What are common work interruptions mentioned in the video?

Common interruptions include taking calls at the beach, texting from the grocery store, and emailing during family events.

What is the impact of work interruptions on personal life according to the video?

Work interruptions increase stress, undermine happiness, and reduce the meaningfulness of experiences.

How do work interruptions affect productivity?

They lead to lost productivity and increased employee depression due to stress and burnout.

What study findings are mentioned in the video?

One study found that parents using phones at a museum found the experience less meaningful and felt lonelier.

What is a suggested strategy for better managing time off?

One strategy is to treat weekends like a vacation, planning enjoyable activities without work distractions.

How can teams support each other's personal time goals?

Teams can set personal time goals, check progress, and help each other achieve them.

What does negotiating for more time entail?

It involves asking for extensions on work deadlines to protect personal time.

3 rules for better work-life balance | The Way We Work, a TED series

00:05:07

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c_xYLwOx-g

Summary

TLDRThe video highlights the pervasive issue of workplace interruptions encroaching on personal life, causing increased stress and diminished meaningful experiences. It suggests several strategies to combat this, including treating weekends like vacations, setting clear boundaries for personal time, negotiating for more time on work projects, and fostering team accountability. Studies cited indicate the negative impact of constant connectivity, such as reduced meaningfulness of experiences and increased feelings of loneliness.

Takeaways

📱 Constant work interruptions reduce the meaningfulness of experiences.
📉 Work interruptions lead to decreased productivity and increased employee stress.
🏖️ Treat weekends like vacations to enhance enjoyment and disconnect from work.
🚫 Set clear boundaries for personal time to prevent work encroachment.
🤝 Work as a team to support personal time goals and hold each other accountable.
🕒 Negotiate for more time on deadlines to protect personal life.
🔍 Studies show using phones during personal activities lessens meaningfulness and increases loneliness.
🔄 Small changes can help reclaim rest and improve work-life balance.
📈 Employees negotiating for time report lower stress and are seen as more professional.
📅 Plan non-work related activities during off-time to enhance leisure and relaxation.

Timeline

00:00:00 - 00:05:07
Many of us experience constant interruptions throughout our days, even on our days off, such as taking work calls or emails during personal time. We often dismiss these as minor, but they significantly intrude into our personal lives, affecting stress levels, happiness, and work-life balance. Research highlights the negative impact of this constant work intrusion, causing reduced meaningful experiences and increased stress. Companies also suffer productivity losses due to employee stress. The speaker shares personal experiences of prioritizing work over family moments and emphasizes the cumulative effect of these choices on one's life meaning and joy. The pandemic offers an opportunity to reshape our work culture to better respect personal time. Strategies include reframing rest, treating weekends like vacations, setting clear time boundaries, working with teams to uphold personal time goals, and negotiating more personal time to prevent work overflow. These changes help in reclaiming personal time and improving life satisfaction, setting an example for others to follow.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

What are common work interruptions mentioned in the video?
Common interruptions include taking calls at the beach, texting from the grocery store, and emailing during family events.
What is the impact of work interruptions on personal life according to the video?
Work interruptions increase stress, undermine happiness, and reduce the meaningfulness of experiences.
How do work interruptions affect productivity?
They lead to lost productivity and increased employee depression due to stress and burnout.
What study findings are mentioned in the video?
One study found that parents using phones at a museum found the experience less meaningful and felt lonelier.
What is a suggested strategy for better managing time off?
One strategy is to treat weekends like a vacation, planning enjoyable activities without work distractions.
How can teams support each other's personal time goals?
Teams can set personal time goals, check progress, and help each other achieve them.
What does negotiating for more time entail?
It involves asking for extensions on work deadlines to protect personal time.

