I am not really suggesting you actually do this, but evidence shows that in today’s business environment it is entirely possible to hold down 2 (maybe more) jobs at the same time. This may not be true in all situations, but I claim it is (very) often possible. A better way might be to use your capability to get more done and get ahead in your current job.
Low management expectations and bad practice make it possible. Management expectations are based on their reality; based on what they experience and not on what could be. Organizations’ have simply never delivered to their potential.
Managers are at Fault
Every manager’s personal objective is to demonstrate his high workload, many important tasks and projects he plans to deliver for the company. Managers want to show their value to the company. Such managers overload their organisation with jobs or projects that ‘must’ be worked on and should be achieved. Both managers and their employees are so loaded with work they hardly ever have a spare minute. Not only are they 100% occupied, but at the same time the multi-tasking that goes on is the premium capacity killer for both individuals and organisations. We all know it and yet we continue to insist on (over) full loads - a long list of tasks and projects (all with priority 1!).
Employees are at Fault too
Most employees feel pressure to be constantly busy. If they are not they worry about longevity in their job or the diminishing likelihood of promotion. No work and our job may be cut and cost reduced or we are not visible to those that may help us get a promotion. Not wrong if many, as most people believe, “a resource standing idle is a major waste”. Employees therefore go out of their way to find more work to make sure they are always busy (many stay late in the hope management sees). They effectively aggravate managers’ behaviour. Multitasking in organisations increases even more.
The Damage of Multitasking
Our brains are wired to focus on one thing at a time. Hopping around among or between projects (or tasks) cost every project buckets of time. Every idle project must wait for the person to return to it. Everything takes much longer. Benefits are delayed. A person loses time whenever they return to a task or project. They must recall all that was done before – at the very least read their job notes; that hopefully are complete. (Just think about reading a book. You put your book down to sleep or do something else. When you come back to the book, how quickly are you back in the flow of the story?) Hopping between tasks not only costs time; it also has a detrimental effect on quality and as a consequence more time, repairing poor quality, is lost that should have been available for something else.
How can you hold down 2 Jobs?
Follow some simple rules:
- Avoid multi-tasking like the plague – avoid it as much as you can. With more than one task or project, make sure you always complete a job before starting a new one.
- Minimise the number of things you are working on to 3 or so. Prioritize your jobs clearly.
- Deliver your tasks quickly … by staying focused on just a few tasks and completing them one after another.
- Make sure your boss knows you have completed a task or project. Don’t let him give you more than the small number you can handle effectively.
- If you follow these simple rules your boss will see a greater flow of projects coming from you than from anyone else.
- You need much less (multi-tasking) effort to create this flow and will therefore have the capacity for your second job!
- Your colleagues will wonder how the hell you do this.
- If you manage a group … the same rules apply.
