Psst….hey, you..yes you, the one with the hair. Come here. Closer, closer, (whispers) did you know that we are still in a Pandemic? (turns the volume back up) yeah, me too.
Believe it or not, some good has come out of this clusterfuck we’re in. One of the results has been in response to hundreds of businesses having to shift without preparations to working from home and even though we are still in this situation, businesses are realizing that working from home not only saves on rent on an office space, it may be cheaper to offer employees a stipend to have reliable internet connections, cell phone upgrade on their plans to add an additional phone number for work or buy a printer, scanner or fax. Time usually spent commuting to and from work either driving or on public transportation is drastically reduced. Additional incidentals, like stopping for your daily coffee, have all but stopped. Sidebar: I saved over $1200 last year by NOT ordering my daily Grande late.
With all of these savings and adjustments, employees struggle with keeping the fine line of time spent working from home and keeping home life separate. Living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms have now been transformed into office space, the age of video conference calls have has gotten a major upgrade and now over 80% of meetings are spent staring at your collogues from your home. At first it was a novelty, we got a glimpse into our coworkers’ private lives by seeing a sliver of their home in the backgrounds, cats appearing only to disappear then re-appear, sometimes showing each coworker their glorious bum, spouses caught walking past with no pants on, children interrupting meetings because they can’t find their Wubbie, evidence that last night’s dishes were still in the sink and sounds of traffic whizzing by was now par for the course during an intense strategy session.
People made allowances and in some cases, it brought levity to a very difficult situation. But as time goes on and we’re settling in for the long haul, the novelty is wearing down. Filters are now put on so that you can’t see your co-worker’s home, in fact, having a co-worker in space, on the beach or in a designer office has become the norm. Pets still steal some of the spot light now and then though, that will never change. But where does that fine line of breaking for lunch and stopping just as the 5 o’clock end of day whistle is blown and shifting your attention from finishing up that last email to starting on dinner get drawn?
What I have learned that in order to have a work/life balance, you need to have discipline. Time management part of that discipline and knowing when it’s time to stop working and start living is not only an example of self-care, but promotes healthy time management skills. Now that sidebars in the office break room (that’s where most of the work is done anyways) is not happening, we have a better chance of scheduling our daily tasks that meet both our organization needs and our personal needs without breaking the spirit. Which brings me back to the beginning. We are in a Pandemic, it doesn’t get any worse than this right? asking nervously and looking around the room. The world will keep spinning if you don’t get that one email out, report finished, toner in the printer or replenish the office supplies. There will always be those negotiation deals that will take more time and it’s using discretion when yes, it is necessary to be working until 8 p.m. to get information to your supervisor that could be the difference between a multi-million dollar deal and bankruptcy but it’s knowing the difference between something that absolutely needs to be done and something that can wait until the morning.
But It’s no good me winging on about how time management is important without actually giving suggestions on how best to manage your time so in the next few posts in this category of work/life balance, I will be discussing time management and how exactly do you navigate those pesky time bandits from encroaching on your personal time.
If you have a question or don’t have the time (see what I did there) to brainstorm ideas of your own or if you need help brainstorming, send me a note! I’m no expert but I’d love to help you gain back some work/life balance. Oh, and if there is a topic on work/life balance you’re curious about let me know that too!
Balancing Cat 