Work Tips: Time Management (4)

This is the fourth ‘Work Tips’ blog post on the topic of time management. We already covered structuring your time in ‘Work Tips: Time Management (1),’ scheduling events in ‘Work Tips: Time Management (2),’ and setting priorities in ‘Work Tips: Time Management (3).’ You can check them now or start here first! In this post, we’ll continue with some more time management tips.

Don’t Work Too Long or Late

Sometimes, priority projects or urgent work situations make it necessary to put in more hours and work much later than usual. Just don’t make a habit of it. This is a recipe for burnout. An extra hour or two every day becomes the baseline and then there’s the feeling you need to work even longer to achieve anything extra or just to deal with the normal busy working life. One day, you realize you’re putting in nearly 50% more than scheduled hours for 5% more work. Eventually, exhaustion and possibly even depression nullify all the time and effort put in. You’re struggling to meet basic performance requirements despite giving it all you’ve got, and you wonder what happened!

Fortunately, the ‘you’ I’m talking about is a general ‘you.’ The ‘YOU’ reading this right now will avoid the trap of more hours with less progress! It’s still important to be mindful of your situation, moment-to-moment, and work smarter not harder! Be strict about schedule. Call it a day at a reasonable hour. Bank your progress after a great day or big achievement. Take time to recover physically and mentally after a hard day, ready to fight again.

I hope the time I’ve put into this post has created some value for you. It’s nearly the end of my day, so I need to finish my other jobs efficiently and avoid working too late. You can look forward to other Work Tips topics in the future.