As I relaxed in wonderful Mykonos, Greece, it became quite clear to me the next topic for my monthly article should be the importance of — notwithstanding the intense pressure and responsibilities of our careers — making time for you to recharge and to refresh. I have heard it said many times that we cannot afford to take time out of our busy schedules to do the things that we enjoy such as spending quality time in the evenings with our children, working out, or taking memorable trips. However, the truth is that what we cannot afford, in our careers and personal life, is burning out and allowing our work stress to adversely affect our family life and our physical and mental health.
Some of the tips that follow may seem trite, but I can assure you that if you are not currently using these strategies, you should implement many, if not most of them, ASAP:
• Learn to effectively delegate: Unless you are an OLO — “only legal officer” — make sure that you work with your team to cross-train them and so that they can pick up some of your duties while you are away.
It is also essential that they act as your gatekeeper, to separate critical matters you must address immediately, versus those things that can legitimately wait for your return.
The Eisenhower Method is a good tool that you can use to distinguish between the task, based on whether it is:
• Important/urgent: must be done immediately and personally;
• Important/not-urgent: can wait, but must be done by you personally;
• Unimportant/urgent: can be delegated
• Unimportant/not urgent: can be set aside, or, if performed, done if and when possible.
There is even an app that allows you to prioritize tasks based on the Eisenhower Method [
http://www.eisenhower.me/]. This little tool may prove useful for prioritizing work.
• When on vacation, set aside an hour or two per day to check messages; but, unless an emergency arises, disconnect. Avoid the temptation to check constantly — the work will be waiting for you upon your return. Make the most out of your time away to get the maximum impact of your time away.
• Balance peak and non-peak hours of work: I have seen it more frequently that lawyers with children, both in-house and external, now have blackout hours to spend quality time with their children. If possible, leaving work at a reasonable hour to spend some time with the children before they go to bed, then re-connecting to catch up at night, is fundamental in making sure that you are able to “be there” and share quality time with your children. This strategy will pay huge dividends in the future, as there are only so many years your children will want you around, so make the most of it.
• A colleague recommended this tip to me once and, I must admit, it really works. Schedule weekly time off for catch-up. If you are able to set up a weekly meeting of a few hours, with yourself, during the workweek, this time can be essential in catching up and finalizing some of the deliverables. Without this, sometimes you may run the risk of running from meeting to meeting without ever being able to sit, digest and complete outstanding work.
• Finally, make sure your business partners know you will be away and when you will be returning from your vacation. I have seen colleagues actually let their business partner know a week or two in advance of their upcoming absence so that any urgent matters they are contemplating discussing with you are brought to your attention with enough anticipation to address before your departure.
Like an esteemed colleague once noted in a discussion of the importance of time management and work-life balance, when you look at athletes who are at the top of their game, such as soccer player Lionel Messi, it seems like they can make time stand still. They seem to be able to dictate the pace of their play and the pace of others. While still getting the job done effectively, they take ownership over their actions and their pace. Some of the strategies discussed above will give you the ability, if not to stop time, to take greater control over your scheduling and over when things will get done and by whom, to ensure that a proper work/life balance and well-deserved time off is possible.
