Discussion Forum > Treating every day like you're going on vacation
Jacqueline,
I'm going on Sunday! I know what you mean ;-)
I'm going on Sunday! I know what you mean ;-)
June 19, 2009 at 16:55 |
Mike
Mike
I love the idea. I think for getting important things done it's a very good method indeed.
June 19, 2009 at 18:38 |
Jupiter
Jupiter
When I was still coaching, if people complained about how much work they had I would advise them to *cut* their working hours back and make sure they always took lunch break and finished at the same time each evening.
It's the same principle - the less time you have available the more you have to focus on what's really important.
It's the same principle - the less time you have available the more you have to focus on what's really important.
June 19, 2009 at 23:27 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
I agree totally with you Mark, but I'm not sure how to deal with this mindset of having to be there. They don't want to cut my hours back to part-time because they're an institution and they would lose the budget next year when I'm gone.
So do I drag the day out, or do what I have been doing and try to finish my work off in the morning and basically play around on the internet, do my personal business and visit with people in the afternoon? If anyone else in my department was overloaded, I would offer to help them out, but a) they do very different work from me and b) they don't seem any busier than me - all leave promptly at quitting time and seem to take a lot of sick days to boot. There's one lady that works a lot, but she seems to do it because she doesn't have anything else to do outside of work.
This all feels wrong to me though. It's wrong to drag the day out, it's wrong to do a bunch of personal stuff at work. Non-profits are strange.
So do I drag the day out, or do what I have been doing and try to finish my work off in the morning and basically play around on the internet, do my personal business and visit with people in the afternoon? If anyone else in my department was overloaded, I would offer to help them out, but a) they do very different work from me and b) they don't seem any busier than me - all leave promptly at quitting time and seem to take a lot of sick days to boot. There's one lady that works a lot, but she seems to do it because she doesn't have anything else to do outside of work.
This all feels wrong to me though. It's wrong to drag the day out, it's wrong to do a bunch of personal stuff at work. Non-profits are strange.
June 20, 2009 at 1:14 |
Jacqueline
Jacqueline
Here's the link to one of my favorite productivity articles on this very subject. Aby's newsletters are excellent. If this link doesn't take you there, it's the article on your most productive day.
http://www.simplify101.com/productivity-article.php
http://www.simplify101.com/productivity-article.php
June 20, 2009 at 1:35 |
Mel
Mel
Most excellent article Mel - thanks!
When I'm productive at home, this is exactly what I do - work like crazy so I can have my hour or so to read.
That's basically the premise behind Neil Fiore's "Unschedule" - but I could never seem to make that one work for me (maybe because I was resisting the *schedule* aspect of "do this at this time" - because I certainly don't have a problem doing this with my AF book).
I'll have to give this some more thought... :-)
When I'm productive at home, this is exactly what I do - work like crazy so I can have my hour or so to read.
That's basically the premise behind Neil Fiore's "Unschedule" - but I could never seem to make that one work for me (maybe because I was resisting the *schedule* aspect of "do this at this time" - because I certainly don't have a problem doing this with my AF book).
I'll have to give this some more thought... :-)
June 20, 2009 at 4:16 |
Jacqueline
Jacqueline
Jacqueline:
Without knowing a lot more about your job and the type of work you do, it's difficult to advise you. But generally speaking if you have to be there then find some project that you can do while you are there. You say that you generally finish your work in the morning. I guess that leaves you with about 3-4 hours to fill in. That's about the amount of time needed to become a real expert at something. So the question to ask yourself is "What would be most beneficial to me or my work if I spent four hours a day on it?"
Without knowing a lot more about your job and the type of work you do, it's difficult to advise you. But generally speaking if you have to be there then find some project that you can do while you are there. You say that you generally finish your work in the morning. I guess that leaves you with about 3-4 hours to fill in. That's about the amount of time needed to become a real expert at something. So the question to ask yourself is "What would be most beneficial to me or my work if I spent four hours a day on it?"
June 20, 2009 at 7:58 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mel:
I dealt with this subject extensively in my first book "Get Everything Done". I called it the "end effect".
I dealt with this subject extensively in my first book "Get Everything Done". I called it the "end effect".
June 20, 2009 at 8:00 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
GED does cover this topic and very well too. More from the perspective of people who feel they have too much to do though.
I bet the problem of not having enough work to do is very common. I've certainly run across this problem almost everywhere I've worked. People need to be busy and challenged to feel fulfilled.
At a contract job I had one job prior to this, I had the same problem, only they agreed to let me work part time. The staff would complain to each other that they were bored and didn't have enough to do, but they wouldn't ask the manager for more work. If they did, she'd say 'just enjoy the down-time, we'll be super busy later." Fortunately, the manager left shortly thereafter, I took over her job, we had some attrition without re-hiring so less people and a system upgrade so more work came, and we got to re-work the pattern of how everyone worked to reduce those downtimes.
I think my perspective has changed because I'm only at this job for 6 more months. It seems silly to work my butt off here trying to become an expert at fund accounting (especially since I don't like fund accounting). Or start writing that novel... just kidding! :-)
They have a lot of "shared positions" here and I should request to be shared with and work part time with another, central department. I can then make more contacts so that just in case I ever want to do some contract work in the future, I know more people.
I bet the problem of not having enough work to do is very common. I've certainly run across this problem almost everywhere I've worked. People need to be busy and challenged to feel fulfilled.
At a contract job I had one job prior to this, I had the same problem, only they agreed to let me work part time. The staff would complain to each other that they were bored and didn't have enough to do, but they wouldn't ask the manager for more work. If they did, she'd say 'just enjoy the down-time, we'll be super busy later." Fortunately, the manager left shortly thereafter, I took over her job, we had some attrition without re-hiring so less people and a system upgrade so more work came, and we got to re-work the pattern of how everyone worked to reduce those downtimes.
