There is an old proverb that says “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Essentially, it means that if you do not take time away from work you become both bored and boring to others. It also can negatively impact your overall health and wellness so you don’t have the best possible experience life can offer you. We at Tung Brush and Gel want you to live life to the fullest, with health and confidence.
Americans tend to spend an awful lot of time at the office. In fact, studies show that 40% of the American workforce find it difficult to close up shop and go home at the end of the day. There seems to be an unspoken mental equation that more time spent at the office equals more productivity. But often it is quite the contrary. Other studies have shown that often that extra time is wasted and not productive at all. So why not use the summer months to start taking care of YOU and managing your time better. After all, for most of us (sorry, Arizona and Hawaii) have extra daylight hours to spend on our personal lives.
Here are just a few ideas to manage your hectic work schedule better, allowing you to get out on time and take that bike ride, read that book, or have a picnic with your family:
- Create time for catch-up: Instead of not having any time to catch up at work because you are always in meetings, how about blocking off time each day or each week where you can get all those unread emails read, finish all of those reports and return all those phone calls. If you do this, you won’t have to take YOUR evenings to catch up. If you use a shared calendar at work, be sure to block off your chosen times so your colleagues will know to not schedule you for anything.
- Manage the timing of your tasks: If you know that it will take longer to get a project done after that lengthy business lunch because you are in a food coma, then work on it in the morning and save the after-lunch down time for less mentally engaging tasks. That way, you will maximize your brain’s capacity based on your mental clock and freshness and be able to get out of work earlier.
- Prioritize your work: At the end of the day, arrange the next day’s tasks into three separate piles: Pile A= what HAS to be done; Pile B=what could be done if all of A is done; and Pile C is the when you get to it stack, such as filing. Ideally, this exercise will be a physical way for you to learn what is really important and what isn’t, and will allow you to end your day with a sense of accomplishment.
Try to avoid being a member of the 40% club. Make each day count, both for the job and for you, and enjoy the summer months……then, when those clocks fall back again in the fall, maybe, just maybe, you will have the skills to finish your workday in time to see the autumn foliage in all its glory.
