53. Facing Time Management Reality and Setting Work Boundaries (Q&A)

Episode 53

In this episode of Learn and Work Smarter, we’re answering two questions submitted by listeners.

Question One: A working professional asks for strategies for completing tasks when time management isn’t the real issue, even though at first glance it sure looks that way.

Question Two: A working professional asks for advice about setting boundaries between work and home, but in a way that doesn’t make him look uncommitted to his job.

🎙️Other Episodes + Resources Mentioned

• Episode 6 → Focus Tips and Job Skills (Q&A)

• Episode 10 → Tips for Better Task Management and Focus (Q&A)

• Episode 14 → How to Use the Pomodoro Technique

• Episode 18 → How to Use the Batching Strategy

• Episode 24 → How to Focus Better: Tips for School, Work and ADHD

• Episode 27 → How to Get Things Done with a Power Hour

• Episode 43 → How to Focus When You’re Working From Home

• Episode 44 → Managing Burnout, Office Disruptions and Task Management (Q&A)

• Episode 45→ Are You Doing Too Much?

✅Enroll in SchoolHabits University (Curious? Check it out!)

• Get the transcription

  The following transcript was autogenerated and may contain some interesting and silly errors. But in the name of efficiency and productivity, I am choosing not to spend my time fixing them 😉

  
  53 Facing Time Management Reality and Setting Work Boundaries Q&A

  ===

  [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to episode 53 of the learn and work smarter podcast. This is one of our monthly Q and A episodes where I answer questions that were submitted by listeners of the show. That is you. 

  If you're wondering how to get your own questions answered on the show, the process is so super simple. 

  You head to learnandworksmarter.com. Obviously I will link that below. And right there on the home page, you only have to scroll down a teeny tiny little bit, there is a link to a form. Tap on that link, a form opens up -very simple field- for you to enter your questions. And I will add it to the queue. 

  And I will answer your question on a future Q and A episode. Okay. We have two questions today. Both are submitted by working professionals. 

  Question one is asking about tips for staying on task and getting work done um, when there is enough time in the day, but for some reason the things just aren't getting done. 

  And then question two is from somebody asking how to assert [00:01:00] boundaries between work and life without giving off the impression that they are uncommitted to their job. 

  We have a lot to cover today. 

  So we're going to get started.

  We are going to start with question number one and I have it written right here. I'm going to read it. 

  I listened to your episode about how to know if you're doing too much. I did the exercise you talked about in there about tracking my time and tasks for a week. And it turns out that I do have enough hours in my day to get my tasks done. But when it comes time to do them, everything takes longer than I planned. Either that, or I get distracted. I do actually [00:02:00] have a ton of tasks and responsibilities. 

  I'm a sales consultant at, I do not read identifying information. Um, So it is a fast paced job and I can't not do my work, but I'm so overwhelmed and never feel like I'm done. But in reality, I'm never done because I'm not starting. Either that, or I'm not working efficiently. Do you have any tips for me? 

  Hi there. 

  Yes. Great question for those who haven't listened to the episode that the listener is referencing, that is episode 45. It's called, are you doing too much or, or something like that. And that episode, I taught a strategy that can help you clarify whether you are actually doing too much, or if it just feels like you're doing too much. 

  Sometimes it can feel like we're doing too much when we're actually not, but we're just running out of time because of poor focus, distractability, maybe task initiation struggles, maybe even pseudo productivity, which is the idea that we're keeping ourselves busy, but not doing the right [00:03:00] things. All right. 

  So the strategy that this listener is talking about involves tracking your time and your tasks for one to two weeks. From the moment that you start your work day or your school day depends was doing this, you track what you're doing, you track, how long it takes you, you track your tasks. 

  You make time visible on your calendar so that you can see what your day looks like, where you have to be, how long it's going to take you to commute there, your meal time, the time that you spend in the office time that you spend in class time that you spend at the gym. And then you find your blocks of open time. 

