Lately I’ve been struggling with time management. Following a recent promotion (mine) and a recent leave (an awesome manager who is having an awesome baby), I temporarily have a lot of people are reporting to me and the complexity of my work is increasing (and we’re not an Agile HR team…yet). It’s exciting and a little overwhelming because I am not moving things forward with the efficiency I expect. To organize myself I’ve implemented what the deepest worker, Cal Newport, calls a “work shutdown ritual”. It’s already making a difference in terms of my wellbeing and productivity. Here’s why you should have an end of work ritual, too.
Cal’s methodology
According to Newport, a good end of work ritual needs three things:
- A quick series of steps for getting back on top of what’s going on in your student or working life; something you can do in 5 minutes at the end of each day.
- A phrase you say when you complete the ritual.
- An agreement with yourself that after you’ve said the magic words, the only acceptable response to a work-related thought is to think through the steps required for you to say the termination phrase.
My end of work ritual
For the record, I don’t feel cool enough to utter a “termination phrase” as part of my ritual, but I honour the science of keeping promises to yourself and maybe I’ll get there one day. My end of work ritual has three steps:
- Write down a good thing that happened at work today so that I leave on a positive note (sometimes I must frame a failure or tough conversation as a learning moment).
- Write down the three or four most important things that I didn’t get done on a post-it note and stick that note in my planner/journal (because I’ll never be “caught up” with work and that’s okay)
- Acknowledge that I completed the ritual (I cross it off in my planner/journal)
How it’s working
I know the ritual is working because I am more present when I get home. Family dinners are critical for building everything from trust to knowledge to kindness, especially at our dinner table. Over the past few months I found myself struggling to be present with my kids almost immediately when I arrived home from work. The simple act of letting go of work by writing down what I didn’t get done and then literally closing the book on the tasks helps keep my focus where it needs to be, which is with my family.
My ritual is also working because it helps me organize and prioritize work that I might tackle in the evening (I’m a believer in the work-life-blend after all) or early the next morning as part of the 5AM Club. When work is prioritized in a list that’s been out of sight for awhile I find it easier to manage, as a new perspective and/or time to think often helps me create with more clarity, purpose and pace.
What’s your end of work ritual?
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This article was originally published on February 5, 2020.