Simplify Your Work Life: 100 Ways to Change the Way You Work So You Have More Time to Live

Overview

With more than two million copies of the Simplify series books in print -- now there are two million and one reasons to simplify, simplify, simplify.

Elaine St. James' Simplify series has taught the world how to start doing less and enjoying it more. Now Elaine teaches us to balance one of life's most difficult areas: the work world. Filled with tremendously helpful advice, and easy yet profoundly smart suggestions, her new book shows us big and small ways to scale down and ...

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Simplify Your Work Life: Ways to Change the Way You Work so You Have More Time to Live

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Overview

With more than two million copies of the Simplify series books in print -- now there are two million and one reasons to simplify, simplify, simplify.

Elaine St. James' Simplify series has taught the world how to start doing less and enjoying it more. Now Elaine teaches us to balance one of life's most difficult areas: the work world. Filled with tremendously helpful advice, and easy yet profoundly smart suggestions, her new book shows us big and small ways to scale down and simplify life on the job, such as:

--Breaking the habit of bringing work home from the office
--Estimating the time it will take to complete a project, then double the estimate
--Cutting back on the amount of time you spend working
--Learning how to make the right decisions quickly

Written in the same upbeat, relaxed, and matter-of-fact tone that won millions of readers to the simplicity movement, Simplify Your Work Life is certain to attract even more followers.

Elaine's syndicated weekly column Simplify Your Life is carried in 50 newspapers nationwide and is read by more than 2 million fans each week.

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780786885961
  • Publisher: Hyperion
  • Publication date: 1/2/2002
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 296
  • Sales rank: 776,757
  • Product dimensions: 5.37 (w) x 6.00 (h) x 0.75 (d)

Meet the Author

Elaine St. James had her own real estate investing business for over 15 years. She is the author of five bestselling books, including Simplify Your Life, Inner Simplicity, and Simplify Your Life with Your Kids. She now lives a quiet, simple life in Santa Barbara, California.
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Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

A few years back I had a very hectic life and an even more hectic work schedule, the pace of which was probably not all that different from yours. Over the previous fifteen years I managed my own real estate investing business, I ran seminars, and I wrote a book on real estate investing. I got into real estate because I didn't know what else to do, and once I was in I never had the time to figure out how to get out.

Eventually I was working sixty hours a week and was seldom able to spend quality time with my family and friends or even to have time on my own to relax and just putter around the house. I rarely took a vacation and almost never thought about how work had taken over my life.

One day, while looking at my to-do lists, I realized how complicated and out of balance my life had become. I decided right then and there that it was time to simplify. I started by getting rid of a lot of the clutter. I streamlined the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, and the other household routines; I minimized my wardrobe and drastically changed my consumer habits; and I learned how to say no to the demands on my time.

I also cut back my work schedule. It was a step-by-step process, but by working less I found that I was not only more productive, I also had the time to be more creative and to think about what I wanted to do with my life. Over the next several years I saw that it was time to let go of the real estate business completely. It seemed the height of insanity to spend the majority of my time doing something I didn't truly enjoy.

Then, when people started asking me how I had simplified my life, I took the leap and wrote a book about it. That book, Simplify Your Life, became a bestseller. With all the media interviews, the promotional tours, and another book in progress, my work life suddenly had the potential to get complicated all over again. But I was committed to keeping life simple, which I've done. As my writing career developed, I gradually went from my frenetic sixty-hour week to working roughly half that time.

Since then I've come to a new understanding about my life, my work, and my reasons for working. I believed for years that I was working for the money. But I found, as many people have, that money simply isn't reason enough to keep up the grind. I found, as many people are finding, that I'm most productive, most committed, most happy, and most financially rewarded when I love the work I do.

So, contrary to what some may believe, simplifying is not about retreating to a cabin in the woods and leading a dull, inactive existence. Rather, cutting back your hectic work pace gives you the opportunity to make sure that you're doing work you love. If you're not, you can change what you do. Simplifying will also help you create the balance you're seeking in your work life, your family life, and your personal life. Out of that balance you'll have more clarity and enthusiasm to meet your goals. You'll learn how to achieve the success you want without stress and overwork. And simplifying will give you the time to develop a rich and rewarding inner life. Having that inner connection will make it so much easier to move beyond society's demands and expectations about work.

You might have any number of reasons to simplify your work life and any number of goals in mind for doing so.

You may be looking for ways to cut back on the amount of time you work so you'll have time to spend with your family and to do your own puttering around the house. I'll share many ways to free up more time in Parts 1 and 2.

You may love your work but feel that the demands on your time keep you from getting as much done each day as you know you could. In Part 3 I'll show you how to be more productive so you can can cut back on the number of hours you work each week.

You may find that one of the reasons you work so much is that you just can't say no and that inability to set appropriate boundaries keeps you chained to your job. I'll show you some things I've learned about setting boundaries and working effectively with others in Part 4.

You may be intrigued by the idea of simplifying your work life but believe that it's just not possible financially for you to change the way you work. In Part 5 I'll show you how to address the financial issues that may be keeping you locked into a work situation you're not happy with and how to build a new level of financial freedom and security for you and your family.

You may want to restructure your current work by telecommuting, job sharing, arranging a more flexible schedule, or even starting your own business. The opportunities for new ways to work are practically unlimited today. I'll discuss many of these options in Part 6.

You may be tied to outdated ways of thinking about your work and the hours you must spend earning a living, but you should know that there's a whole new world out there now. Just changing the way you think about work will give you a new lease on your work life. You'll find some ways to do that in Part 7.

