Work-Life Balance

1. Introduction: Hello. My name is Scott Pickering from achieve success today, Executive Coaching. Welcome to Work life Balance. Reeder and I, we've both been coaches now for over ten years, and we both had very successful corporate careers. With our courses, we aim to give back as much of the knowledge and experience that we gained during those times. For this course, all are welcome. No price skills are required, just a desire to succeed. So let's move forward with a short explain of video, giving you the highlights of the course ahead. Struggling to balance your career and personal life, you're not alone. Work life balance is essential for leading a fulfilling and productive life, and that's where our work life balance course comes in. We'll teach you how to manage both areas more effectively, helping you avoid burnout and achieve long term success. You'll learn to identify common signs of imbalance and adopt proven strategies to regain control. We'll cover workplace practices and introduce you to technology tools that will streamline your workflow and free up valuable time. By the end of this course, you'll have created a personalized work life balance plan tailored to your unique situation. Plus, you'll gain the confidence and tools needed to maintain that balance over time, ensuring ongoing success in both your professional and personal life. Take the first step toward a healthier, more balanced lifestyle today. Welcome back. I hope that you found the explainer video to be really good at giving you an overview about what's ahead. This course is really going to give you all the tools required to successfully introduce a work life balance into your routine. Running alongside this course, we have the course project, which is a workbook full of practical exercises and key points that reinforce what is inside the course itself. Reader and I really excited and hope that you'll join us in the course moving forward, and we start with Lesson one roadmap and resources as soon as you're ready. 2. Roadmap & Resources: Hello there, and welcome to Work life Balance. The very first lesson is roadmap and resources. So let's tuck straight in. So what do we have coming up in roadmap and resources? Well, we're going to look at the importance of work life balance. Following that, I look at the course workbook, which is the project for the course. It really is a partner to all of the lessons. Then take a quick look at course takeaways and the benefits for you as a course participant. The lessons that follow this are foundations of work life balance, followed by identifying the imbalance, then into work life balance strategies. Following that, workplace policies and practices, then into tools and resources, followed by creating a work life balance plan, and then finally maintaining a work life balance. Right at the end, going to do a full summary and review. So before starting the roadmap and resources, let's just take a look at the importance of work life balance. During this course, I'm going to talk about the origins of work life balance and briefly touch upon its importance and growing importance as time went on as all the various factors linked together. But below, I just wanted to stress the importance in a couple of paragraphs. Work life balance is crucial because it impacts overall health, productivity, relationships, job satisfaction, personal growth, and the workplace environment. By maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life, individuals can lead more fulfilling lives, performing better at work, and contribute to a positive and productive workplace. The reason why I wanted to bring this up right now is because since lockdown since COVID, this has probably become the most requested subject matter to discuss with direct coaching clients. Work life balance so important. COVID was a game changer without a shadow of a doubt. Many things changed for the good coming out of COVID, coming out of lockdown, and some things change well, maybe for not so good. But the bottom line was people's aspirations about most things in life changed, and work life balance became the number one subject for discussion. So that's how important it has become and still is today. So let's talk about the course project, the workbook. Now, Breda and I would normally say, when you're watching and listening to us talking, have the workbook open and follow along. The workbook is the partner to the course. It is the project, and it does follow the lessons. Now, we've had feedback. Many people have said, it's very difficult to watch, listen, and study the workbook at the same time. And I get that. So it's what's the right thing for you to do to ensure that you get the most from the course itself. So if you have to go through the course initially lesson by lesson watching and listening, I would say is at the end of each lesson, go back and review that lesson again but this time with the workbook open. Okay? Now, the workbook itself, it's designed to guide you in setting meaningful work life balance goals and reflecting and comparing to your current habits, helping you identify areas for improvement. There are hands on exercises for practical applications inside the workbook. There's a full range. The workbook reinforces each lesson, offering real steps that you can implement to enhance your daily routines and achieve a more balanced life. Basically, the workbook includes tools to track your progress, ensuring accountability as you apply the exercises and move forward towards a sustainable work life balance. Now, what are the key takeaways and benefits for course participants? Well, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of work life balance, its importance and how to achieve it. You're going to be equipped with practical strategies and tools for managing your time and responsibilities effectively. You'll know how to create and maintain a personalized work life balance plan and seek support when necessary. You'll be empowered to recognize the signs of imbalance and how to take proactive steps to address them. You'll also understand the role of workplace policies and practices in supporting work life balance and how to advocate for necessary changes. So there are big benefits, big takeaways from this course. Look forward to seeing you in the next lesson when you're ready. 