  And then you have your list of tasks- because you learn and work smarter, you have a task management system- and you do a mathematical sort of equation that involves fitting those tasks into your calendar. 

  If they do not fit mathematically, then you are doing too much. And if they do fit mathematically and you're actually making time visible accurately, you know, with commuting times and stuff like that, but [00:04:00] you're still not getting any of them done by the end of the day, or maybe even by the end of the week, then you don't have an overwork problem, but more of a time management or a focus problem. 

  So that is what this listener is referring to. 

  Don't forget again, that's episode 45. If you want the full walkthrough process of how to get to this point. But that listener tracked their time and their tasks for one to two weeks and determined that mathematically, they do have enough time to fit their tasks in, but they're just not getting to those tasks for whatever reason. 

  So back to your actual question. 

  Do I have any tips for that? And yes, I do. 

  And to be honest, I'm going to refer you to several previous episodes in which I've talked in depth about this. 

  I can summarize some of the strategies here today, and I will, I will write, but in many previous episodes, I go deep into the strategies. And I think that would be most beneficial to you. 

  Right. But to begin, I have done several Q and a episodes about focus, which tells me that this is something many [00:05:00] listeners are dealing with- specifically episode six, episode 10 episode 24. And then episode 43. That is how to focus when you're working from home. Um, I don't know if you're working from home at least on a hybrid, you know, sort of system, but many of the strategies I talk about in that episode, which was episode 43 are also applicable to working in an office. Also episode 44 was another Q and a episode where I talked about burnout and managing office disruptions and task management, all three of those things. 

  And I feel like those three topics are kind of at the core of what you're asking me today. All right. 

  So when we know that we have things to do, and we know that we actually do have time to do them, but we are still unable to get them done, something else is going on. 

  You did not say in your question if you have ADHD or not, but if you do then task management can feel [00:06:00] Herculean. 

  If that's what's happening, then you may need to consider designing your workday around your ADHD tendencies. Disclaimer, I'm not a doctor and I can neither treat nor diagnose medical conditions. And I am not giving you medical advice. Okay. Official disclaimer. But if you are already taking ADHD medication, you may want to plan to do your most challenging tasks, um, around the time you typically take your meds, which for most people on ADHD medication would be in the morning. So maybe you structure your day so that you can get the bulk of your hard work done, or at least the tasks that you are least looking forward to the most done, okay, let's say before one o'clock. 

  Now another strategy to use whether or not you have ADHD is to use the Pomodoro technique and the power hour. Those are two separate strategies. 

  The Pomodoro technique is when you work for 25 minutes and then take a five minute break and then you work for 25 minutes and then you take another [00:07:00] five minute break. And you go back and forth in this ratio for a period of time. You have solutely must use a timer for this method to work a timer, to indicate the start and stop of the work period

  and the start in-stock stop of the break period. 

  In episode 14, I teach you exactly how to use the Pomodoro technique as well as some variations that some people do find more helpful than the original 25 to five ratio. Just to yeah, throw that out there. 

  Another time-based or clock based strategy to help with productivity is the power hour. In episode 27, called how to get things done the power hour, I break that strategy down. 

  You might be thinking: why do I need to listen to an episode on a power hour? Isn't that just when you sit down and you work for an hour? Not exactly. There are some guardrails and rules to set up an effective power hour, the right way, which taps into some sort of like psychology and things. 

  Very important. [00:08:00] Um, and then lastly, I'm going to recommend that you try the batching strategy. I teach the batching strategy in episode 18. 

  Of course, all of these episodes will be linked in the show notes or the description box if you are watching this on YouTube. 

  If you go to learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/53, because this is episode 53, everything I mentioned is all in one place at that location. All right. Anyway, the batching strategy is a very effective productivity and focus strategy. 

  I'm actually using it right now to record a whole bunch- or three different things- that I need to record. I'm not going to set up my camera and mic three different times throughout the day. I'm going to sit down and I'm going to bang out, you know, all of my camera and mic tasks in one sitting. I'm on number two right now. 

