It doesn't stop.
I'm not sure if anyone who doesn't live and work in tech in Silicon Valley can appreciate how the pace, even at a large company, does not slow. Having worked at start-ups during the dot-com boom, I don't miss the days of staying in the office till 9 or 10pm, but this is a different kind of pressure.
You can't unplug.
I wake up at 4:30am everyday to check my work email. Did something happen in EMEA overnight that I need to address? If the answer is no, I go back to sleep. About half the day is spent in meetings and after an hour commute (10 mile drive down the 101), I come home to walk the dogs, whip up something to eat, and then I'm back online. Yeah, I know. It sounds like any normal adult life - try adding kids into the mix, you might say. And to those with kids, I have no idea how you do it.
In the valley, we never, ever unplug. There's an unsaid expectation to be available, to reply to emails immediately, regardless of the time. In fact, I'm sitting here at the dining table watching Kristi multitask in the kitchen: a chopping knife in one hand and her iPhone in the other.
Enough sounding like a brat: We are lucky though. We're having roasted rosemary garlic chicken with sauteed yellow wax beans (which are way tastier than green beans), and couscous. Kristi is in Napa this weekend, the weather is good, albeit cold, and I'm not worried about bills.
There's certainly a price you pay for living in a center of innovation, but the key is striking that balance where you can unplug. And that's what we're working on.
In the meantime, here's dinner...thank you Cuisinart slow cooker, and thank you Olive Press!
I'm not sure if anyone who doesn't live and work in tech in Silicon Valley can appreciate how the pace, even at a large company, does not slow. Having worked at start-ups during the dot-com boom, I don't miss the days of staying in the office till 9 or 10pm, but this is a different kind of pressure.
You can't unplug.
I wake up at 4:30am everyday to check my work email. Did something happen in EMEA overnight that I need to address? If the answer is no, I go back to sleep. About half the day is spent in meetings and after an hour commute (10 mile drive down the 101), I come home to walk the dogs, whip up something to eat, and then I'm back online. Yeah, I know. It sounds like any normal adult life - try adding kids into the mix, you might say. And to those with kids, I have no idea how you do it.
In the valley, we never, ever unplug. There's an unsaid expectation to be available, to reply to emails immediately, regardless of the time. In fact, I'm sitting here at the dining table watching Kristi multitask in the kitchen: a chopping knife in one hand and her iPhone in the other.
Enough sounding like a brat: We are lucky though. We're having roasted rosemary garlic chicken with sauteed yellow wax beans (which are way tastier than green beans), and couscous. Kristi is in Napa this weekend, the weather is good, albeit cold, and I'm not worried about bills.There's certainly a price you pay for living in a center of innovation, but the key is striking that balance where you can unplug. And that's what we're working on.
In the meantime, here's dinner...thank you Cuisinart slow cooker, and thank you Olive Press!
No comments:
Post a Comment