3. Foundations Of Work Life Balance: Hello. Welcome back to Work life Balance. So let's kick off the lessons with foundations of work life balance. So what's coming up in this lesson? Go to start with definition and the importance. Take some historical context and the evolution of work life balance. And finally, let's put to bed some common myths. So let's start off with a definition. And I have two, you can pick and choose. They're both as good as each other. But let me give you the first one. Work life balance is typically defined as the amount of time you spend doing your job versus the amount of time you spend doing what's important to you outside of work, whether that is with loved ones or pursuing personal interests or hobbies. That really does cover it completely, as far as I'm concerned. But then I came across this one. Work life balance is about finding a way to manage the demands of your work or study with your personal life and the things like hobbies, et cetera. A good work life balance means that you can be happy and productive at work and have the time for yourself and your family. So they're both kind of saying the same thing, although the second one mentions family, but they're both really good definitions of what a work life balance is. And if you said in your mind, I'm working to the first or the second, picking either, neither of them are wrong, okay? So let's move on. Let's get some historical context and evolution. So let's go way way back to the agricultural revolution. There were no real issues of work life balance back then, you'll be pleased to hear because families work together on farms. So we're going right the way back to the 17, 18th century, basically. Now, the industrial revolution came along, and it changed things because factories were built and people started to go and work in factories, but the families weren't kept together. So the work home divide really started with the industrial revolution. Long time ago. The next stage, people were getting good at what they did, and factory owners started to look at the people working in their factories and suddenly realized, hang on, I can attract better people and poach the real stars to come and work in my factory as opposed to working in that other factory, even though it may be closer to their home, but if I offer them more money, they'll come and work for me. So it all started farther afield, better conditions. Choice delivered labor rights and improved workplace practices. In the mid 20th century, coming forward quite a bit now, after World War two, economic growth and the rise of the middle class, family and leisure time took on greater importance after the Second World War, for obvious reasons. Families have been separated, and as a society, we wanted more and we had more than what we had or what society had rather, back in the 1860s and 1880s, in the 1950s, families had and desired a lot more, and so family time became more important. But then late 50s and 60s, the corporate culture changed. Longer hours are expected from people to work. Dedication to the company was right at the forefront, particularly for white collar workers. Long hours are expected for those who were looking for career advancement. The modern era there now a shift towards recognizing the importance of personal time. As I mentioned in the introduction, COVID was a game changer in this area, and it helped to foster these changes that we've seen of late. So enough of the history, let's look at some common myths. I found these fascinating. Myth number one, work life balance means equal time for work and life. Well, the reality is it's not exactly equal amounts of time. It's about achieving a sense of fulfillness and satisfaction in both areas. The balance can vary greatly depending on the individual circumstances, where you work, what your goals are, and as an individual, what your preferences are. Myth number two, only certain jobs allow for work life balance. Well, not strictly true. Work life balance can be achieved in various types of jobs and industries. It's more about you as a person and how you set your boundaries, rather than nature of the job, itself, flexible working hours, time management skills, and supportive workplace practices can help you achieve a balance in most jobs. A third myth. Achieving work life balance is only about reducing work hours. Okay, you could argue, yes, reducing working hours can be part of achieving a work life balance, but it's not the only factor. Effective time management, setting priorities, how you manage any stress to ensure you have the quality time for personal activities and relationships trumps all of that. Myth number four, work life balance is a one time achievement. But work life balance is a continuous process that requires regular ongoing assessment and adjustments as life circumstances change, job demands change, personal priorities change. These can all change over time. So it's a process that requires management. So what works now may need to be re evaluated and adjusted as required. So we looked at the definition and the importance of work life balance in this lesson. We took some historical context and the evolution in this lesson, and we also addressed four common myths. That concludes the foundations of work life balance. Join me again for the next lesson when you're ready. 