Work schedule regularity
Yesterday, I had to watch the kids for a little bit in the morning which caused me to get to work a couple of hours late. Which also made me get home a couple of hours late. When I walked in the door, the family was just finishing dinner and we ran around like fools for a few minutes and then put them to bed.
All of which reminded me that I like my schedule to be pretty regular. With my normal routine, I do not see the kids in the morning, but I do see them for a couple of hours before dinner. My kids are used to finishing their after school snack right about when I get home. When I work my normal schedule, everybody knows when to expect me around the house and everything just seems to flow a little better. Kids like consistency.
Yesterday, my kids thought it was strange that I was still bumming around the house when their mom left for work. We did not have breakfast at the right part of the morning routine and they seemed almost relieved when my mom showed up to watch them (she is the normal babysitter on the days my wife works).
By the time I finished putting the kids to bed and then finally sitting down to eat, it was past 8:30 and I packed it in for the night.
Everything did go fine which is another nice part of having a routine work schedule. When you break the routine it just seems odd. If I regularly came home at different times, I think it will become distracting pretty quickly.
Here are my tips for helping establish good work schedule regularity:
- Find a way to get up when the alarm goes off. Oversleeping means you get to work late and then end up getting home late.
- Learn to say “I will look into that tomorrow.” It is amazing the amount of work that can pop up in the last half hour of the day. Most of the time, those things can be dealt with the next day no matter how urgent they might seem. By default, you should hardly ever pounce on projects the second they are mentioned. You should have some kind of work queue that you are working from and the newest fire should just get added in and prioritized accordingly.
- Do not stop at a coworker’s or boss’ desk for a nightly wrap up. There are few things more guaranteed to turn into a half hour talk than a status of the projects talk. Log off of your computer, yell “Hello” over the cubicle walls as you sprint to your car.
- Do not buy shiny stuff on the way home from work. Avoid stopping at stores to pick up a couple of things. By the time you park, walk in and around the store, check out, and walk back to your car it is almost always several minutes later at the best. When driving home, do not get out of your car until you park in the driveway.
- Phone home. If you find yourself easily distracted by distractions, call your spouse and tell them that you are leaving work now and should be home in X minutes. It gives you a deadline that will help you avoid all the other distractions.
Follow those tips and you will probably notice that your daily routine actually starts to get routine and you will enjoy your time home with the family a little more.
Tags: Career, family, kids, office, parenting, work, work-scheduleRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Career and Kids
5 opinions for Work schedule regularity
Reba
Oct 28, 2006 at 6:42 am
Without trying too hard, I have developed a reputation at work. I am the person who always leaves on time. At first they teased me, but now I think all my co-workers are a bit jealous. On very rare occassions, I stay late because I need to make up time, or I have a Dr’s appt on the way home or something. When I do that, its amazing how many people stop by my desk and comment “what are you still doing here?!”. I used to worry that it would hurt my career to be a clockwatcher. But now I realize that everyone aspires to it, and most people are proud of the person who actually makes it happen.
Reba
Oct 28, 2006 at 6:46 am
Oh, I have another tip too. I have a yellow streamer that hangs on the side of my cubicle wall. when things are especially busy and it looks like I will not get my work done before I need to go home, I string the streamer across my cubicle opening. It has a funny sign on it that says “Caution. Underwriting in Progress. Do not feed or taunt Underwriter.” At first it drew extra attention and I was bothered by people stopping to comment on it. But now, its become accepted that when the streamer is up….you keep on walking buddy…don’t stop to talk to me. I have even lent it out to a few of my co-workers occassionally. Its a funny office joke, but it really does work. 85% of what people stop by your desk to tell you is pure crap. It can wait. If you are going to get your work done and leave on time, sometimes you need to tell them to peddle their crap somewhere else. It also keeps me on track because everytime, I get the itch to wander around unnecessarily, I realize I have to duck under that sign. It helps me focus.
Stephanie
Oct 29, 2006 at 4:51 am
Great tips. Thanks for the submission to the Carnival of Family Life.
Kailani
Oct 30, 2006 at 11:25 am
I’m a routine kind of person myself. I think my kids really benefit from a somewhat structured schedule. Great tips!
Here via CFL.
Career and Kids » A couple of links for this week
Nov 3, 2006 at 8:32 am
[…] I forgot to mention that I have an entry in the Carnival of Family Life from earlier this week. If you are looking for some for some new blogs to keep track of, go check out the Carnival. […]
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