Celebrating YOU! Practical Tips to Achieving Balance Kami Weis UW-Stevens Point

Overview Why Balance? What does it mean for you? Strategies to achieve balance. How does this apply to advising? Reflection.

Fat, Forty and Fired Nigel Marsh “There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”

Why Balance? Advisors are responsible for their professional practices and for themselves personally. Advisors participate in professional development opportunities, establish appropriate relationships and boundaries with advisees, and create environments that promote physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Advisors maintain a healthy balance in their lives and articulate personal and professional needs when appropriate. NACADA Statement of Core Values of Academic Advising

Work/Life Balance DEFINED  Personal: it is different for everyone  Lifestyle  Prioritizing  Choice  Managing work and other activities that are important to us

“You need to call Harvard before noon, you need to start year- end performance reviews, you need to finalize the B-school training program for science associates, you need to call the landscaper, you need to the London office, you need to return the overdue library books, you need to return the pants that don’t fit Charlie to the Gap, you need to pick up formula for Linus, you need to pick up the dry cleaning, you need to pick up dinner, you need to make a dentist appointment for Lucy about her tooth, you need to make a dermatologist appointment for you about that mole, you need to go to the bank, you need to pay the bills, don’t forget to call Harvard before noon, the London office…” Left Neglected, by Lisa Genova

Work-Centric vs. Dual-Centric  People who put the same priority on work and their personal/family life (dual-centric)  More likely to have children at home  Work 5 hours less per week than work-centric  Feel more successful at work  Feel much less stressed  Find managing work and personal/family lives as much easier Ellen Galinsky, Leaders in a Global Economy Families and Work Institute

Dual-Centric Individuals  Set strict boundaries between the time they are working and not working  Are emotionally present when they are physically present-focusing on the immediate situation  Take time for rest and recovery  Are clear about priorities – they are intentional about the way they want to live.

Economics of Well-Being  Career  Social  Financial  Physical  Community Wellbeing: The five essential elements Rath & Harter

Benefits of Work-Life Fit  Overall health  Impact on job and energy level at home  Fewer signs of depression  Less frequent sleep problems  Lower stress levels

Managing Priorities  Know the schedule  Try not to schedule competing events at home during peak advising  Share the load  Know the strengths of your staff  Communicate often  Be clear on deadlines  Humor  Create a schedule  Find a time-management strategy  Plan some uninterrupted time  An hour of quiet time each day Leger-Hornby & Bleed Educause, 2006

Strategies to Achieve Balance  Take time off  Take a lunch break  Exercise  Volunteer  Learn something new  Get help  Laugh

Eliminate what drains you  Do it!  Hire it!  Chuck it! What’s fueling you? Take Time for Your Life Cheryl Richardson

Miscellaneous Tips  Don’t say no, say “not now”.  Have realistic expectations – you can’t always fit it all in. Be ok with that.  Decompress between tasks and meetings.  Schedule travel time between meetings.  Manage your inbox.  Quiet down – commute with no radio or phone. Take it all in!  Break it up – 10 minutes is better than nothing.  Get outside!  Get a good night’s sleep.

Make the best of your weekend  60 hours in a weekend (36 hours after sleep)  Create weekends that rejuvenate you rather than exhaust or disappoint you  Think before you RSVP  Spread chores and errands out through the week  Try to contain the things you HAVE to do to just 2-3 hours, leaving more time for enjoyment

Tips for Advisors  Same day appointment policy  Schedule administrative time  Close door when needed  Set a schedule for responding to  Phone number printed on business cards  Collaborate on standard messages to students

Suggested Reading Galinsky, Ellen. Dual-Centric: A New Concept of Work-Life. Retrieved from centric.pdf centric.pdf Genova, Lisa. (2011). Left Neglected. New York: Gallery Books Leger-Hornby, T. & Bleed, R. (2006). Work and Life: Achieving a Reasonable Balance. Retrieved from publications/books/cultivating-careers-professional- development-campus-it/chapter-7-work-and-life-achieving- reasonab publications/books/cultivating-careers-professional- development-campus-it/chapter-7-work-and-life-achieving- reasonab Marsh, Nigel. (2007). Fat, Forty and Fired. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McNeel Publishing, Inc. Rath, T. & Harter, J. (2010). The Economics of Wellbeing. Gallup Press. Richardson, Cheryl. (1999). Take Time for Your Life. New York: Broadway Books.