It seems to be a constant struggle to keep my working hours within a reasonable limit. If I’m not careful, I can easily put in extra hours every week trying to manage small projects, catch up on my to-do list, and plan for the next week. For some people, working longer hours can be seen as a badge of honor. Whether that mindset fits you or not, research says that putting in more hours doesn’t necessarily translate into being more productive. So I’d like to share the one trick I’ve learned to help limit the overtime I put in.
What’s the Trick?
It’s actually pretty simple. Schedule something after work hours that requires you to leave at your scheduled time. It’s funny that anytime my kids have an activity that I have to be at after work or I have an appointment with someone right after the end of the day, I manage to be more productive. Knowing that I cannot stay late or have “extra time” to get things done forces me to push through distractions and be more focused on the tasks I have in front of me. Even if you don’t have a legitimate appointment to put on your calendar, still “schedule” something so that when you look at it, you are reinforcing the expectation that you cannot stay late. This could be something as simple as watching Wheel of Fortune that comes on an hour after the time you should be leaving work. You could also schedule time to get caught up on some enjoyable reading, a date night with your spouse, or taking a walk around the neighborhood to get some exercise in.
Or Try the Pomodoro Technique
If you find you need a little bit more structure so that you can end your day without staying late, consider using the Pomodoro technique. There are free Pomodoro timers for Chrome, iOS, and Android that you can download. Worst case scenario, you can put the tasks you need to do on your calendar so that throughout the day you have structure of what you are to work on. If you do this, though, don’t leave out a little time here or there to reward yourself for staying focused and working through as planned.
If you have tried this trick, let us know how it works for you in the comments below. Also, we’d love to hear your tricks or tips that help you reign in your work schedule to a reasonable amount.
Taking on new skills and the learning curve that goes along with it may be a frightening and/or frustrating task for your staff members. When possible, always try to set them up for success. They may not know how to break the skill down into manageable pieces, for example, so you may need to help model that aloud. Depending on the skill, you may also need to provide additional resources or training to help them become confident and successful. Put yourself in their position and consider what might be helpful in order to stretch…without breaking.
Talk to your staff about the additional tasks and the need to grow and take on new skills. Having an open discussion can alleviate some of the fear that comes from encountering something new, different, or unknown. When possible, ask questions to find out what they think. They may have a completely different understanding based on their past experiences (or lack thereof). Open dialogue should not be constrained to a single staff meeting however; encourage the conversation to continue. Let your staff know that you want to hear their ideas. Though you may have no control over the growth that needs to take place, you do have a great deal of influence on how well they develop capacity to meet that need.
When talking with a friend about building capacity in his team, he mentioned that he has a few people that can juggle six or seven major things, and he has one person that can only juggle four. No matter how much he wants the four-task-juggler to grow into a five-task-juggler, he realizes that it just isn’t going to happen. And the best thing he can do is recognize it and use it to both his and his staff member’s advantage. In doing so, he needs to set realistic expectations for each individual staff member. Just because you and I find certain tasks easy to juggle doesn’t mean that a another staff member will obtain the skill with ease. If we think back over our experiences, we probably had much more time (and resources) to build capacity in that area. With that in mind, consider how you can adjust expectations, but still arrive at the required destination.