It Takes Work to Have a Life in a 24x7 World
It Takes Work to Have a Life in a 24x7 World
To further exacerbate the situation, we’ll note that we just returned from a 3-day holiday in Mexico. On the flight down we remarked to her that it was the first time we had turned our cellphone off since upgrading three months earlier. We were also delighted when we got to the home we had rented to find that the owner really did have DSL connectivity.
While we haven’t quite mastered the balancing act, it is better.
There are those to disagree but in our estimation the Internet, WiFi and mobile phone technology has helped. While we don’t recommend our solution for everyone it works for us.
The cold hard fact is that in today’s environment though there is constant pressure to do more and with fewer people. Whether it is stated, implied or self-inflicted people in our industry are continually monitoring and handling queries, issues and challenges not just 2-3 time zones away but half way around the globe. We have deadlines, demands and issues that are out of our control and have to be addressed…now!
The result is long hours and in many instances missed weekends and missed holidays.
If it is any consolation, we are not alone!
Shared Issues
After reviewing survey results from Poynter Institute, Gallup and Monster.com, it is obvious becoming an issue that is facing people in every field – journalists as well as companies, non-profits and government.
The issues that were raised in all of these surveys were remarkably similar:
- most people (over 60 percent) worked more than 40 hours a week
- nearly half passed up their vacation from last year
- approximately 70 percent of the organizations had staff cuts in the last two years
- about half of those surveyed were considering a job/career change
It has been our experience that most of the pressure and stress is self-inflicted. Staff reductions have produced mixed emotions and pressures for people:
- depression because we all know a number of people whose talents were no longer required by the organization
- a combination of relief and guilt that you had escaped unscathed
- a real or implied implication that you were expected to assume more of the workload caused by the workforce reduction
These issues have to be addressed in a healthy, personal manner.
Fortunately, part of the solution can be found with today’s always-on technologies. Working no longer means that you have to be in your physical workspace 10-12 hours a day. The technologies have given us the ability to shape and define our own version of balance.
On our Mexico holiday we handled three calls from the media and three from clients. Early each morning and before going to bed each evening we spent an hour on our computer handling email. The rest of the time we enjoyed the sights and downtime.
Conversely when the need has arisen we’ve reached clients at basketball games, on the golf course and at their youngsters’ soccer practice.
Do these examples represent a healthy work-life balance? Possibly.
It is healthy if you have the temperament and personality to know your limits. It is healthy if you have a partner who knows how you tick. It isn’t healthy when the work adversely affects your mental or physical health or your personal relationships.
When the workload affects your mental health, it is time to step back and assess your job, career direction and personal goals. If necessary, it will even require third-party assistance. When it affects your physical health it is time to realign your diet, sleep and exercise. If work is creating barriers to personal relationships it is time to sideline yourself and develop a new perspective on what is most important…to you!
Your Boss, Your Organization
Every organization has a “work climate” that is written or unwritten, said or unsaid. Some people jokingly say our people don’t have to worry about job security because slaves can’t be fired. They can only be sold. Usually it is only a joke…sometimes it isn’t!!
Your organization and your supervisors can play a pivotal role in your success and satisfaction. So if you are the supervisor, you set the tone.
That means you have to take the time to actually know your employees and show genuine empathy when they are under stress (inside or outside the organization). Balance your feedback to them. That means pass out praise as well as criticism (constructive criticism) equally.
In addition to knowing your people, know their respective workloads so that it is equally balanced. The idea of giving the busiest person the really tough projects on top of everything else only works for awhile. You need to encourage people to step back and take a rest to ensure they maintain a strong performance level.
Be aware of the emotional state of staff members. If people are placing undue stress on themselves, encourage them to take time off and refresh their batteries. If they have problems or issues outside of the office that bleed into their work, encourage them to take the time to solve or work around the issues. Some life situations are inflexible – children, family member illnesses, relationships – and they need to be addressed before they effect the quality of decisions and work. Encouraging people to take the time to work through these personal items can produce a better, more efficient and more effective employee.
That also means clearly spelling out your objectives and realistic timelines for projects and activities. Ensure they honestly understand that they have flexibility in achieving the goals.
Not everyone is a happy workaholic. Make certain you don’t use “Bob” as a measurement for “Jane, Phil, Joe.” Each is an individual and requires measurements and workloads based on them as people.
If and when personnel cutbacks are dictated, knowing your staff members can help you as a manager through the situation and it can help your team. Make the reduction decisions based on the good of the organization but handle the firing and workload adjustments based on the good of the individuals. Done properly, everyone can feel as good as possible about the situation and the actions…even you.
