Personal life: Don't have one? Get one.


The HooK: THE BRAZEN CAREERIST- Personal life: Don't have one? Get one.







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Here's a New Year's resolution you should have made but didn't: Get more control of your time.


It's hard to leave the office at a reasonable time of day when your workplace culture centers on long hours. But the cost of not leaving work is high: A half-built life and career burnout.






2. Be clear on your schedule and priorities. Once you figure out which projects matter a lot and which don't, get the high-priority work. Then you can jump at the chance to tell someone handing out low-profile projects that you're booked– working on something that is a higher priority.


3. Go public. Tell people about your schedule ahead of time. For example, "I have Portuguese lessons on Thursdays at 7pm. The class is important to me." When you plan a vacation, announce it early and talk about it a lot. The more people know about how much you have been preparing and anticipating your trip, the less likely people will be to ask you to cancel it.


4. Find a silent mentor. Look for someone who is respected but does not work insane hours. This will take careful hunting because this person is not likely to be obvious about it. Watch him from afar, and figure out how he operates. Few people will want to mentor you in the art of dodging work– it's bad for one's image. But you could enlist the person to help you in other areas and hope he decides to help you in the workload area as well.


5. Find a new specialty. There are some careers that hold no hope for shorter hours. Video game production and surgery come to mind. At the beginning of your career, you're in a good spot to change your path if you see no hope for a personal life on the horizon. A career change is easier when your career is new. Don't take this opportunity for granted; it will be much harder to change when you've invested a decade in the career.


6. Respect your personal life so that other people will, too. If you don't create a life outside of work that is joyful and engaging, then you won't feel a huge need to leave work. And if you don't project a passion for life outside of work, then no one will think twice about asking you to live at work.









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