VeeamON 2023 How do you juggle your life, work, travel and study?

Hey @Geoff Burke ...this is a decades-old dilemma really, at least for me. I think the first question a person should ask themself is ‘what are my career goals?’. If they wanna advance, then they obviously need to put in extra time both during work hrs (when time permits), and off hours..to gain the needed knowledge to meet one’s goals. The other question folks should ask themselves when it comes to (v)community involvement is ‘what contributions am I willing to provide?’, ‘what can I provide?’, and ‘how much?’. Depending on the answers to those questions, one then also has to decide what to contribute & when/how often.

At the end of the day, I think work, community, and recoup balance comes from knowing oneself. Truly knowing oneself. Sometimes we can surely fall into the trap of over-committing ourselves to the point of burnout. Several community colleagues have shared posts on this very topic. I think even Matt Crape did a post on this a few yrs ago or so? What I personally do is every so often take an inventory of what I have going on at work, and what I want to contribute to the community. The past 4-5yrs what I started doing is set & look to accomplish personal goals (learn new tech, new or renew certs, etc) at the beginning of the yr & continuing until I accomplish them, which generally goes from around mid/end of Jan till May, with a week break in Mar. I also start more community involvement during this stretch because some of what I do/contribute goes hand-in-hand with my personal goals. 

I generally focus more on my community contributions mid-year till the beginning of Fall. Then, I generally break away...not completely….but mostly...the last 2-3 mos of the year to recharge & refocus. 

Anyway, that’s my personal strategy. Hopefully you’re not overcommitting yourself, and if you feel you are, maybe it’s time you take a short (or long?) hiatus to recharge and rejuvenate. At the end of the  day, the communities you’re involved in will continue to function until you return, and the certs you want to achieve and/or renew aren’t going anywhere 😊

Reach out if you need a listening board or if I can help in any other way. 

Cheers!

@Geoff Burke happy to help. The strategy I shared certainly is what I’ve grown to develop to work for me; others may need a different approach, or maybe take my strategy but tweak it a bit to do what works best for them. I think what you said is a very eye-opening self observation → being reactive instead of proactive. Certainly take a deeper look into why that is and what you can do to lessen the burden of doing so.

Yes, knowing oneself has definitely been a key for me. It can take time for people to get to that point, and even then it’s still a learning process because we get older and things change in our lives. One thing I had to learn over the years is to not feel guilty about taking a break and taking some ‘me time’. Remember, doing so is SELF-CARE, not selfishness. 

Cheers.