Your Control
Depending upon your personality the right work/life balance is usually under your control…honest!
If you look at the national statistics on the state of individual weight and health condition it is obvious that the majority of people don’t have a regular exercise program. There are hundreds of reasons why you don’t exercise. But in 15-30 minutes there are things you can do even in the office to refresh your body and your mind. We live in a time of “instant” – instant food, instant results -- and it shows on the scale.
We won’t bother with the usual control issues that people “emphasize” because you know them – eat health foods; make meals a social activity, not just sustenance; get plenty of sleep even if it means missing Letterman.
Make certain you have a weekly and daily to-do list. Make the list while you’re relaxing in the evening so you arrive at the office already in control. Work the list in an orderly manner even if you don’t complete all the projects. Take a look at the things you do during the day and eliminate those that waste time. Usually you can determine what is and what isn’t Spam by quickly scanning the subject line – get rid of them quickly, even if you occasional discard something of importance. Trust us, it will be around again.
Multitask. If you are on hold for a call, check and respond, forward or discard email. Just as with a piece of paper, only handle an email once. If it is something that requires thought or action, scan it quickly and put it into a to-do folder. Then set aside 30 minutes or an hour each day to handle the work in the to-do folder.
Handle all of your email immediately or in groups (an hour in the morning and an hour at the end of the day). Clear your email in box before you go home every evening. Emails don’t get better with age and it will surprise the heck out of people when you respond so “quickly!”
There are organizational/departmental objectives, goals and deadlines and there are your objectives, goals and deadlines. Yours are usually higher, tougher and tighter. Often achieving 80 percent of your objectives, meeting 80 percent of your goals and missing your deadline by 20 percent surpasses those set by others.
We increasingly use technology in our work and personal life. It is increasingly difficult to see where one begins and the other ends. With the volume of data doubling every 12-18 months according to industry analysts it is easy to become overwhelmed. We still give people credit for working long days, nights and weekends. We still celebrate the last man or woman standing.
The key is that you can control whether or not you want to be that man or woman. You can control how you celebrate. Life demands work.
########
It Takes Work to Have a Life in a 24x7 World - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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Right at the outset we’ll note that it is Saturday and we are in the office writing this piece. That should give you a clue that we haven’t achieved what most people might call a healthy work-life balance. But after more than 25 years in the profession our wife has come to reluctantly accept our work/home habits…to a degree.
To further exacerbate the situation, we’ll note that we just returned from a 3-day holiday in Mexico. On the flight down we remarked to her that it was the first time we had turned our cellphone off since upgrading three months earlier. We were also delighted when we got to the home we had rented to find that the owner really did have DSL connectivity.
While we haven’t quite mastered the balancing act, it is better.
There are those to disagree but in our estimation the Internet, WiFi and mobile phone technology has helped. While we don’t recommend our solution for everyone it works for us.
The cold hard fact is that in today’s environment though there is constant pressure to do more and with fewer people. Whether it is stated, implied or self-inflicted people in our industry are continually monitoring and handling queries, issues and challenges not just 2-3 time zones away but half way around the globe. We have deadlines, demands and issues that are out of our control and have to be addressed…now!
The result is long hours and in many instances missed weekends and missed holidays.
If it is any consolation, we are not alone!
Shared Issues
After reviewing survey results from Poynter Institute, Gallup and Monster.com, it is obvious becoming an issue that is facing people in every field – journalists as well as companies, non-profits and government.
The issues that were raised in all of these surveys were remarkably similar:
- most people (over 60 percent) worked more than 40 hours a week
- nearly half passed up their vacation from last year
- approximately 70 percent of the organizations had staff cuts in the last two years
- about half of those surveyed were considering a job/career change
It has been our experience that most of the pressure and stress is self-inflicted. Staff reductions have produced mixed emotions and pressures for people:
- depression because we all know a number of people whose talents were no longer required by the organization
- a combination of relief and guilt that you had escaped unscathed
- a real or implied implication that you were expected to assume more of the workload caused by the workforce reduction
These issues have to be addressed in a healthy, personal manner.
Fortunately, part of the solution can be found with today’s always-on technologies. Working no longer means that you have to be in your physical workspace 10-12 hours a day. The technologies have given us the ability to shape and define our own version of balance.
On our Mexico holiday we handled three calls from the media and three from clients. Early each morning and before going to bed each evening we spent an hour on our computer handling email. The rest of the time we enjoyed the sights and downtime.
