Does your job rule your life? This is a question that is in the minds of a lot of people. In fact, many people work long hours every week. They take home a briefcase of work each night and each weekend. Holidays are a nuisance. They get in the way of work.
When looking for a theme for an e-book I remembered that I knew many employees who are actively looking for help to manage their jobs and their lives. I did some more research which revealed there is a large potential readership for a book that helps people to manage their jobs and their lives more effectively.
Identifying a large potential readership is important. This must be done before a book is written.
There is another essential component when seeking to identify a theme for a book. You must have something of value to say to your potential readership. Value is defined by the market.
When I wrote Warning! Your Job Is not Your Life I went straight to the main problem that so many people face. For some people in employment there is little more to life than work and more work.
The e-book I have written and published on this theme is short, to-the-point and it offers some easy-to-implement advice.
Even more important is the fact that the content of the book is built on personal experience. In the days when I was a manager I had to learn how to apply every one of the strategies I have since written about in order to avoid being overwhelmed by the job. Doing this in my first managerial role gave me back control of my life. Since I also ran staff training sessions for my colleagues, I was able to help them reclaim their lives, too.
Here are the seven strategies that I still use.
- Become less accessible.
- Challenge deadlines.
- Take a lunch break.
- Use your smartphone differently.
- Go home on time.
- Learn how to end conversations.
- Switch off from work.
What really helps readers to be confident that they will find useful advice if they buy the e-book. Warning! Your Job Is Not Your Life is the fact that all the strategies are set out in ways that can help the reader TODAY. Purchasers of my guide are buying something that will be of value to them.
To make the point it is worth focusing on one of the guide’s strategies. I became less accessible and gained more control over the job I then held by spending time looking all over the building and identifying areas that were used less than some others. I used to work in a storeroom at the top of a tower and thus avoided people. I sometimes sat in my car and worked – after making sure I was parked well away from any thoroughfare through the parking area. One of the people I trained used an area where cleaning materials were stored to get uninterrupted thinking time and he carried a folding stool with him to use when he was working quietly on his own.
An important point to remember when applying any of these strategies is that you must limit the period of your inaccessibility. Gain a quiet half hour every working day when people cannot find you and you are not available on the ‘phone and you will achieve so much more with your time.
By gaining control over a little of your time you can begin to reclaim your life, take less work home and allocate space in your schedule for things you want to do.
I have worked hard to help possible readers to become aware that they can do something NOW to reclaim their lives. What is interesting is that many of the e-book’s sales result from readers’ personal recommendations. This suggests that readers like the guide and find it helpful.
Does your job rule your life? There is no reason why it should!