4. Identifying The Imbalance: Hello, and welcome back to work life balance. So let's move into identifying the imbalance. Now, coming up in this session, we are going to look at signs and symptoms and close with the impact on health and well being. Now, before starting signs and symptoms, I just want to make the point that if you do see yourself identifying with some of the signs that I'm going to highlight over the next few slides, you really should consider going to see a medical professional. There's only so far that we can go in a training course, a coaching environment. There comes a point when you do need to go to the next stage, which will be to see a professional that can help you deal with the particular issue that you're having and you'll see why through the topics that I'm going to discuss in the next three or 4 minutes. So let's get into it. The first is chronic stress and burn out. So if you're suffering from chest pains, poor sleep routine, loss of patience, quick tempered, feeling overwhelmed by work tasks, and increasing more frequent headaches. This is an identifying sign that you do have an imbalance. Chronic stress and burnout, they're clear indicators of work life imbalance. And as just mentioned, you should seek medical help here. Uh, when work demands exceeds your ability to cope, it leads to prolonged stress. Symptoms include physical exhaustion, emotional depletion, and reduced performance. Now, to many of you, you might think this is quite extreme, but this just happened. So you need to protect yourself against this, okay? What about neglect of personal relationships? This is probably one of the first areas that most people would identify with. If you start missing family events, friends events, any milestones that you have in your life or with your family due to work events, if you're feeling disconnected and having strange relationships. When work takes priority over your personal life, relationships are bound to suffer. The inability to spend quality time with family and friends can lead to feelings of isolation and resentment. Possibly the biggest identifying factor of a work life imbalance is decreased productivity and job satisfaction. So you're struggling to compete tasks on time. You're making frequent mistakes, lacking general motivation and enthusiasm for work, and you're feeling, well, indifferent and negative about work. So this imbalance can negatively impact your job performance. Working without sufficient rest or personal time can lead to mental fatigue, which reduces creativity and lowers your overall productivity. Reduce job satisfaction when work becomes a source of stress rather than fulfillment. Possibly one of the biggest subjects we would discuss directly with our coaching clients at times, and how do you get around this? What about physical health issues? Well, if you've got frequent illnesses, putting on weight quickly, losing weight very fast, even hypertension or digestive conditions, a lack of balance between your work and personal life often leads to neglect of physical health. Poor diet, lack of exercise, inadequate sleep. These are common amongst those with a poor work life balance, which results in health issues. A mental health decline. Now, this is where you really do need to talk to a medical professional. If you've got increased anxiety, depression, mood swings, being constantly irritable and difficulty in concentrating or making decisions. Look, mental health is closely linked to work life balance. Since the lockdown, mental health issues have come to the forefront so much more in work and in your home life and how you address these issues. When personal time and self care are compromised, it does lead to a mental health decline, persistent work related stress and lack of relaxation just contributes to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems. This is something that you cannot ignore. This is something not to brush under the carpet. You have to take action. If you can resonate with anything that's said here, you need to take action by seeing a medical professional. Lack of personal time and hobbies. Well, if you're no longer engaging in the hobbies that you used to engage in or you no longer have interests or activities that you once found enjoyable, you've got an overall feeling like there's no time for yourself. Personal time and hobbies are crucial for relaxation and personal growth. When work consumes all available time, you'll lose the opportunities to engage in activities that bring joy and fulfillment, which leads to a sense of monotony and dissatisfaction. So what did we look at there? We looked at signs and symptoms, and we looked at the impact on health and well being. That's a very interesting session lesson that we've just been through, and there's a lot of things that we really do need to make notes of and bear in mind moving forward. So that concludes identifying the imbalance. I'll see you again the next 5. Work Life Balance Strategies: Welcome back to work life balance. Let's move along now and take a look at work life balance