Blending Life and Work

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Blending Life and Work
Jennifer Testa Human Resources June 24, 2003
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Objectives Learn ways to take care of
yourself. Learn ways to take care of your
responsibilities. Learn ways to take care of your
family.
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Exercise Weakest area
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• 85 of workers have day-to-day responsibilities
  at home
• 62 of mothers with children under age 6 are now
  in the workforce 7 million of them hold
  full-time jobs
• 25 of all employees report often or very often
  feeling stressed by work
• 36 of all workers feel used up by the end of
  the workday

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Taking care of yourself
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Exercise Are you making time for yourself?
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Self-management How do the different areas of
your life strengthen and/or hurt your ability to
balance the demands of your life?
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• 10 Keys to better Self-management
• What do I want my life to be?
• Continually evaluate
• Give yourself credit
• Be on the lookout
• Examine any weaknesses

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• 10 Keys to better Self-management
• Focus your efforts
• Use your imagination!
• Seek support from others
• Acknowledge your greatest power
• Life is not a product its a process.

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• What are some things you can do to take care of
  yourself?
• Exercise
• Schedule alone time
• Take a you vacation
• Share responsibilities
• Budget money for you
• Stay healthy
• Other examples?

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Taking care of business
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• Ideas that work
• First things first
• i.e. make a list and prioritize
• Find time to do things you want to do
• i.e. schedule personal time
• Cut some corners
• i.e. the deadly dust ball
• Set up routines
• i.e. make a calendar and post it
• Plan
• i.e. buy Christmas presents year-round

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• Ideas that work (continued)
• Make things simple
• i.e. the 30 minute dish
• Practice good time-management skills
• i.e delegate
• Pool your time
• i.e car pool

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• Sandholtzs 5 practical strategies
• Alternate
• i.e. a vacation should be a vacation
• Outsource
• i.e hire a housekeeper
• Bundle
• i.e take a walk with a friend
• Techflex
• i.e buy a cell phone
• Simplify
• i.e magazine subscription pays for dinner

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• What are some things you can do at work?
• Have a family life bulletin board
• Personalize your workspace
• Do nice things for those you work with
• Learn and understand your departments mission
  and vision
• Have brown bag sharing lunches
• Have a party for another department
• Adopt a charity
• Other examples

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Taking care of family
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• Ideas that work
• Express yourself
• i.e. virtual cards
• Talk regularly
• i.e. TV-less dinners
• Try something new together
• i.e one new activity per year
• Schedule time together
• i.e date night

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• What are some things you can do at home?
• Create a baby log
• Leftover lotto
• Choose an object that demonstrates love - then
  give it
• Have family meetings
• Adopt a charity
• Have dress up dinners
• Let the others choose dinner
• Have a family guest book
• Other examples?

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Quadrant II
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10 responsibilities
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Prevention Relationship building Recognizing new
opportunities Planning, recreation
Crisis Pressing Problems Deadline-drive projects
Interruptions Some mail, reports, calls Some
meetings Popular activities
Trivia, busy work Some mail Some phone calls Time
wasters Pleasant activities
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• How do we transition?
• Initially, take away from Quadrants III and IV.
• Quadrant I will shrink as you focus on
  preparation and prevention.
• Learn to say no.
• Schedule and prioritize

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Putting it to use
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Schedule exercise
1. List your roles
2. Select your goals
3. Prioritize the goals
4. Schedule your week
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Final thoughts