Seven days times 24 hours equals 168 hours in a week. That’s ALL the time available to each of us to live our lives – – work, family, personal development, community service, spiritual devotion – – EVERYTHING must fit within that allotted time.
But wait, you don’t even have that much time! Eight hours of sleep leaves you with 112 hours a week! Moreover, surveys suggest the average American fritters away 12 hours a week on electronic devices and social media. That leaves 100 hours – – your life is lived in a container of only 100 hours a week.
So, you say you work 70+ hours a week, huh? How’s that working for you? For your family? For yourself as a person? Can you keep that up for a successful and fulfilling career? Not likely.Leadership is harder than it looks to those who’ve never tried it. It exacts a real toll in mental and emotional energy that must be methodically recharged to avoid burnout.
Effective leaders, like world-class athletes, create boundaries and rituals in their lives to marshal their attention and discretionary time. Want to reclaim some of your 100 hours to really live your life?
Today’s blog is the first of a series of tips on how to set boundaries and key rituals to harvest more time. Here’s the first one (you might want to sit down and brace yourself for it):
Make your smartphone serve you, not vice versa– – Email. Your phone makes the boundary between personal versus professional time in your 100 hours a permeable one. You like it that way when it lets you take care of personal and family tasks during the workday. Not so much when work invades the weekend via texts, emails, and calls. My clients are shocked when I ask, “When do you ever turn off your phone?”
Try setting a baby-step boundary like this: inform co-workers that you won’t reply to emails on the weekends, but you’re available by text or phone for emergencies. If you choose to read and send emails to clear your inbox, fine, but that’s at your discretion. You’ll rarely get bothered by text or call. Better yet, as a leader, you are setting the tone for the organization. You can help set the expectation and culture for your team. The team looks to you for guidance on how to set healthy organizational norms.
Your team needs you to be fully “recharged” and at your best. Taking this step away will allow you some time to regain clarity and focus. And if you share this idea with your spouse or significant other, they will help you wean yourself from weekend email altogether!
Looking forward to continuing this conversation in upcoming blogs. Feel free to post comments below and let me know of rituals and boundaries you are set to harvest more life!
Posted with permission from Eric Norwood © 2018 CenterPoint Insights
