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Sunday - "I seriously cannot miss this deadline!"

30/4/2017

11 Comments

 
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11 Comments
Kate
30/4/2017 09:36:32 am

The panic of deadlines- aaarrrhhhh. I'm fortunate to be driven by pressure - ha. Grit, determination and stamina see me through - followed by a hefty wine and an expensive treat/ day out with the children (if they've been left out due to the deadline) of course the treat/day out Is unecessary and is only offered because of my guilt. I'm getting much better at handling my guilt now though - my family know that at certain parts of the term, I'm going to be a bit busier. There's know better feeling though, when that deadline has been reached. Bliss.

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Donna
30/4/2017 10:14:43 am

I have multi-tasked like this with my child. Getting them into the bath or watching tv so that I can finish an email or phone a client.

It's not great! I feel awful for letting technology babysit. This doesn't happen often but he does understand that sometimes work does cross over into family time. It does make me frazzled though!

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Anna
30/4/2017 02:59:54 pm

This looks very familiar...I've lost track of the number of times I would be doing sth with my kids but my mind was completely elsewhere and with hindsight, I feel really sad about this. I know I am the kind of person who finds it hard to switch off anyway, but when I was teaching full time, I would often try and rush bedtime routine things like baths and story time with my kids because I know I had marking or planning to do. Age and experience ha allowed me to gain a bit of perspective and I realise life is too short not to enjoy your kids while they are young. I imagine this scenario resonates with many parents.

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Nic Griffiths
30/4/2017 04:59:04 pm

Luckily in my job being at home serves as a distraction after what can sometimes be a very traumatic shift but, when I need to study and submit assignments everything else must fade into the distance! I am extremely distracted so I have to shut everyone out but I also get extremely stressed so the children normally get the brunt of it!! This again will then lead me to feeling completely selfish in my career choice!!

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Sam
1/5/2017 08:19:55 am

Love a bit of pressure, love a target or a deadline. Nothing motivates me more and as long as I have enough warning, managing my time is one of the things I feel I do best. No last minute rushes anymore!

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Wendy
1/5/2017 08:20:41 am

I soon learnt not to promise anything to my two,as the tears and trauma if something came up and I had to change plans was too much to bear. Having to go to night school and studying whilst at home trying to get assignments completed - I tried to tell myself I was being a good role model... but did not feel it.

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vicky duckworth
1/5/2017 11:01:04 am

Yes, work deadlines can impact on family life particularly if they are unreasonable - which with poor management in place they can be. So it really depends on the culture and whether management are effective or not , reactionary management being the worst.
Often it is about navigating through work landscapes that are either productive with realistic deadlines or not. I have navigated through both and have learnt to take an empowered position and if it is not a realistic deadline say ... I may still need to do it ... but not in a passive and disempowered way.
I work flexibly and do a considerable amount of work outside office hours .... but I enjoy it and the work I do including research inspires and motivates me. ... I have always worked this way and so deadlines can be addressed in most cases ... but often they are my won deadlines ... I need these to ensure that when working collaboratively in particular ... I work in a way that is also supportive to others.
As I have said in my previous post ... yes it is a balancing act to meet deadlines with a family to care for ... but I'm paid to do it ... it's my job and in many ways you just have to get on with it. I try not to moan and just do the job, I'm lucky I could be cooked up in a factory all day with no room for the creativity and outside thinking that my position allows ... optimism helps and trying to make a difference in the world we live. My drive comes from a pursuit for social justice and putting work into the public domain that does this.
Deadlines are thus vehicles to make a difference ....

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Jo
2/5/2017 10:01:28 am

I've learnt to treat deadlines differently as I've got older. Some are not really deadlines, and to those I quite happily written back and said I'm not able to do this by then and offer an alternative date. This is where I'd just have to say to my husband- you'll have to take over here. I do think occasionally that children are fine left to their own devices while I work at home - we sometimes feel the need to have to entertain children.

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Helen Combes
3/5/2017 10:04:26 am

Sometimes I just have to get things done by the scheduled time - it happens a lot with Universit work, and so Nat just gets to watch TV. There are times when I feel bad, but I do know I am there such a lot for him, and would drop it if he needed me. I do get stressed and I do nag, but actually we need the money to pay the bills and to do the things that we like to do.. so we are lucky to be so privileged.

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Elaine link
3/5/2017 09:38:19 pm

I work best under pressure as I tend to procrastinate when I have plenty of time to do things, I have been known to work late into the night in order to manage the family and meet deadlines. As I get older I find my capacity to burn the midnight oil has diminished so I have accepted that there are times when I need to work and times when I am able to play. So long as play wins. I am happy.

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Liana
6/5/2017 08:51:22 am

Since my daughter was born and up to the age of about 10 I felt that the aim of my whole life was to meet the deadlines! It was tough, but it taught me to develop some sort of emotional resilience... With time I learned to sort problems into the relevant 'imaginary' piles labelled "very important", "not that important", "totally unimportant". This strategy helped me to be a better mum, as I developed a way of ruthlessly deleting some of the deadlines from my diary and replacing them with an entry "Tammy - very important"

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