#Weeknotes 82 (12 Jul) — Great team synergy, life squeeze, and the cost of throwing money at our problems
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Work wise:
This week, I wrapped up a year-long project with Sport England and am feeling bittersweet. Saying goodbye to the team and working dynamic we established is tough but the prospect of taking on new challenges and diving into another domain feels quite exciting.
Documenting work and outputs isn’t a fun task but I did find the process quite therapeutic. Especially when looking across a year timeline, I realise we accomplished quite a lot. It’s tempting to keep looking forward to the next challenge, task, and problem to solve that we often forget the many wins (especially the small ones) along the way. What was especially enjoyable about this work was the teamwork dynamic. You know you have good synergy when there’s a bit of banter and laughter in working sessions, nicknames get caught on, and there’s a willingness to be vulnerable and talk about hard things. It’s also interesting that there weren’t strong power dynamics at play which often is hard to ignore when it comes to client work relationships. Colleagues at Sport England also felt the same and gave feedback that it’s rare to work with external people and still feel like everyone is part of one team on the same side. Thanks to this, we were able to work at an incredible pace and with great efficiency and effectiveness. It’s true that great teams do great work that leads to great outcomes.
What a wonderful thought to end the work week and welcome the weekend ahead. :)
Life wise:
There never seems to be enough time to do all the things we want and need to do. This is especially true of late. Since Tom, my mom’s late husband, passed away last month, I’ve been working through a sleuth of affairs supporting my mom. Even after the key arrangements were sorted, I effectively took on Tom’s role for my mom. Tom was the main ‘admin’ person managing accounts, subscriptions, bills, and communications with services and companies. Mom’s English is not fluent so it made sense much of the work that involved reading in English and communicating in English fell to her Native Canadian husband’s capable shoulders. And now that person is me. While I don’t mind taking on this role, especially at a time when my mom is grieving and has no capacity to do much else, I can’t deny the amount of work and energy it takes to do this role. On top of working full-time, being a mom, and taking care of the home, I’m struggling a bit with time for myself. It feels quite relentless and the days just mush together without end. I also find myself more impatient which is a tall sign of stress and overwhelm. My only solace is believing that it’s a temporary phase and it’ll get better. Prioritising oneself feels so hard when people around you tend to take priority.
Things I came across:
I enjoyed reading the recent Dense Discovery newsletter that talked about the divide between those with wealth and those without and the consequence of allowing those with the ability to effectively ‘buy out’ of problems which only render them unchanged. Such a great piece by the US. Journalist Hamilton Nolan:
“The degree to which we allow the rich to insulate themselves from the unpleasant reality that others are forced to experience is directly related to how long that reality is allowed to stay unpleasant.” Read his article ‘Everyone Into the Grinder” here.
Another great quote from the newsletter:
The boldness of asking deep questions may require unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers.
– Brian Greene
Photo of my week:
Until next week!
