I just came back from a number of days away from home, and a big part of returning home is getting caught back up. Often this means taking care of tasks such as paying the bills, going through the mail, and doing the laundry. And, for tasks like paying the bills, since this is a “me” task (as opposed to doing the laundry, for instance, which my wife and I both share), depending on the time of month there can be a fair amount to catch up on.
Of course, these are just tasks. The real catching up happens when I get the opportunity to spend time with my family, which is so much more enjoyable than the tasks of paying the bills, and the like.
Yesterday, when I got back home, the girls wanted to go outside and play. So, we spent a few hours outside (a portion of that was me sitting on the porch; they really tired me out) in the beautiful weather. Since my oldest had a birthday party, I then took my youngest out to dinner. We had a great night, complete with time to read together, before she went to bed.
There will always be situations where we need to get caught up. And what we have to remember is the fact that we have to put getting caught up with people ahead of getting caught up with the tasks. Not only is it more enjoyable, but is more connected to leadership and learning. We can learn something from completing a task, but we can learn infinitely more somethings from cultivating relationships with others.