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The BIGG Successs Show

Why It Pays to be Late for Work

Duration:
5m
Broadcast on:
11 Apr 2008
Audio Format:
other

Achieving work - life balance by putting life before work. Read the show summary at biggsuccess.com.
Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today, we'll discuss why it pays to be late for work. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. Friend of mine said something thought provoking. He said that he can usually control when he gets to work, but he can't always control when he leaves. So that got us thinking and Mary Lynn, I never thought I would say this, but it pays to be late for work. Well, or it can get you fired. That's true too. Obviously it depends on your job, your responsibilities. So what we're saying today certainly doesn't apply to everyone, but it is certainly worth thinking about. And it doesn't apply to you, Mary Lynn. Yeah, wait, come on. Well, it is relevant to a lot of us, right? And you know, the thing is we love our work, but we constantly have more to do than we can get done. And we're fine with that because we have big goals and we love our work, but when we get started, we just really don't want to quit because we're trying to get to that next level of big success. So we're talking about work-life balance here, and sometimes the best way to balance your life is to fit things in that are important to you before work. And some examples are, you know, as a boy, I remember my mom and dad, they thought it was good to get the whole family together in the morning and have some family time reading some scripture, maybe an inspirational reading and having some time together to pray as a family. It just became part of the family morning routine. They felt like this was the best way to start the day and it meant the whole family would be together at least one time that day. - That's pretty cool. I've got a girlfriend who loves yoga. And when she started her new job, which requires her to work late quite often, she didn't have time to fit that in anymore. So she talked to her boss and now she comes into work an hour later so she can do her exercise in the morning and she says she's much more productive and sane. - Did you say insane? - No, she was going insane. So now she's sane. - Well, I have a friend whose hobby is woodworking and every morning he starts his day by spending a little time in his workbench. And he says that if he doesn't do it first thing, he knows he's not gonna do it at all and it's really good medicine for him. - Also, we have a friend who is starting her own business and she's taking an online accounting course. So it's the first thing she does in the morning after she's dropped the kids off at school. - And we have some other friends who, you know, they wanted the whole family to gather at dinner, that whole Norman Rockwell, you know, family of America kind of picture, right? - Leave it to Beaver, yeah. - But the thing is, it never seemed to work with their teenage kids, as you probably can imagine. - They need a separate PDA just for the kids' schedules, right? - Exactly. Well, so what they did was they started eating breakfast together. Now, it doesn't fit everyone's schedule every day but they found that they eat together much more often than they would if they were still trying to do it at dinner. - Well, we've got a lot of friends who are late to work every day. - Yeah, in some cases, their bosses don't like it. (laughing) - So how do you buy yourself some extra time in the morning? 'Cause this all sounds fine and good but how do you make it happen? And we're gonna share some ideas for that coming up. - Today we're talking about why it pays to be late for work. And the thing is, you have more control over when you start your day than when you finish. - We've shared some stories about how some people are making the most of their mornings by getting to work a little later. So how can you get that same flexibility? - And let's look at two scenarios. First of all, let's assume that you have complete control of your schedule. Sure, you may have that occasional day that requires you to be to work early but for the most part, you set the time you arrive each day. - So you might want to start off with just a day or two. You don't have to necessarily jump in with both feet. Pick a day of the week and try to get to work late. (laughing) - Just try. - Yeah, see how it works for you. Are you happier? You very well may find that getting to work later helps you get more done while you're there. - And if it works for you, you can always add days later. The second scenario is that you would need to negotiate to come in later. - Like my friend who pointed out to her boss that she was working a lot of evenings. She talked to her boss about it. He completely understood and accepted her proposal to come in later. - Well, and the moral of the story then is to use any leverage that you may have. If you're a valued employee, there's a good chance that your boss will readily accept you coming in later. - And again, it doesn't have to be five days a week, maybe just a day or two. - And use it as a bargaining tool. Maybe the next time you're up for a pay raise might be worth a little less money to get more flexibility with your time. - You can get a written summary of today's show on our blog at big success. That's bigwith2gsuccess.com. Let's get our quote for the day. - Our quote today comes from Robert Orban, who said, "Time flies. It's up to you to be the navigator." - So put the brakes on your morning rush to give yourself some extra drive. - Next time, tax season's almost done, right? - We're gonna talk about going from refund to riches. - Woohoo, until then, here's to your big success. - The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. (crowd cheering) [BLANK_AUDIO]