The Importance of Work Day End Times
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
Recently, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson's Law is the adage that work expands to fill the time allotted. In other words, the amount of work required adjusts (usually increasing) to the time available for its completion.
Knowledge of Parkinson’s Law is important, especially during remote working, where employees often feel pressure to be on the clock all day every day because there’s no separation between your home and your office. I would encourage all employees to make that separation between work time and home time with a time deadline. Decide (at the beginning of the day) on the time you want to stop working for the night and commit to not working after that point. If you need added accountability, announce your end time to your family and encourage them to remind you if you’re even one minute late. The rest of the night is then undividedly devoted to you and your family and friends.
Set an alarm in your calendar or on your phone for your deadline time and another alarm before your deadline, maybe an hour before. When the first alarm goes off, look at what you have left for the day and see if it’s a reasonable and manageable amount of work. If it’s not, then decide the things that need to be done another day and let anyone know if they’re waiting on it today about the new expected return date. Finish the tasks that really have to be completed today and use at least the last five minutes to look forward to tomorrow and all the tasks that you already have planned for the day. Decide if that list seems reasonable and manageable. If not, adjust due dates and expectations.
Once you get to a manageable load, try imagining the chronological order you think would make sense and rework your list into that chronological order. Make sure to batch like things together. If you have meetings to schedule, work on scheduling those meetings one right after another. If you have prospecting emails to send out, send those emails out one right after another. If you’re already working on one type of task, you might as well do all of that type of task together to reduce time needed to open the programs needed and getting into the swing of that task.
With a deadline, your brain will go into another gear. You’re training it to see the end of your workday, and it will help to push you to meet that time deadline. Have you ever been at work in the summer and your boss said that you can go home as soon as your work is done for the day? Your brain, in an effort to gain this unexpected reward, will shift into a different gear in order to hit that new, shorter deadline. Or if you’re not feeling well at work and there are a few things that you really have to complete that day, your brain will go into another gear to help you complete those remaining tasks so that you can be on your way home.
I use deadlines for home tasks too. During weekdays, I make a list of all of the tasks that I would like to accomplish at home on the weekends. I have a young son, so I factor in time with him when I’m planning my weekends. Weekend times are when I really notice Parkinson’s Law in my life. If my husband is going to be away all weekend, and I only have Friday night to myself before I’m on parenting duty for the rest of the weekend, that limited timeframe helps me to force my brain and my body into a faster gear, and I can push myself to get an entire weekend’s worth of tasks done in one night. The opposite is also true sometimes, however. If my husband and son are away for the entire weekend, my brain will sometimes lag behind my intentions. On Friday night, my mind will encourage me to not do my tasks because I have all day tomorrow. Then Saturday comes, and my brain will remind me that I still have all morning on Sunday. By the time Sunday comes around, I feel so awful that I procrastinated that it’s difficult to feel motivated and even start. After a few times of feeling that awful feeling, I forced myself to switch my order. I now work really hard right away on the weekends and finish my task list early so that I can fully rest and do whatever I want to do without distraction for the rest of my time off.
Let’s go back to our professional work. If you allow your brain to think that you have all night to catch up on work (whether you’re working remotely or at the office), then your brain won’t work as hard during the day. It sees more time will be available, so it doesn’t push you. If you love your job and there’s nothing you would rather do than work, then by all means, burn that midnight oil! But if working outside of your business hours and not having time for yourself/family/friends is expiring versus inspiring for you, then I highly suggest a workday deadline.
If you’re the type of person who is unconsciously programmed to constantly check your work email on your phone, consider charging your phone in a place that is not right next to you. If you and your family are spending time in the living room, consider charging your phone in your kitchen so you at least have the hassle of walking over to it before you could check your work email. Put the icon for your work email on a screen other than the home screen so you at least have to swipe a few times in order to access it. Put barriers between you and your email so you don’t unconsciously check it.
When you’re having a meal with someone and they mindlessly check their phone multiple times, you probably feel like you’re not quite a priority. Imagine how your family will feel if you put down your phone and remind them with your undivided attention that they are your priority, especially in the evening. True presence with our families and friends and ourselves really is a gift. So give yourself permission to set a workday deadline. Your brain will be a willing partner to rise up and help you meet your goals.
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Productively Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team