strategies. So coming up in this lesson, going to take some time and look at time management techniques. Following that, setting boundaries, and we're going to close this session looking at delegation and saying no. So let's start with some time management techniques. So we're going to start with prioritization and planning. Prioritization and planning are key in establishing a balance, particularly relationship to work and at home. So we're going to look at something called a priority matrix. And this is actually called the Eisenhower matrix, and it's based into four segments or quadrants. The top left, as you can see in the priority matrix, it says, important and urgent. Then it moves to important and not urgent, bottom left, not important, but urgent, and then the bottom right, not important and not urgent. Now, obviously, it makes sense that when you're looking at the priority matrix or the Eisenhower matrix, whichever you prefer to call it, this allows you to look at the tasks that you have at hand and prioritize them based on their importance. Now, you can use this priority matrix, and there's lots about this in the workbook, as well. So don't be looking saying, how do I copy this or where do I get it from? Have a look in the workbook. And basically, um you can use this on a day by day basis, on a weekly basis or on a monthly basis. Personally, I find these things very important because it allows you to focus on what's coming up and what you need to put your attention into. So important and urgent is really where it all sits, because at the end of the day, that's what you've got to prioritize your time with. And by using strategies and techniques like this, this does enable you to be more productive gives you more positivity in your day to day activities, and it really puts you in a very good mindset. And that's crucial to achieving the type of work life balance that we all want to achieve. You've got to be positive. You've got to be able to look at what you're doing, be as productive as you possibly can, so you get the most out of it. That's what it's all about. So, time management techniques like prioritization and planning, really the base where you start from. Let's move on from there, and let's look and talk about setting realistic goals. Now, I'm going to give you the example of a large project that maybe requires you spending a week pulling it and pulling all the information together for this project. But when you look at it, first of all, many people will say, Oh, my goodness, that's quite overwhelming the size of what I've got to deal with here. So maybe a good idea is to break it down. And I used the phrase break things down into bite size chunks. If the project has ten major parts to it, break the project into ten bite size chunks, and then just tackle each section at a time. What does this do? Well, it makes the project appear and makes it from your own particular viewpoint, much more manageable. Make sure that you have your deadlines in place for the constituent parts, the chunks, make sure you've got your deadlines in place to ensure that you meet your deadlines with the chunks, and we're going to talk about how we can do that in a little bit, as well. But this makes the whole overall workload far more manageable and less overwhelming. When you're putting your goals together in your strategies, in your calendars, which we'll come on to, instead of putting finish the project as a goal, use the chunks, use the individual constituent parts. And if complete research is the first bit that you have to do in order to collate all the data, but complete the research, draft the first section, review and edit, whatever, put them into your calendars on the dates that you need to achieve them by. And then if you like, have a checklist by the side of you. And once you've achieved finished completing the research, check the box. And it's amazing. If you've got ten or 15 or whatever number it is, boxes to check, once you're going through the project, the task, and you've got a lot of boxes checked, this gives you great motivation. You feel productive. You feel better in yourself, okay? So let's look at time management tools. Now, I'm a firm believer. I always have used a calendar. Breeder and I are in a coaching business. We have to use calendars. We have clients who book coaching sessions way in advance with us, and we have regular ongoing repeated client sessions. So calendars are important to us. So use your calendars and use to do lists. Use the Eisenhower matrix. Whatever helps you, whatever makes you more productive, use those tools. And also time tracking apps can help you stay on schedule. Now, it all depends on the type of business you're in and whether you can use these things. But there's plenty of tools out there, and I'll put a couple of examples here, and Breeder will go through a lot more of these later in the class. But Trello is very good for task management. I've talked about calendars. We use Apple, so we're ICL. But you can use Google calendars and you've got Microsoft calendars as well that you can use, and they all offer the same source of information and collation that you can use and the way they can be displayed. I mean, our ICL calendars that breeder and I share are very colorful because we a color code, every specific tasks that we have to do in our day to day activities. So I can look at a glance as a weekly calendar, and I can see instantaneously how many coaching sessions I have in that week, et cetera. So they're really great for scheduling and blocking time out, as well. And toggle is great