The Pie Life

A good self help book with useful tips to organize our life like the pieces of a pie and it points out that all the pieces are of importance for the pie to be delicious.

I must say that this book is delightfully well written. That is the reason I am rating it so highly. I like the author's concept of dividing the different focuses in your life up like you would a pie and assigning them different sizes that make up the whole. Unfortunately, much in this book fell flat for me. I am not saying that the author doesn't give good advice, it just isn't completely applicable everyone. This book geared towards working women (or those who want to work), who also have children, and perhaps a lackluster social life, that want to find a happy medium between them.
It doesn't apply to women who want to stay at home. It doesn't apply to those like me who don't have kids. I couldn't give myself an accurate score on most of the quizzes, because many questions involved children. It also surprisingly doesn't apply to women who have a husband with lofty career goals as well. I can't count the number of times she mentioned a husband going to and recording a recital/play/concert that the wife missed because she had to work. Yes, it's nice if your husband can help you with the balance, but what if he has to work late too? Does only one spouse get to have a fulfilling/balanced life?
That being said, this book will help some women. Unfortunately I am not one of them. If you are stressed because you feel like work is too much and you are not paying enough attention to your kids, read this.

You don't know how much this book helped me. Not just with organizing things and prioritizing my life, but with the guilt and the self esteem that happens as a working parent.

It's all very well to say "Lean in, Do it ALL!" but to actually attempt to do it ALL is probably unhealthy if you try to make your home-work balance exactly 50/50.

Samantha Ettus is the logical best friend that says "if you work ten hours, commute 2 and sleep 8, you're not going to fit another 10 hours of home time in a 24 hour day."

Everyone's pie is different. A coworker of mine actually does have a commute longer than an hour because she lives out of state. Another has a daughter, but no wife. Still another has like three dogs. All of our pies are different. My commute slice is actually about 15 minutes. I don't have a walk the dog slice. I do have a book review slice, and a year-round prepare-for-Christmas slice.

If you feel overwhelmed from Leaning In, Grab a slice of Pie with Samantha Ettus. (you see how I made that sound like a commercial? fancy!)