5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There Is Never Enough Time

1Driving Too Fast

A hard-charging, 40-year-old executive was leaving work, late again. For weeks, his wife had requested that he try to make it home for a hot meal with their three kids before the children got ready for bed. The request didn't seem too unreasonable, but for some reason it was very difficult for the CEO husband to be consistent with this basic level of commitment during this period of his life.

The husband was leading a national company that had a lot of moving parts, employees, and investors. Outside of the normal business he was also in the middle of a possible acquisition, while at the same time working on divesting a portion of the company. Needless to say, his mind was elsewhere for months, as he juggled calls with attorneys and partners, while also managing the day-to-day.

On many occasions the husband would text his wife to say he was on his way home, which was partially true. His stall tactic was pulling in to his neighborhood swim/tennis parking lot to finish up his phone calls before making the final 500 feet to his house. The texts would keep piling in from his wife, “Where are you?” His “almost there” reply made him feel as if he was being truthful. But it was her inevitable, frustrated response, “We are eating without you,” that prompted him to end the call with the attorney, pull into his driveway and make his way inside, always with an apologetic monologue to his family and a shoulder shrug to his wife. “It's been crazy busy,” he would casually ...