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Subtitles

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00:00:00
Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier
00:00:00
For so many of us,
00:00:01
myself included,
00:00:02
our days feel filled with a million small interruptions.
00:00:06
And this is true even of our days off.
00:00:09
Maybe you've taken a call at the beach,
00:00:11
texted your boss from the grocery store
00:00:13
or emailed a colleague while on a picnic with your family.
00:00:17
We’ve convinced ourselves that these behaviors are no big deal.
00:00:20
It's just one email.
00:00:23
But there's a real cost to these interruptions,
00:00:26
and there are smart strategies we can all take
00:00:28
to better protect our time.
00:00:30
(Music)
00:00:32
[The Way We Work]
00:00:35
These moments seem so small at the time,
00:00:37
and yet research suggests they add up to a tremendous loss.
00:00:41
The constant creep of work into our personal lives
00:00:44
can increase our stress
00:00:46
and undermine our happiness.
00:00:48
So just what is the cost?
00:00:50
In one study,
00:00:51
researchers recruited parents who were visiting a science museum with their kids.
00:00:56
Some parents were told to check their phone as much as possible;
00:00:59
others were told to check their phone as little as possible.
00:01:02
After the visit,
00:01:03
parents who used their phones reported
00:01:05
that the experience was significantly less meaningful.
00:01:07
They also felt much lonelier.
00:01:09
In another study,
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tourists who were asked to have their phones out
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while visiting an iconic church
00:01:15
remembered fewer details a week later.
00:01:17
And in my research,
00:01:18
employees who were paid for their performance
00:01:20
spent increasingly less time interacting with friends and family,
00:01:24
and more and more time interacting with colleagues and clients.
00:01:28
These constant interruptions come at a cost to organizations, too.
00:01:32
Companies lose 32 days of productivity each year to employee depression,
00:01:37
which is often caused by the stress and burnout of our always-on culture.
00:01:42
Despite knowing better,
00:01:44
I, too, have found myself focusing on “urgent work distractions”
00:01:48
over important life moments.
00:01:50
Most recently, I found myself texting a client
00:01:53
while in the middle of my first child’s first ultrasound ...
00:01:57
happy client,
00:01:59
guilty mom-to-be.
00:02:00
When you add up all of these moments,
00:02:02
the sum total is a life shortchanged on meaning,
00:02:06
joy,
00:02:07
connection
00:02:08
and even memory.
00:02:09
As we remake our models of work in the wake of the pandemic,
00:02:12
now is our opportunity to create a new culture that respects time.
00:02:17
And the way to make this really big change
00:02:19
is through small steps that we can take right now.
00:02:22
The first step that we need to take is to reframe rest.
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Reflect for a moment about what you think about when you hear the word “rest.”
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Sounds amazing, right?
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But in my mind,
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I immediately worry about not being productive enough
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or letting down my colleagues.
00:02:39
When we do have time off,
00:02:41
we need to find ways in which we can enjoy the present moment
00:02:44
and savor the leisure time that we have available,
00:02:47
as opposed to seeing it as an unproductive barrier to our work.
00:02:51
One specific strategy we can take
00:02:53
is to treat our upcoming weekend like a vacation.
00:02:56
On Friday afternoon,
00:02:57
jot down how you would act and behave as if you were on a holiday.
00:03:01
Maybe you and your partner will buy a bottle of wine
00:03:03
and watch online clips of the Eiffel Tower.
00:03:06
Maybe you’ll visit a local café
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and listen to some live music.
00:03:09
Or maybe you'll go for a long walk in the middle of the day
00:03:12
with no phone and no agenda.
00:03:13
The plan doesn't have to be expensive or extravagant.
00:03:17
Another strategy you can take is to create clear boundaries
00:03:21
for your time off.
00:03:23
Instead of saying, "I'm out of the office.
00:03:25
Feel free to Slack me whenever,”
00:03:27
say, "I'll be offline.
00:03:29
Call me only if it's urgent."
00:03:32
To uphold these personal goals,
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work together as a team.
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Set team goals for personal time.
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Do it publicly,
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collect data
00:03:40
and hold each other accountable.
00:03:42
These goals could sound like,
00:03:44
“I will not check email between 6:00 and 8:00pm;”
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“I will have dinner with my family four nights a week;”
00:03:49
or "I will go for a jog midday."
00:03:51
Check in on your team’s progress
00:03:53
and see how everyone's doing.
00:03:55
If you or your teammates are unsuccessful,
00:03:58
work together to help accomplish personal goals.
00:04:00
Lastly, you can negotiate for more time
00:04:03
to prevent work from creeping into your personal life.
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In business school, I teach students to negotiate for salary
00:04:09
but realize I spoke almost nothing about negotiating for more time.
00:04:14
What does this look like in practice?
00:04:16
You can ask for more time on adjustable deadlines at work.
00:04:19
If your client asks for a deliverable Monday morning,
00:04:22
ask for an extension until Tuesday afternoon
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so you don’t find yourself working on your well-deserved weekend.
00:04:29
And don't worry too much about reputation.
00:04:32
Quality truly is the metric that matters most.
00:04:35
In my data,
00:04:36
employees who proactively asked for more time
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reported lower levels of stress and burnout,
00:04:41
and were seen as more committed and professional by their colleagues.
00:04:45
These are small but powerful changes to not only reframe rest,
00:04:49
but to reclaim it.
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Once you discover the profound impact that these changes can have,
00:04:56
you’ll feel empowered to demand that others respect
00:04:59
and accommodate your approach to time.
00:05:01
Maybe they’ll even feel inspired
00:05:03
to piece together the fractured moments of their lives, too.