“Time, Time, Time, see what’s become of me…While I looked around for my possibilities.” – Simon and Garfunkel, Hazy Shade of Winter.
As we hurry through the maze we call our careers, we often get to the end of the day’s journey and wonder where all the time actually went. As it gets easier to take our work home with us, by telecommuting or working when the office is closed, the slice of the pie that is your life gets smaller and smaller. Allowing that pie slice to be nibbled away by the omnipresent pressure of work can leave us stressed, depressed, and in desperate need of rest. In other words…burnt out.
Whatever your situation may be – returning to work, gunning for a promotion, or just trying to survive a downsizing — it’s important to make time for yourself and for those that depend on you. Just remember some simple rules — and apply them whenever you feel yourself running short on personal time:
1. It takes time to make time: You can’t just declare that you want more time to do things in your personal life. The “Time Fairy” is all out of magic dust at the moment, so you’re going to have to find other means to maximize your time outside of work.
The first step is to dedicate a portion of your day to the process of analysis. Take a sheet of paper and map out a timeline of what your day and week look like. Create a “Time Budget” for yourself. By physically listing the time you dedicate to various activities, you can actually see where minutes — and even hours — disappear. Reallocate time back to yourself by figuring out where time is wasted.
2. Prioritize, prioritize, and prioritize: What are your deadlines for work? Allocate sufficient time to them in your “Time Budget.” Are there home-life priorities that also have deadlines? Dedicate a chunk of time for those too in your “Time Budget”. By nature, the largest priorities take up the largest chunks of time.
Remember to be strict in budgeting your time – hold yourself accountable! If the timeline says stop, then stop. This allows you to accomplish many tasks over a longer period of time, rather than cramming and working under pressure. You’ll find that after you prioritize your work time and your home-life time, you’ll have more of it.
3. Even Superman got help from Jimmy Olsen once in a while: In other words, ask for help! You don’t have to carry the world on your shoulders. A lot of friends will willingly help you with tasks, if they know you’ll help them in return. Take turns running errands, grocery shopping, etc.
If it’s the domestic drudgery that has you running frantic, then delegation may be your key. You’d be surprised at what a spouse is willing to do to help you out, even though they may have been taking your domestic work for granted all those years. A lot of the time, spouses may not even know that you’re drowning under domestic chores until you snap. Ask your partner to take on, or at least share, an additional duty that has you bogged down.
There’s no silver bullet for the work-life balance monsters that stalk us. By realizing your priorities and holding yourself accountable to a “Time Budget,” you may find yourself with a couple more ticks on the clock than before.
Do you have any tips on maximizing time outside your job?
