Do you often find yourself reacting to unexpected tasks that randomly pop up and urgently demand your attention?
Maybe it’s a colleague at work who needs your input on a project. Or, maybe it’s something for your child’s school. Maybe’s it’s your car or dishwasher or sink that is suddenly malfunctioning and needs your time.
Whatever it is that has you nodding your head, groaning, and saying, “Yes, I KNOW what you mean!” these unexpected demands show up in so many of the roles and identities we hold.
It seems that no matter how much careful planning and strategizing we put in, these unexpected demands so often find a way to creep up and throw us off.
Earlier this week, a colleague of mine emotionally shared her exasperation with all the unexpected demands that pop up in her life. “What am I supposed to do? I have my neat to-do list of all the tasks I need to focus on this week, and then suddenly something else pops up that needs my time right now. I don’t want to push aside my plans, but it feels like I don’t have any other choice.”
While there possibly aren’t any perfect solutions, I shared with my colleague my habit of building what I like to call “flex time” into my week. This flex time helps me to proactively tackle any unexpected tasks that pop up throughout the week without sacrificing my other work and life plans.
" Flex time is my way of planning my commitment to unexpected tasks."
What is "Flex Time"?
Flex time is my way of planning my commitment to unexpected tasks. Rather than feeling reactive each time something new and unexpected pops up, rather than feeling like it completely derails my day or week, I build in time that is specifically meant for these demands.
Each week, I aim to schedule a couple hours of flex time into my work and personal time. I make clear distinctions between my work flex and my personal flex time because I’ve learned to expect unexpected demands in both realms of my life.
This flex time varies week to week for me. Sometimes, I plan a few hours on Thursday afternoon as my work flex. That way, any work demands that have popped up throughout the week have a place to fit into my schedule (without extending my already full-time+ work hours). Other weeks, I plan an hour of flex at the end of my work days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Three whole hours built in to tackle anything I didn’t plan for in advance.
Flex hours work really well for me because they can serve many purposes. Let’s say I have a flex hour scheduled in on Tuesday afternoon but I haven’t encountered any unexpected tasks that need that time. Maybe I use that time instead to finish up a pre-planned work task for the week that ended up taking longer than expected. Or, maybe I decide to invest that flex hour in a creative project I’ve been meaning to give time to. Or, maybe I need some extra time in my inboxes, so I use that flex hour to tidy up my emails.
" In my life, my research, and my own personal habits, I've learned that the most useful and effective tools are the ones that can shift and change with the funky shifts and changes of our lives."
Time Management is NOT About Perfection
The thing that people often misconstrue about time management is that we’re meant to have a perfect system and fool-proof strategies that allow all things scheduling and planning to run seamlessly. If you ever fall into that assumption, give yourself a little shake, take a look at how life functions, and allow yourself to giggle at the thought of time being something we can seamlessly control.
In my life, my research, and my own personal habits, I’ve learned that the most useful and effective tools are the ones that can shift and change with the funky shifts and changes of our lives.
I can’t say that the Thursday flex hours work every single time. Sometimes the unexpected task pop up on Tuesday and needs to be done by Wednesday. I’m then able to shift some of my Tuesday/Wednesday tasks into those Thursday flex hours to make room sooner for the unexpected deadline.
It’s not a perfect system, but it gives me confidence and wiggle room. It also keeps me feeling more in control and proactive. An unexpected demand doesn’t suck me into its urgency. Instead, I’m able to step back and decide how and where I’m going to make time for it and how the flex hours can make that happen without too much overwhelm.
This also helps me to maintain clearer boundaries around how much work I’m going to commit to in a week. As an overachieving, overcommitted person, my habit is to work long hours, and then take on the additional tasks that have demanded my time. This eats into my personal time and has historically led to experiences of burnout and disconnection from my work.
Flex time helps me to maintain a mindset that I can work hard and still take my time off. Additional tasks already have space built into my schedule. If things are starting to seep into my non-work time, I have to catch myself and re-evaluate what actually needs to get done right away.
Where in your schedule does it make sense to put your flex time?
How Could You Experiment with Flex Time?
Again, we’re not making huge changes here, and we’re not trying to plan ahead for absolutely anything and everything that could demand our time and energy. Instead, we are attempting to proactively structure our time so we can feel in control – even when those unexpected things come up.
- How often do you experience unexpected demands on your time?
- Where do these demands usually come from?
- Do these demands often show up at similar times each week or month or quarter?
- How many hours could you invest into flex time?
(Think about how many hours you typically spend reacting to unexpected tasks each week/month.) - When in your schedule does it make sense to put your flex time?
I invite you to try this out for the next few weeks. Feel free to experiment and play with this.
Were the first flex hours a complete flop? How could you design them differently to better serve you? Did they work really well? How can you document this success to remind yourself of how and why this has been useful for you?
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