In the current landscape of remote and hybrid work, many of us are adapting to new routines. However, some of my friends are feeling the pressure of balancing their professional duties with household responsibilities. As they work from home, they find themselves juggling office tasks and family chores, which can be quite overwhelming. This dual role is challenging as they strive to fulfil their commitments both at work and at home.
“One cannot manage too many affairs. Like pumpkins in the water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other.”
Chinese Proverb
Human brains are not designed to multitask. If we have too much work to do and limited time, we often get stressed. This results in missed deadlines, low quality and erroneous work, which requires rework and thus further increases our workload.
Managing our time well and working on various tasks efficiently, therefore, becomes particularly important. It is worth noting that working efficiently is not limited to official work; it also applies to the household chores that we must do.
Let us talk about certain aspects that adversely affect our productivity and efficiency, resulting in the disruption of our schedules and missed deadlines.
Pareto’s Law
Pareto’s law can be applied to all aspects of our lives.
20% of tasks produce 80% of the required results. Remaining 80% tasks, comprising secondary stuff, contribute to only 20% of the results.
This rule is quite applicable to the current scenario. We often miss planning and marking the end objectives clearly before starting our day. Thus, we end up spending more time working on secondary tasks without keeping enough time available for the primary tasks.
The key point here is that something that seems urgent is not always important, and things that are urgent and important must be done with priority.
Tasks Take Longer than Expected
Tasks usually are not as simple as they appear in the beginning, as we do not have all the information available at that time; hence, we tend to underestimate the time needed to complete the task.
Once we start working, we get to know about various dependencies, variables, challenges, etc., which adversely impact our timelines. Once we have overrun our schedule, we have less time available for the remaining tasks, and a few among the remaining tasks could be important and urgent.
Thus, in case we are starting to work on a new, unknown task, it is always beneficial to think of various aspects and constituents before allocating time to it. However, the time spent on planning should not grow to start eating into productive time.
Uninterrupted Work is Efficient
In today’s digital age, we often find ourselves tethered to our devices, driven by the constant need to stay connected. We strive to maintain a quick response time to WhatsApp messages, seek maximum engagement on Facebook and Instagram, and aim to contribute to various social media platforms throughout the day. On top of that, we feel compelled to check our office emails every two minutes. The list of distractions goes on.
These constant interruptions divert our attention from work, causing our brains to take time to refocus on the task at hand. Scientific studies have shown that working on a task without interruptions not only reduces the overall time required but also enhances the quality and consistency of the work produced.
To optimise our productivity, we must minimise interruptions while working. Disruptions break our rhythm and concentration, ultimately increasing the time needed to complete tasks. By creating an environment that fosters uninterrupted focus, we can achieve better results and maintain a higher standard of work.
Work Expands with Available Time
It is known human behaviour that while working on a task without definitive deadlines, it takes more time to complete the task.
As there is ample time available, we have less pressure to do the job quickly. We are either casual or extra cautious, at times double-check everything and thus end up taking more than the optimum time to complete it.
We must, therefore, be very clear in the beginning about the maximum time that should be devoted to a task, and we should strive to complete the task within that time.
Keeping Track of Time
When we are doing something interesting like watching our favourite sport, time passes so quickly that we lose track of it. On the other hand, if we are working on some difficult or monotonous project, even minutes seem like hours.
We often spend more time on the tasks that we enjoy and keep rescheduling or postponing unpleasant tasks. Eventually, we end up ignoring something significant.
Knowing Our Physical Limits
All of us have our thresholds, and we can work only for a fixed number of hours in a day. If we stretch beyond that, our efficiency drops significantly.
We need to realise our limitations and plan our schedules accordingly. Taking up too many tasks simultaneously would result in us working long hours and thus, resulting in increased stress and poor quality of work.
We must not confuse quantity with quality.
It is not difficult to overcome these obstacles. We just have to do a few simple things and take a few short steps. Some of those are;
Planning & Prioritising
Before we start working, we need to list down all deliverables, tasks, meetings, chores, etc. that we wish to complete during the day. We must assign priority to each task and allocate time for each one.
“If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.”
Lee Iacocca
It is also advisable to provide some time for unplanned important work, situations or interruptions as these are likely to occur.
Home & Office Demarcation
While planning our daily schedules, we should keep in mind that we will be working in our houses and with other family members around.
It would be improbable for us to completely ignore our family members, especially young children, and devote long hours to work. At times, we might also have to attend to some urgent and unexpected family work.
We should provide for these in our schedule in a manner that we can balance the needs of home and work. Our responsibilities concerning our work should not affect our home responsibilities and vice versa.
If we are running a tight work schedule, we can at least provision for small breaks after every 2-3 hours to check if everything is under control at the home front.
Being Systematic
Although we are working from home, it does not mean that we should be working in an unprofessional or unorganised manner. Taking a casual approach towards our work lowers our output and work quality.
We must focus on the desired results and strive to achieve them in a systematic, process-driven and timely manner.
We should use available IT tools to our advantage. Even basic tools like Notepad, Calendar, Tasks, etc., help a lot in being organised and efficient.
Saying ‘No’
It is always better to say ‘No’ or decline tasks if our schedules are completely blocked.
There is no point in accepting tasks that we would not be able to do justice to. It may result in poor quality work due to paucity of time and may also adversely affect our performance on the other tasks assigned to us.
Saying ‘No’ is an art that is learnt over a period. We have to be polite and firm in our communication, and we should clearly explain our situation to the other party to avoid any hard feelings.
Health and Well-being
In light of the recent pandemic and our ongoing need to maximise productive hours each day, we must prioritise our health and wellbeing.
While I respect individual choices, it is worth noting that the time saved from commuting can now be utilised more effectively. Adhering to a healthy sleep cycle, aligning with the Circadian rhythm, making nutritious food choices, and maintaining physical fitness can significantly enhance our productivity and improve the quality of our work.
Conclusion
In the end, I would summarise various points that would help us in this endeavour.
- It is our time, hence only we should decide how to utilise it
- Get organised, prepare a ‘To-Do List’ and prioritise
- First, plan and then execute
- Cut down on distractions
- Get in longer, uninterrupted streaks of work
- Alternate between interesting and uninteresting tasks
- Reward yourself on the successful completion of tough tasks
- Quantity is never equal to quality
- Know your limitations, self-discipline is the key
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PS: Copilot and ChatGPT have been used to create parts of this post.
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