The Trick to Time Management Lies Within Work-Life Balance
Millennials have an admirable reputation for being eager, progressive, tech-savvy digital natives. In comparison to the preceding Boomer generation, they also want more work-life balance and aren’t shy about insisting upon it.
A study commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that “millennials do not believe that productivity should be measured by the number of hours worked at the office, but by the output of the work performed.”
Statistically, members of Generation Y are more educated, but also seem smarter about what’s most important for an enriching life, listing enjoying quality time with family and friends as a major factor. Could it be that they are just more astute too about how to leverage technology and more efficient ways of doing things to give them more time for what matters most?
It appears so.
Quality time drives greater efficiency.
Millennials represent the highest number of mobile adopters. And according to Mandy Long, millennial CEO and founder of Patronus Health, her generation will also outsource whatever they can to make them more productive and free up their personal time. For Long, that’s a priority. As an entrepreneur with a three-year-old and 18-month-old twin sons, time is gold.
“Life is demanding. You need to know what is most vital to you and appreciate what your time is worth,” said Long. “Once you figure that out, the decision to ask for help becomes easy. It helps you focus on your identified life priorities.”
For Long, outsourcing isn’t just about ordering dinner in because you don’t have time to cook or hiring someone else to clean your house, although those can be considered a source of farming out work. She thinks of anything that adds stress or takes time away from her priorities as a candidate for outsourcing.
Another Millennial Carlos Paz, CEO of Fridayd, a job search and application technology company, agrees with Long. “Our solution enables job seekers to outsource their job search, liberating them to focus on more differentiating or fulfilling activities. People in every generation segment are using Fridayd, but we see the highest number of millennial adopters.”
Both founders built their own businesses on outsourcing models because, in part, they understood the value of outsourcing in their own lives. Entrepreneurs typically narrow in on what problem they can solve when starting a business. “For me,” said Paz, “it was about how I could make life easier and more enriching for people by freeing up their time. As a millennial, that’s something I also wanted for myself. Why work harder than you have to?”
Long, a healthcare technology veteran, recent recipient of a 40 under 40 award and one of 2017’s Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT, saw her own family members trying to sort through the medical maze and struggle with understanding treatment options and managing costs. She founded Patronus Health to match advocates with patients to help them navigate through the healthcare system and reduce their medical spending.
Quality time and how to get it.
When most people hear the word outsourcing, they think of enterprise organizations using outside sources to get work done. But outsourcing is rapidly on the rise at the individual level, and there is an app for almost any outsourced job. Need your car washed? It’s a tap away on a mobile device.
Outsourcing is simply a division of work so that specialists and experts can accomplish tasks more efficiently, making life easier and dreams more attainable through better management of work and time.
It’s more than outsourcing that saves time, though. Echo boomers fully embrace the use of technology to maximize time and minimize effort. Long, for instance, utilizes Waze reminders to leave on time and get real-time traffic updates. She does most of her general shopping on Amazon, grocery shopping on Shipt and clothing shopping on Le Tote or Stitch Fix, whereas older consumers may spend unnecessary hours traveling to and through supermarkets, malls, and discount stores to find the same items.
“I generally reach for my phone or another mobile device when I have a need,” said Long. I can do online what might gobble up huge amounts of time otherwise. I can get my car washed with the Washe app with far less hassle than going to a car wash.” Birchbox is her go-to for cosmetics, Trello for staying organized, Spotify for music, and, of course, Uber and Lyft for catching a ride to anywhere when she doesn’t have her own car.
Also a fan of Spotify because he needs music to get work done, Paz’s favorites include Slack for communications and project coordination, Calendly for easy scheduling and appointment setting, and S Note for dictating and documenting ideas. Airbnb is his go-to for travel lodging.
“I think our generation is a little more vocal and aggressive about making sure we get what we want, and I think that’s a good thing,” said Paz. “I love what I do, but nothing makes me happier than being with my family at the end of the day and getting the maximum amount of hours with them.”
Millennials easily get the concept of working smarter to achieve more – faster. They are teaching other generations about one of their most prized possessions: quality time.