Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: This week we've been talking about work and the broader
Speaker 1: issues of how we feel about our jobs. Today's tip
Speaker 1: is about one way to feel better about work walking
Speaker 1: out the door at a reasonable hour, feeling satisfied and happy.
Speaker 1: People who are paid by the hour need to be
Speaker 1: at their workplaces at certain times, but even in offices
Speaker 1: where almost everyone is salaried, there can be strong cultural
Speaker 1: norms about what time it is acceptable to leave. If
Speaker 1: someone leaves before that time, there can be a lot
Speaker 1: of grumbling. You know how this goes? Oh, I wish
Speaker 1: I could leave this early. I guess some of us
Speaker 1: have to do all the work around here. The net
Speaker 1: result is that people stick around doing nothing particularly productive,
Speaker 1: but not leaving because they don't want to rock the boat.
Speaker 1: I hope any managers listening to this podcast can make
Speaker 1: clear that in their offices, people are accountable to you
Speaker 1: for meeting their work objectives, and just as long as
Speaker 1: people are meeting those objectives, you don't value sticking around
Speaker 1: longer just because. But in any case, even if there
Speaker 1: is some grumbling, you can still learn to walk out
Speaker 1: on time feeling like you've put in a solid day. First,
Speaker 1: plan your days well before you leave each evening. Write
Speaker 1: down your intentions for the following day. What are your
Speaker 1: three most important tasks. Look at what David Allen calls
Speaker 1: the hardscape of your day, the time specific commitments you've
Speaker 1: already agreed to. Where will you schedule your important tasks
Speaker 1: around these commitments. Aim to do most of your important
Speaker 1: tasks first thing in the day. Why well, stuff will
Speaker 1: come up, but if you attack your priorities early, hopefully
Speaker 1: you'll be done with them before the emergencies arise. Planning
Speaker 1: ahead also allows us to schedule our most important work
Speaker 1: for our most productive time and to plan for longer
Speaker 1: blocks of focus. If you're generally best in the mornings,
Speaker 1: as most people are, and you see you have a
Speaker 1: nine thirty meeting and a task you'd really like to
Speaker 1: devote a full hour too, you might be better off
Speaker 1: coming in at eight or eight fifteen versus your normal
Speaker 1: eight thirty. You can see there won't be an open
Speaker 1: hour later in the day. That means if you don't
Speaker 1: do the task first thing in the morning, you'd wind
Speaker 1: up doing the task from five to six pm after
Speaker 1: the meeting. Stop coming in fifteen to thirty minutes. Early
Speaker 1: means you can leave an hour earlier than you would have,
Speaker 1: and that's definitely a good trade off. Second, say hello
Speaker 1: and check in with people early in the day. I
Speaker 1: hear from so many people that their daily exits get
Speaker 1: delayed because they walk around saying goodbye to people as
Speaker 1: they're wrapping up, Which makes total sense, right, want to
Speaker 1: nurture those relationships with your colleagues, But that's when people say, oh, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm meant to ask you about it can be a
Speaker 1: really important issue, But there goes fifteen to twenty minutes.
Speaker 1: This is frustrating if it means you're on a later train,
Speaker 1: So make sure people see you earlier. Circle around to
Speaker 1: everyone after lunch or on your way to grab tea
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, maybe seeing if people want to join you.
Speaker 1: People really aren't trying to ruin your evenings, or at
Speaker 1: least I hope not. It's just that seeing your face
Speaker 1: reminds them of a question or something that's on their minds.
Speaker 1: So make sure people see your face before five pm. Finally,
Speaker 1: do what I call a four pm triage. About sixty
Speaker 1: to ninety minutes before you plan to leave, revisit your
Speaker 1: to do list. What absolutely has to happen before the
Speaker 1: end of the day, What can be pushed to tomorrow
Speaker 1: if you still really need to do something. This gives
Speaker 1: you a moment to pause and figure out a plan
Speaker 1: and tackle it prior to quitting time. This is also
Speaker 1: when you can set your intentions for the following day
Speaker 1: and set up tomorrow for your victories. Then in when
Speaker 1: the work you've assigned yourself as done go, you're usually
Speaker 1: back tomorrow. There will be time then to deal with
Speaker 1: future work, but you'll be more prepared to deal with
Speaker 1: it if you've relaxed, done something adventurous with your family
Speaker 1: and friends, and gone to bed on time. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number
Speaker 1: four then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart media
Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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