#MakingTime A Day In the Life Of A CEO With 3 Kids Under 5

MakingTime A Day In the Life Of A CEO With 3 Kids Under 5 Women can do anything but bedrngnis everything. As the largest online career community for women, we at Fairygodboss realize that balance is a myth, and that picking what to prioritize on a day-to-day basis isnt always easy.In the MakingTime series, women share with us how, for one day, they chose to spend their most precious resurce time.--Who Georgene HuangWhat CEO Co-founder of Fairygodboss, mom of 3Where New York, New York--430 a.m.I have a 4-month old who doesnt sleep very well at the moment. So, today, I get up around 430 a.m., because thats when he wakes up. Since having kids, I havent had to use an alarm to wake up we are a household of extremely early risers, so it just has never been necessary.This morning, its just the baby and I who wake up that early, and after breastfeeding he sits quietly in his chair for about an hur while I catch up on work. I appreciate having a peaceful period in the morning to get caught up and to familiarize myself with the tasks ahead for the day before the chaos ensues its very mentally grounding.550 a.m.I abflug making breakfast for my two older kids and ur nanny, who is living with us for the year a central factor in our decision to have a third child. Im a big believer in morning meals, and my husband and I spend a decent amount of time making sure its a nutritious start to the day for everyone. Its a task he and I usually take turns on, butnow that we have our youngest, he does it more than half the time. This week, however, hes out of town for business, so Im the morning chef.While making breakfast, I make sure to quickly scan my Slack and email to make sure there arent any emergencies at work, and also to help me think through how I need to plan the work day.620 a.m.With breakfast done, its time to get everyone ready for the day meaning, mouths being brushed, kids getting dressed, lunches being packed for the two older kids, and I also start to get dinne r prepped because there isnt time for that later in the day.705 a.m.Theres just enough time to squeeze in a violin practice with my oldest. The Suzuki method of violin requires daily practice, and as the resident musician in the household, I take this pretty seriously.730 a.m.With 45 minutes to spare, I get back online to knock out a little work, including cranking out a column involving Fairygodboss latest research for Forbes, before its time to head out for the day.855 a.m.I say goodbye to my 3-year-old girl, who Ive just dropped off for her 9 a.m. morning classes in uptown Manhattan. Right now, its a crazy set of schedules for three kids that require three adults to juggle them. Im a big fan of know-how at home (mostly because certain, less-important things I can be on mental autopilot for), so the fact each of my mornings looks a little different right now based on my kids commitments drives me crazy.Soon though, in June, the kids will be in summer camp with identical morning sc hedules, and then come September, Ill look forward to my oldest getting on the bus in the morning and my 3-year-old no longer having morning commitments. For now, its all hands on deck. And time for me to hop back on the train and get to the office945 a.m.Coffee in tow, by about 945 Im at my desk. My commute wasnt bad this morning about 30 minutes, including subway and walking time, which is pretty typical for most New Yorkers.1005 a.m.After answering more emails my inbox at times looks pretty frightening such is entrepreneur life I sit down with our CTO to talk about a new privacy and cookies law coming into effect, which necessitates some urgent product decisions this week. We had to strategize over what exactly to implement on the site so that well be in compliance, and I had to read about the new law in order to understand what our responsibilities were.One of the side effects of running a company is that there is no usual routine when it comes to what I address first at work whatever seems most urgent takes priority, if there isnt something already on my calendar. Some days its a client issue, other days a technical or product need, and yet other days new employee onboarding. While I appreciate routine at home, this is one of the things I love most about entrepreneur life, is that dynamism.1020 a.m.Im back out the door for an unrelated meeting with an attorney one of our board directors recommended that I connect with them. We just closed another round of VC funding for $3 million and the team is growing pretty rapidly, so making sure all is in order legally remains top of mind.1145 a.m.En route back to the office from my meeting at the law firm, I swing by Pret for a soup and sandwich. I usually eat whatever is most convenient, and I cant remember the belastung time when I regularly ate lunch without multitasking meaning, I walk back to the office immediately to eat at my desk. Sad, but true I remind myself a lot that, in the grand scheme of things , this crazy period is only temporary.330 p.m.The afternoon is speeding by. I have interviewed a developer (were hiring a lot at Fairygodboss, as I mentioned, so I spend a good deal of time recruiting), had a call with the bank (I am functionally the CFO since were a small team), and I also spent some time working on our financial model and forecasting. Its very important as we scale this company from four people to 35 by the years end that we have a good sense of our expenses and financial health.530 p.m.All kids are now back at home and eating. My nanny finished up the dinner prep Id started earlier shes very efficient, thoughtful, and always makes extra for the grownups...which also means that my dinners right now are kid-approved and not the most interestingI used to sit down and eat dinner with my husband after the kids were in bed at 7. After the baby, though, everything has gotten out of whack, and were all really just trying to survive. The baby goes to sleep around 630, an d there usually isnt time to sit down to dinner after that.730 p.m.With the kids now in bed, I head to bed myself with laptop in tow, so I can knock some more work out There are a bunch of unanswered questions for me on Slack from our head of Customer Success and I chat with our CTO for a bit online. My husband is also an entrepreneur, and because we both take advantage of the flexibility we have during our work days, nights are often spent trying to catch up work.855 p.m.I can barely keep my eyes open. In my experience, nothing is typical in terms of sleep hours during the early months of having a new baby, and last night I slept only 2-3 hour stretches at a time. Im totally exhausted its lights out for me. I look forward to a few months from now, when the baby will sleep through the night. Then Ill be able to go to bed at a more respectable adult hour (like 10, or maybe even 11) and actually do things beyond working in the evenings. But, for now, this is the life of an entreprene ur and mom to a 4 month old--Interested in contributing to Fairygodboss MakingTime series? Email infofairygodboss.com with MakingTime in the subject line.