6 ways to set stronger boundaries with your time, from a psychologist

As someone who used to divide her time between two countries and three cities, I realized very quickly that my calendar has a life of its own. Even if by Sunday evening, the next week was looking relatively breezy, it’d get filled up in a heartbeat.

So often we hear people blaming the fact that they have too much work on for too many things. I have to work late, I have to work weekends, family is suffering, can’t exercise, blah blah blah…

When Wharton superstar organisational psychologist Adam Grant studied the relationship between giving and taking, he found that the best and worst performers are givers, whilst takers and matches are mid-level performers. 

It is a formidable achievement to make it to the senior ranks of a law firm – especially Partner. It signals that you have worked hard, that you are an expert in your field and that other people see that in you too.

Emotions and business have been kept separate for many many years. Traditionally, business leaders have been taught that emotions are for outside of the office walls and when we enter into the workplace they are to be tucked away and dealt with when the employee returns home.

Lack of focus is one of the biggest post-pandemic issues we are now facing according to Lynda Gratton at London Business School. At NEP we would argue this has always been a problem, and we agree it has definitely been exacerbated during the pandemic.

If you’ve read Part One of this piece, then I must tell you the reason I broke it into two is because I’ve learnt to take my own advice.

If you’ve ever taken our personal pace indicator, what’s your score? Mine’s 99. It came as no shock to me.

It’s ironic that many people are trying to work in a way that makes them more productive, and yet those very actions are actually reducing productivity.

Most people jump in straight to the task at hand. That’s efficiency, that’s not procrastination. That’s good, right? Except, what you are doing is called precrastination. Let me explain.