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It really comes down to setting boundaries on your time
and having long spans of uninterrupted time.
Boundaries can be great for creativity and productivity.
The constraint of knowing you only
have X number of hours to work on something
can force you to focus.
But how do I do all the little things
like mail, and house chores, and errands?
This one can be a bit tricky, especially
if you work from home, like we do at Team Gantt.
It's really easy to see the unmade bed or the pile
of dishes or the long grass in the yard and think,
I can just take a few minutes and get this done or that.
But those distractions can often lead to long stretches
of unproductive time.
Then at the end of the day, you feel
stressed because you didn't get as much
done as you wanted to at work.
Try to do as much as you can on your lunch break
or put it off until after work.
Trying to get all those little things done during the day
can be a real time killer.
Even if the tasks are short, it can take you a long time
to get back in the zone and start being productive again.
Talk it over with your family.
If you work from home, it takes everyone in the household
to be on board.
Talk about how a structure like this
can benefit the entire family.
While you may not be available 24/7 like you were before,
they'll know that your time outside of those work hours
will be higher quality because you
won't have work on your mind.
You'll be done for the day and can devote your full attention
to family or friends or non-work related tasks and projects.
But people keep emailing, or chatting, or tweeting,
or Skyping, or whatever-ing me.
To put it simply and bluntly, they can wait until tomorrow.
Now I know not all companies have the same culture that we
do here at Team Gantt so your mileage may vary here,
but for us, no one expects a response
from anyone else outside of work hours.
Try it for a week or so and see what
happens if you wait until the next day to respond
to emails and chats.
Does anyone freak out or did it maybe
go better than you expected?
How can I get all of my work done in just 40 hours?
Five, eight hour days a week is actually a ton of time.
You can get a lot accomplished in that amount of time,
it's just that too often, much of that time gets
sucked up in meetings, interruptions
from instant messaging, or a quick chat
when another member stops by your cubicle or office.
A lot of those things don't need to happen.
If you can reduce those interruptions
and get real work done for 40 hours,
you can accomplish so much.
It's also a matter of focusing on the big rocks,
like Franklin Covey teaches.
David mentions this in his podcast
and we couldn't agree more with him.
Nathan took the Franklin Covey course at a previous job
and it stuck with him.
He's since made those ideas a big part of the culture
a Team Gantt.
Big rocks is a simple strategy of identifying
your most important tasks and dedicating time
to work on those.
Block out your calendar and don't allow any interruptions
during the time you're working on those tasks.
Turn off slack, close your email,
put your phone on do not disturb,
and just work for an hour and a half or two hours at a time.
You'd be amazed how much can happen
with that much focused time.
This was part two of a three part series
on achieving a healthy work life balance.
Stay tuned for part 3 about the top benefits
of a structured work time.
What tips do you have for keeping your work and life
in balance?
Let us know in the comments.
We'd love to hear from you.
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