WEBVTT - Second Cup: Work smart when working after hours

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to work smart when working after hours. Make

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<v Speaker 1>sure you know what you are trying to accomplish so

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<v Speaker 1>you can get done and move on with your day.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the most unfortunate work life narratives out there

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<v Speaker 1>is that big jobs inevitably require long hours. Long hours

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<v Speaker 1>mean you will never see your kids. Thus, many parents

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<v Speaker 1>and mothers in particular just won't be or shouldn't be

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<v Speaker 1>in the running now. This is obviously a problematic thing

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<v Speaker 1>for organizations to believe, as they cut themselves off from

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of great leaders. But it's also a problematic

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<v Speaker 1>thing for individual parents to believe, since people limit their

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<v Speaker 1>ambitions when everyone seems to be screaming that no one

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<v Speaker 1>can have it all. But it turns out there is

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<v Speaker 1>a lot wrong with this story. Sure, plenty of jobs

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<v Speaker 1>require more than forty hours a week, but in my

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<v Speaker 1>experience looking at thousands of time logs, very few people

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<v Speaker 1>log more than sixty hours a week averaged over the

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<v Speaker 1>long haul. Even more intriguingly, many people who work long

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<v Speaker 1>hours do not work those hours from say seven thirty

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<v Speaker 1>am to seven thirty pm, which would preclude seeing their

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<v Speaker 1>young kids during the week. A little creativity means people

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<v Speaker 1>can work long hours and see their families. When I

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<v Speaker 1>collected time logs from women who had kids and who

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<v Speaker 1>made over one hundred thousand dollars a year for my book,

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<v Speaker 1>I know how she does it. I found many moved

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<v Speaker 1>work hours around to preserve family time. The most common

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<v Speaker 1>method was what I started calling a split shift. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>how it works. You end work at a reasonable time,

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<v Speaker 1>however you define that. Let's say five pm or so.

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<v Speaker 1>You hang out with your family, including young kids who

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<v Speaker 1>go to bed relatively early. Maybe they are in bed

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<v Speaker 1>at seven thirty pm or so. Then, at least a

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<v Speaker 1>few nights a week, you do more work after the

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<v Speaker 1>kids go to bed. You split your shift some during

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<v Speaker 1>the day, some at night. Working from eight pm to

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<v Speaker 1>ten pm is the same as working from five pm

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<v Speaker 1>to seven pm, only in the former world. You are

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<v Speaker 1>trading off work time for TV time instead of work

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<v Speaker 1>time for famly time. That is a trade off a

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<v Speaker 1>lot more people are willing to make. I found that

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<v Speaker 1>about half the women in my study worked such a

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<v Speaker 1>split shift at least once a week. Or its cousin

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<v Speaker 1>working from say five am to seven am in the

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<v Speaker 1>morning before the kids got up. Of course, you'll notice

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<v Speaker 1>that I said working from eight pm to ten pm.

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<v Speaker 1>I did not say working from eight pm to some

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<v Speaker 1>undefined time in the middle of the night. Someone recently

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<v Speaker 1>sent me a note saying the split shift should come

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<v Speaker 1>with a warning label to make sure people use it responsibly.

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<v Speaker 1>So here it is. We all sometimes work outside traditional hours,

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<v Speaker 1>but if you do plan to work after hours, be

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<v Speaker 1>that at night or in the early morning, or on

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<v Speaker 1>what are supposed to be your days off, you should

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<v Speaker 1>be intentional about it. That means creating a defined list

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<v Speaker 1>of what you intend to get through. The most obvious

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<v Speaker 1>choices are those things that actually have to get done

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<v Speaker 1>for tomorrow. Prepping for meetings, answering an important email you

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<v Speaker 1>didn't get to before five pm, finishing up a proposal

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<v Speaker 1>you plan to submit the next day. This list should

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<v Speaker 1>be short and reasonable. You would not get through a

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<v Speaker 1>one thousand email backlog between nine am and five pm,

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<v Speaker 1>and you won't from eight pm to ten pm, either,

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<v Speaker 1>so don't set that as a goal. Create your list,

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<v Speaker 1>and then when you are done, sign off. Indeed, I

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<v Speaker 1>would suggest giving yourself a strict time limit for your

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<v Speaker 1>split shift to force efficiencies. If you go to bed

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<v Speaker 1>at eleven PM, working from eight to ten allows you

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<v Speaker 1>to have thirty minutes of leisure and then thirty minutes

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<v Speaker 1>to get ready for bed and wind down. Or maybe

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<v Speaker 1>you could just do ninety minutes of work and have

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<v Speaker 1>an hour for reading or crafting. Or I'd also suggest

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<v Speaker 1>not automatically doing a split shift. The truth is that

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<v Speaker 1>most people only do it a few nights per week.

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<v Speaker 1>The most common scenario is two to three nights per week.

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<v Speaker 1>Four is pretty much the max. So I'm not really

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<v Speaker 1>concerned about this, but don't do a split shift just

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<v Speaker 1>to do it. Maybe on Tuesdays you normally sit back

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<v Speaker 1>down to work, but if you don't actually have any

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<v Speaker 1>work that needs to get done for the next day,

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<v Speaker 1>you don't have to work. You can just be done.

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<v Speaker 1>It's okay. When you have intentions and you keep your

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<v Speaker 1>list short, then a split shift can be a great

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<v Speaker 1>way to have it all a big career and time

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<v Speaker 1>with your family. When it gets out of control, it

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<v Speaker 1>can feel like life is no fun. So if you

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<v Speaker 1>are working after hours, it's important to work smart In

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd

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<v Speaker 1>love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E

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<v Speaker 1>the number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot

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<v Speaker 1>me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot

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<v Speaker 1>com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

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