Post written by Marlon Ribunal.
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If you’ve been following my blog, you might have noticed that I haven’t posted for few days now. I apologize to my few RSS Feed subscribers and readers. This absence is not without reason, though. It is for a good reason in fact. I am on a one-week vacation with my family – supposedly.  Yes, put an emphasis on that word,  supposedly.

I had to change the vacation plans. The reason was that I had to finish a project at work in time for the deadline. I could have delegated the whole job to somebody else but that would leave a not so good impression to the higher ups. Did I have to make a split decision of choosing between family and work? How many times in the past have you come across a similar situation where you have to choose between family and work?

The fact is I didn’t have to choose between family and work – I chose them both. Our family should always be our top priority but when our job calls for urgency we must make adjustments. The family is more important than our work but we sometimes need to take into considerations our priorities on moment-to-moment basis. If you are like most knowledge workers, you might agree that there are instances when work becomes more important than anything else. That is when your job calls for urgency.

There are instances when your work becomes more important than anything else. That is when your job calls for urgency.

Like I said, you don’t have to choose one and sacrifice the other in situations where there seems to be a need for split decision. These are the tips that I learned from this situation.

Compromise

You don’t have to sacrifice one to save the other when you can save them both. The critical factor in this is communication. You have to have the channels on both ends open. What I did was only to change part of our vacation schedule so I can run back to work. Rescheduling the whole vacation to another week was not quite possible because we already bought the theme park tickets and booked the hotel reservation. Plus rescheduling to other dates was not possible. I have to communicate all this to my work so they can understand my current situation while I assured them that I can finish the job on time. I did the same thing with my family. I let them see the current situation I am in at work and I am just glad that explaining the whole thing was easier than I expected. You don’t have to sacrifice when you can compromise.

Delegate

Obviously I needed help. Since I cannot possibly fulfill both of my obligations on both ends on a hundred percent, I have to call for help. I have taken care of my family vacation by cutting off some portion of the schedule. But I cannot cut corners with my work. You cannot just do that. Our work always expects 100% of our effort regardless of the situation. And I have to give them that at all cost. Delegation can help you fill the difference. It can fill all the gaps to enable you to give hundred percent of yourself (even without you being a hundred percent). What you are doing when you are delegating is you’re extending yourself. Team work is the critical factor here.

Winning Attitude

I felt some guilt when I told my family that I needed to cut short our mini-vacation into few days instead of the scheduled week and half (covering weekends on both ends). To me it felt like I let them down. Summer is the only best time to take some days off to enjoy and have fun with the family. But there will be other time for this. I made sure that I was not sending the wrong message to my family – that my work was more important. The fact is my work is only important because my family is important. If I lose my job then there might not be another chance for a vacation.

Have you experienced a similar situation before? What did you choose? Share your story and let us know how you dealt with the situation.