Working from home….can it work?

Working from homeI was over the moon when hubby started work again a few weeks ago.  The only downside is we’re both working from home, we have a tiny house and I’ve been doing it a long time so have a rhythm and not used to having someone under my feet.  Something has to give.  This is my day and my hubby’s day…what do you reckon?

Mediocre Mum

  • Woke up before everyone else but not too early
  • Did the washing up from last night
  • Put a load of washing on
  • Made packed lunch
  • Gave Madame Breakfast
  • Did her ear drops and antibiotics
  • Helped her get dressed, brushed her hair, reading journal, boots and jacket
  • Did my invoicing
  • Sent out an email campaign
  • Responded to a few work emails
  • Went to the post office, pet store for Hamster supplies, Sainsbury’s for a few bits and Matalan.
  • Telephone conference with a client
  • Cooked Thai Green Chicken Soup for dinner
  • Cleaned the house in anticipation of the cleaner
  • Drove 50 miles to work including the Dartford tunnel, delivered a training session to 30 people with enthusiasm, drove 50 miles back, got stuck in a traffic jam, drove like a loon.
  • Picked up Madame, gave her a snack, danced around the lounge, gave her a bath, brushed hair, jammies, played with Hamster and did Bedtime stories.
  • Completed post visit reports
  • Plus another round of ear drops and antibiotics
  • Sorted Childcare for next week.
  • Wrote this post
  • Poured myself a very large glass of wine and hit Twitter!
  • Served dinner

 Hubby

  • Drove Madame to school
  • Sat in the corner in the kitchen on his computer all day……and he’s still there.

I rest my case!  Comments or suggestions on how we are going to make this work?

 

The Thin Line Between Confidence and Arrogance

Why is it arrogant to say you’re good at something? When does ‘one’ cross the line between being confident and being arrogant? I had a meeting with someone, who I think is fairly important, this morning, where I had to convince them that I’m good at something in less than an hour.

Unfortunately, to date their only experience of me is online and well….erm…we all know that my twitter presence and blog doesn’t give off an air of professionalism. Ooops! Short of slapping my CV on the table, subjecting them to my training videos or a list of professional references I was really limited on what I could do.

Funnily, we both found ourselves apologizing for saying ‘I’m sorry if this sounds arrogant but….’

I honestly don’t think that I’m arrogant, but confident. There are loads of things I’m crap at, parenting being one of them, but I’m good at my job. I’ve been doing it for 11 years and can do it standing on my head. I don’t think I’m better than anyone else; there are people who are better than me and some who are worse but I don’t dwell on this. I’ve worked for some rather large organisations and have been invited overseas for work as well.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been told ‘you were so much better than our last trainer’. I’m a very good listener, responsive, accommodating and knowledgeable. I’m always happy when someone points out a better way of doing things and I don’t take it as criticism. I can be very humble and always happy to learn new things. I probably sound like a right tw*t!

However today, the pressure of not coming across arrogant really made me conscious of what I was saying and did make me ramble nervously. I think I barely squeaked by with a passing grade but I do hope they saw a few flashes of brilliance.

I think this quote sums up what I’m trying to say.

‘Unfounded confidence is arrogance. If you are really good at something then you have the right to say so, but if you’re not, then saying you are is arrogant.’

So does this come across as arrogant?  Yup, thought so!