Saying Yes is Also Saying No

You fired your assistant because she is now automated with technology, and
your office phone now forwards all calls to your mobile phone after the fourth
ring. And to top things off, the 3G network coverage in your area is awesome.
You can’t get away from your office unless you throw your mobile phone
into the lake, but your contract only allows for a replacement phone once every
24 months. At this rate, you will not be alive in 24 months. You’re thinking
you may just have to move to Alaska to get away from this mess.

I feel your pain. It seems all of the efficient technology only makes us more
inefficient and distracts us from focusing on the tasks at hand. In the past,
one of my favorite parts about going to the beach, besides hanging out with
my family, was the lack of quality mobile phone or mobile broadband service.
You could actually take full days away from work without your phone buzzing
all the time. Yes, it took me three days to return all of the phone messages
and emails once I returned, but it was worth it.

The only way to maintain a work/life balance with all these distractions is
by guarding your time just like you guard your money. It’s been said that
time is money. Well, in my opinion, you can always earn more money, but you
can’t ever get back the time that you lost/wasted. It is gone forever.

When you say yes to something, you are also saying no to something else.

So how do you guard your time? You manage it just like you manage your money
and finances. You spend time managing it, determining what you want to do with
it in the future, how you have managed it in the past, what you have wanted
to get done but haven’t, what you have accomplished that you thought you
would not. Sounds just like reviewing your finances, right?

You have to write down your priorities in life. Put them in two separate buckets:
business and personal. Then, prioritize them. Understand what is really important
to you, and the list of “things” you want to accomplish will become
very clear. See, yes means no.

Now that you know your goals, allocate your days, weeks and months to those
tasks. As you are reading this, you are probably thinking that this theory is
the same stuff that you already know to be correct, but the secret is execution.
That is what I will talk about next.

Every day is different. Unexpected events occur. Our daily plans get changed,
and we become distracted. We have all been told that we should not overschedule
our day. We shouldn’t schedule more than 50 percent of our daily activities.
This will allow us time to react to the unexpected events of the day and still
complete our priorities for the day. If you are like me, I am easily distracted
with the Internet, email, Twitter, Facebook, phone calls, office visitors, etc.
In order to manage these items, you need to schedule time in the day to address
them.

We all need little breaks in the day, so why not allocate some time for those
breaks. You might as well plan for a little goof off time since you are going
to do it anyway. But the key is to leave the “distracting” items
alone during the rest of your day. Just because someone calls you on the phone,
emails you, etc., does not mean that you have to answer it at that moment. Let
the phone roll to voicemail. Email was invented to allow us to communicate when
we are available to communicate. Use it that way. If you know me, you now know
why most of my calls roll to voicemail. If I answered every phone call and email
when they arrived, I would never get anything done. Set your phone to busy and
turn off your email notification. You will be amazed at how much work you can
get done.

Also, set your instant message status to busy. Instant messaging is good in
theory, but people don’t need answers instantly. If you are available
all the time to give instant answers, then people around you will not learn
to think for themselves. You will get abused.

Now that you have mastered technology in the workplace and learned how to
manage the electronic distractions of the office, go home and spend some quality
time with your family and friends.

For the other articles in the Work/Life Balance Series see below:
Good Work/Life Balance Comes From Good Workflow
How to Maintain Your Equilibrium
Whistle While You Work