for time tracking. A lot of businesses use toggle. This is something that really keeps you focused and on track. As I mentioned before, we revisit a lot of these areas later in the tools and resources lesson, and I know Breeda has an awful lot more to add in this area, which is of, you know, real benefit to everyone. Now, avoid multitasking. This is one of the big things that really can knock you off your track. Just focus on one item at a time. This improves your efficiency and the quality of your work. Multitasking can lead to mistakes and stress. We want to avoid stress. There's no point taking on work that you know you can't do. I mean, that's just crazy. You know, you've got your matrix. You've got your to do list. You've got your calendars. You've got time blocked out for other tasks that you have to do on a day by day basis, and, you know, use the example of the big project. You've got that worked in as well. And if someone says, Can you do this for me? If you can look at everything that you have, and you know you can't. So you have to have the conversation. Look, I can't really take that on right now. Now, I can take it on such and such a date. What's your deadline for it? Those sort of conversations you have to have, you know, big boy, big girl conversations. Have those conversations. One of the things I just mentioned on the previous slide was allow time blocks. Time blocks are good. I use time blocks as well in my calendars to, for example, let me give you an example. It's even better to do it this way. I have coaching clients. Now, if my coaching client has an appointment if Jack has an appointment at 11:00 A.M. I just don't puss in 11:00 A.M. Coaching session with Jack, and it finishes at 12 noon. I put in at 10:30 coaching session with Jack at 11. I have to build and get myself prepared and be ready for that coaching session. I mean, it depends what it's about. I could have prework the day before for the coaching session with Jack on that day at 11:00 A.M. What I'm saying is, don't be back to back with appointments. I was watching something on YouTube the other day with Toto Wolf, the CEO of uh AMG Mercedes F one team. And he doesn't have meetings in the morning. He only has them in the afternoon, and he never has back to back meetings. He's very good at making sure that he's at his optimum. He makes sure he has breaks. And this is important for all of us in business to have these breaks so that we're at our best when we're called upon to be at our best. You can't go back to back to back. So time blocks are important and very, very, I think, crucial to keeping yourself at your optimum. You want to be as productive as you possibly can. So having these time breaks time blocks are important. And don't as I note there, do not switch tasks midstream. What I mean by that is if you're in the middle of a task and you've got yourself 2 hours and you're working on a specific task, don't stop after an hour and switch to another task. That's crazy. I mean, you need to be in the right frame pushing all the right buttons to get the right result. And if you start switching tasks, it becomes confusing. So, you know, just be cognizant of that fact, as well. Now, setting boundaries, this is a real big one. And I'm looking at this from the perspective of work hours. So if you work nine till five, stick to them. You have to manage expectations from people. If you're trying to achieve a work life balance and you're sat in the office at 7:00 P.M. At night, you're not going to have much of a family time, are you, by the time you get home. So you need to communicate the hours that you're doing whatever those hours are, manage them, and stick to them and set your appointments in your calendar accordingly. Point here is, if you work 9-5, avoid checking emails or taking work calls outside these hours. This is important. When do you switch off? When do you start? When do you switch off? If you start dealing with work related phone calls when you're at home and dealing with emails and working when you're at home, your personal time suffers. And you've got to dedicate personal time for personal activities and make it non negotiable in your own mind. Set time aside for hobbies, family, relaxation. If you want to achieve a work life balance, some difficult decisions have to be made. It's all bite size chunks, not just on your calendars and how you manage it, but for you yourself as you make these adjustments. Physical workspace is important. If you do do work at home, make sure it's a separate space. For you, mentally, this helps to separate what's work and what's home. And saying no, I alluded to this a little bit ago, a couple of slides ago. Don't take on more work commitments if it's going to overload your schedule. You've already prioritized tasks and you've got projects that align with the goals and deadlines that you have. Your capacity is there. You can see at a glance. If you're using all the tools I've already talked about before you get into more tools the breeders going to talk about later. So you have to say no. And you can back it up. You can back it up by saying, no, and this is why. It's not just saying, no, I don't want to do it. You can say, Look, no, I can't do it at the moment. The first time I've got is this. Now, if you work and you have a manager that says, Well, I want you to do this, have the real world conversation. What do I drop off the page in order to do that? How do you want me to prioritize that? And here's my schedule? Have the conversation. It may well be that your manager says, Well, you know, you need to