- Peter Lewis, a tech and finance govt, travels yearly between two nations together with his household.
- Lewis entails his son in work occasions, turning challenges into entrepreneurship classes.
- He mentioned the important thing to his success is making intentional decisions about what will get his consideration and when.
Peter Lewis is a 44-year-old tech and finance govt who spends 9 months of the yr in Wichita, Kansas, and three months in Santiago, Chile.
“We’re a touring household,” Lewis informed Enterprise Insider. “My spouse and I homeschool our eight-year-old son part-time to permit for prolonged journey.”
For a couple of months annually, the couple packs up and heads to South America, the place their son’s grandparents dwell and the place Lewis spent 15 years of his personal life.
Lewis defined that whereas he and his spouse want to make sure their son stays related to each worlds, the back-and-forth between nations additionally implies that they’re continuously balancing their very own work with homeschooling, coordinating their son’s social life in two nations, and guaranteeing he stays on high of schoolwork.
Whereas Lewis describes his life as a curler coaster balancing tech, finance, fatherhood, and every little thing in between, he is landed on some efficient hacks that assist him make it work.
Beginning the day early helps with work-life steadiness
Lewis juggles three skilled roles concurrently. He is a CMO at AI tech firm Clearpol, head of development at different funding agency WebStreet, and founder/CEO of his personal strategic consulting company that he runs together with his spouse — together with making an attempt to be a gift dad to his school-age little one.
The day begins early for Lewis — often round 4 or 5 a.m. Central Time — as he makes an attempt to squeeze in a strong block of labor hours earlier than his son wakes up. One motive for beginning earlier than the daybreak is that he prioritizes taking his son to highschool on daily basis when he is not being homeschooled and selecting him up later within the afternoon. The opposite motive is that since Lewis’ group spans a number of time zones, by the point he begins work, it is already mid-morning and even late afternoon for them.
“If I can knock out key choices and take away roadblocks early, it frees up the remainder of my day to concentrate on technique, inventive work, and — most significantly — my household,” Lewis mentioned.
Permitting youngsters to attend work occasions could be a optimistic expertise as properly
A few yr and a half in the past, Lewis mentioned he was invited to keynote a big conference in Tacoma, Washington — a career-defining alternative that he felt he could not cross up. The occasion occurred to fall proper in the course of his spouse’s annual monthlong journey together with her girlfriends, which meant there was no backup childcare for his or her son.
With no household to lean on, Lewis introduced his younger son alongside.
“As an alternative of constructing it a fast journey, I turned it right into a mini-adventure,” Lewis mentioned. “I pulled him out of faculty for a few weeks — he was six-and-a-half, and I figured lacking the top of the semester would not harm an excessive amount of.”
Whereas Lewis was on stage giving keynotes and operating workshops, his son sat within the nook with a guide, a snack, and a timer set on his watch so he knew when dad can be accomplished.” It labored like a allure,” Lewis mentioned.
As soon as the occasion wrapped up, the pair rented a automotive and hit the street, driving south via Oregon, the place they spent a while tenting collectively.
“It was a mix of labor and household — the type of flexibility I worth, but in addition the type of unpredictability that retains me on my toes.”
Lewis additionally turns potential destructive emotions about work-family challenges into teachable moments for his son
“As an alternative of feeling responsible for working round my son, I’ve turned it into a chance to show him about entrepreneurship and management,” Lewis mentioned. “It is like he is getting a crash course in enterprise with out even realizing it.”
For instance, when Lewis and his spouse are engaged on their consulting company collectively, the couple has technique conversations about managing consumer budgets or the efficiency of advert campaigns in entrance of their son.
“He is eight now, and whereas he may not absolutely perceive the distinction between entrepreneurs engaged on weekends versus workers working Monday to Friday, I believe he is beginning to grasp how issues work,” Lewis mentioned. “I am going to usually clarify to him in easy phrases that our work is what helps pay for the home, the automotive, our camper, and our skill to journey.”
Lewis can be actively concerned in organizations that educate youngsters entrepreneurship as a result of he desires his son to develop up with that mindset.
The tough half is shifting from a piece mindset to being a gift dad
By the point his son wakes up, Lewis has already spent three hours deep in income projections, consumer pitches, and model technique. However when his son is on the breakfast desk, the overstretched dad says he understands that the very last thing his child cares about is a pipeline report.
“I have to be there, absolutely current, speaking in regards to the birds exterior or which superhero is profitable the day at college,” Lewis mentioned. “It is laborious to show off the fast-paced psychological gears, however it’s essential to me that I am absolutely there for him.”
For Lewis, the important thing is not in making an attempt to attain every day steadiness; reasonably, it lies in embracing the chaos and making intentional decisions about what will get his consideration and when.
“I’ve realized to search out which means in how our work and household lives intersect,” Lewis mentioned. “It is all a part of one huge, rewarding journey, and truthfully, I would not commerce it for something.”
In case you work in Large Tech or finance and wish to share your work-life steadiness story, e-mail Tess Martinelli at [email protected].
