What time did you leave your office yesterday? How long has it been since you started and finished working within what are considered to be your normal working hours? How long has it been since you worked during the weekend (or whatever days constitute your days off)? If it were against the law to work overtime, how would you get your work done effectively and on time? Assuming that you do work overtime more than you should, do you know why you do? Do you use work as an excuse not to go home? Is your work more important to you than your family? Your hobbies? Your health? Your emotional well-being? If you could complete your work without overtime, how would you spend the extra hours?

Bary C. Sherman, Senior Managing Partner

It's been a few years since Seneca made that observation. Perhaps, in today's fast-paced world filled with stress and unparalleled pressures, his words are even more appropriate now. Our most precious commodity, served to us in finite batches of unknown duration, is far too often spent (read "wasted") on unnecessary, unrewarding, and unfulfilling tasks. In this issue, we're going to examine one specific way that we squander our priceless resource of time: working overtime. Why do we do it? How can we stop doing it? What can we gain by not doing it?

Why Do We Do It?

First, let's eliminate the possibility that working overtime may serve as an excuse to escape from personal problems. If this is the case--working late to postpone going home to unhappy confrontations, to avoid spending the evening alone, to postpone tackling unwelcome projects-it will take more than improved work habits to solve those problems (although such improvements might help). When that's not the case, there are many contributing factors that lead to working overtime. Those listed below are some of the most common.

• DISORGANIZATION. A sloppy desk, stacks of overdue paperwork, undisciplined files, stacked messages (both answered and unanswered)-when you're surrounded by chaos, it's difficult to know where to begin. "Them just aren't enough hours in the day."
• PROCRASTINATION. Scarlett O'Hara had nothing on today's pressured executive, who responds to overwhelming work loads with the words, "tomorrow," "later," "after lunch,'' and "when I have more time.'" With constant practice, the procrastinator becomes increasingly proficient at the art of delaying the inevitable.
• INTERRUPTIONS. Unless it's your boss popping in to give you a raise, or someone from Marketing to announce a big sale, constant interruptions can be frustrating. If you're looking for an excuse to postpone performing unwanted tasks, however, they become another crutch. Time-consuming meetings also interrupt the work process.
• POOR PLANNING. Friend Seneca had a lot to say. "When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind." Without the grand design, or even 7a reasonably good sketch, work is performed piecemeal,' often poorly, and on a "crisis priority" basis. It's difficult to complete projects if there is no overall plan for their completion.
• A CLUTTERED MIND. When you're surrounded by a constantly chaotic environment, you can't escape from having an equally cluttered mind. The signals you receive--and send-are jumbled and it's hard to concentrate on one specific item at a time. This results from not having a "compulsion for completion".