delegate that particular task there because I want you to do this one instead. So, that's fine. You identify the tasks to delegate, and your manager may say to you, you give it to so and so or who do you think is going to be the right person for it? So you have to go through what your tasks are to delegate what needs to be delegated in order to do the extra work you've been asked to do. So choose the right person. Make sure you delegate it to a colleague who has the right skills. Give them clear instructions and expectations. Let them know exactly what the deadlines are and what they have to do and make yourself available for any questions they may have. But once you've made the decision on who to delegate the task that you previously had to just trust that person to complete the task. Do not micromanage them on an hourly basis or whatever, but check in and say, you're going to check in, if it's a five day task, you're going to check in at the end of each day. But make yourself open to questions if they've got them, particularly in the first and the early stages. So what have we talked about here? We've talked about time management techniques. We've talked about setting boundaries in work and at home. And we've looked at delegation and how to say no, the nice way. Okay, so that concludes work life balance strategies. Breda will be along shortly with workplace policies and practices. So she'll see you shortly. 6. Workplace Policies And Practices: Hello, and welcome to our lesson on workplace policies and practices. So coming up in this lesson, we're going to explore a few different options. So flexible working hours, remote work options, job sharing, part time off policies, and employee assistance programs. So how can these help generating your work life balance? So if we look at flexible working hours, this is a situation where employees choose their start and end times within agreed limits. So you might have core hours where you have to be on the premises 10-4, particularly if you're customer facing. So this flexibility can help employees manage work and personal responsibilities more effectively. It benefits the business and employees have a better job satisfaction and productivity, so there's less employee stress. And, you know, it's really helpful if, for example, you have to do something first thing in the morning that you're committed to, like a school drop or if you want to go to the gym first thing to set yourself up for the day. This sort of arrangement will give you that flexibility and ease the stress of wondering how you're going to fit those things in. So next we'll look at remote work options. So remote work or telecommuting allows employees to work remotely or from home. So employees can do maybe two days remote or three days from the office or vice versa. This saves commuting time and can enhance better work life balance. So you're not going to spend, maybe a couple of hours a day in traffic and, uh, you know, increasing your stress level just because you're not able to do anything else other than commute. The downside of it, of course, is potential isolation. Some people are not very good working alone or not having that feel of being integrated into the office. And you can have issues separating work from personal life. Of course, you need reliable technology, and you need to have cybersecurity so that any data you're working on is secure. And you do need to have very clear remote work policies and the correct tools available at home. So, for it to work smoothly and have that nice transition from when you work at home to being back in the office, you do need to have things that are clearly in place that you understand what the limits are and that your technology and tools will work to support you. Job sharing. This can be a little bit more difficult. So this involves two people sharing the responsibilities of a full time position, each working part time, so that could be maybe, you know, half the week, or it might be week on, week off, whatever works best for the people involved. However, you know, it's really got to be a very smooth situation so that business runs smoothly, and you really have to have two people who can work this, have the same work dynamic so that they understand each other and what they're doing. So when one leaves off, the other person can pick up very easily. But it does allow reduced work hours, but you're still able to contribute, which is an important factor for many people. From the employer perspective, it allows for increased cover of staff in case of absences, so you have someone who can jump in and help. This requires excellent communication, as I said, and coordination between the job sharers. It can give an improved work life balance for employees if they can afford to have those reduced hours of work. So, you know, lots of upside, but it does need to be well managed. Part time off policies, this is simply just providing paid time off for employees that they can use for vacation, illness or personal time. So it encourages employees to take breaks and recharge, which can lead to increased productivity and reduce burnout. And in some cases, you know, you can even take a longer time off such as a sabbatical, which, you know, retains staff who might feel like they really just can't continue. They need a longer break, and it helps them to go away, recharge and come back ready to pick up again. Employee assistance programs. So these are definitely more common and particularly in bigger businesses. So something like confidential counseling and support to help employees manage personal and