It's time to reclaim your time

No one on their deathbed ever wishes they’d spent more time at the office. If you really want a quality life outside of work, today is the day to make it happen. Recovering workaholic Andrew Griffiths tells you how to to do it.

THE DEMAND FOR OUR TIME IS AT UNPRECENDENTED LEVELS. In my former life as a totally self-absorbed workaholic serial entrepreneur, I was an active participant in the communication madness that overtook most of us during the past decade.

I regularly received phone calls about a text message referring to an email about a fax addressing issues from a letter that was written in response to a memo following a meeting.

Well, not really, but you know what I mean. In simple terms, we are too contactable and this creates incredible pressure. It makes us work late, overwhelms us and destroys our relationships.

Sounds serious, and it is. Two years ago, I decided I’d had enough and completely rewrote my communication script. Sure, I was worried I would lose clients and reduce my income, but the reality was the total opposite.

I took back control of my life in four very simple steps:

1. I realised my time was valuable and defined how much of it I would commit to work.

2. I redefined how I communicated with my clients, staff and friends, and explained why I was making the changes.

3. I eliminated pointless distractions that did nothing but put me behind and leave me working after hours to catch up.

4. I asked those around me to help me, and they did. My advice is to do a thorough communication audit of your week. Keep a journal of how many emails and calls you receive, how many people drop by, how much time you spend doing things you really shouldn’t be doing. It’s scary when you actually see how much time you are actually wasting.

You can then use this information to break down the key components of when your time is being used.

• Identify problem areas where your time is being lost.
• Learn to say no to requests that waste your time, or are unreasonable.
• Set clear boundaries with those around you so they know to make the most of their time with you.
• Plan your day in the morning and always allow a spare window for the unexpected.
  
• Make decisions: nothing ties us up more than unresolved issues.
• Learn to delegate, especially tasks you don’t like or are not good at.
  
• Organise yourself to suit your work habits. This will be different for everyone.
  

Once you’ve done all this, you might find that making these changes permanent involves a thorough retraining of those around you.

For example, if you give everyone your mobile phone number, odds are they will call you.
If you have an open door policy, expect to be interrupted all day and look forward to getting your work done when everyone else goes home to their lives.

If you over commit your time to meetings, you will have to find another time to do the work required to follow up, and that will probably be after hours.

Today is the day to take back your time. Believe me, it can be done. The end results are quite astounding and everyone you care about will be very happy about your new philosophy.

RESOURCES:

Andrew Griffiths' website