I work in a rapid growing startup that requires more than 8 hours a day and I have two young children. My priorities are
1 - Children
2 - Marriage
3 - Living arrangements / lifestyle (sans work)
4 - Career (but I take my career VERY seriously, I've been an executive for 9 years and I'm 33)
My routine
1 - Alarm goes off at 4:30 am
2 - I pickup around the house, toss in laundry as needed
3 - Catch the 5:45 am train to be into the office roughly @ 6:15 am
4 - I leave the office @ 5:30 pm to catch the 5:50 pm train to be home roughly @ 6:15 pm
5 - I play with the kids
6 - We then eat dinner together as a family
7 - I bathe and put both kids to bed around 7:30 - 8:00 pm
8 - I help pick up the rest of my house with my wife, it usually ends @ 8:30 pm (we talk a lot while doing this)
9 - My wife and I sit down on the couch/porch/etc and hang out for a few hours while I also work
10 - I'm usually in bed by 11 - 11:30 pm
If I have more work to do that evening I might have my laptop out while hanging out with my wife or stay up later. This is usually 4 nights out of the week.
Things that shift to "once in a while" given my priorities
1 - A full 8 hours of sleep
2 - Seeing that television show
3 - Seeing that movie
4 - Random nights out with friends
5 - Etc
These simply just take a back seat.
Things I never miss, and spend as much time with as someone working a standard 9-5 (although I do head into the office earlier than most)
1 - My kids (first and foremost)
2 - My wife
3 - My house
4 - My career and type of company I appreciate being involved with
To me, I keep the things that matter most and give up things that I found out I didn't really need (for context, I never really watched a lot of television).
This schedule works for me and I end up working 10 hours a day and never miss a beat with my kids.
PS. I also about twice a day, for 5 minutes, FaceTime with my wife/kids while at work. It's a nice break and a chance for me to see them during the day given I miss them in the morning.
1 - Children 2 - Marriage 3 - Living arrangements / lifestyle (sans work) 4 - Career (but I take my career VERY seriously, I've been an executive for 9 years and I'm 33)
My routine
1 - Alarm goes off at 4:30 am 2 - I pickup around the house, toss in laundry as needed 3 - Catch the 5:45 am train to be into the office roughly @ 6:15 am 4 - I leave the office @ 5:30 pm to catch the 5:50 pm train to be home roughly @ 6:15 pm 5 - I play with the kids 6 - We then eat dinner together as a family 7 - I bathe and put both kids to bed around 7:30 - 8:00 pm 8 - I help pick up the rest of my house with my wife, it usually ends @ 8:30 pm (we talk a lot while doing this) 9 - My wife and I sit down on the couch/porch/etc and hang out for a few hours while I also work 10 - I'm usually in bed by 11 - 11:30 pm
If I have more work to do that evening I might have my laptop out while hanging out with my wife or stay up later. This is usually 4 nights out of the week.
Things that shift to "once in a while" given my priorities
1 - A full 8 hours of sleep 2 - Seeing that television show 3 - Seeing that movie 4 - Random nights out with friends 5 - Etc
These simply just take a back seat.
Things I never miss, and spend as much time with as someone working a standard 9-5 (although I do head into the office earlier than most)
1 - My kids (first and foremost) 2 - My wife 3 - My house 4 - My career and type of company I appreciate being involved with
To me, I keep the things that matter most and give up things that I found out I didn't really need (for context, I never really watched a lot of television).
This schedule works for me and I end up working 10 hours a day and never miss a beat with my kids.
PS. I also about twice a day, for 5 minutes, FaceTime with my wife/kids while at work. It's a nice break and a chance for me to see them during the day given I miss them in the morning.