work related issues. So it's supplied or available through your business. This support means employees' mental and emotional well being, reduces absenteeism and increases job satisfaction and productivity. Again, it's another area that needs to be well managed or employees will lose their trust. So it really does need to be confidential and, you know, have a situation where the employee feels safe and secure in sharing their issues. And then wellness programs. So this would be initiatives and activities designed to promote physical and mental health among employees. So something like gym memberships, wellness challenges, mindfulness and stress management workshops. So this improves the overall health of employees. It increases engagement and productivity, and it fosters a positive work environment. So really, it's important that you research yourself what's available in your workplace and what will suit you. Not everything suits everybody. So let's take a quick look at what we've covered. So we've spoken about flexible working hours, remote work options, job sharing, part time off policies, and employee assistance programs. So all areas you can explore to see if they're available within your workplace or your business. And again, as I said, working out which ones would actually be suitable to your needs, and that might vary over time as we all change circumstances. So that concludes our look at workplace policies and practices and its ability to support work life balance. See you in the next lesson. 7. Tools And Resources: Hello, and welcome to our lesson on tools and resources. So coming up in this lesson, we're going to take a look at the role of tools and resources in achieving work life balance, how they can help, time management and scheduling tools, productivity apps, and wellness resources. So let's look at the role of tools and resources in assisting work life balance. Organized scheduling tools help manage time effectively reducing daily chaos. Increased efficiency, resources streamline tasks, leaving room for personal time. Flexible communication. So collaboration tools support work from any location. Stress relief. Automation reduces repetitive work, easing mental strain, and boundary setting. Even something as simple as quiet mode and schedule breaks help maintain balance. So let's take a look at the tools themselves. So if we look at time management scheduling tools, at this point, we all have calendars on our smartphone. So whether it's ICL, Google calendar or Outlook calendar, we all have something at our fingertips. So we can schedule meetings, set reminders, manage our time effectively, lockout time for recurring events, book downtime into our schedule. It allows calendars allow for integration with other tools such as Zoom or calendar. We can have events linked directly into our schedule. We can schedule both work and personal events, and we can color code events for ease. So very quickly, you can look at your calendar and see where your time is spent. And this gives you a really good visual, so you need to know if you need to make adjustments if there's too much time spent in the workplace or too much time spent on time moisting activities, for example. Let's look at task management tools. These can help you create assign and track tasks and projects. You can have task lists, due dates, attachments, team collaboration notes. You can break your projects into bite size chunks as Scott would always say, and measure with due dates and responsibilities. Something like Trello is a tool that you can use for this. And communication platforms with instant messaging and much more help with improving productivity and effectiveness. And this would be something as well that you could use for remote working. So something like Slack, Google Workspace or Microsoft Teams Time tracking tools. These help you measure time spent on various tasks and projects, so it helps analyze team performance. You can have project breakdown data and you can integrate with other tools. But the key thing here is this type of tool increases productivity by identifying time wasting activities, and that's critical to assist with your work life balance. You can eliminate things that you really shouldn't be spending time on. Project management tools. Comprehensive project management platforms that facilitate planning, tracking, and collaboration on projects, so something like moneday.com. You can have your project timelines, your task assignments, your progress tracking. You can even have file sharing, and numerous communication tools. So a lot of these things overlap and some of them will integrate. File sharing and collaboration tools, we mentioned this in terms of remote working can be really efficient, but also these things and all of these tools can reduce meeting times. So you can do things remotely without having to get everyone together in a room. So you have cloud storage, file sharing, and automation tools. They're available to help with productivity and to save time. So we haven't really scratched the surface of what's available to help you with productivity and effectiveness, and it really depends where you work and what your role is, if any or all of these tools are available for use. But do speak to your management team and see, even if they're open to bringing in tools that they don't already have. Bottom line is that for work or personal life, there are many options for tools to help, and it again will depend on your circumstances. So health and wellness apps are just as important as the tasks and work tools. These are apps designed