  I got one more after this. Batching is when you look at your day and you look at your tasks and you ask yourself, okay, which of these tasks are similar to other tasks? And then you batch them together and you do them in one sitting or in one chunk of time. I go [00:09:00] into much greater detail in my batching episode, but one example of how a lot of people use this is email. 

  If you have a lot of email tasks to complete in one day, you would do all of that in one sitting, perhaps schedule a power hour to bang out all of your emails at once. 

  This is far better than doing a little work here and then checking email and then going back to a project and then, you know, writing an email a little bit later on and going back and forth all day. 

  That approach does not work and it is terrible for productivity and focus. 

  And then one final point that I want to make here is I want to emphasize the point of clarity. Lack of clarity can destroy our ability to get things done. 

  Even the teeny tiniest bit of lack of clarity can derail an entire project or a whole day. 

  Let's say for example, that you have a report to put together for a product. I know that is so vague, but just roll with it. Okay. Let's say that you don't know exactly what should you [00:10:00] should be including in this report. 

  And you don't know if you're going to use a company template or make your own, you don't know how robust you want to make this report. It's going to be like a 25 page white paper. Is it going to be an infographic? 

  
  Let's say that you have all of these questions running through your head before you even begin. 

  
  This is lack of clarity. And while these questions are absolutely normal when we sit down to work on something new, not having answers to these questions or -this is very important too- being intimidated by the fact that you don't have answers to these questions can prevent us from initiating tasks. Which leads us to, you know, closing out our day without getting done what we needed to get done, which was at the root of your question. 

  
  So the strategy here is to just start. Do some brainstorming, right? 

  We're not gonna be impulsive and just start things without having any direction. So do some brainstorming, attempt to get some answers to these questions and then either just commit to a decision and move forward or move forward regardless whether you have answers to [00:11:00] these questions, these clarifying questions, or not. 

  
  We either need to get total clarity before we begin, or we need to begin a task or a project and have trust in ourselves and in the process that we will get the clarity as we move forward. You'll have to make that decision for yourself based on your personality, based on how comfortable you are with figuring things out as you go, how much faith do you have in yourself that you're able to figure these things out. 

  If you're not there yet, then the better approach would be probably to get some clarity to these questions before you start. But with time and experience, you start having the faith that you can learn from the process and actually create the process while you're in it. Build the plane while it's in the sky. 

  
  So to speak. 

  Okay actually, I thought that was going to be my last tip for you. But another one just occurred to me. It's actually a really simple tip so I'm not sure why I didn't think to bring this up first, but I can't emphasize enough how important it is for you [00:12:00] to not over commit to a large amount of tasks on any given day. 

  I know you have a million things to do every day as we all do, but on any singular, given workday, it's only practical that you work on one to three- honestly three max- key projects per day. One to two is ideal. 

  So you might have two big projects on your plate and then 1 million other little admin tasks or smaller things that you're working on. It's important that you keep these one to two or three max projects in absolute priority in your Workday. You put them on your calendar, you write them on a sticky note, slap them to your computer. 

  You're going to work on project A from 9 to 11. 

  This is just hypothetical. I'm not prescribing you to do this, but as an example, and then you're going to maybe do some admin work or some email. Then you're going to work on Project B after lunch from 1230 to 3:30, maybe with a couple breaks in there. Use the Pomodoro technique if you want. Then take another break. 

  And then maybe for the last 45 minutes of your Workday, [00:13:00] you're going to work on project C. You tell yourself what you're going to do, and when you're going to do it, and you keep the number of significant projects that you're working on reasonable so that you're not jumping around all day. All right. 

  
  And if you're like, yeah, but I have like seven key projects. Okay. But on Monday you're going to work on two of them. On Tuesday you're going to work on another two. On Wednesday you're going to work on another two, right? Working solidly uh, in solid chunks of time on singular projects... So up to three a day, We're talking big projects, right? 

