Plan for work overflow

Reduce your stress by choosing when you can clock some extra time

We’ve probably all faced certain times when work can’t stay confined between 9 and 5. Maybe it’s because of a huge project with a tight deadline. Maybe it’s a predictably busy season, like audit and tax season for accountants. And sometimes, elements of our personal lives wind up taking big chunks of normal business hours and so we need to work outside those hours to fulfill our work responsibilities.

People can get very out of sorts about working at night or on weekends, and I get it. It’s not fun. But if it is going to happen, it’s best to identify the spots where you’d like it to happen so it’s less likely to slide into spots where you don’t want it to happen. Planning specific times for work overflow also means that work won’t always be an option, which can keep you from relaxing or enjoying anything else.

Everything can fit

For instance, when I’ve got something big I’ve got to finish, I have a few spots that can work. On nights my husband is home, he tends to play with our 5-year-old from 7:30-8:30 p.m., so this hour is available (I wish the 5-year-old went to bed easily, opening up a shift after his bedtime but…alas…this isn’t happening right now). A few mornings per week no one needs to be up before 7 a.m., which means that 6-7 a.m. is easily available. We have some childcare for the little guy on Saturday most weekends, or sometimes my husband takes our younger kids skiing on a weekend day, which means that I can claim a few hours (I did work from 12:30-3:45 p.m. last Saturday).

The upside of knowing these slots ahead of time is that it helps me relax. I’m not frantic as I’m needing to drive a kid somewhere at 5:00 p.m., thinking I need to be working, because I know that I have three hours blocked on the weekend. I can take 30 minutes to run during the day, even if it’s a very busy day, because I know I can make up the time from 7:30-8:30 p.m. that night. That keeps me from making the short-sighted choice of not exercising, thinking I’ll somehow get more done.

Now I know that not all work overflow is predictable. Sometimes people wind up staying late with little notice, and they don’t have the option to say, nope, Thursday night isn’t working for me, I’ll get to this Saturday morning.

But even if not all overflow is predictable, and even if not everyone has autonomy over their work hours, some overflow is predictable. And many people have some control, if not complete control, over their work time. Maybe you are managing toward a big deadline, and you know you need to make a plan to hit that deadline, but your manager will only be tightly involved on the details if things go wrong. It’s up to you to make it all come out right.

Make a plan

So identify work overflow spots. Maybe you extend your childcare one to two nights a week. You don’t have to use it, but it’s there if you need it. And if you don’t need it for work, maybe you and your spouse can do something fun, or you can do something one-on-one with each particular kid if you’ve got a big brood. Or maybe you have an agreement with your spouse that if things get harried you will get up at 5 a.m. to start work and he or she will cover the morning routine. Then you take over later in the day. Or you switch off with bedtime routines, so each of you has the option to work longer bits after dinner on those nights. You can each claim a 2-hour slot on the weekend if you choose, and use it for what you want (I mean, maybe you don’t want to work…but you can).

When you identify spots, and know how to seize them if necessary, you can feel more relaxed during busy seasons. You know you will be able to do the work that doesn’t fit between 9 and 5. And you don’t have to skip everything in your personal life thinking you should be working. The time is there, and you know where the time is. So things feel a lot more under control.