Blue Days

I don't mean sad days. Or days with bright blue skies.

I mean Outlook Blue.

For those that don't use Microsoft Outlook, when you have an appointment on your calendar the default disposition for that time is "busy" (so that people don't try to double-book you...not that it works, but that's the idea), and "busy" time is colored blue.

I've noticed that more and more of my time at work is being coded blue, and today was essentially a Blue Day. Fortunately today was productive meetings vs. theoretical, planning, strategic meetings so stuff actually got done. *thumbs up* But what that means is I'm becoming more and more busy, and my ability to be available for my staff and coworkers is getting drastically reduced - a concern on two fronts. I need to be available to them for questions and escalations if my lead isn't around, and if I'm busy that means I'm not available for my co-workers. My co-workers in many cases are long-time friends and somewhat akin to family, so if my days are mostly blue, then that means my time to be available to my friends and family is reduced.

And that's not cool.

Things most likely will not get any less busy at work so it looks like I'm going to have to find some creative ways to make sure I still have time for them if they want/need it. I've tried to make it a point in my life to make people first and work second and I'm not about to let that die now.