  That is a better approach than sort of like a little bit here. A little bit here, a little bit here, a little bit here all day. You're going to end up feeling fragmented and feeling like you're never making progress. Okay. I think I've given you enough strategies to try. By no means do you have to try them all at once. 

  Maybe you try the batching strategy and the Pomodoro technique or the batching strategy and the power hour. 

  
  
  See how that works. And then maybe you throw in some of the tips that I share in some of the other episodes about focus and productivity that I am referencing. Okay. And directing you to. 

  Let [00:14:00] me close out by saying that I think it is incredible that you did the work to determine that you were overwhelmed, not by the amount of work that you have to do, but by a lack of strategy in managing that work. So many people do the opposite. 

  They feel overwhelmed and overworked and immediately blame the work instead of doing the math and looking in the mirror and saying, or is it me? No shame here. In fact, I'm making this the absolute opposite of shame. 

  
  I think it is incredible when somebody is able to say, whoops, My bad. Or, you know, not even necessarily my bad, but, but what's, yes, I can see that time management is not my greatest strength and I am going to work on that. Or yes, I can admit that my focus is fragmented. 

  And so I'm going to put in structures in place and design my environment and do some focus training to improve my focus so that I can perform better and feel better about my work and about myself. 

  
  You guys know what this point that I close out every episode with never stop [00:15:00] learning and I really, really believe that that is the soul of everything that I share. 

  We are all a work in progress. 

  
  We are all learning. It's those who think they have nothing else to learn who end up in the deepest holes. 

  
  Anyways. It just got dark. No, but I applaud you. I think that we are ready to move on to question two, which is also from my working professional. I am going to read that. All right. It's a wonderful question. 

  How do I set boundaries between work and personal time without looking like I'm not committed to my job? 

  
  That is such a great question because it touches on a struggle that so many of us deal with, especially in a world where we are connected 24 7 through all of our devices. 

  Also many people work from home full-time part-time, which definitely blurs the boundaries between work life and personal life. So thank you for asking this question. 

  Cause I think it touches on something that we are all feeling. 

  
  So setting boundaries doesn't mean that we are lazy or uncommitted. All right, so let's get that clear. It's actually the opposite. Healthy [00:16:00] boundaries allow us to show up during work hours, to stay productive, and to avoid burnout. 

  And we do have some ideas about how to set work-life boundaries, but first let's reframe the idea of boundaries. 

  
  I know we are, we're going to do a mindset thing here. I think this is important. 

  I think the concept of boundaries has blown up in the past few years. As it should, but sometimes it can take on a, a pseudo science or a pseudo psychology or pop psychology like a little bit of a righteous tone. When in reality boundaries aren't typically as black and white as pop psychology wants us to believe that they are. 

  And I know that is especially true for relationships, right. It can't just be like, it has to be this way, my boundary back off, like people are complicated. And so are relationships. But if you think about the context of work, we are also talking about relationships. 

  
  We're talking about somebody, a boss or a colleague, not overstepping some kind of boundary that we expect them to know about, just because we have asserted it to [00:17:00] ourselves. 

  
  So in other words, work boundaries are essentially people boundaries, right? Because a project or a task is incapable of like reaching into your personal space and saying, like pay attention to me. Only only a human can do that. 

  
  So work boundaries are our people boundaries. And like I said, those are not always black and white. 

  So I think that we need to start thinking of boundaries with less emotion and with more practicality. Sure. Boundaries are necessary to us personally, but that is where things get complicated and emotional and messy. But if we start thinking about boundaries as an actual productivity tool, many of us find those easier to defend. On the other hand, especially for those who are people pleasers, trying to defend a boundary based on emotions often results in us giving in and not wanting to displease the other person. So let's start thinking of boundaries, as something good for everybody, as something good for the company, as something good for our boss and good for our [00:18:00] coworkers. 

