GETTING your act together has become a common enough phrase these days. It has become a bit of a cliché and has an air of discipline and resolution about it.
After a weekend of rain and washed-out barbies, the sun came out, right on cue, on Monday. We all felt robbed and groaned that it is all about work and little else and fell back onto the daily treadmill.
After all, we spend five days a week at work – seven if you are a housewife – and there are times when it is all too much.
‘Where is my life going?’ clients sometimes ask. ‘Is this all there is?’
The desire to break out, relieve the monotony and re-establish choice and personal autonomy is as strong in some as the call of the wild.
Many in the corporate sector work like crazy for years then phone up and say: ‘I’m off to climb Machu Pichu or go white-water rafting in Colorado.’ Great. Why didn’t you do it sooner and what will you do when you get back? ‘Oh, I may not even come back,’ comes the answer.
Then the money runs out and suddenly they’re in the queue getting their danish and latte as though they’d never been been away. Sound familiar?
The work/life balance, as it is now called, is a lot more than management speak. There are those who really love their work and, providing they don’t neglect their health or family, that is fair enough.
Unfortunately I meet more who either can’t wait to get out or don’t get a sense of satisfaction from their work. It is just a dreary slog for them. If you feel like the sands of time are running out in areas of your life where you would rather they didn’t, and if you must work, I offer some well tried strategies to alleviate stresses and create some ribbons of light in the grey fog of ‘blahville’.
For however many days we trade off for money, a day is only a day long but it can seem like a fortnight without meaning if your day ends without satisfaction. The to-do list just gets longer, things don’t get finished or get a fair viewing.
If you leave the office most nights feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and behind on everything even though you just spent ten hours there then you are letting the workday get away from you.
It is so easy to let the day get stolen by meetings, e-mails, interruptions and impromptu chats with colleagues that leave you emotionally exhausted, saddled with busywork and too distracted to get the important stuff done.
The ‘work smart not hard’ ethos is useful. By using it you should leave work with a sense of accomplishment.
So, if you can bear the jargon, we are about to firewall your attention and reduce your workload so you can get out the door feeling less like a victim.
After all, if we have to work, let’s make it a challenge that is at least interesting and not lose touch with our hopes and dreams. Whether you are working toward going part time or getting a promotion, concentration and really believe you can get there.
1. Make a lunch or dinner date – it creates a deadline
EVER wonder why your colleagues who are parents get out of the door on time every day like clockwork?
They have to pick up the kids from care or school by a certain time.
If you feel like you have all day to get things done, you are more likely to get dragged into superficial stuff that is of no importance. A deadline will light the gas under you to keep your eye on the clock, not waste time and be effective and to the point. If you have a spouse waiting to see you by 6.30 pm or a mate or personal trainer waiting for you at the gym, you’re more likely to stay focused, get your stuff done and finish on time.
If you can take lunch on your own schedule, this works at midday too. Make a date with another worker or friend to have lunch at a set time and use it as a deadline for getting your morning tasks done.
2. Write down the first thing you have to do in the morning and use it as a deadline for getting your morning tasks done
UNLESS you are strictly controlled or working to a tight schedule the sad reality is that, if you let it, your day can get away from you with little done that feels rewarding.
The best time of day to get things done is in the morning, so make it easy on yourself. Set up the single most important thing you have to do the next day together with any support material ready to roll when you get in. The best way to start the day is by accomplishing something without distraction and fiddling about with e-mail or internet.
3. In the morning, do not check your e-mail for one hour if possible
WORK on the task you laid out last night. Accomplishing something out of the gate sets the tone for the rest of the day for once you’ve launched the e-mail, you are open for business and will be paying attention to incoming requests so unless that is the nature of your business or you do buisness with different time zones what have you got to lose by stalling one hour and see, perhaps with interesting results.
4. Decide not to do one thing on the to-do list and cross it off
IT is not always the boss who is putting you under pressure to get things done and assigning impossible tasks. Sometimes we take on little projects and to-do’s because they seem like a good idea for one reason or another.
If your list is a mile long with things that have been sitting there for ages, the chances are there are a few you can ditch safely. A good idea at the time is not always a good idea late so review ruthlessly. It is the fastest and lowest effort way to get it off your plate.
5. Get those e-mails down in size
NOT many of us wish to receive long winded e-mail. It is not really the forum for lengthy conversations. The shorter the email the more likely I am to get a response.
Give this a try. If your e-mail is longer than ten lines then pick up the phone. Never send an e mail in a fit of pique because you can’t pull them back once you’ve grumpily pressed SEND – very dangerous.
6. Cut them off at the pass
WHEN a yappy chappy is bending your ear to distraction or a passive subservient meeting leader is letting things come off the rails for too long then speak up – without being rude.
‘Can we please get back to the agenda’ or ‘I hate to interrupt but I have an appointment’ or ‘This seems off topic for this meeting can we move on now’ can save you hours of wasted time. It could be rewarding.
7. Book a meeting with yourself
YES really. If your head is spinning with all that stuff you have got to get done but interruptions keep coming, you need time alone and the hours evaporate with drive-by interruptions and time wasters, then box out an hour or so to regroup. Literally enter the meeting with yourself on your calendar. If you need to get away and can do so then book a conference room, park the car or van, take your project list and spend that time deciding what when and where and how you are going to tackle all that stuff.
8. Master the art of the qualified ‘yes’DON’T be a yes man or woman by default. You have choices that you may not be excercising. Qualify incoming requests, don’t simply capitulate. Ask for more information or deadline requirements. See if it can’t be put off or done by someone more suitable or available. You’re not being difficult just not giving time away too easily.
9. Block out distractions where possible
WHEN our brain is frozen in a solid paralysing block of procrastination around a task and we’re getting swept away by instant messenger and phone calls, it’s time to break out the big guns.
Switch off the e-mail and put the phone on voicemail. Take a simple kitchen timer and work until the beep. Take a drink of water stand up, take a deep breath, reset and start again.
This has got me through tasks that I just want to go to sleep through or hide somewhere. If you give yourself an easy deadline, it’s only ten minutes, and make it a race with the clock, you’ll unfreeze your brain and break through your blocks and boy will you feel better. This is great for restoring self esteem and confidence
10. Do a free-jotting brain dump
FOR really bad days when you’re so stuck in a rut that you can’t even grasp the idea of where you are or where you should be, go easy on yourself but do a regroup.
Take a pen and pad, a quiet space and free jot for ten minutes, scribble and, if you must, make lists, free associate and draw mind maps if you know how to. Rant, rave and get it out of the head and down on the pad. Whatever comes to mind to get those juices of creativity flowing, then do it.
When I get hung up on busywork I become a busyfool, crushed by being overwhelmed. I seize up and a jotting session can loosen up the thoughts and clear the mind, refocus on the big picture and I’m off again.
This is a sort of senopod for tangled thoughts and feelings.
So whether you are currently a worker and part of the social norm, or if you are tunnelling or have a plan to escape the daily grind, may the force be with you.
Are you getting your act together?
Article posted on 8th August, 2008 - 3.00pm