I think my perspective has changed because I'm only at this job for 6 more months. It seems silly to work my butt off here trying to become an expert at fund accounting (especially since I don't like fund accounting). Or start writing that novel... just kidding! :-)
They have a lot of "shared positions" here and I should request to be shared with and work part time with another, central department. I can then make more contacts so that just in case I ever want to do some contract work in the future, I know more people.
June 20, 2009 at 13:17 |
Jacqueline
Jacqueline
Hi Jacqueline
I've NEVER, EVER had a job with not enough work. I can't even imagine the sensation of slacking off on another person's dime! What was I missing all these decades? LOL!
learning as I go
I've NEVER, EVER had a job with not enough work. I can't even imagine the sensation of slacking off on another person's dime! What was I missing all these decades? LOL!
learning as I go
June 20, 2009 at 15:11 |
learning as I go
learning as I go
Learning:
I've certainly been in that position and it is far more soul-destroying than having too much work. In my case, and I think a lot of other people too, it certainly didn't have anything to do with slacking off. It's often a question of politics, as in Jacqueline's case about losing the budget. In my case it was literally politics - it was Margaret Thatcher's instruction that Government Departments should incur no new expenditure for the remaining six months of the year. Since my job concerned new expenditure I literally had no work to do at all.
I've certainly been in that position and it is far more soul-destroying than having too much work. In my case, and I think a lot of other people too, it certainly didn't have anything to do with slacking off. It's often a question of politics, as in Jacqueline's case about losing the budget. In my case it was literally politics - it was Margaret Thatcher's instruction that Government Departments should incur no new expenditure for the remaining six months of the year. Since my job concerned new expenditure I literally had no work to do at all.
June 20, 2009 at 19:13 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
I often found on returning from holiday that projects I worked hard on just before going away haven't moved on at all making me wonder whether it was worth the effort.
June 20, 2009 at 19:43 |
Man of Kent
Man of Kent
Hi Mark
I didn't mean to insinuate that she initiated the idea to slack off. Rather, I was shocked at the idea of having a job that offered no alternative to it and willingly financed the obvious void of work! Even still, I can't even imagine it!
learning as I go
I didn't mean to insinuate that she initiated the idea to slack off. Rather, I was shocked at the idea of having a job that offered no alternative to it and willingly financed the obvious void of work! Even still, I can't even imagine it!
learning as I go
June 21, 2009 at 0:46 |
learning as I go
learning as I go
I had a government job for a year that left me with very little to do, especially on one rotation. It was so disheartening to see that when the cuts came through they eliminated the positions of people who were actually working and kept the seat warmers. I don't recall how I filled my time, but I am sure I could have written a book!
Mark, I am on the waiting list to get GED through paperbackswap.com. I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
Mark, I am on the waiting list to get GED through paperbackswap.com. I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
June 21, 2009 at 2:28 |
Mel
Mel
Mel:
GED? Wouldn't it be quicker to get it through amazon.co.uk ? Although it's often difficult to get it in the States it's still freely available.
These days of course you can always occupy your time writing a blog!
GED? Wouldn't it be quicker to get it through amazon.co.uk ? Although it's often difficult to get it in the States it's still freely available.
These days of course you can always occupy your time writing a blog!
June 21, 2009 at 10:04 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
I've ordered a few books that I couldn't get here through the UK Amazon site, and they came in quite quickly. I'd check my local library first though. Nowadays, they have inter-library loan and will source books from anywhere in the province/state in most areas of the country. Your library might not have the book, but others will.
Mel, I can pdf you some dog-eared pages while you wait for your copy (if that's ok Mark). But contrary to a lot of books, the dog ears are scattered throughout the book. :-)
learning, I've found that most managers don't really know what their people DO or how they do it (often because they've never done the job of the people they're managing), so have no idea of how long things should take to do. They don't actively manage or sit down with their people on a regular basis to find out what's on their plates either and maybe help them re-prioritize or cut out some steps that they shouldn't be doing. Then when someone leaves, they're hooped.
Mark, I have thought of doing something like that - but it would have to be "The Autofocused House", then in 6 months, "The Autofocused Sabbatical." :-)
Mel, I can pdf you some dog-eared pages while you wait for your copy (if that's ok Mark). But contrary to a lot of books, the dog ears are scattered throughout the book. :-)
learning, I've found that most managers don't really know what their people DO or how they do it (often because they've never done the job of the people they're managing), so have no idea of how long things should take to do. They don't actively manage or sit down with their people on a regular basis to find out what's on their plates either and maybe help them re-prioritize or cut out some steps that they shouldn't be doing. Then when someone leaves, they're hooped.
Mark, I have thought of doing something like that - but it would have to be "The Autofocused House", then in 6 months, "The Autofocused Sabbatical." :-)
June 21, 2009 at 14:17 |
Jacqueline
Jacqueline
A "trick" I sometimes use just before I go on leave (and at other times when I just get fed up with drifting through the day) is to say to myself "if I could only do one task and then had to go home what would it be" I know this is isn't true AF, but sometimes it's the only thing that helps me get things done.
... Colin
... Colin
June 24, 2009 at 14:37 |
Colin
Colin
- absolutely no toleration (or time) for busy work
- notified people I come in contact with the most ahead of time that I would be gone for 2 weeks so if they had any issues that needed to be resolved in that time frame that they should let me know now (working ahead)
- no interest in meetings that aren't high value
- speeding up of decisions and processing of tasks
- hyperfocus on highest priorities
- strong desire for a clean desk :-)
Part of the problem with trying to do this on days / weeks when you're not going on vacation is that there's no reward at the end for people with a job where they still have to be there 8 hours a day (like me). :-(