"We really shouldn't have to choose between career aspirations and family aspirations. There's no one way to do this!
We need to continue to push for more flexible organizations, supportive public policy, and progressive conversations at home."—Jessica DeGroot This page is for anyone looking for a "third path" to create time for work and for life: for rewarding careers, for family, and/or for other personal pursuits. Too often we imagine an "either-or" scenario: Either we work and outsource more care than we'd li
06/18/2026
Men’s Health Month is also a chance to talk about care, connection, and emotional sustainability. Fathers and male caregivers should not have to choose between being providers, being present, and being well. When workplaces and families support caregiving across genders, everyone benefits: children, partners, teams, and the caregivers themselves. What would make it easier for more men to ask for support?
Emotional labor often increases in summer. Someone is managing disappointment when plans change, easing transitions, remembering social dynamics, calming the child who hates camp, checking in on the colleague who is stretched thin, and smoothing the friction no one else sees. Care work is not only logistics. It is also emotional regulation, repair, and connection. Where could that labor be named and shared this week?
06/16/2026
Flexibility only works when people can use it without stigma. If caregivers quietly pay for flexibility with fewer opportunities, lower trust, or assumptions about commitment, the system is not truly flexible. This summer, leaders can model visible flexibility, articulate shared expectations, and celebrate results rather than constant availability. What would help your team trust flexibility more fully?
06/16/2026
Leaders, summer is a stress test for your flexibility culture. Do people feel safe adjusting hours? Are meetings clustered in ways that punish caregivers? Are response expectations clear? Does your team know what matters most this week, or is everything urgent by default? Humane work design is not lowering standards. It is making success possible without asking people to erase their lives.
Workload compression occurs when the same amount of work is squeezed into fewer usable hours. It shows up before vacation, during camp weeks, after holidays, and anytime caregiving changes the shape of the day. The solution cannot be “just work faster.” Leaders can reduce compression by clarifying priorities, pausing low-value meetings, and treating coverage as part of the work.
06/11/2026
Our latest episode of Taking Your Third Path is LIVE today.
In this episode, Jessica talks with Allison Daminger about the mental workload of family life, gendered expectations, and why couples often get stuck when they assume their roles cannot change.
Together, they explore how families can move forward by thinking in terms of skills, systems, and shared problem-solving, not personality alone.
Allison also shares how getting on the same side of the table can help couples have calmer conversations about the division of labor, make room for recharge time, and keep adjusting together as work, care, and life change.
Listen now on YouTube or Apple Podcasts.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WAuOxgVELM
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dads-and-all-caregivers-creating-recharge-time/id1773328618?i=1000772091414
Before time away begins, the work often gets compressed into impossible corners. We try to finish everything, anticipate every question, and disappear without anyone feeling the gap. But sustainable time away requires more than an out-of-office message. It requires shared coverage, realistic priorities, and leaders who do not reward pre-vacation overextension. What would make your next break actually restorative?
Recharge time is not just about finding "the free" hour. It is about cutting through the noise that might be discouraging you from trying, and enlisting your partner's support to actually push through and make that time happen.
In this upcoming episode of Taking Your Third Path, Allison Daminger joins us to talk about cognitive labor, resentment, communication, and what it takes for couples to keep reshaping the way care and responsibility are shared.
We are also doing a giveaway! To be eligible to win a free copy of Allison’s book What’s On Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life, comment “FREE BOOK” and share this post to your social media feed. All eligible people will be entered into a random drawing, and the first two selected will be the winners. We will reach out to you via your DMs, and will reply to your comment to “Check your DMs!”
06/09/2026
This week’s ThirdPath wisdom comes from “4,000 Weeks,” a reflection on time, communication overload, and the cost of always being reachable. Summer can make that overload even more visible. When work follows us into family time, caregiving time, vacation time, and recovery time, something deeper is misaligned. Teams can start by clarifying response expectations, right-sizing meetings, and protecting quiet work.
Safety is not only about preventing accidents. It is also about creating conditions where people can tell the truth before they break. At home, that means naming when the load is too much. At work, that means leaders making it safe to discuss capacity, timelines, caregiving needs, and recovery. A humane system does not wait for a crisis to prove the pressure was real.
