I wish I could but I'll be working

Even if you work flexibly, you can protect your work hours

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that work is a perfectly good reason to
decline to do something. Even if you work flexibly, no

(00:25):
one else is going to protect your work hours for you.
If you are serious about doing big things, then you
need enough space to work. So if someone works full
time in an office, most people understand that they will
not be readily available for certain things. When the neighbors

(00:45):
dog walker cancels, they do not ask if you can
cover if they know that you are sitting in an
office thirty minutes away. Men who work full time in particular,
seem not to attract these sorts of requests. I know
from stories people send me that even if the male
half of a two parent family is listed as the

(01:06):
first contact for the school, the school will often still
call the woman because it's assumed that the man is
working and can't be interrupted. Mom, on the other hand,
is free game. This is of course frustrating in families
where mom is working far less flexibly than dad, but
cultural assumptions can run pretty deep. Now, I would note

(01:31):
that even so called not flexible work turns out to
be more flexible than people often think. It was once
assumed that medicine wasn't flexible at all. When women became
a higher percentage of physicians, all of a sudden, people
started writing think pieces about medicine being a flexible career.
In a lot of cases, people who work full time

(01:52):
in offices could in fact volunteer somewhere during the day,
or pick someone up from the airport or run a carpool.
It would just be inconvenient, and they might need to
explain themselves, and what they're being asked to do is
not as high a priority as the inconvenience they would face.
Work provides a ready reason to say no that people

(02:15):
don't really question. Hence, the existence of work often keeps
these requests from ever even bubbling to the surface. Even
if you work flexibly, though this can still be the case,
the inconvenience factor or the opportunity cost feels bigger to
you than doing whatever it is that people think you

(02:37):
can do. If morning hours are your most productive hours
of the day, then just because you theoretically could drive
your kids to school every morning doesn't mean you should.
Just because you theoretically could do a dentist appointment at
ten a m. Doesn't mean you should. The dentist probably
offers other appointments that are not during your peak productive times.

(03:00):
So if they call and ask if you can move
yours will you'll be working. They need to find a
different spot that works for you. If someone asks you
to do something at a time when you would like
to be working, you can simply announce that you can't,
even if you do not have something scheduled at that moment.
This is time that you can use for long term projects,

(03:22):
or to pitch new work, or to reach out to people,
or to think. Those may all be more valuable to
you than whatever else you could theoretically be doing. If
you like, you can use the phrase I wish I could,
but I'll be working even if you are not on
the clock, even if you don't have a scheduled meeting,

(03:46):
even if you don't have a looming deadline. It is
absolutely valid to protect your worktime. Frankly, it may be
even more important to protect your worktime if you work flexibly,
because no one else is going to protect it for you.
If the little white lie of claiming you are wishing
to do whatever it is doesn't sit well, and I'll
admit that it doesn't really for me. Then skip that

(04:07):
part of the statement. You can simply say I'll be
working or sorry, that doesn't work, I'll be working now.
Of course, there are exceptions, as there are for people
in offices too. If a close fender family member has
an emergency and needs you, you want to be there
for them. But I would use the same standards if

(04:28):
you work flexibly, as if you worked in an office
and had to ask your boss's permission to tend to
an urgent matter, it would need to be a really
good reason. For other cases, if you were planning to work,
you can just decline your work is valid even if
it doesn't look exactly like other people's work. It still

(04:50):
takes time and your time is valuable in the meantime.
This is Laura, Thanks for listening to making the most
of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If

(05:11):
you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me
at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is
a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen

(05:34):
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