It has come to my attention this week -- my spring break -- that I am utterly exhausted. Although I've developed a few strategies over the years that help to achieve a decent work-life balance (I have a rule of never working on weekends or on weekdays after 6pm), I've also developed some bad habits: specifically (a) taking on too many commitments, and (b) rewriting my class lectures from semester to semester (which I mentioned in an earlier post on teaching tips, but which I now want to take back!).
Anyway, I was wondering what sorts of tips for work-life balance all of you might have to offer. The best tip I think I have is a firm rule prohibiting oneself from working on particular days/times. In graduate school, I had no such rule. I worked days, evenings, weekends, whenever. And it was horrible. I was always stressed, and always felt like I should be doing work. At some point, I decided I needed weekends to recuperate -- so I set them aside as times to not do work. The results of the rule were extremely positive. I felt refreshed when getting back to work on the weekdays, and my productivity soared. Then, when I got married (almost two years ago), I set aside weekday evenings as time not to work, out of respect for my relationship with my wife. Despite cutting back my work time here further, I found no reduction in my work productivity. If anything, I was even more productive. The best explanation, or so it seems to me, is that by cutting back work time to weekdays between 9am-5pm, I have increased my enthusiasm and efficiency. Before, when I would work on weekends and weeknights, I would often waste time, fiddling around with sentences or paragraphs for hours on end. Now that I have a more restricted work schedule, I find it much easier to focus, "get in the zone", and crank stuff out. Anyway, I definitely advocate trying it out!
Anyone have tips of their own to offer?
Your post reminded me of this recent opinion piece in the New York Times, which also argues for the idea that reducing work time can improve productivity:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/relax-youll-be-more-productive.html
Posted by: Hugh Barrett | 03/17/2013 at 06:16 AM