Cindy

Droog

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July 7, 2008

Perfect Day: Easy At Home, But a Real Challenge At the Office

It’s so easy to create the perfect day at home.

When it rained all day last Saturday, our perfect indoor day with the kids involved Charlie Brown specials (thank goodness for On Demand), making cake and macaroni and cheese (although not in that order), and cuddling on the couch to read Richard Scary books.

During the kids’ naps, we napped, and when they went to bed, we indulged in a little wine and some politics on TV.

Our perfect outdoor day, just the day before, involved a picnic at the zoo, a double-stroller trip to the school parking lot to count buses and then home for a game of kickball and snacks with the other neighborhood kids – all equally uncoordinated and equally as cute.

Now, if I could just figure out how to create the perfect day at work.

First, there’d have to be just the right number of meetings. Not a day of meetings on the hour, every hour. Already, I’m down to just three days a week with perfection potential.

It also couldn’t be a meeting-free day. After all, I need at least some interaction with my coworkers. I like them. They’re smart. And fun. I’m thinking one morning meeting, not starting at 8:00, and one afternoon meeting, not extending past 4:30, would be a good start.

So, just two meetings a day? Looking at my Lotus Notes calendar, I realize I’m now down to just a few potentially perfect work days per month. The odds are getting slimmer.

There would also have to be one major accomplishment for the organization and one for my team specifically. We won a lawsuit? That would work. We reached a sales milestone? I’d accept that.

For my team, just a few accolades on delivering an excellent strategy or helping sales meet its goals would do. The recognition doesn’t need to be public. After all, that would require a meeting. A simple e-mail, with just the right people on that CC line, would do.

I’d also like the perfect day to include one or two bright ideas on my part. In fact, I’d settle for one. A “wow” moment. The reading of an article that served as a springboard. Just one “We could do that, and it would be amazing” look across the table during a brainstorm. (I know. That’s another meeting.)

It would also involve getting fewer than 50 new, must-read emails. If history is a judge of the future, I’m now down to just one work day every two months that could be flawless. And they’re all Fridays. In the summer. Since summer is only four months long in Michigan, I’m now figuring I have the potential for only two perfect work days per year.

Depressing, but there is still hope. I’d like to think that my list is a lot shorter than other people’s. Some would prefer a day when their boss was out of the office. I like mine, and if she’s there to share in the perfect day, great!

Other people’s ideas might include a short siesta. Not mine. I’m trying to be realistic. (Although, in order to do that, I might have to up my 50-e-mail requirement to 100.) Besides, we don’t have any couches in our lobby.

A potluck might creep its way into some people’s vision of the perfect work day. Of course, nobody makes better seven-layer dip than the human resources assistant, and the procurement director always buys banana cream pie from the local bakery.

As for me, reheated macaroni and cheese (from the perfect weekend) beats banana cream any day. It’s a nice reminder of what’s waiting for me back at home.

Now if I could just get permission to organize a lunchtime kickball game, put a Snoopy video on in the conference room and get just 10 minutes in between meetings and checking e-mails to watch it, the impeccable workday would be complete.

I’m going to try to pull it off this year on Friday, August 8. Wish me luck, and between then and the second Friday in August of 2009, I’ll be sure to enjoy my more frequent, much more doable perfect days at home.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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