Though many of the ideas in this book describe office situations, they're relevant for all walks of life. No matter what kind of work you do, you'll find numerous ways to cut back, work more effectively, set appropriate boundaries, become more efficient with your money, and begin to take advantage of the changes that are happening in the workplace.

I invite you to join me in moving with purpose and intention to a simpler work life. This might appear to be a gigantic leap from where you're standing, but once you start the process you'll be able to look back and see that it was really quite a small step. That step is to decide, right now, that you'll do what it takes to keep your work in balance with the rest of your life.

I've been where you are now. I know how challenging it can be to change the way you work. But if I did it — and, as we'll see thousands of others are doing it — you can, too. Come along with me. Let me show you how you can change the way you work so you have more time to live.

ONE

Cutting Back on the Amount of Time You Work

1. Join the Revolution

If you're thinking of cutting back on the amount of time you work, you're not alone. Thousands of American workers are cutting back. After nearly a quarter century of exhausting work schedules, we're coming to our senses and starting to make some changes. A recent Yankelovich poll shows that we're changing how much we work: One in five of us says we've taken a cut in pay to work less. We're changing how we work: Nearly half say we've changed jobs to have more family time. We're changing the way we think about work: Eight out of ten people say we admire someone who puts family before work.

Look around. You probably know people who've cut back their work schedules, who've moved to worker-friendly offices, who've created a more flexible schedule, or who have in one way or another made significant changes in the way they work. Certainly you've read about them. Practically every magazine or newspaper you pick up these days has a story about how people are looking for more balance in their lives and have made the decision to work less. And their numbers are growing every day. The Families and Work Institute reports that in a survey conducted in 1992, 47 percent of the respondents said they wanted to work less; in 1997, 63 percent said they wanted to work less. According to the Trends Research Institute, simplifying will continue to be one of the leading trends of the new millennium.

In addition to the millions of baby boomers who're cutting back, there are millions of GenXers coming into the workplace who've seen their parents burn out working long hours for companies that didn't value their efforts or treated them as a disposable resource. Many of these new workers want to create a more balanced work life than their parents had. I believe there'll soon come a time when our work schedules of the last two decades are seen as a period of temporary cultural insanity.

I invite you to join me and thousands of others in cutting back on the amount of time you work. In this part I'll describe a variety of ways that helped make it possible for me to cut my work schedule from sixty hours a week to roughly thirty. Obviously this didn't happen overnight, and many of the steps I talk about throughout the book helped as well. But freeing up some of the big chunks of time, as I discuss here, is a good place to start.

Copyright © 2001 Elaine St. James

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 29, 2001

    Simple Ideas for Carving Some Time for Your Life from Work

    A recent survey reported that the average working woman in America puts in an 85 hour week between her job and home chores. Many career-obsessed men also spend that amount of time on work, commuting, and travel combined. While I have read many books on how to be more successful at work, this is the first one I have read that works on your effectiveness while reducing your hours and stress. I found it relaxing to even contemplate the subject. The author speaks from her own experience, having gone from being an active head of her own real estate investing activities for 15 years to successful, best-selling author of five previous books. In the process, she cut her work week down to 30 hours . . . and eventually quadrupled her income in the process. She reports that recent Yankelovich surveys show that 80 percent of people approve of those who put their families ahead of work, half of the people have taken jobs that allow them to get more time away from work, and one-fifth changed jobs for lower-paying employment in exchange for more free time. There is no doubt in my mind that if you follow through on even 10 percent of what she suggests you will spend less time working, feel better, and be a lot more fun to be around. The book is organized into seven sections, comprised of 85 individual concepts. The seven sections are: (1) Cutting back on the amount of time you work (2) Learning to seize blocks of time in ways that allow you to have more time to get things done (3) Being more productive when you are working (4) Being more productive in your relationships with people while working (5) Being more effective with the money you earn and save (6) Changing the way you work to provide more flexibility (7) Changing the way you think about work. Like many books filled with lots of lists, the materials are complete enough for anyone in somes cases (like stop working weekends), while much less than what you need in other cases (making better decisions, starting a business, and improving your money management). In the latter cases, I suggest that you also read books about personal decision making (such as 'Smart Choices') and improving your finances (like 'The Finance Doctor') that have a bit more meat on them. You can obviously go on to more advanced material as your interest and expertise grow. In a few sections, you are encouraged to use 'body-mind' techniques based on meridians (accupuncture points). These I will leave it up to you to assess. I have no experience here to draw on. I would suggest that you add meditation to the list of what is encouraged here. I also think that those who would just like less stress will find this book helpful, even if you don't want to cut down your work week. A good complementary book for women is 'Outsmarting Female Fatigue.' For those sections that were complete enough on their own that no further reading is needed, I was impressed by how many included sample dialogues that you can use to help you negotiate changes in your workplace. Most people will benefit from that kind of help. We often say 'yes' because we

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 2, 2001

    Finally! Relief for the overworked masses

    In the early pages of this book, Ms. James invites us to learn how to simplify our work life so that we have more time to live, and she certainly delivers! From cutting back our work hours, to switching jobs for improved lifestyle, Simplify Your Work Life offers hope for the overworked masses. I really enjoyed reading all the insightful statistics included in the book because they revealed so much about our society and its expectations-- we have longer work days but crave more time with our family. Beyond a philosophical book which labels the problem, Simplify Your Work Life provides multiple solutions for loving our work and living with less. This book is a must read for anyone suffering from office overload.

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