ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > September > 21 > Entry
Need to sharpen your saw?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While sitting in the Atlanta airport recently waiting on a flight, I found myself wondering how many people were traveling for business and how many were traveling for pleasure.
As my husband sat clattering on his laptop next to me, my next thought was to wonder how many people heading off on vacation would end up spending some time working during their time away from the office.
In today’s wireless world, most of us have been guilty of taking a work call after hours, or answering our office email from home. In moderation, this isn’t harmful or problematic.
But as we become more accessible, it is imperative that we become aware of how we’re spending our time. With technological advances, the lines between home and work are becoming permanently blurred.
Time management guru, Steven Covey, in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, advises us to regularly take time out to “Sharpen the Saw”. The idea is that if you allow your tools to dull by continuous use, you’ll end up having to exert more energy to accomplish the same task, than you would if your tools are well sharpened.
Obviously, in this case our tools are our minds and our bodies. For some, this saw sharpening exercise is easier than it is for others.
Those of us who work in traditional office environments can walk out the door at 5:00, turn off the light and tune work out for the evening, or for a week. Logging onto our office email or checking voice mail from home is usually something that is self-imposed and can be eliminated.
But for people who are field-based and are attached to Blackberries, home-based and are attached to their offices, or for people who work on-call shifts and are attached to their beepers, there are often no boundaries between their work lives and their personal lives.
Our personal time is increasingly encroached upon, leaving little time to sharpen our tools and rest our bodies and minds. So, the question becomes: “How long can someone be effective if they don’t take time off for a true, non-working vacation?”
Is the wireless world improving our productivity, or are we almost ready to crash and burn?
Comments
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By Kasia
September 25, 2007 4:12 PM | Link to this
…almost ready to crash and burn? I think a very good indicator of how overworked people are nowadays is how many mistakes are being made. Stupid mistakes. I won’t bother writing examples here, I think we’ve all seen it. There are people I work with who have Blackberries. They never, ever are left alone. They can’t go home sick, can’t go on vacation, probably can’t even go to the bathroom without someone e-mailing them and wanting an immediate response because it is known that they have those Blackberries. I blame the people who use all the wireless technology. They let it happen to them, and now they complain and moan that they never get any rest. It has become expected of people because of those that say, “But I HAVE to do it…”. Corporate greed has played its part, too. If the corporate world could find a way to keep people awake 24/7 working non-stop, they would do it. More, more, more. There are people who are more in control, however, and utilize the technology without it controlling THEM. Very wise. I think technology is fantastic and has its place. But when it starts to completely take over a person’s life, they have to draw the line. That line has to be there to maintain the human element. And it is a proven fact that people get far more work done, more accurately, when they are rested. To answer your question, “How long can someone be effective if they don’t take time off for a true, non-working vacation?” — It depends on the person. I’ve seen people go for up to 5 years before burning out. But burnout is inevitable. I went six years without a vacation at one point in my life. Now I’m lucky if I make it a year before needing to rest. That’s burnout from downsizing — doing more in less time. Burns me out eventually. I think the wireless technology is improving our productivity, but there has to be that balance for it to be continually productive. A time and place for everything, and all that.