weeks because of Covid19. I’m back to working in my basement. This time with a proper standing desk and a nice foot pad.

The kiddo is home for these two weeks and the wife is doing reduced hours at her job.

I’ll admit I’m a bit freaked out. Yes a little about the actual Covid19 virus, but more about what it’s going to do to our healthcare system, that already has issues.

I’m scared because if someone gets sick, not necessarily with Covid19 but with something else that takes them to the emergency room, how that might work. Our resources are thin at best now. Hell, doctors can’t even get gloves and masks. You’d think we’re in a 3rd World country. To be honest, I think 3rd World countries have more supplies than we do.

I don’t have to worry about my 7 yo getting it, he’ll just give us Covid19. I’m really worried about my parents and my in-laws. They are in the zone where it’s deadly.

I know I’m rambling, but I needed to get this out.

How are you doing? Let me know in the comments. We’re all in this together. Together we can get through this.

Categories
General

Side Hustles Are Not Just For Desk Jockeys

Person hard at work with computer and coffee

So I’m starting up a side hustle. It’s in stealth-mode right now, so I’m not going to reveal anything here right now. But in doing this side hustle, I realized something… side hustles are not just for desk jockeys who have 9 to 5 jobs. Even if you’re an entrepreneur, having a side hustle is a good thing.

Side hustles are great. Exploring other opportunities is healthy and keeps you on your toes. It allows you to iterate and improve your bottom line.

If you’ve ever started a side hustle, you know that you have to figure out the balance between the main hustle and the side hustle. This is the same for when you own your main hustle. In fact it’s even more important.

Do you have a side hustle?

Image Credit: Pexels

Categories
General

Waking Up

Hand on alarm clock waking up

Waking up from bed is something we should all hope for every day. Because there are people who don’t. I know that was really profound (sarcasm).

But have you ever laid in bed not wanting to rise? It happens to me all the time. It’s probably because my bed is so comfortable.

Though once I rise I realize what a blessing it is that I’m up for another day.

I’m thankful for my son, though he drives me up a wall quite a bit. I’m thankful for my wife who puts up with both of us.

That alone makes waking up in the morning worth it.

The more I dive in to what’s worth waking up from slumber for, the more I realize how lucky I am. I own my own business, I have great colleagues and friends that surround me daily at Stacks, the co-working space where I hang my shingle.

What gets you up in the morning?

Photo Credit: Pexels

Categories
General

Staying Sane As Life Picks Up

Meditating at Grand Canyon

It’s the new year. We’re all out of the holidays and ramping back up to regular life.

With this ramp up comes the shock to our system of first quarter busyness.

It’s during these busy times that we need to take a step back and breathe. Read a few pages in a good book or meditate.

If we don’t take care of ourselves we can help others who depend on us for various reasons.

How are you doing self care this year?

Photo by Matteo Di Iorio on Unsplash

Categories
General

New Year… Reflections… Already

Person looking at wall covered in paper and charts thinking

We’re just barely into the new year, about a week, and I feel like I need to reflect already on how the year is going.

In today’s hyper-connected world life moves fast… really fast. With this in mind, I’m feeling like I need to reflect on the the first days of the new year.

  • Politically, we’re in a tinderbox. I’ll leave it there.
  • Australia is in a literal tinderbox because of climate change (I feel so bad for all those people and animals).
  • Getting work started up after a holiday seems harder than usual. It seems as though lots of people are treading water these first few days. Hopefully the first FULL week of 2020 will invigorate people to start getting down to business.
  • My goals are starting off well. Still need to implement the gym, but over all I’m doing what I need to do to be present.

I’m beginning to think I’m nuts for trying to evaluate the year so soon. But I thought I’d give it a crack.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Categories
General

Glass Half Full?

plants in earth pots

The new decade is off to quite a start. If you’re not following the news you should be and I’ll leave it at that.

With all the craziness that is going on right now, you have a choice. You can choose to crawl into a hole and act like the sky is falling, which at times it certainly feels that way. You can think of the glass half empty and we’re all doomed.

Or

You can look at the craziness and see possibility. Even in the most depressing situations. Because if you’re reading this you’re still above ground and breathing air.

It’s not worth worrying and sweating stuff you have no control over. Get out there and do something and make a difference. Make an impact on something you can change.

Photo by Daniel Hjalmarsson on Unsplash

Categories
General

New Year… New Decade… What’s Different

Happy New Year Sparkler

It’s now 2020. Happy New Year, Happy New Decade.

Now that we’re done with the holidays, hooray, how are we going to make this new year, new decade different?

The typical resolutions are probably made. And you might already be breaking them. But setting up goals for the year to meet are different. These goals can be really attainable or pie-in-the-sky goals. Regardless they are goals that you want to aim for.

Ultimately you don’t want to stay on the hamster wheel and just start a new year/decade doing the same stuff without some self-evaluation.

What are you doing to make things different this year/decade? I’d love to hear them.

Photo by Crazy nana on Unsplash