You work longer hours than other co-workers. You always find yourself the last person to go home. You sometimes bring your work home too. You spend more time preparing for that proposal than helping your children with their homework.

You do not have time for meals, exercise or even to keep a short chat with your family members. Your children are treating you like a stranger. Your spouse, no matter how patient he/she is, does not know what to do with you.

You are under tremendous stress and do not know where to run to!

You may not know this; however, there are millions of people out there like you! They are all working longer hours than usual, sacrificing their relationship and family for the sake of money and a job!

-         Are you are after a promotion?

-         Do you need the extra money?

-         Does your boss like working long hours?

-         Is it a tradition of the organization to wait till the boss leaves?

-         Do your co-workers do that?

-         Do you want to impress your boss?

-         Are you incompetent and could not finish your work during working hours?

Whatever the reasons are, working long hours will eventually become a stressful habit.

- Complete your own work first

The foremost mission in any position you are assigned is to complete your own work first. You must complete you task in time, long before the deadline.

If your work involved other co-workers, brief them before you start, on the importance of time management. Make sure everyone delivers the result in time. Tell them your expectations.

- Do not try to impress your boss by doing ‘over-time’

If your boss loves to work long hours, there is no such thing as you must follow what he does. He is the boss, remember? It may his habit or he just want to hang out a little later for something else. Your life does not revolve around the job or your boss!

You do not have to do anything to impress your boss. He has enough problems to deal with.

- Minimize interruptions from co-workers.

Make it a point to tell others that you would not welcome any interruptions from them unless it is urgent. Casual chatting is not welcome at all.

If it is too difficult to express in words, hang a sign that says, ‘No chats. Busy now!’ Your co-workers will understand. It may be better this way than to be told off right at the face.

Keep your telephone calls to a minimum. Ask the callers to leave messages when you are not around. Instead of spending time to talk on the telephone, send a fax or an email. These days, most organizations are using internal chat programs. Use the program wisely to get your work done.

- Do not offer to do things for others

When you were first hired, you were not told that you should solve other people’s problems. Now, even if you have the expertise and time, do not offer to do things for others. You have enough problems of your own.

Once you started, there will be an endless stream of requests. You will not be credited for your contribution. Instead you have to put in your precious time and effort to do the work for them.

- Fend yourself from co-workers who like to dump their work on others

There are many co-workers who know of their incompetence but are never ashamed to admit them. They take for granted that there are others to 'complete' what they could not do. These co-workers are able to convince your boss that you or your team are is best to ‘finish’ the assignments.

Your boss will assign the ‘dump’ assignments to you or your team. Use some tact to avoid these assignments. Give good excuses. Persuade your boss that you cannot handle both assignments at once. Inform him you will accept the assignment on an ‘either/or’ basis. No boss would jeopardize his own projects for the sake of others.

Do be reminded that nobody will credit you for the extra work you have done. Your earnings will not increase and your yearly performance review may be affected.

- Get rid of unnecessary tasks

Always on the look out for unnecessary or extraneous tasks that will make you stay at the workplace after working hours. Reorganize you daily working plan. Eliminate all the tasks which you know are not important to you or the organization.

Pass the tasks back to the relevant departments or teams. Tell them where your priority lies. Delegate as much of your work as possible to your team members. As everyone is contributing to the team’s success, nobody will complain.

Make it very clear what you or your team will do. Do not spend long hours on other people’s work while your team’s assignments are left incomplete. Concentrate on getting the most important task done. Do not worry about all the minor things.

- Question the purpose of doing work which will deem as obsolete in near future

You should always consider the priority the organization stresses on certain work before doing them. If the work that you are going to do will be deemed obsolete in the near future, do not spend so much time for it.

Check if it is acceptable to hand in a short report instead of a thick folder. Ask the veterans in the organization how certain tasks are done. You will be able to save a lot of time and hassle by doing so.

- Do not assume someone else's role

It is stressful enough to assume your own position in the organization. If you are asked to assume someone else's role; turn it down politely. Find out if there is a chance you will be promoted to the position. If not, abandon the option.

Your boss should know your capabilities and promote you to the position. He does not need you to assume the role until the right candidate is found. Do not put yourself under tremendous stress for a position that will never be yours.

- Help your boss to save

Remember that when you work ‘over-time', your organization will have to pay for the extra expenses as well as the accumulated ‘over-time' claims. Your boss may not even see any positive results at all. In that case, cut out the long hours craps from your mind.

Your boss will be happy that he does not need to pay so much especially during the economic downturn.

- Avoid attending long meetings

Meetings and conferences are time consuming. Some of them are not so important at all. Attending these meeting can cause you to lag behind in your work. If you are handling an important project, get someone else to attend the meeting instead.

It is good to find out who will be attending each meeting. Where possible, find out the agendas too. Then ask from your boss if you can be exempted. Convince him the importance of completing your day's work.

In reality, many executives have an aversion to long working hours. They would prefer to hang out with their friends and family members. Yet, they are too afraid to ask their bosses. That means, they are afraid of losing their jobs. However, working long hours is not a way to keep one's job.

Every boss is aware of the effort his subordinates made to balance work and other commitments. Your boss may be happy with your commitments. As long as you excel in your work, you are ensured of a job for some time. You do not have to work long hours to keep it!