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There
is no single answer and for many people the truth is
a combination of factors.
Is the job is too big for you or the timescale
unrealistic?
How confident are you that you make the very best
use of time? Would having better time management
skills reduce or eradicate the problem?
For some, the problem revolves around a lack of
confidence, particularly, when faced with making a
decision. Having to over prepare or analyse
everything can be very time consuming, but perhaps
even more wearing is the constant rehearsal and post
mortem which goes on in your head.
Ask yourself if your heavy workload has been created
to give an excuse to avoid other issues in your
life. It is easy to say I’m too busy rather than
face up to the realisation that having no one
special in your life leaves a sense of loneliness.
The cycle continues I’m too busy to create a social
life – I have no social life – I keep busy to fill
the space – I have no time to socialize.
For others they take on too much work, they find
dealing with other people’s problems means they
don’t have to tackle their own.
Is there a solution?
The first thing to remember is you have a choice.
You could argue that you cannot choose what work you
do. The choice is much more about how you react to
your work situation. It is in this area there are an
infinite range of solutions.
How to get started?
Keep a diary for a week.
At the end of each day consider what you have done
outside work. Record if you have undertaken work and
consider the reason why it was necessary.
Think about what has been going on in your head. Are
you present for your family? Or are you still at
work thinking about an issue, which has spilled
over? Are you whittling away thinking about a
client? All actions have a pay off. A positive
intention. Ask yourself what is the payback for you
in your reaction to work invading your personal
time. Be honest!
Think about the strategies you might use to combat
your behaviour.
Does the following statement ring true for you?
Work is taking up too much of my time.
Consider the statement if you replace the word time
with life.
Life is not a rehearsal. Few people would want as
their epitaph, “If only I had worked longer hours or
if only I had worried more about this or that
problem.”
In this article, I am going to focus on strategies
for turning off the “work” mode in your head.
Strategies for tackling time management and dealing
with colleagues at work are covered in other
articles and in “Kick Start Your Career” and “How
You Can Manage Your Staff More Effectively”.
Transition activity – use your journey as the
transition between work and home. Part way through
the journey create a section which will act like the
airlock on a submarine. On one side, pick a
particular station or point in the journey and make
this the start of the airlock and a second to make
the transition out of the airlock into the sea.
The sequence runs:
Work – point one: As usual
Point one – point 2 : listen to a piece of music
which is contemplative and relaxing or if you are on
a train, close your eyes and clear your brain of all
work thoughts. Consciously let go of the work
thoughts.
Point 2: start to think about being home, what you
are going to do that evening. Change the music to
something more energetic
You may find it takes some concentration to achieve
in the first instance, but the brain loves patterns,
so after a few days the changes in music and the
reaching the particular station or point on the
route act like a reminder – switch off from
work/relax/be in home mode.
The same transitional principles will also work with
a routine once you reach home but do eat into your
home time.
Physical exercise is great for changing your mood.
It will break negative patterns of thought and
releases endorphins which make you feel good. Dance
is particularly good as it involves sharing
something which requires concentration and involves
so many senses.
Visualisation can be really helpful. You can use a
relaxation tape to help you do this. There are many
to chose from – we have a Spanish theme tape
available on our website.
Planning time for you and those things which are
important to you is important. When you actually
book time to do these things they are much more
likely to happen than if you just leave it to
chance. I use a two week version with my clients.
They determine the various
elements they want to include and these are listed
on the left hand side of the planning sheet. Over
the two week period they plan to ensure that
everything they value has time allotted. The balance
of that time will vary but the principle is that
there should be some time set aside for each
category. Clients create their own categories but
common elements include: work, love and
relationships, family, physical wellbeing, learning,
helping others, fun and entertainment, spiritual
development.
Compartmentalisation works for some people. They
actually create compartments of thinking in their
brain. Once they finish what needs to be done they
mentally close the compartment and move into the
next.
Anchoring is a technique used in Neuro Linguistic
Programming. It works on the basis of using the
memory of how a positive experience made you feel on
one occasion available to you at any time. You can
choose to anchor any event for a specific emotion or
feeling. If you can’t think of a real occasion
imagine one – it works just as well. Just as
Pavlov’s dog would salivate when it heard the bell,
the brain is conditioned to feel in a particular way
when you press your finger and thumb together to
trigger an anchor.
Think of a time when you felt thoroughly relaxed and
happy. As you do so what do you feel?
Is the feeling in a specific place in your body?
Does it have a shape? Is it still or moving? Is it
constant or not? Does it have a texture? Does it
have a colour? Is it bright or dull? Pale or dark?
Imagine the feeling is only at 30%, turn it up to
70%, let it grow to 100%, as you feel it, pinch your
thumb and forefinger together. As you leave the
memory release the finger and thumb.
Practice getting into the memory state. Each time
pressing your finger and thumb together.
As the brain becomes accustomed to doing the process
you will find you can reach the state simply by
pressing your finger and thumb together. I ask
clients to do it several times each day to begin
with, as it only takes a minute. The benefits are
great as you can find an oasis of calm, a sense of
courage, joy, happiness or any other well resourced
state at the click of your fingers.
The shopping bag process is useful if you take on
others problems and feel weighed down by the end of
the day. As each person hands you their difficulty,
it is all too easy to internalise it and feel
dreadful by the end of the day.
As each person hands you their psychological baggage
imagine yourself putting it into a bag which you lay
at your feet rather than taking on board. It means
you can listen and be available for them without
getting bogged down in their “stuff”.
Facing your own demons. If you are using work as an
escape mechanism, I urge you to work with a coach to
get thenm sorted out. Unless you deal with them they
have a nasty habit of escaping and wreaking havoc,
however deeply you think you have buried them!
Evaluate your work activities – There is a huge
difference between being busy and being productive.
One useful way to audit your work load is to make a
list of all the activities you do under the heading
of DAILY/WEEKLY/ MONTHLY/QUARTERLY/ANNUALLY/AS AND
WHEN.
Use the traffic Light colours.
Highlight in green those activities which are done
appropriately by you in the most effective and
efficient way.
Highlight in red those activities which are
redundant, inappropriate for you to do and you can
immediately cut them out as they add no value. You
will have immediately saved some precious time.
All those things which raise a query about whether
they should be done, or if you are the right person
or if you need more training to do them effectively
and easily highlight in amber.
You can then prioritize how to manage those tasks
more effectively. You have something to take to your
boss as the basis of a discussion about workload,
training or use of time.
Laughter is a great de-stressor. Few of us laugh
enough. Finding ways to laugh ideally with others is
a great way of switching off from the stresses and
strains of the day.
When we live a well rounded and fulfilling life and
our batteries are topped up we have so much more to
offer in every area of our lives including work. You
have this life. It is your choice how you live it
and whether work is kept in its place or if it takes
over.
http://www.graduatesolutions.co.uk
http://www.recoveringworkaholics.co.uk
About The Author
Gina Gardiner is one of
the Uk's leading
leadership coaches. She
specializes in
developing leadership
potential from emergent
to senior management
level. She has a
particular interest in
work life balance.
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