I don’t believe in settling for less.
You can have professional success you are looking for and the personal time you need. Let’s talk about a few ways to achieve a 20 hour work week, while still getting it all done!
1.) Work smarter, not harder. It may seem like you have too much work for a 20 hour work week. But if you really take a look at your time, you will probably find that you’re not actually spending all 50 of those hours working.
How much time are you spending on Facebook because you need a break from those long hours?
How much time are you spending taking a walk to give your brain a rest?
How much time are you spending looking at vacation destinations to pretend like your not at your desk?
If you aren’t intentional about your time, you will tend to waste a lot of it making up for the fact that you work so hard. This often takes the form of procrastination or unfocused work that needs to be redone later. Try challenging yourself to get it all done in 20 hours, and let yourself take intentional breaks with the extra time.
You’ll find that you don’t need to spend time online shopping or whatever it is, because those things aren’t serving you. And what about the breaks that do serve you, like taking a walk outside? You can now plan those into your day with more intention.
2.) Commit to what’s important. I recently received a text from a colleague asking for my support. I was being asked to commit a few hours of my time within the next few days. I love being there for the people around me, and my first instinct was to say, “Yes, whatever you need, I’ll be there.”
I immediately started to feel the stress and pressure of trying to fit this into my schedule.
“How do I squeeze this in?”
“This is going to be a massive conversation.”
“Tomorrow is jam packed.”
After struggling with it for a while I settled into the reality that this was not something I needed to take on! Sometimes you just need to say no, and that’s okay!
Take some time to write out what commitments are most important to you. Which of your commitments align most closely with your values? What are things you could be saying no to altogether?
3.) Reframe your commitments. Another approach to a situation like this is to reframe the way in which you give support. I may not have a few hours to spare right now, but a 15 minute conversation is do-able. If a few hours are really needed, I may have a window of time in a couple weeks to help out.
You don’t always have to take a request at face value. You can respond by suggesting other forms of support that work for you.
What are other ways you can be there for people that don’t prevent you from taking care of yourself?
What are things in your work week that you can delegate to others?
Don't let the idea of a 20 hour work week be an impossibility. As your leadership coach, I can help you find ways to maximize your time and get to where you want to be without losing sight of your own well-being along the way.
Originally posted on Linked-In
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