Conversely when the need has arisen we’ve reached clients at basketball games, on the golf course and at their youngsters’ soccer practice.
Do these examples represent a healthy work-life balance? Possibly.
It is healthy if you have the temperament and personality to know your limits. It is healthy if you have a partner who knows how you tick. It isn’t healthy when the work adversely affects your mental or physical health or your personal relationships.
When the workload affects your mental health, it is time to step back and assess your job, career direction and personal goals. If necessary, it will even require third-party assistance. When it affects your physical health it is time to realign your diet, sleep and exercise. If work is creating barriers to personal relationships it is time to sideline yourself and develop a new perspective on what is most important…to you!
Your Boss, Your Organization
Every organization has a “work climate” that is written or unwritten, said or unsaid. Some people jokingly say our people don’t have to worry about job security because slaves can’t be fired. They can only be sold. Usually it is only a joke…sometimes it isn’t!!
Your organization and your supervisors can play a pivotal role in your success and satisfaction. So if you are the supervisor, you set the tone.
That means you have to take the time to actually know your employees and show genuine empathy when they are under stress (inside or outside the organization). Balance your feedback to them. That means pass out praise as well as criticism (constructive criticism) equally.
In addition to knowing your people, know their respective workloads so that it is equally balanced. The idea of giving the busiest person the really tough projects on top of everything else only works for awhile. You need to encourage people to step back and take a rest to ensure they maintain a strong performance level.
Be aware of the emotional state of staff members. If people are placing undue stress on themselves, encourage them to take time off and refresh their batteries. If they have problems or issues outside of the office that bleed into their work, encourage them to take the time to solve or work around the issues. Some life situations are inflexible – children, family member illnesses, relationships – and they need to be addressed before they effect the quality of decisions and work. Encouraging people to take the time to work through these personal items can produce a better, more efficient and more effective employee.
That also means clearly spelling out your objectives and realistic timelines for projects and activities. Ensure they honestly understand that they have flexibility in achieving the goals.
Not everyone is a happy workaholic. Make certain you don’t use “Bob” as a measurement for “Jane, Phil, Joe.” Each is an individual and requires measurements and workloads based on them as people.
If and when personnel cutbacks are dictated, knowing your staff members can help you as a manager through the situation and it can help your team. Make the reduction decisions based on the good of the organization but handle the firing and workload adjustments based on the good of the individuals. Done properly, everyone can feel as good as possible about the situation and the actions…even you.
Your Control
Depending upon your personality the right work/life balance is usually under your control…honest!
If you look at the national statistics on the state of individual weight and health condition it is obvious that the majority of people don’t have a regular exercise program. There are hundreds of reasons why you don’t exercise. But in 15-30 minutes there are things you can do even in the office to refresh your body and your mind. We live in a time of “instant” – instant food, instant results -- and it shows on the scale.
We won’t bother with the usual control issues that people “emphasize” because you know them – eat health foods; make meals a social activity, not just sustenance; get plenty of sleep even if it means missing Letterman.
Make certain you have a weekly and daily to-do list. Make the list while you’re relaxing in the evening so you arrive at the office already in control. Work the list in an orderly manner even if you don’t complete all the projects. Take a look at the things you do during the day and eliminate those that waste time. Usually you can determine what is and what isn’t Spam by quickly scanning the subject line – get rid of them quickly, even if you occasional discard something of importance. Trust us, it will be around again.
Multitask. If you are on hold for a call, check and respond, forward or discard email. Just as with a piece of paper, only handle an email once. If it is something that requires thought or action, scan it quickly and put it into a to-do folder. Then set aside 30 minutes or an hour each day to handle the work in the to-do folder.
Handle all of your email immediately or in groups (an hour in the morning and an hour at the end of the day). Clear your email in box before you go home every evening. Emails don’t get better with age and it will surprise the heck out of people when you respond so “quickly!”
There are organizational/departmental objectives, goals and deadlines and there are your objectives, goals and deadlines. Yours are usually higher, tougher and tighter. Often achieving 80 percent of your objectives, meeting 80 percent of your goals and missing your deadline by 20 percent surpasses those set by others.
We increasingly use technology in our work and personal life. It is increasingly difficult to see where one begins and the other ends. With the volume of data doubling every 12-18 months according to industry analysts it is easy to become overwhelmed. We still give people credit for working long days, nights and weekends. We still celebrate the last man or woman standing.
The key is that you can control whether or not you want to be that man or woman. You can control how you celebrate. Life demands work.
########
It Takes Work to Have a Life in a 24x7 World - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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