It is a huge challenge to juggle everything that needs to be completed between work and home. Our to-do lists continue to grow, no matter how many things are crossed off. This creates that feeling of being overwhelmed. Being able to create boundaries in your life can help reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed and allow you to take back the decisions about where you spend your time. Here is some advice that I received in my career to help me when I was feeling that way:
- Guard your calendar very closely and block off time to get things done
- If you are working in an integrated calendar environment, someone can see you have time available and book you for a meeting. When I started blocking off some time every day, I felt like I had more control over my day.
- Before you accept a meeting, review it and decide if it is a meeting that you really need to attend.
- My goal was to delegate ( a lot!) to my team so they would have opportunities to learn. I focused on the things that really required my attention.
- Imagine if you could spend the time planning out your priorities of the day, networking with colleagues, preparing for an upcoming meeting or be really crazy and go have lunch!
- Say “no” to things that are not in line with your priorities, goals and values
- Saying “no” to requests, allows you to say “yes” to the things that you should be focused on instead Just say you “have other plans” when you can’t attend an event.
- You don’t have to explain to people why you can’t attend.
- You make the decisions about where to spend your time instead of others controlling your life
- Focus on 2-3 things to accomplish each day, not your entire list
- Don’t try to take on too much each day and not accomplish anything.
- Completing 2-3 things will help you feel the satisfaction of getting things done
- Spend time developing your team and checking in on how they are doing
- Don’t let email run your life
- Manage all of the emails the best that you can
- Use instant message or text for quick answers
- If you miss an email, don’t sweat it. People may not agree with me here, but if the sender really wants an answer, they will send it again.
- Don’t just send emails back and forth without getting to a resolution. Set up some time to discuss things, walk over and talk to each other or pick up the phone and talk about it. I know these are crazy ideas!
Here is the hard truth. No matter how much you accomplish…you will never get it all done. I have never had a day when I was able to say all of my work is done!! Whatever will I do with my time today? Things change every day and new projects or requests show up that need to be integrated into your current priorities. Focus on the big things and let some of the things that aren’t adding any value go. What have you done to create some boundaries in your life?
Joining the ReVISION program would help you to focus on yourself and what you want in 2017. Building in time for yourself is not always at the top of the list, but should be your priority. The first session will be held on January 31st. Click on this link to sign up!