WEBVTT - Work smart when working after hours 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:15.040 Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:20.320 Today's tip is to work smart when working after hours. 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.119 Make sure you know what you are trying to accomplish 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.920 so you can get done and move on with your day. 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.080 One of the most unfortunate work life narratives out there 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:39.239 is that big jobs inevitably require long hours. Long hours 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.800 mean you will never see your kids. Thus, many parents 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:48.680 and mothers in particular just won't be or shouldn't be 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:53.360 in the running now. This is obviously a problematic thing 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.800 for organizations to believe, as they cut themselves off from 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:01.520 a lot of great leaders. But it's also a problematic 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.720 thing for individual parents to believe, since people limit their 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:10.560 ambitions when everyone seems to be screaming that no one 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.560 can have it all. But it turns out there is 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.840 a lot wrong with this story. Sure, plenty of jobs 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:22.160 require more than forty hours a week, but in my 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:27.160 experience looking at thousands of time logs, very few people 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.679 log more than sixty hours a week averaged over the 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:35.840 long haul. Even more intriguingly, many people who work long 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.640 hours do not work those hours from say seven thirty 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.840 am to seven thirty pm, which would preclude seeing their 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:49.360 young kids during the week. A little creativity means people 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:54.680 can work long hours and see their families. When I 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.720 collected time logs from women who had kids and who 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.080 made over a hundred thousand dollars a year for my book, 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.360 I know how she does it. I found many moved 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:10.160 work hours around to preserve family time. The most common 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:15.840 method was what I started calling a split shift. Here's 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.400 how it works. You end work at a reasonable time, 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.079 however you define that. Let's say five pm or so. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.040 You hang out with your family, including young kids who 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.720 go to bed relatively early. Maybe they are in bed 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.919 at seven pm or so. Then, at least a few 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.240 nights a week, you do more work after the kids 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:43.000 go to bed. You split your shift some during the day, 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.480 some at night. Working from eight pm to ten pm 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.919 is the same as working from five pm to seven pm, 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.919 only in the former world. You are trading off work 0:02:54.960 --> 0:03:00.399 time for TV time instead of work time for fam time. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.840 That is a trade off a lot more people are 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.240 willing to make. I found that about half the women 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.440 in my study worked such a split shift at least 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:14.399 once a week, or it's cousin working from say five 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:17.240 am to seven am in the morning before the kids 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.920 got up. Of course, you'll notice that I said working 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.200 from eight pm to ten pm. I did not say 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.600 working from eight pm to some undefined time in the 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.160 middle of the night. Someone recently sent me a note 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.560 saying the split shift should come with a warning label 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:39.880 to make sure people use it responsibly. So here it is. 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:45.480 We all sometimes work outside traditional hours, but if you 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.240 do plan to work after hours, be that at night 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.000 or in the early morning, or on what are supposed 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.080 to be your days off, you should be intentional about it. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.640 That means creating a defined list of what you intend 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:02.520 to get through. The most obvious choices are those things 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:06.760 that actually have to get done for tomorrow. Prepping for meetings, 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:11.320 answering an important email you didn't get to before five pm, 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:13.960 finishing up a proposal you plan to submit the next day. 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:20.479 This list should be short and reasonable. You would not 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.839 get through a one email backlog between nine am and 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.800 five pm, and you won't from eight pm to ten 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:31.679 pm either, so don't set that as a goal. Create 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:36.479 your list, and then when you are done, sign off. Indeed, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.560 I would suggest giving yourself a strict time limit for 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.520 your split shift to force efficiencies. If you go to 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.800 bed at eleven pm, working from eight to ten allows 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.760 you to have thirty minutes of leisure and then thirty 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.200 minutes to get ready for bed and wind down. Or 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.960 maybe you could just do ninety minutes of work and 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:02.160 have an hour for reading or crafting or puzzles. I'd 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:07.080 also suggest not automatically doing a split shift. The truth 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.599 is that most people only do it a few nights 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.080 per week. The most common scenario is two to three 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:17.599 nights per week. Four is pretty much the max. So 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.479 I'm not really concerned about this, but don't do a 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:24.480 split shift just to do it. Maybe on Tuesdays you 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.120 normally sit back down to work, but if you don't 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.160 actually have any work that needs to get done for 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.240 the next day, you don't have to work. You can 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:39.280 just be done. It's okay. When you have intentions and 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.960 you keep your list short, then a split shift can 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.560 be a great way to have it all a big 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:51.160 career and time with your family. When it gets out 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:53.320 of control, it can feel like life is no fun. 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.800 So if you are working after hours, it's important to 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:05.279 work smart In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.440 listening and here's to making the most of our time. 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.560 Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.000 send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.960 connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:31.080 Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four, then Breakfast 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.240 p o D. You can also shoot me an email 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.120 at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.640 that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.359 Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.279 Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.400 more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.839 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.320 favorite shows.