How does your week look? That`s the first question colleagues and business associates ask when they want to make an appointment with you.
For most of us, the week looks very busy.
”I used to make a plan for what I wanted to do each day,” says a TempoWoman reader, a marketing executive, ”but I soon found it wasn`t enough. What I needed was a master plan for the entire week, including everything I had to do both at home and in the office.”
After first listing all the essentials, she then assigned them to various days.
”It looked good on paper,” she says.
But what she had done was paint herself into a corner.
”I tried to do everything at once: Mondays and Tuesdays were top-heavy, both at work and at home, with business meetings and things for my husband and kids.”
She got most of the work done, but instead of being able to glide easily through the rest of the week-which is what she had hoped for-she found she was too burned out to do anything important the next three days.
”It`s wonderful to see everything you have to do that week spread out in front of you, but you have to be realistic,” she says.
MEDINE J. KOWALCZYK
Age 36, administrative manager, EnterChange Midwest, Inc., Westchester
”My week is hectic,” says Kowalczyk, who is married, has three children and is involved in the start up of a new branch of the Atlanta-based management consulting firm.
”I`m responsible for day-to-day operations of the office, for buying computer and other office equipment, for paper processing for accounts receivable and payable, and for supervising support staff. ”My time is at a premium.”
Kowalczyk also is helping set up a pilot program for the human resource consulting firm`s new division, Women Working, which specializes in career development for women.
”On Sunday night, I look over the week`s activities in my appointment calendar and see what`s scheduled,” says Kowalczyk, who was in the data processing field for 13 years before switching careers in 1988 and taking the executive secretarial program in 1988 at Harper College.
”I go through everything I have to do, whether it`s personal or work-related, and make myself a separate, daily to-do list. I try to keep in mind what is realistic and do-able. When I don`t accomplish everything, I try not to be too hard on myself.”
Her husband is very supportive and helps a lot with the children and the house, says Kowalczyk, a member of Professional Secretaries International.
The children`s activities ”get top priority from me,” she says. ”I bowl once a week in the evening in a league with my husband, so I get to spend time with him. And weekends, I do routine household-type things.”
Kowalczyk`s week often looks overwhelming, she says, ”but it`s exciting and challenging to be in on the ground floor of (establishing) a new office. I feel I`m in control of how I spend my time, but I`d end up being sidetracked without the visual aid of writing down on paper all I have to do.”
RANJANA BHARGAVA
Age 42, assistant to the commissioner of the Chicago Public Library
On a recent morning, Bhargava got up at 5 a.m., did the housework, baked 10 cakes-so her two teenagers could have a cake-decorating party-and ironed her husband`s shirt. She then left for her downtown office, where she assists and ”acts as a buffer” for John B. Duff, library commissioner, on all projects.
”I`m not the best organized person in the world,” says Bhargava, who is responsible for research, deals with union grievances, serves as Equal Employment Opportunity officer and represents Duff.
”I see myself as an impulsive, fun-loving person, but I do get my work done-even if it means staying up late or getting up early.”
Sometimes, she says, ”the pressure can pile up and cause stress. That`s when I take a deep breath and think of the five things to get done that are more important today than they were yesterday.”
Born in India, where she earned a master`s degree in psychology, Bhargava came to the United States in 1968. She also has a master`s in sociology from Illinois Institute of Technology, and is doing doctoral work in clinical psychology.
”I get through the week by deciding on a hourly basis what has to be done and trying to space my work over five days,” says Bhargava. ”I have two business lunches a week and six or seven standard dinners planned at home.”
Bhargava, secretary of the Asian-Pacific Women`s Network, is a member of Women in Foundations, teaches Indian cooking, lectures on her native culture and is a trained classical Asian-Indian dancer. An important priority, she says, ”is to make everyone in the family happy and relaxed. I was brought up that way.”
Bhargava believes the week`s work is easier if a schedule is maintained.
”But I have a long way to go to do that,” she says.
CHERYL E. FORD
Age 37, data entry operator, American National Bank
Ford, who enters checks for the bank into its IBM system, says her weeks were always ”easy and uncomplicated” before her daughter, Briana Ilene Ford, was born last year.
”Now my week is totally organized and runs smoothly at work-and a little bit chaotic at home,” she says.
Ford, who studied business administration at Olivet-Harvey College, has been at the bank for 10 years. She previously worked for an insurance company and a credit agency.
”Before the baby was born, my week wasn`t always exhausting, and I had time for everything I wanted to do,” says Ford. ”Today, good planning is my intention, but often, because of the baby, my schedule at home falls through. I always say to myself that today I`m going home and do the laundry-and something more important, involving her, will keep me from it. So I try for the next day.”
On the other hand, work goes smoothly. ”I know what my job will be each week and I process the work in a timely manner,” she says. ”Sometimes, I have luncheon appointments with friends, but in the evenings I go right home to be with my baby. Weekends, I take her to the park, and I basically don`t have much time for myself.”
Though her job is demanding, Ford believes she can control the work-flow. ”But I`m not in control of my free time,” she says. ”I try to do things at night so I don`t have to rush around in the morning, but it`s hard to do. I have to learn to be more patient. I`m not very tolerant of not getting things done.”
When she looks at a typical week in her life, Ford admits thinking, ”How do women do it?”
But Ford adds: ”My baby is worth all this-I wouldn`t trade her for a million dollars!”
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Send comments and ideas for future questions to Carol Kleiman, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, 60611.
