This is a continuation of a 3-Act Play. See Act 1, “The Conflict,” and Act 2 “The Consultant and the Boss”
Productivity Consultant:
Boss-Cheryl, I trust you’ve worked this week on being more aware of Cheryl’s time and energy restraints. And Employee-Cheryl, I hope you appreciate the changes that Boss-Cheryl is willing to make on your behalf.
This is how you can help her.
1. Budget your time like you budget your money.
I know you’re a Dave Ramsey fan, and you use his envelope system well. You decide what you’ll spend on groceries, clothing, fuel and entertainment, then you stick the cash in an envelope. You know that when the envelope’s empty, the buying is finished.
However, there’s an important difference between income and time: Income can grow; time is static.
So this is my suggestion: Your time schedule is a good start. Now, start looking at the time segments she has created as “envelopes of time.”
When your morning work segment has come to an end, that “time envelope” is empty – and you must move on to the housework segment. Be ruthless at first. Of course, you may have to adjust the schedule when you’re working directly with clients, but at least you’ll learn what’s practical.
2. Schedule a no-screen day each week – which means the computer is off all day.
Your boss doesn’t expect you to work every day. In fact, she doesn’t think it’s good for you.
Remember those computer-free Sundays you had for a while? Remember how peaceful they were? How you moved around the house, read, tidied up, took a walk, or called one of your kids? Remember that great Sunday-night Jane Austen series on Masterpiece Theater you watched? Remember how refreshed you felt on Monday morning?
You’ve fallen back into the habit of saving your writing tasks until Sunday afternoon. Then you feel like a martyr because it seems like you never get a break.
3. This may sound harsh, but you’re an embezzler.
It’s not money: it’s worse than money. You embezzle time, which can’t be replaced. You think you can steal a little here, a little there, thinking you can put it back later. But those minutes – those hours – are irreplaceable. You can never put them back.
That’s why sometimes when you get to the end of the day, you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything!
To Both of You: Recognize your priorities, and plan for interruptions.
As Cindy pointed out in her comment on Life Is Full of Choices, “The hardest part…is dealing with delays you didn’t cause — like sickness, or losing a family member you love. That can put you in a black hole not of your own choosing.”
The fact that these incidents cause delays means you know what’s really most important: Your relationships.
You realize that your business, your busy-ness, and any income that comes as a result, are merely means to an end. It means you can be a giver rather than a receiver; it means you can travel to see your grandbabies. It means you’re doing what you can to prevent being a burden to your children as you age.
When “life happens,” you’ll wish you had back the time you had wasted, you’ll wish you had finished your projects early and paid more attention to the people that are important to you.
Wrapping It Up
Make peace with your selves.
Boss, be aware of Employee’s limitations before you make a decision that involves her.
Employee, don’t you feel good, now that you’ve finished not one, not two, but three blogs this week?
‘Sfunny, Jay and I were just talking about this on the way home from Ryan’s wedding. We were trying to figure out why this year especially, we feel a little frazzled from all the trips we’ve had. We’d visited four different states before the end of May, one of which was Alaska!
What we realized was that three of the trips this year were unplanned (such as said wedding). We decided we needed to give ourselves time in the year for unplanned trips, so that we were not dealing with a year already full of planned travel. Build in time during the year, just as it’s a good idea to build in time during the day, or when trying to meet a deadline.
Love your schizophrenic dialogue!
That’s interesting. I have not thought about how I compartmentalize my life then steal time from the different compartments. I gotta think about that one a while.
Thank you, my faithful commenting sister. You give me hope to carry on. (Now why in the world am I quoting Debbie Boone songs?) And thanks for your kind words about the dialogue. I had fun doing it. We introverts talk to ourselves a lot, anyway. [The spell checker wants me to change that to dialog, by the way.]
Re: planning for the unexpected: I think the theory is sound; following through is another matter! Although I love it when I get things done early — and arrive early for appointments, I seldom do these days. Some type of passive-aggressive rebellion. Is there such a thing?
Mitzi, this is a problem for me, because every half-hour I waste not getting into my work has one of the following consequences: 1) The task is finished late or not at all; 2) I may get it done, but not do it as well as I could have; 3) I rob myself of guilt-free sleep or relaxation at the end of the day or on the weekend, because of my lack of efficiency. The same principle could apply to doing household chores — for those who do housework, of course. :>)
Good stuff! I am a terrible embezzler! Since I work from home I have a great deal of freedom in terms of how I structure my day. Sure there are scheduled meetings that I must dial into every day at specific times, but for the most part, as long as I get my work done, my employer doesn’t care when I’m doing it…. With all this flexibility, I often find myself wondering around facebook, watching C-SPAN, reading blogs, (sometimes commenting on them) rather than doing any work. Before I know it, it’s 5 pm, and I haven’t done half the things I needed to get done. The solution? Two or three hours of very efficient, productive work from 5 pm to 7 or 8.
Hours that should have been mine! Instead, I ’embezzled’ them. And not from my employer! I stole them from myself, and I can’t give them back. By the time I eat dinner, the day is over, and all I did was sit at a desk and look at a computer all day!
That said, I probably ought to get back to work…
Thanks, Jan. I know exactly what you’re talking about. If I’m “on the clock” with one of my clients, I do okay. But when it comes to my blog or some other non-paid project, it’s difficult to keep up the pace. About once a week (usually on Monday), I actually have a day where I stick to my intended schedule. By Tuesday, I’ve worn myself out with all that self discipline the day before. Maybe next week I’ll actually go for two days in a row!
Ever try pretending you’re working in an office where someone can come in any moment and see you’re surfing or commenting or looking at a slide show of Ellie? I have, but it doesn’t last long.
Thanks for commenting.
@Mitzi Scarborough
Mitzi…I’m way behind on my dear sister’s blog, but I so enjoy “hearing” from you thru her blog! I check out your FB page every so often as well!