Does this describe your work/life balance?
“It’s so easy to get caught up in trying to do “one last thing” at work, and stay later than you want/should, meanwhile the people in your lives ( what really matter ) lose out.” – @augie
Augie recently joined the Leave Work On Time habit on Lift to help him tip his work/life balance back in his favor. If you share his goal, here are some tips for getting started:
4 tips for Leaving Work On Time
1. Put To Do list items into your calendar: This is one of Tony’s top productivity strategies. You’ll be less likely to over-schedule your day if you’re forced to think about how much time tasks actually take you.
2. Say “No”: You’ll respect your work time more when it’s limited. Saying no to unnecessary tasks will become a mandatory way of working. Check out Leo Babauta’s post on ZenHabits.com for tips on building the habit.
3. Make evening plans: This my go-to strategy for leaving work early. It works by adding a level of accountability to my actions; staying at work late means losing out on dance class or canceling on a friend.
4. Reward yourself: When Lift user John Muldoon ran a month-long challenge to build this habit, he gave himself an extra reason to leave work on time: whenever he left work by 5pm, he’d take his wife out to dinner. The reward helped him build the habit by making it more enjoyable.
“So we went out to dinner 25 times in January 2012. We spent a lot of money but it was great for us to connect. When it came time to 4:00, I wasn’t dreading my work I was just excited about going out to dinner with my wife.”
How to Build this habit:
1. Pick one day next week to leave work early. Make evening plans that day for extra incentive.
2. Join the habit on Lift. Check out John Muldoon’s blog for more tips.
Image© CC Alan Cleaver on Flickr
