All Work and No Play?

Posted May 7, 2019

In Life Management, Managing Priorities, Time Management

Do you feel like your life is all work and no play? May is National Revise Your Work Schedule Month … a great time to shake things up a bit and create a work schedule that enables you to put first things first in your life. My previous blog, Is Work Life Balance a Myth?, also touched on this topic.

Historically, people have been taught that if they just learned how to work more efficiently, they could get more done in less time. Unfortunately, that approach simply doesn’t work, because it puts you on a proverbial hamster wheel that keeps spinning faster and faster.

Instead, what if you were to learn how to work more effectively so you could be more productive and accomplish what matters most? We’re all given 168 hours a week. That’s plenty of time to accomplish your goals, provided that you make careful choices about how you invest your time.

Those who invest their time in what matters most are able to focus on critical priorities and say NO to the rest. Those who feel constantly overwhelmed will never have enough time because they’ve lost sight of their priorities and have allowed themselves to be pulled in many directions.

“What does it matter how much we do if
what we’re doing isn’t what matters most?”
–Stephen Covey, First Things First

To do or NOT to do…that is the question…

Sometimes it’s difficult to make decisions “in the moment.” You may benefit from stepping back and looking at the bigger picture in order to make a sound decision that fits with your priorities. I’ll provide some questions below to help.

Does this feel like a “choose to” or a “have to”? Don’t be a victim. Be at choice about whatever you commit to doing.
Will saying YES to this allow me to spend quality time with my family/friends?
Will taking this on allow me to nurture myself physically, emotionally and spiritually?
Do I feel financially & emotionally secure about this choice?
Will this enable me to help others who are important to me to reach their goals?
Will I have control over how I spend my time & how I honor my values?
What will motivate me to do this?
What would hold me back from doing this?
If I say YES to this, what will I be saying NO to?
If my best friend (who’s a clone of me) were in this situation, what would I advise him/her to do?
Who or what will support me in making this decision (talking with a friend, journaling, etc.)?

“Every time you say YES to someone or something,
you are saying NO to someone or something else.”
– Kathy Paauw

If you’ve already committed your time and are struggling to juggle it all…

Does my commitment feel like a “choose to” or a “have to”?
Can I delegate all or part of this responsibility to someone else?
Is there a way to simplify this task and still keep my commitment?
What’s the worst thing that could happen if I don’t do this?
Do I choose to renegotiate this?

96 minutes a day that will change your life!

Are you familiar with the Pareto Principle – commonly known today as the 80/20 Rule?

The 80/20 Rule means that with anything — time, resources, space, etc. — a few (20%) are vital and many (80%) are trivial. It’s uncanny how accurate this is!

Here are some examples of how we can apply the 80/20 Rule. See if you recognize any that hold true for you.

80% of what you file away is never referenced again; the other 20% of filed papers are what you access regularly.
80% of the clothes in your closet are worn 20% of the time, and 20% are worn 80% of the time.
20% of a company’s products account for 80% of product sales.
80% of your desired results will come from 20% of the items on your to-do list.
20% of company employees produce 80% of the desired results.
80% of decisions come from 20% of meeting time.
80% of an organization’s managerial concerns are caused by the same 20% of problems.
80% of a manager’s interruptions come from the same 20% of people.
80% of customer complaints are about the same 20% of a company’s products or services.

Did you know that 20% of an 8-hour workday is only 96 minutes? What if you were to be consistently focused on doing your most important activities for 96 minutes of each day? Even if you wasted much of the remaining 6.5 hours of your workday, you’d probably still yield a better outcome than if you assigned the same value to all activities in your workday.

I’m not suggesting that you waste the rest of the day…just saying that consistent focus on the top 20% of your most important activities will lead to dramatically improved productivity. While the rule is not an absolute, you can use it as a guide and reference point to ask whether or not you are truly focusing on the 20% (the vital few), or the 80% (the trivial many).

Once you’re clear about what your top 20% of activities are that will yield 80% of the results you desire, that enables you to work much more effectively. In other words, instead of focusing on doing more things faster (being efficient), you’re focused on doing the right things (being effective and productive).

We don’t plan to fail … we fail to plan!

Planning is essential to effectively revising your work schedule. Commit to a regular planning session every week. Write that into your schedule…no excuses! At the end of every work day, do some fine-tuning by spending a few minutes reviewing and re-prioritizing your scheduled activities for the next day or two. This habit will make tomorrow feel more on-purpose.

My free Managing Priorities webinar teaches participants a weekly process that will help you keep first things first in your life.

If you struggle to “get your act together” with support systems and structures in place to help you manage your priorities, let’s schedule a no-cost discovery call. We’ll discuss the next steps you can take to organize your entire life–-so you can enjoy being focused and productive at work and be fully present with family and friends at home.

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