“Papa, does everyone in your office have to work today?” My seven year-old daughter Daisy asked on Sunday as I was sitting at my computer. “No Daisy” was all I could muster as I was deep in thought. “So why do you have to work today Papa?” she continued. “Sorry Daisy, it’s important that I review this report today so that we can give it to our client tomorrow” I replied, a little impatiently. “But, Papa, what will happen when you retire. Who will do your work then?” She continued. “They will find someone else to do my work I’m sure” I replied. “So why not let them do your work today Papa?” came the response. And knowing that I was definitely going to lose this, I stopped what I was doing and took the girls for a swim.

And actually, she was right. My weekends are family time and also, like sleeping, it’s a time to switch off from work and give that bit of the brain that handles work stuff, some rest. Oh were it that easy to be able to just switch off. And it’s all very well saying “Just say no” to weekend work, but whether I do it at the weekend or some other time, I still need to do it I pondered. And it reminded me of a report I’d prepared recently, working throughout the Chinese New Year holiday period, I sent it out for comment immediately after the break, as requested. Only for the recipients to say a week later “I’ve been on holiday this past week and haven’t looked at your report yet” Well, I would have liked a holiday too, I thought to myself.

As I scolded myself for not getting my priorities right, I thought about this some more and I realised that when I prioritise things, really, my only consideration is when the person says they need it by. But actually, as we all know, if you need something by Friday, then you say you want it by the Tuesday or Wednesday before. So, rather than beating myself up over my poor time management, I wondered if a risk management approach is called for.

So this week I have been reviewing my “to do” list and I find that for some things, although urgent, the impact of me being a day or so late is less than some of the less urgent things I have on my list. So further down the list goes my review of our Innovation Hub programme and up comes the Contracting Masterclass and Social Media guidance. And for those that have gone down the list and I know that I will be late with them, I have fired off an email to let them know. No reply yet, but I am hopeful that expectations have been “managed”.

And while this still doesn’t get me over the “weekend” work issue, it does, at least, mean that in most cases, weekend working is actually a matter of choice, rather than a necessity. That’s got to be a good thing to realise. Albeit, 20 years late.