5 Simple Ways To Reclaim Your Time From Work
They might just improve your work efficiency and motivation too
In today’s society, like no other time in history, distractions and work have encroached on our lives outside of the office more than ever before. Why? Because we can take our work home with us.
When we’re at home, we can open our laptop and quickly finish off that piece of work that we wanted to get done last week but didn’t have time to finish. We can pick up our phones and quickly check our emails at the weekend when we’re on a family outing; what’s worse is that we can get a text or call from our boss outside work time asking for a quick favor. Technology has allowed employees to become ‘continually connected’ and to become omnipresent in every aspect of our lives. But, is that always a good thing? Most of us would say no.
“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.”
― Gustave Flaubert
There are some issues with this, as you can imagine, but one of the biggest problems with this has to be the fact that when we’re at home, we’re not always mentally present at home. There are a number of ways that this impacts us and our loved ones, including:
- Mental health decline: Increased anxiety and stress, sometimes leading to depression.
- Physical health decline: Increased stress impacts the body in a negative way, often causing physical problems in the long-term.
In this article, I’ll discuss five ways that have helped me to reclaim my time from work when working in a corporate job and when working for myself as my own boss. Is there a difference when it comes to reclaiming our time? In reality, no. Whether you work for a corporation, a small business or you run your own business, whether you’re an employee or your own boss, there have to be ground rules.
Why have we become this way?
The world of work has changed remarkably from how it used to be, even since the mid-twentieth century. There are a number of benefits that technology has brought us in business, primarily speed and efficiency of production, the ability for people to collaborate when not in the same place, as well as the freedom for people to work from home. These are remarkable steps forward in technology indeed, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, these have made it possible for businesses to continue trading. There are, however, a number of downsides with these advanced technologies as well.
“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”
― Jerome K. Jerome
Before sophisticated personal technologies existed, people went to work and then went home which enabled work to be left at the place of work a majority of the time. With the development of the computer and held-held devices, work too became portable. Personally, I’m a technophile because it allows me to run my own business from anywhere in the world that I have internet. We do need to be aware of the problems that work encroaching on our personal time can cause though.
What steps can we take to take back our time?
1. Learn to say “No.”
This isn’t always the easiest thing to do, particularly if you’re worried about how it will impact your employment if you say no to doing something. Jobs are not as secure as they used to be and saying no can be scary, but sometimes it is necessary, particularly if stress and overworking are impacting your mental health. Learning to say no and knowing when to delegate something to someone else is an important skill, one that enables us to start taking back our time from work and enjoying life more.
2. Become more defensive of your time
We don’t realize how much time we spend using technology. I have caught myself doing it too, when I’m supposed to be having time off and I have just fallen into work mode, so I’m checking my emails or journalling my newest business ideas. The problem is, when we don’t allow ourselves to relax, we never actually feel that we have time off. This habit will perpetuate itself and eventually, it leads to burnout and a decline in mental and physical health. By becoming more defensive of our time, we can start implementing rules such as, “I’m turning my phone off after 5 pm”, or “I will not check my emails until the morning”. When we give our time worth, we start naturally becoming more defensive of the time that we have to ourselves.
3. Change your work strategy
We all need to find what strategies work best for us. Work strategies can include creating a work plan to stick to during the day, being strategic with what work you do first, down to how you approach the work that you need to complete. Strategizing properly allows us to not only save time, but it also enables us to figure out how we work best. If you’re not achieving the work that you want or need to complete, it’s worth trying new strategies to see if others are more beneficial to your work efficiency and productivity. It takes time to test different strategies, but once you find one that works for you, make friends with it and utilize it as much as you can in your working life.
4. Learn to put yourself first
We all fall into the trap of putting everyone and everything else before our own needs some, if not most of the time. There are a number of people that I have spoken to who believe that if you think about yourself at any time that that’s selfish, but that simply isn’t the case. We need to think about ourselves sometimes to make important decisions, to take opportunities, and to appreciate what we have. When we learn to put ourselves first and take into account our needs, we can improve not only our mental but our physical health too, particularly in the long-term.
5. Undertake personal development to broaden your horizons
For me, personal development is the one thing that I tell my students, my clients, and even my friends and family that they should never stop doing. When we undertake life-long learning, we open ourselves up to a wealth of opportunities and positive emotions such as hope and happiness because we feel that there is more that we can achieve. When we open ourselves up to opportunities and positivity through development, being able to say no, turn off our phones and check our emails in the morning becomes much easier. Personally, I’ve found that personal development, whether that is investing in courses, or participating in free courses or workshops, my motivation is higher, my self-confidence in my capabilities increases and my anxiety around my work decreases. When we broaden our horizons, take back control of our time can feel like a much smaller challenge than when we feel stuck.
Key Takeaways
Work does encroach on our lives, but it doesn’t have to and really, should we let it? It’s not always an easy habit to break because once we let it through the front door, it can be difficult to get out of the habit of working outside office hours. These five steps are just a few of many powerful ways that we can stop allowing work to encroach on our time outside of our designated working hours. If you find that work eats into your family and personal time, try a few of these and see how beneficial they can be to your well-being. They might just improve your work efficiency and motivation too.
References
- De Wet, W., Koekemoer, E., & Nel, J.A. (2016). Exploring the impact of information and communication technology on employees’ work and personal lives. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 42(1), a1330.
- How Does Technology Affect the Work Environment Today? https://smallbusiness.chron.com/technology-affect-work-environment-today-27299.html
