"I think that Build the Life You Want and Still Have Time to Enjoy It! would make a great gift for someone that you know who is overwhelmed by having a lack of time. It is also a great gift to give to oneself."

Getting Control of Your Time

A leading technology consultant quipped, “I think scheduling is a bad idea because it is just one more thing to go wrong.” The more technology we introduce into our lives, the more room we have to leave for Murphy’s law.  Computer crashes, dropped blackberries, delayed flights, and printers on the fritz can reek havoc on even the most organized person.

Time Management = Tools + Discipline + Emotional Elements + Murphy’s Law

It is important to realize that time management is no longer about having the right tools and enough discipline.  Rather, people today simply have more to do than time to do it.  Time management skills involve being able to make tough choices about priorities and to feel at ease with those choices. This often means having the ability to say “no.”

In workshops conducted at leading companies, we asked participants to list on a chart how many hours they spend on key activities in a day such as eating, sleeping, exercise, email, , etc.  Participants routinely report back that they are using 35-45 hours in a 24 hour day.  When asked what they give up first when they need to cut corners the first items to be removed are generally, sleep, exercise, and time with family and friends. 

Research shows…..

• 26 percent of workers said they were "often or very often burned out or stressed by their work";
• Job stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than financial or family problems.
• Depression, only one type of stress reaction, is predicted to be the leading occupational disease of the 21st century, responsible for more days lost than any other single factor.
• $300 billion, or $7,500 per employee, is spent annually in the U.S. on stress-related compensation claims, reduced productivity, absenteeism, health insurance costs, direct medical expenses (nearly 50% higher for workers who report stress), and employee turnover.
• The need for both men and women to balance obligations between work and family as women enter the workforce worldwide have overburdened our traditional coping mechanisms
• Globally, 23% of women executives and professionals, and 19% of their male peers, say they feel "super-stressed"

It doesn’t matter how many variables you have ultimately, the equation always has to balance to the 24 hours that are in a day.  You can affect the variables by determining: your priorities, high impact activities, time boosters, and time drains.

Here are 3 things you can do:

1. Refuse to schedule

In interviews conducted with top partners at a leading consulting firm, they all stated that they never schedule more than half of their day.  If they are approaching a week where Outlook is already full, they begin making tough choices about what will be bumped.  They feel this is important because a full calendar makes any unplanned items unmanageable often overtaking their personal commitments.  In addition, a booked calendar causes them to neglect unscheduled items such as team building, administrative work, networking, etc.

Tips for keeping your schedule open:

• Block windows of focused work time (it takes 20 minutes to build concentration and you have to start from scratch when you are interrupted).
• Book additional focused work time after days out of the office
• Plan for no more than 40 hours of work per week
•  Dedicate one day to helping others with their assignments
• Reserve one day for emergencies, catch-up, and planning
• Allow only two hours of work time on weekends and then only if
• it is really important

2. Quitters Can Prosper

There will always be more work so one of the keys to striking work/life balance is feeling good about what you have accomplished for the day and being able to disconnect.  One senior manager noted, “once I complete my priorities for the day its hard not to keep plowing through but I wrap up reminding myself that there are new priorities for tomorrow.”  She also noted that while she may leave her blackberry on, she compromises by leaving her laptop at the office.

Often guilt and anxiety force us to press on independent of individual results even when we would be better off to wrap it up for the day.  A mom who started back to work for a new company noted that she was useless after 8pm but the culture of the organization was for the team to sit at a table and press on into the wee hours.  The third night, she had nothing left so she excused herself.  No one minded.  Her fear of being perceived as not a team player and her guilt of not contributing equally by staying left kept her at the table long after she was productive.

Quick tips to feeling good about wrapping up for the day:

• Decide on what you will accomplish for the day ahead of time and stop there
• Makes rounds 2 hours before you plan on leaving for the day so issues are raised early when there is time for them to be addressed and not on your way out the door
• No that work can usually be picked up where it is left off, but relationships generally cannot be
• Find a way to transition from work to personal time such as reading on the way home, taking a bath, having a glass of wine, etc.

3. Don’t Negotiate

We asked several executives the one thing on which they do not compromise.  Their non-negotiables were all different ranging from family, to exercise, to vacations, but there were many consistencies in how they protected that time. 

• If they were in a relationship, the item on which they do not compromise was agreed on jointly
• They created an expectation that was understood by all
• If they had to sacrifice their one thing it was the exception and not the rule
• Where they did compromise, they went to lengths to make up for it

IT IS LUNACY TO TRY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
IN THE SAME FRAME OF MIND IN WHICH IT WAS CREATED.
–DERIVED FROM EINSTEIN

Sometimes we can become so consumed by work that we lose the perspective of what a "normal" life looks like. We think "there is no other way" or "this is my reality."We start to believe that people don't need more than five or six hours of sleep a night. That airline peanuts constitute a meal. That being tired and overworked is part of our culture. Many people find themselves thinking in a circular pattern. Being overcommitted and overwhelmed, you may not realize that your personal and professional relationships are suffering. The long hours may be taking a toll on your health, or at least your waistline, and the quality of your work may not be what it could be if you were more balanced. You may be working harder, but the extra effort may not bring the results you expect. When caught up in this vicious cycle, you need to expand your view.

It is not unusual for someone to rush past important issues or great solutions when his or her eyes are intently focused on the finish line. While we are aware that the pace is necessarily rushed at some worksites, the fact remains that even amazingly fast runners have to control their breathing and their rest.