1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to work smart when working after hours. 4 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:24,119 Speaker 1: Make sure you know what you are trying to accomplish 5 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: so you can get done and move on with your day. 6 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: One of the most unfortunate work life narratives out there 7 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: is that big jobs inevitably require long hours. Long hours 8 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: mean you will never see your kids. Thus, many parents 9 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: and mothers in particular just won't be or shouldn't be 10 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: in the running now. This is obviously a problematic thing 11 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: for organizations to believe, as they cut themselves off from 12 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: a lot of great leaders. But it's also a problematic 13 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: thing for individual parents to believe, since people limit their 14 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: ambitions when everyone seems to be screaming that no one 15 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: can have it all. But it turns out there is 16 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: a lot wrong with this story. Sure, plenty of jobs 17 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: require more than forty hours a week, but in my 18 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: experience looking at thousands of time logs, very few people 19 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: log more than sixty hours a week averaged over the 20 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: long haul. Even more intriguingly, many people who work long 21 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: hours do not work those hours from say seven thirty 22 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: am to seven thirty pm, which would preclude seeing their 23 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: young kids during the week. A little creativity means people 24 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: can work long hours and see their families. When I 25 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: collected time logs from women who had kids and who 26 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: made over a hundred thousand dollars a year for my book, 27 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: I know how she does it. I found many moved 28 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: work hours around to preserve family time. The most common 29 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: method was what I started calling a split shift. Here's 30 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: how it works. You end work at a reasonable time, 31 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: however you define that. Let's say five pm or so. 32 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: You hang out with your family, including young kids who 33 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: go to bed relatively early. Maybe they are in bed 34 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: at seven pm or so. Then, at least a few 35 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: nights a week, you do more work after the kids 36 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: go to bed. You split your shift some during the day, 37 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: some at night. Working from eight pm to ten pm 38 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: is the same as working from five pm to seven pm, 39 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: only in the former world. You are trading off work 40 00:02:54,960 --> 00:03:00,399 Speaker 1: time for TV time instead of work time for fam time. 41 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: That is a trade off a lot more people are 42 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: willing to make. I found that about half the women 43 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: in my study worked such a split shift at least 44 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,399 Speaker 1: once a week, or it's cousin working from say five 45 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: am to seven am in the morning before the kids 46 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: got up. Of course, you'll notice that I said working 47 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: from eight pm to ten pm. I did not say 48 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: working from eight pm to some undefined time in the 49 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: middle of the night. Someone recently sent me a note 50 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: saying the split shift should come with a warning label 51 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: to make sure people use it responsibly. So here it is. 52 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: We all sometimes work outside traditional hours, but if you 53 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: do plan to work after hours, be that at night 54 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: or in the early morning, or on what are supposed 55 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: to be your days off, you should be intentional about it. 56 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: That means creating a defined list of what you intend 57 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: to get through. The most obvious choices are those things 58 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: that actually have to get done for tomorrow. Prepping for meetings, 59 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: answering an important email you didn't get to before five pm, 60 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: finishing up a proposal you plan to submit the next day. 61 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: This list should be short and reasonable. You would not 62 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: get through a one email backlog between nine am and 63 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: five pm, and you won't from eight pm to ten 64 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,679 Speaker 1: pm either, so don't set that as a goal. Create 65 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: your list, and then when you are done, sign off. Indeed, 66 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: I would suggest giving yourself a strict time limit for 67 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: your split shift to force efficiencies. If you go to 68 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: bed at eleven pm, working from eight to ten allows 69 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: you to have thirty minutes of leisure and then thirty 70 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: minutes to get ready for bed and wind down. Or 71 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: maybe you could just do ninety minutes of work and 72 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: have an hour for reading or crafting or puzzles. I'd 73 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: also suggest not automatically doing a split shift. The truth 74 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: is that most people only do it a few nights 75 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: per week. The most common scenario is two to three 76 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 1: nights per week. Four is pretty much the max. So 77 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:20,479 Speaker 1: I'm not really concerned about this, but don't do a 78 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: split shift just to do it. Maybe on Tuesdays you 79 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: normally sit back down to work, but if you don't 80 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 1: actually have any work that needs to get done for 81 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: the next day, you don't have to work. You can 82 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: just be done. It's okay. When you have intentions and 83 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: you keep your list short, then a split shift can 84 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: be a great way to have it all a big 85 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 1: career and time with your family. When it gets out 86 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: of control, it can feel like life is no fun. 87 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: So if you are working after hours, it's important to 88 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: work smart In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for 89 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: listening and here's to making the most of our time. 90 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can 91 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just 92 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before 93 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four, then Breakfast 94 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email 95 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com 96 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. 97 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:43,359 Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch. 98 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For 99 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart 100 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 101 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: favorite shows.