  Setting boundaries between work and home is a productivity tool. It is a strategy that, and it's very important for you to sell it this way that everybody benefits from. Think about it. 

  If you are on the clock all of the time, never disconnecting from slack or emails or things that go beep and ding whatever you're going to burn out. And you're going to become resentful. And ultimately perform worse at your job. 

  But if we're able to define and assert boundaries, then our motivation for work will remain intact and we'll do it without the resentment. 

  
  Boundaries are about protecting our focus and energy so that we can do our job well during the hours that we're actually working. 

  When we think of boundaries as a productivity tool, they actually stop feeling like an excuse and start feeling like a strategy, which makes the concept of boundaries more compelling to those we are asserting our boundaries to. 

  
  All right. So how do we set boundaries without [00:19:00] appearing uncommitted? That is a great question. The first step is to communicate your availability proactively and clearly. Let your manager and coworkers know when you're available and how they can reach you. For example. You might say something like hey, I'm available from nine to 5:30 every day. 

  Outside those hours, I will make sure to follow up you with you first thing in the morning, unless it's something urgent." I feel like I could have phrased that way better, but like, basically this is when I'm available. Um, outside those hours, I will make sure that I, I respond to you first thing in the morning, unless it's urgent. 

  By setting these clear expectations upfront we're creating structure without closing the door entirely. And if your job does sometimes require flexibility, like jumping in for something legitimately urgent after hours, you can define what urgent means so that your boundaries stay intact for most situations. 

  
  An important key to making [00:20:00] this strategy actually work is to be consistent. If sometimes you're available after work and sometimes you're not, then people of course are going to continue to reach out. They might think, oh, let me just ask John or Anna for help because they were available last time. If you create a reputation for yourself as somebody who occasionally, or I don't know, more than occasionally is available after hours, then people are going to continue to ignore your boundaries. Because essentially you're saying that you have none. 

  Now I heard someone else explain this in a way that made so much sense at this point. 

  I can't remember if I like listened to it. If it, maybe it came from a book, I can't remember, but I definitely heard this from someone else and I'm just sharing it here, but it's this idea that when people don't know when they can reach us or when we will be available or how to reach us, they panic and they reach out with no sense of boundary just for a sense of security, just for confirmation that we're still there. 

  
  I know that I'm not [00:21:00] explaining this as well as the person I heard it from. Okay. But you know what? This is probably. This is probably Cal now Cal Newport. It sounds like something Cal Newport would say. Either that or some, a book, whatever. The idea is that if we clearly communicate to somebody when we're available when we're not available

  they're often satisfied with that knowledge and are content to reach out to us during an appropriate time.

  But it's when people don't know when we're available, that they subconsciously need confirmation that we're still around and will send emails often about trivial things for no reason, no real urgency, other than some psychological need to confirm her existence or our commitment to our work. And I can see this being very true. 

  Something else that I think is important is to put yourself in another person's shoes. Think about the reason why a boss or a colleague is sending us an email outside of work hours. Right? Sometimes that is just how they personally [00:22:00] operate. 

  
  They have an idea or a proposal or a concern, and they want to get it out of their head for their own psychological relief. 

  So they might be sitting at home after work hours and something pops up into their mind and they think to themselves, oh, let me just send this email to John or Annie. It's not that they're expecting you to reply right away. 

  It's just that they needed to get it out of their own head for their own psychological relief. In those cases, it's a hundred percent on you to either not check your email after hours or to develop the ability to look at that email when it comes in and tell yourself, okay. I'll reply to this tomorrow. 

  Thinking about someone else's motives for overstepping our boundaries can often make an often make it easier to assert our boundaries. Knowing that other people do this thing, not intentionally, not maliciously, right, that it's just a natural human thing that people do can be helpful as we give ourselves [00:23:00] permission to ignore these emails until inappropriate time. 

  Speaking of digital boundaries. If you're like most professionals, your phone and email notifications are the biggest culprits in breaking down the work life divide. Consider turning off your notifications for work apps after hours or using the focus mode feature on your phone to silence them. If you find yourself drafting emails late at night, which does happen to the best of us, schedule them to send out during business hours. 

