Making the Right Choices

Every day you are faced with a multitude of decisions.?

What to wear, what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. How to respond to a work email or colleague. How to spend your time. There are some bigger decisions that have more lasting impact than others. The partner you choose to marry, the job you choose to take, the college you choose to attend, where you choose to live. These can have larger life consequences. However, it's the daily, weekly decisions that shape your experience.

Now that it's Autumn and the kids are back at school, I'm taking a moment to reflect back on the summer. There were many special moments this summer, but I'm reminded of one specific choice I made and how it impacted me much more than I had expected. I was on a trip to France with my family, the first after three years and both my husband and I made it an extended trip so that we could work remotely.

One afternoon, my husband popped his head in the room and asked that I join him and the kids as they headed to the beach.? He'd finished his meetings for the day, and my next meeting was in 30 minutes. Because of the time difference, we were nine hours ahead of California, so most of my meetings started in the late afternoon.? Though we'd already been there two weeks, we still hadn't been to the beach yet as a family and the weather was beautiful outside.?

I said I would join, but continued to work. The need to answer the next email, review the team milestones, work on the next product feature to release, kept drawing me back to my computer. Then suddenly I realized I only had 20 min until my next meeting.?The beach was a couple minute walk from our hotel and I made the quick decision to stop what I was doing and quickly changed into my swimsuit and joined them at the beach.?

When I arrived on the white sand, I knew I'd made the right choice. I’m so grateful that I followed my instinct.?

I made it in time.

The boys were digging holes in the sand and gave me a big hug when I arrived and I found my husband happily holding our one year old daughter in his arms. I ran over to join them splashing and playing in the ocean. I heard their laughter, saw the joy in their eyes, and felt the connection with their hearts. We were experiencing this moment together as a family, on this beautiful sunny day. ?

My meeting was a 1:1 with someone on my team and it was important. I never cancel my 1:1s unless there's an emergency because they are crucial for developing and maintaining a healthy and communicative relationship with each person on my team. Though this one time, in that split second I realized that these extra 20 minutes of quality time with my family was worth the trade off of being a few minutes late to this 1:1 meeting.? This was going to be the exception, not the rule. As the CEO, it's important that I model the behavior that I expect from my employees, and I realized that having empathy and feeling solid with the important relationships in my life helps me be a better CEO.

I sent her a text that I would be 10 min late (if you’re reading this you know who you are and thank you for understanding!)? I always prioritize work for my company, but my gut told me this situation was worth pausing to consider which choice to make.

Now, after Covid, after lockdown, after my own health scare, I realize it is moments like these that my kids will remember and that I will remember.?

When I arrived at my meeting, I was happy and not regretting that I’d missed that time with my family.?We were also very productive during the call and made some meaningful progress.?We also finished right on time. Since I had my priorities straight I was able to make the right choice and follow through with all my responsibilities and commitments.?

The key to a healthy life is making the right choices.?

How you move your body, what to feed yourself, how you react to situations, how to spend your time, who you spend your time with, and more. What I love about what we're doing at SpringSpot is our holistic approach to family health and wellbeing.

I hope you will let your heart and mind guide you with your choices at home and at work, and may they support you and your family's health and wellbeing.