Fatherpreneur
As my daughter, Elle, crosses the 7-month threshold of her life, I feel the need to write down my experiences thus far being both an entrepreneur and a father.
First and foremost, Elle is the boss. Although it may seem like I am the one who determines when she eats and sleeps, she does so only because she does not really care. I am constantly at her beck and call any time of the day, which plays into the first part of the entrepreneurial experience.
I thought I would have more time to do the things I want. I realized that I would need to take care of Elle I figured that I would be able to schedule my time around her needs. I could not have been more wrong. Just when she gets into a routine and I think I can get used to it, she regresses and changes her schedule. There is no known reason for this, but some theories exist but the main two are seasonal changes (day/night) and growing. Since Elle's schedule is likely to change, my work schedule is more or less adhoc, and I work whenever she is sleeping.
The reason I only work when she is sleeping is because I did not realize that Elle has very little ability to play by herself. There are times when she is stuck in her circle-of-neglect that I almost think I can start to focus on work, but then 10-15 minutes into it she decides that she needs to get my attention on something, or that she has become bored with the toy. What is worse is that if I walk past her to get something (water, laptop, etc) and leave the room, she thinks I am leaving her forever and starts to whimper. In order to start working effectively, it takes time (15 minutes) to get focused and start working and that is just not possible during Elle's waking hours. Thus, I am left to work while she is asleep.
Working while Elle sleeps presents a problem: How much work can I do before she wakes up in 10, 30, 60 minutes? Sleep patterns are not regular during the day, so work is few and far between there. At night is the most regular sleep, where she can sleep between 10 to 12 hours; however, this is also the time when I need to sleep. And boy, do I need to sleep.
Working while my daughter sleeps is another misconception I had. I have always been a nightowl, able to work until late at night and wake in the morning with little sleep. However, since Elle was born I need a lot more sleep because I am constantly tired. Of course, I don't get that sleep because when she wakes up I also need to wake up. In addition to that, I never realized the toll on the body that a child takes. Elle gains 1-1.5 lbs in weight per month, which means my body (most importantly, my back and arms) need to keep up. What's that, dear reader, just go to the gym you say? Yes, I wish I had the extra time for that. By the time Elle goes down for the night, I am beyond tired and usually go to sleep a couple hours later.
So let's add this up. I expected that I would be able to work 8-9 hours per day in various chunks at the same time as caring for my daughter. It turns out that I my working time is less than 2 hours per day.