Time Management in the New World

April 2020 saw many people round the world sent to work from home with great fears by management that their productivity would fall. Despite distraction from children and families, most workers have put in well beyond their eight hours a day. When you allow for zoom meetings and mobile phone calls our private lives of lost the slither of anonymity they once had.  Somehow, meetings are taking longer, I guess because people seek interaction and the systems clearly working slower. In this new world we need to manage the balance between being a good professional and personal well-being. Like so many I used to wake early and goes the local gym come home have breakfast and go to the office. I am feeling guilty about taking time out to go for a walk, read an article at night go to meditation (online of course) spend time just talking to my wife. I suspect as we work our way back to the new norm, we will need to develop some personal space. Over recent years I have accepted Saturday calls part of job because it’s still Friday in much of the world. It used to shut off by 11:00 am. I do suspect a second mobile is coming for most of us one for work and one for me. I need to reset the boundaries which I have let go.

Paul Raftery