What Happens when you Run Out of Week?
It’s 1:45 pm Friday. You have been at work since the early A.M. and your day has been spent tackling new issues that seemingly have come out of nowhere. Lunch? Maybe in just a few more minutes…….
A few more minutes pass, and it is now 3 P.M. far too late for lunch. The good news is you have stopped pulling your hair out and handled all the immediate fires. The bad news is you have a full day of scheduled work ahead of you that you have yet to start working on, and you are quickly running out of week!
So, what happens when you run out of week and how do you fix it?
I asked my teenaged son this question and here was his wordy response.
"Move on… don’t worry….do it next week… "
Oh the life of a teenager!
Taking into account that we understand the possible outcome by following a teenager’s advice - when you run out of week there are two things to consider:
1. How do I fix my immediate situation
2. How do I prevent this from happening over and over again
Here are my helpful tips to use when you find that you regularly “Run out of Week”
Time Management – Rather than waiting until mid afternoon to find that your day has derailed, break your day into hourly checkpoints to monitor your work flow.
Prioritize – STOP. MAKE A LIST. What are the absolute critical duties that must be done today before you leave in order to keep things going until you are back in again.
Delegation – Some days you just can’t do it all. Find the key people you know you can lean on when the day gets crazy and use them. (Don’t forget to appreciate their extra efforts as no doubt they have their own agenda too)
Exercise/Diet – I know it sounds crazy to worry about this when you can’t even get through the work day, but you are going to have to make a choice whether to grab a burger and keep going or grab a soup or salad and keep going. Pick the healthy choice and you will feel better a few hours later when you are in the thick of things!
Be Prepared – I used to pack a “just in case bag”. In it I had a change of clothes to my casual clothes, an extra pair of shoes, some water, some snacks, one protein bar (only one because if I got really hungry or stressed I would eat them all) and a few other odds and ends. If I got stuck at work late it made the transition to home easier when I did leave.
How do you prevent this from ever happening again?
Easy – You Don’t. We can only prepare ourselves as best we can for what the work week throws at us.
If you follow basic time management practices, prioritize your duties and delegate when necessary, then “running out of week” shouldn’t turn into a weekly occurrence!
For the hard core group of NON 9 to 5ers, I’m sure you will remind readers of another solution. It’s called “working on the weekend” or as I call it “the back up plan”.
Hope you still have some week left to work with!
Have a great day!
Barb
