From the course: Time Management Tips

When work and personal matters collide

From the course: Time Management Tips

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When work and personal matters collide

- All of these time management principles may be useful, but what about those moments where things don't go according to plan? That's just life, right? It especially happens at the intersection between work and your personal life. Perhaps you're working on a major project at work, and then suddenly, something happens at home, like an illness. What do you do in those situations? First, you want to be prepared. I call this the hold water story. We were once notified by the city that they were going to shut off all the water for a day or two. They recommended that we fill up pitchers with water. Well, you can do the same thing with your schedule. You can fill up your calendar with extra time, and then that way your schedule holds water. The most important thing to do is to create buffer in your schedule. This means rather than having appointments back to back to back, you create 10 minutes here and 30 minutes there so that there's a nice amount of cushion in your week. Then, when the unexpected happens, you're prepared. But what if it's already happened?! What if it's too late for that? The first and most important thing is stop. Slow down and take a look at how much time everything's going to take. Be honest with yourself. And instead of going into debt and trying to do it all at once, readjust your own expectations for yourself. It's okay to slow down when this happens. Next, communicate to others. Both people at work and in your personal life, let them know "Hey, something is going on. "I'm going to be a little slower than average. "When is the latest I can get things to you?" This both gets them on your side and also readjusts their expectations of what you can accomplish. And then, finally, what about the end? When this crisis is over, what do we do? Well, you want to schedule extra catchup time. Typically, this is going to be extra processing, so perhaps a full day to not meet with other people, not to work on projects, but just to get caught up with everything that accumulated over time. If you slow down and face these issues when they occur, you can regain control. It may be uncomfortable for the moment, but things will get better, especially if you plan for them in advance.

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