Discretionary time is a precious resource. How often do you own your day? How often do you get to decide what you do and when you do it, according to your interests, energy level, and priorities?
Productivity energizes me. I am absolutely giddy when the rarest of occurrences happens at work: a full day with no meetings. 10+ years ago, I dubbed this circumstance “Glorious”. Since then, I’ve had far too few Glorious days. A glance at my weekly work schedule explains why: 1:1 supervision meetings, leadership meetings, etc. I have tried to limit supervision meetings to a few days per week; however, since I only work at my primary job Monday-Thursday, my options are limited. As I wrote in my post about regular meetings, I have found the weekly frequency of supervision meetings necessary to maintain momentum and facilitate aggressive progress on important goals. I have competing desires: a reasonable amount of meetings in one day vs. large blocks of time to myself to supercharge my productivity. To maintain a healthy balance between the two, my normal weekly schedule does not currently include an entire day free of meetings.
My last Glorious day was during the week after Christmas, when most people were out of the office. I seized the opportunity to write all of my performance appraisals and conduct other year-end activities. Coming back after the new year, I felt accomplished and ready to tackle 2019 goals.
I highly recommend deliberately building Glorious days into your schedule, ideally at least once per month. This practice can refresh you similar to the effect gained from taking a day off, except that when you return to work the next business day, there won’t be a pile of work waiting for you from the day you missed. And, when you do take vacation, you will be more relaxed and refreshed because your routine Glorious days keep you confidently in control of your workload, minimizing job stress. Paired with other strong time management techniques, this approach can be a powerful way to enhance your productivity and job satisfaction.
Originally published January 20, 2019 on www.kiddenprep.com