  
  So if you're like, you know, the person who has an idea proposal concerning, like I got to draft an email drafted at night, if that's what you need to do, but then schedule it to send. Every email client now has the ability to schedule emails to go out at a certain time. That way you don't train your coworkers to expect 24 7 availability. 'cause thinking, think of it. 

  
  If you're reaching out to people after hours, you're giving them permission to do the same. 

  Now, this may not be relevant for everyone, but I actually have two phone numbers- I'm a gangster- [00:24:00] on my singular phone. I have a business line and a personal line. And when I get a phone call or a text to my business line at 11 o'clock at night, which yes, I do, I completely ignore it until the next morning. 

  Sometimes all it would take is for me to like tap the message and give it a little, like to acknowledge it, um, to acknowledge like that, that I got it, but I do not do that. 

  I remember years ago when I worked for a company, not in the school system where I was a teacher, but I worked at a private company for a decade and my former boss would send unrelenting text messages and emails at all hours. 

  And if I didn't reply to an email quickly, he would send multiple texts like, boom, boom, boom, boom. Asking me if I got the email. A thousand percent out of line and unprofessional, and it caused so much anxiety in me, but I did not reply. 

  It was truly an emergency, which it rarely ever was, I would delay my response still to inappropriate time. This took a [00:25:00] lot of self-talk and training for myself because it was so easy for me to justify a quick, you know, response back just to get him to stop texting me. But I knew that that would just reward his behavior and I am not in that business. 

  Now, one thing that I want to emphasize is that you can still demonstrate professionalism and commitment without being constantly on. 

  Okay. For example, showing up to meetings prepared, delivering high quality work on time, staying organized, right? All of that builds trust with your colleagues. And when they see that your, and with your bosses, and when they see that you're dependable during work hours, they're less likely to question your boundaries that you set for after hours. 

  If they know that your efforts and your production and professionalism are all gangbusters from nine to five, and then you're not replying to an email at 10:00 PM. That is not going to give them the impression that you're not committed. 

  If our bosses think that we're not committed, that's likely an [00:26:00] impression that they're getting from how we perform during work hours. So make sure that you are locked in and doing your job during those work hours. 

  Of course you might face pushback, especially if you're in a workplace that, you know, glorifies hustle and the overwork culture. If someone questions your boundaries, remember frame your response around the value that you are creating. You could say something like this is going to sound cheesy, but like disconnecting after hours helps me stay more focused and productive during the day. Let me know if there's anything I can do to better support the team during work hours. All right. 

  
  That way you are reaffirming your commitment to the team while standing firm on your boundaries. 

  Okay. Finally, remember that boundaries are not just good for you. They are good for your coworkers. They are good for your company. 

  When you set a healthy example, it normalizes the idea that work-life balance it doesn't have to mean sacrificing professionalism or results or your soul. 

  So in summary boundaries [00:27:00] are about working smarter, not about working harder. 

  You communicate your availability clearly, you be consistent, you define what urgent means to you so that, you know when it's an appropriate scenario to give in to that boundary and to respond, and then you set yourself digital limits to protect your personal time. 

  When you model balance and deliver great work during your hours you're going to show everybody that boundaries are a sign of slacking. They're actually a strategy. 

  Okay, that wraps up our show for today. Thank you for the two listeners who submitted these questions and gave me the opportunity to talk about some things that I know other listeners are going to find valuable too. Remember, you can submit your own questions by filling out the super simple form at learnandworksmarter.com. 

  
  That is also where you will find all of the links that I mentioned in all of the episodes. 

  And if you've been liking the show so far, I would love it so much if you could leave a review. If you're watching this on YouTube, please let me know that you're here and I knew exist by leaving a comment. I love knowing who my community is more than [00:28:00] anything. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your attention. 

  And remember: never stop learning.