Even once you’ve followed our advice and set your own priorities clearly, every day at the office, or even every day working at home, is a time-trap minefield. We all waste far too much time. So here are strategies that will keep you in full work-smarter mode. You might get the impression that we are awfully organized, with all this talk of lists and schedules and efficiency. Hardly. In fact we both naturally rebel against being scheduled or organized much at all. But we’ve come to realize that knowing how our day might run more effectively is critical to getting what we all want— more time at home.
1. Assume control of your schedule. This is an essential philosophical change. On every front and in every instance, you must take charge. If you leave it to other people to schedule meetings, phone calls, and work assignments, the chances are you’ll end up working at times that suit them and not you. If you want to work on your schedule, take control of your timetable. And by the way, you have to take control of yourself as well. It’s not just others mucking up your efficiency. Limit checking your e-mail and returning phone message to a few times a day. Schedule yourself big “think time” to get through the most important tasks.
2. Be the first to offer a deadline for work. As often as possible (and it probably is a lot more often than you think) you should dictate the timetable for an assignment deadline. Tell your boss early on when you will have your work completed. This lets you choose the schedule that will work best for you. But be realistic and don’t promise the moon when you can’t deliver it.
3. Be thorough—check out projects as if you are buying a used car:
• Don’t be rushed into giving a timeline immediately. It is totally acceptable to reply by saying something like: "I’ll look this project over and get back to you in the morning with a firm deadline.”
• Evaluate how long the work will take: how many hours a day can you realistically give it?
• Do you have any other commitments that might create a conflict?
• How much extra time should you schedule as "budget padding” to deal with a mishap, lost document, sick team member, or other inevitable project hiccup?
4. Become an opportunistic workaholic. Whenever you see a window of opportunity—the kids are away, you have to travel anyway, your partner or parents don’t need your help—go postal on work! Think of it as a chance to use foxlike cunning. These
are golden opportunities to relive your old workaholic days but at very little cost.
“Exactly,” agrees Robin Ehlers. “And you know what else I do? When I travel for work I take my office with me and I work the whole time I’m gone. I’ll stay up really late, and I enjoy it. I feel like I’m caught up for the week, and then I can come back and have freedom.”
5. Put limits on your schedule. Let people know when you’ll be in the office, and be realistic and crisply assertive about it. If you’ve been traveling and want a few hours home in the morning the day after you get back, tell people, “I’ll be in at midday.” You need the time with family, and the world won’t end because you are in a few hours late.
And start to make it plain to others in the office that when you are there, you are busy. Announce your “think time.” Let everyone know when you’ll be available to return calls or e-mails. You might even broadcast a rule that unless it’s urgent, you’ll be answering e-mails in the mornings and late evenings only. Such restrictions will simply make you seem organized and reinforce the message that your time is important.
Avoid the temptation to be the Hermione Granger-style star pupil and be constantly available. All too often we make promises in advance, reveling in the glow of our bosses’ appreciation, and then wish, when the time comes, that we hadn’t offered to be there for that early morning/late evening/weekend stint. And then we’re not good employees.
claire I used to avoid telling people when I’d be out of the office, even though my absence was sanctioned. I thought somehow it would draw attention to the fact I was not there. But I’ve come to realize it’s much better for the people I work with to know my plans for the day, whether they want to be grumpy about them or not! I don’t always say "I’ll be sitting
home in my sweats at the computer, then picking up my daughter after school, and then logging back in.” They don’t need that sort of detail. But I do now let people know "I won’t be in tomorrow, I’ll be on my cell phone, but I can have that script to you by 2 p. m.” Or "I’m working from home—let me know if anything comes up, I’ll be on my BlackBerry. This is the only time I can’t be reached.” It avoids tension and the sorts of situations where frustrated coworkers might say, "We had no idea where she was!”
6. Mind your meetings. What is it about these gatherings of office peers that suddenly give people the license to feel they can blather on endlessly and waste everybody’s day? We’re sure you’ve all sat through them. Those often totally unproductive meetings in an airless, windowless conference room where some office blowhard feels they can drone on and keep us stuck in the building when we’re longing to get out the door.
Meetings are big time wasters. Here are a few tips for tweaking them.