Gayle HThe next few weeks are exceptionally busy for me.
As I sat in an overwhelmed state this morning, my eyes darting back and forth between my calendar and my to-do list, I came this close to a full meltdown.
So what did I do? I went to my email and immediately responded to a client by booking another appointment this week.
Madness. Trying to solve my crisis by adding more crisis.
I call this Self Imposed Madness Syndrome (SIMS). And SIMS leads to burn out. And to be clear – burn out isn’t good. Burn out is bad.
So how do we combat SIMS? Through Self Imposed Recovery Treatments (SIRT). Today’s SIRT is called “Fridays”.
I have never enjoyed working on Fridays. In fact I have often wondered who was in charge of the decision that we would have a five day work week and only a two day weekend.
5/2 feels very unbalanced to me.
So over the years I have created my own plan for Fridays. If Fridays are ‘officially’ part of the work week, then I will only do downtime work on Fridays.
Downtime Work is work that needs to get done, but you aren’t ON while completing this work.
You aren’t talking to clients. You aren’t impressing your boss. You aren’t doing back to back conference calls, ultimately leaving you with to dos that must be done over the weekend.
Instead, you are talking to your team (or peers, or other colleagues you enjoy). You are doing that personal development training that is sitting in a folder in your email box waiting to be opened. You are creating, thinking, writing, or even mindlessly cleaning out (deleting) your emails.
You are getting work done, but you are doing so at an energy level and pace slower than the rest of the work week.
Oh yeah, and you are shutting down at 4:00.
You are giving yourself some DOWNTIME in an otherwise ON TIME week.
This idea of taking downtime is routed in our need for recovery time during our overly action oriented weeks. Most of us feel that recovery time can (or should) only come on weekends – when we aren’t working and when we have time to rest.
But when is the last time you didn’t work on the weekend? When is the last time you truly rested on the weekend? Emails keep us working. Family obligations keep us from resting. Sure, maybe we work less than we would during the week, and actually enjoy our family obligations, but the reality is that we are still ON.
We need to be OFF, but rarely give ourselves that luxury.
So let’s take a small step forward in the recovery department and at least aim for downtime. Some time, during the regular work week, when you aren’t working quite as hard and instead doing some work related activity that is enjoyable for you.
And shut it down at 4pm. Go home. Enjoy time with the family on a day other than the weekend. I’ve learned through extensive research (done on myself) that no one will really notice you are gone after 4pm on a Friday.
Interestingly, most people will be glad you are gone because then you won’t respond to their email Friday night, thus relieving them of the obligation to respond back to you on Saturday.
Your early shut down will enable others around you to shut down as well. Take the first step and I guarantee others will follow.
I’m managing my SIMS this week with my Friday SIRT. I’ll get to a TRX class, respond to emails, call my niece, and sort some business related items in my ‘need to get done but not urgent’ pile.
Then I’ll sign off at 4pm, shut the computer down, see where the hubby is and if he’d be interested in a trip to our favorite sushi restaurant for an early dinner.
If You Do Nothing Else…
Block one hour on your calendar for next Friday. Title it SIRTs time. Use it as SIRTs time. Hint: Start with 4pm, and shut down. You’ll get the most bang for your recovery buck.
Gayle H
