A recent Reuters article detailed how a Canadian government ministry (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) sent out a directive to its employees urging them to implement a BlackBerry “blackout” between 7pm and 7am and on weekends and holidays and to not use the devices during meetings.
“Work/life quality is a priority for me and this organisation because achieving it benefits us both as individuals and as a department,” deputy minister Richard Fadden was quoted as saying.
“When we can ‘balance’ our work and personal responsibilities, we, as a team, stand to not only serve and perform more effectively, but also to attract and keep employees to help us build a stronger Canada.”
Unfortunately, in my experience, trying to dictate a “work/life balance” just doesn’t work.
The reality is there are only two things you can do to create more time for yourself or family. The first is to do less by delegating — this frees up time.
The second is to do what you do more effectively, thus spending less time doing it.
So how do you go about all this then?
- Focus on the right activities
You should focus your time on doing the right activities for you. List the roles you lead in your life on a piece of paper. Headings might include: Business, Home, Partner, Parent, Community. List all activities. Open your mind and brainstorm. (This is also a good time to ask yourself questions like, does your activity match your role? Your goals? This important self-examination is where your time and balance breakthrough begins.) - Grade your activities
“A” — Very important, something you must do (serious negative consequences if you don’t do it).
“B” — Important, something you should do (minor negative consequences if it is not completed).
“C” — Nice to do.
“D” — Delegate.
“E” — Eliminate whenever possible. - Create more time through automation
Where focus starts freeing up time normally spent doing other things, software knowledge brings you massive productivity gains. It’s like magically pulling hours out of a hat. For example, take the time to learn more about your Office software, no matter how busy you are. You’ve heard the old adage it takes time to make time. You’ll learn functions that allow you to eliminate many repetitive tasks. Many people literally spend days splitting names apart manually in Excel spreadsheets, when there’s a function that does this instantly.
