Consulting Career
How can I make time for exercise and a life outside consulting?
I'm worried about fitting exercise and ordinary life around consulting hours, especially in the Middle East. I've heard about firms' work-life initiatives, but what can I actually do day to day to make the workload more manageable?
Ian’s Answer
How do you maintain a better worklife balance?
First: Assume that you won't
Second: Set expectations so low, that anything is a "plus"
Ok, now that we have that out of the way, here are a few things you can do:
Figure out what work matters and what doesn't - Oftentimes, what you're doing can wait until the next day.
Iterate and use 80/20 rule - Don't spend forever on making something look perfect before it has been reviewed. Gaurenteed the Principal/Partner will tear it up regardless, you may as well get feedback early on initial thoughts!
Be efficient - Work efficiently to have more free time, multi-task your chores so as to have more free time, play sports with a friend as a catchup (duals as exercise AND social), etc. etc.
Pay for things - You're earning a lot of money...so pay for time! Pay for drycleaners, home cleaners, babysitters, prepared food, etc. Especially, use your food budget during the week to eat healthy but without prep