3 Reasons You’re Not Leaving Work on Time

Do you have difficulty erecting boundaries between ‘work time’ and ‘personal time’?

 

I’ve read there is no boundary anymore, because we’re “always on.” I see the point, and I disagree. Additionally, evidence points to the contrary.

 

In the early 20^th Century, Ford Motor Company studied the most productive number of hours for workers. Their research revealed the optimal length of time for an employee to work was 40 hours.

 

Working 20 more hours boosts productivity a bit, but that uptick is temporary. After a couple of weeks, the trend becomes negative.

 

 

In fact, the additional hours then deplete productivity! So you’re working more hours, and accomplishing less.

 

A recent Harvard study shows too much work equals not enough sleep.

 

Researchers found that less than 6 hours of sleep per night is a key precursor of on the job burnout. You get a lower quality of life and employers absorb billions in productivity losses each year.

 

But work is work right?

 

Your goal should be optimal productivity each day, and then get out of the workplace.

 

A myriad of articles and blog posts explain all the time wasters that keep you less than productive. When you read those, remember that “time waster” means “work lengthener.” They keep you from leaving work on time.

 

You’ll read about not having goals, having a messy workspace, too many water cooler conversations, etc.. Those are all good things to work on.

 

Today, I want to tell you about three OTHER impediments that keep you from leaving work on time. They make things take longer. Which means you spend more hours than you should on work. And less time recharging your batteries.

 

See how these might be affecting your commitment to leave work on time.
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1. Using email instead of the phone.

 

Do you rely on email to the point you forget there are other options?

 

Email is great to archive conversations and exchange documents. But many people use email when a voice-to-voice conversation would be far more effective, take less time, and get more done.

 

Conversation also builds relationships more effectively than email does. You might also pick up more information and context than you will by triaging through a long list of wordy emails.

 

My rule on email is: If you can’t resolve it in 3 messages, it’s time to pick up the phone. Try it the next time you get an email chain with 23 messages and an issue that is still unresolved, or a decision that still isn’t made.

 

It will help you improve productivity, and reduce some stress. And maybe even get you out of work on time!

 

 

2. Going for perfect when “good enough” will do.

 

I used to refer to myself as a slide jockey. It seemed at times that everything my team and I did somehow ended up on a slide.

 

Often we’d labor over these little morsels of art trying to make sure all the messages tied together in a perfect little bow. Then we’d send them up, and they’d be revised, often multiple times. That put me in the dreaded company of “rework” which is one of my least favorite things.

 

I learned to send a “first pass.” I started marking things “draft” and off they went. They were revised – often multiple times – and I didn’t feel like I’d wasted a bunch of my time, or my team’s.

 

If a deliverable is going to be revised, then do your best, but don’t spend hours trying to make it perfect. It’s wasted time that often ends up in the rework cycle anyway.

 

“Good enough to go” applies to many situations. The trick is knowing when you need to be closer to perfect, and when you don’t. Knowing that difference will put a lot more time in your day.

 

 

3. Not making decisions.

 

I recently asked a waiter friend who the most difficult customers are to serve. He said without hesitation, “The ones who can’t make a decision.” Indecisive people, he explained, take more of his time, distract him from the other tables he needs to be helping, and, impact his ability to provide great service.

 

It’s a brilliant metaphor for the workplace. I often cite the fact that multi-tasking doesn’t really save us time. But we trick ourselves into thinking it does. The same is true for avoiding decisions.

 

Decision avoidance will kill any time management practice you have. You might think it’s a “low impact” situation, but it’s not.

 

Think of it this way. If you make a decision and it’s wrong, you can take action to correct it. If you avoid a decision, now you’re spending your mental white space thinking about it. The avoidance becomes bigger than the action.

 

If you struggle with making decisions, consider the worst case that could happen both by making the decision, and then by avoiding it. If you’re tempted to “avoid”, consider what else isn’t getting your attention, what is going to take longer as a result, and how it’s impacting your ability to provide great service in your organization.

 

Decisions that are avoided, postponed or simply ignored will consume vastly more time than any decision you make, even if it’s wrong.

 

And you’re getting more of what you were actually trying to avoid in the first place.

 

 

Your action for this week:

 

1. Take a look at all your habits, but especially check in on your proclivity to over-use email, make something too perfect when you really don’t need to, or decision commitments that you are avoiding.
2. Then try some switching up your practices and see what happens. Let me know what action you take, and what results you see. Leave a comment below.
3. If you found this blog post helpful, please send it along to someone who might enjoy reading it. They might be spending too much time at work!

 

 

 

 

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