My 4Y old just gave me a performance review

Work travel often looks glamorous on LinkedIn or Instagram - airport lounge selfies, “Great meetings in Seattle!” captions, and skyline views from hotel rooms. But anyone who travels frequently for work knows there’s another side to it - the part that rarely makes it online. The quiet goodbyes at home.

Last night, I told my 4Y son that I am flying to Seattle in a week. For context, I had just been there two weeks earlier. He paused, thought for a moment, and asked with genuine curiosity, “Why didn’t you finish all your work last time so you don’t have to go again?”

It stopped me. Because honestly, it’s a fair question - and one of the most logical I’ve heard in a while. In his mind, travel is simple: you go somewhere, do the work, finish it, and then you’re done. Mission accomplished. No follow‑ups. No new projects. No “quick syncs.” His worldview is refreshingly efficient - and for a moment, I didn’t have a clever answer.

The truth is, his question captured something many working parents quietly wrestle with: the tension between being present at work and being present at home. Travel is often necessary. It’s how relationships are built, trust established, and complex problems solved. Some conversations just work better in person. But that doesn’t make leaving home easier.

It means missing bedtime stories. Missing your kid's gymanastics classes. Missing those small, everyday moments your kids may forget - but you won’t. Over time, I’ve realized business travel isn’t really about airports and hotels. It’s about trade‑offs. You trade a few days away from home to build something meaningful at work. You push through jet lag, at times to show up fully for customers and teammates. And when you return, you try to make the ordinary moments at home count even more.

And none of this would be possible without a supportive partner. My wifey is the unseen hero in this story - the one holding things down at home, keeping routines steady, and making sure our kids still laugh through the week when I’m gone. Every work trip depends on that kind of quiet support, and I’m deeply grateful for it.

Kids, of course, don’t care about professional complexities. They see it simply: “Why didn’t you finish it the first time?” Fair question.

So I told him the truth. Sometimes work isn’t something you finish once. It’s about showing up again and again - helping people, solving problems, and building things that take time. The most meaningful work rarely gets “completed” in one trip, meeting, or project. Relationships take time. Trust takes time. Building great teams and great products takes time. You show up, do the work, come back, and then you show up again.

That’s true in our careers - and, ironically, it’s true at home. Being a parent isn’t about one big moment; it’s about showing up every day. For bedtime stories, school drop‑offs, silly questions, and those brief conversations that remind you how simply kids see the world.

That short question from my son was a good reminder. In our pursuit of efficiency - closing things faster, finishing projects sooner, moving to the next goal - we sometimes forget that not everything is meant to be “finished.” Some things are meant to be built slowly. Trip by trip. Conversation by conversation. Day by day.

So yes, I’ll probably be flying to Seattle again someday. But the goal isn’t to finish the work once and for all - it’s to keep showing up. For the people who count on you at work, and for the people waiting for you at home.