Make Your Job Work for You

By: Alexandyr Kent

Time management is hard, especially when we must choose between work and family. Like many who work jobs that demand a lot of time and focus to perform well, I have struggled with how to best manage my time.

Early on in my career, while leading a nonprofit arts organization, I spent many nights and weekends as the host of public programs. I enjoyed being in front of audiences, but the time I spent away from my family became less and less enjoyable. I was struggling with the age-old workload question: how do you balance your professional duties with your personal life?

By this measure, a couple years into my tenure as executive director, I wasn’t succeeding. Mentally, I felt like I was working all the time, whether I was in the building or not. I was investing too much time at work or thinking about work and not enough time just being home. 

I was stressed. Felt guilty. I felt I couldn’t say no to an organization I was hired to lead. Consequently, I was saying “no” too often to my family.

That’s when a friend and mentor offered me a great piece of advice: “You have to make the job work for you.”

His words made sense to me. We talked about how to best put this idea into practice. He made me realize that I wasn’t failing at my job as a host (part of the job I loved most) but I was failing at my job as a leader (because I wasn’t delegating).

If I was going to find balance and mental peace, I was going to have to find ways to share my responsibilities with others in our organization and community.

I didn’t give up hosting duties entirely, but I did ask a key staff member and other board members for help. I didn’t give up writing grants, but I asked for writing help. I didn’t give up strategic planning, but I stopped doing my research on best practices alone. 

Once I did these things? I felt much happier in my job. I felt more present at home.

It is amazing what a friend who has “been there and done that” can teach us about finding balance. I learned that to do something well, you can’t assume responsibility for all of it.

“Make the job work for you” means something to me in the proposal world, too. Though I work from home now, I constantly remind myself to step away from work and maintain balance with the loved ones who support me.

• This means setting up processes that make sense for your resources – free of frustration and gatekeeping and “we’ve always done it this way” red tape.
• This means adapting processes to meet the demand of work and home.
• This means communicating responsibilities and assigning tasks far in advance of deadlines.
• This means asking questions early and often, especially when we’re stuck.
• Also, this means recognizing that colleagues have the right to make their jobs work for them, too.

Everyone you work with was hired for their expertise; everyone also has a personal life. To leverage their time and brilliance as smartly as we can, we must equip all team members with the time to think. We must give them time to innovate. And we must grant them the personal space to be who they want to be—both at work and away from it.

So my advice: if you’re struggling with time management, think about ways to make your job work better for you. Be open about your challenges. Seek advice. Talk it through. And find ways to share responsibility that benefit everyone.