What would happen to you if your home life was more organized than it is now? Can you achieve balance between work and personal life? What are the tools at our disposal? Could scheduling appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize?
What is the challenge we face? Sometimes I find that the time I spend at home can be the busiest time, especially in the times we live in. Imagine someone working from home, homeschooling children, and sometimes even doing extra work. Also imagine the full-time entrepreneur who works from home. How do they manage to do everything they need to do in one day? We live in a time where many entrepreneurs and even company employees have embraced the work-from-home culture. This comes with its challenges as the lines between home and work become blurred. These blurred lines and restrictions on the limited resource called time result in overworked, under-rested, and burnt-out individuals. While good time management has been encouraged and indeed embraced in the workplace, I believe more needs to be done to change mindsets to achieve the elusive work-life balance.
What are the tools at our disposal? To effectively manage time at home, there are many interventions that can be employed, such as setting goals for the day, prioritizing wisely, setting a time limit for each task, self-organization, and instituting appointment discipline. Yes, an appointment at home! We can spend time pontificating on the pros and cons of each intervention, however, I think we need to focus on dating and see how this can powerfully change the course of the day, regardless of whether it’s a weekday or a weekend. Life is busy as it is, without intrusions. The question is how do you handle the one who announces that he is at the door. These can be friends, neighbors, a seller of some product that you don’t even need. I’m not promoting regulation here, but rather a culture of filling your day with what’s important. Everything we are successful at is because we carefully plan and execute. I’m a firm believer that you can’t manage time if you don’t manage yourself, so I implore you to incorporate planning and dating into your repertoire. I’m not talking about something I don’t do. I have a lot to accomplish in a day, so I schedule appointments with my work, with others, and with myself.
Could scheduling appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize? While we have established that it is normal business practice to make and keep appointments, we must abandon the liberal open-door policy of allowing anyone and everyone access to us whenever they want on the home front. Please understand where I come from. We all have greatness within us, but to achieve it we need to cultivate great habits. Employing the use of in-home appointments and seeing only the people you’ve agreed to see eliminates non-essential gatherings, especially during your most productive hours. I know this will vary by culture, geographic region, or even wealth level, whether you live in a low-density or high-density residential area, but it doesn’t negate the need to be organized and effective. Controlling access determines how organized you are and how well you’ll work and rest when it’s time for your scheduled break.
What do we have to do differently? We need to be disciplined and diligent, learn to say no, now is not a good time, let’s make an appointment for next week. What are the benefits of this approach? You’re not always fighting fires to meet deadlines. He is not always tired because he has not taken the time to rest. You have set aside enough time to spend with your loved ones or a loved one. If you’re a busy person, I’m sure you appreciate what I’m saying. Whether it’s uninterrupted work time, family time, or “me time,” some sort of order is needed to enjoy it.
I’m not saying that those who come unannounced are bad people. No, not at all, they are probably people you enjoy spending time with. However, there must be prior communication so that you can serve your visitor(s) when it is convenient for both you and them. It can be quite upsetting and you can go an entire day without accomplishing anything you had planned to do.
As we age, we begin to appreciate the need to schedule rest and recovery. Just because I’m relaxing doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to do. Therefore, one cannot assume that just because it is at home that it is available. Maybe you have scheduled that time to rest. That is important. You need to make an appointment with yourself, the spouses also need to set aside time for each other. Parents need to schedule time to spend with their children. When you have some kind of order in your life, you determine who sees you and who you see. It also means that your relationships will be healthy and that makes you a happy person.
In conclusion, I believe that the balance between work and personal life can be achieved. There are many tools at our disposal, just like in the workplace. I think we could do more and be happier if we are disciplined enough to only make commitments that we can keep. I’m sure scheduling appointments and keeping them at home helps. Let’s save time and prioritize.