to promote mental health and wellness through guided meditation, mindfulness exercises, and relaxation techniques. Sleep aids, stress management tools, and mindfulness exercises. So something like Cam or headspace, there are many, many apps in the app store these days that can help with this. It's important to incorporate regular meditation sessions into your daily routine. Use sleep aids to improve sleep quality and engage in mindfulness exercise to reduce stress. It really is more of a holistic view when we look at everything that we're trying to pull together. So a quick lesson review, we've looked at the role of tools and resources in achieving work life balance, time management and scheduling tools, productivity apps, and wellness resources. So that concludes our look at tools and resources in aiding work life balance. We'll see you in the next lesson. 8. Creating A Work-Life Balance Plan: Hello, there, and welcome back to Worklife Balance. Now we're going to move on with creating a work life balance plan. So coming up in this lesson, we're going to assess your current situation, basically do a self assessment. Now to follow that with how to set clear goals, how to develop an action plan, and finally how to implement and monitor. So let's do the self assessment. So we need to identify priorities, and everyone's going to be a little bit different here, but you need to identify your priorities. List your top priorities, both for your personal and professional life, such as family, health, career advancement, personal development, hobbies, and social connections. This will help you clarify what matters and focus both time and energy into the right areas. Then you're going to analyze your current balance. Let's look at how you currently allocate your time, identify areas where you feel overwhelmed or neglect important aspects of your life. This one really highlights some things for you. Use a diary or an app to track your time allocation. Now, what I mean by that is start measuring what you're doing and allocate the times. Put it in a notebook or in your calendar. If you're spending family time each night, how much time is it that you're actually spending with the family? If you're doing a hobby, how much time are you actually spending doing a hobby? If you're in work, for example, I'm a great believer in focusing time away from trivial things like emails and social media, which we all get caught up in from time to time, allocate calculate. How much time do you actually spend on that and then allocate time to deal with social media and email at a specific time slot during the day, and then you can focus on your actual job. Take your time to do this properly. You know, I'm not saying, wake up on a Monday morning and have this all done and ready to go on Tuesday. Take a week or two to analyze your current situation. And then you've got to sit back. Once you've analyzed it and you've got it tabulated, reflect on what overwhelms you. And more importantly, what are you neglecting? Okay, so you're going to create a work life balance plan. Well, you've got to set clear goals. So you've got to define your work life balance goals. You've often heard of the well, I think most of you would have heard of smart goals, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Smart goals are there for helping achieve a better work life balance. So for example, you might want to do 30 minutes each day on physical exercise. That could be jogging in the morning, whatever. Smart goals will be maybe you must leave work by 6:00 P.M. At night and you must have an evening dinner with your family every night. These are small steps goals. Everything here is small steps. You start small, and eventually you build up a picture. Now, you need to prioritize goals. Talked about prioritization before with the Eisenhower matrix. You got to rank the goals in order of importance and feasibility. And this helps you focus on the most important critical areas first. Prioritizing physical health and family over less urgent professional development activities is probably a way most people would go. And take time to get everything listed and then rank them in order of your life priorities. So it's a real picture that you're building here. You're looking at where you are, where you're going to get to where you want to be. So let's look at an action plan to help you get there. So develop a weekly schedule that allows specific time blocks for work, personal activities, and downtime. Yeah, we all need downtime, rest and ensure that this schedule reflects your priorities and goals. So, for example, you might block off 6:00 A.M. To 7:00 A.M. Every morning for exercise. You may block off 9:00 A.M. To 5:00 P.M. For work, and you may block off 6:00 P.M. To 8:00 P.M. Every evening for family time. You may start with something as basic as that. As long as you make a stars, then you can start fine tuning. But the most important thing here is to make a start. Now, that might seem very trivial, and my goodness, well, that's easy enough. You know, block off an hour in my diary to do some exercise, bit of jogging in the morning. I'm at work from nine till five, fair enough. And 6-8, I've got family time. But as time goes on, look at all the subjects that breeder and I have been talking about and how you might want to integrate those into your schedule. Do it all bit by bit, and don't forget your work schedule will be something quite different 9-5 because you should be using something like an Eisenhower matrix to make sure that you're prioritizing the work that's done 9-5 and that you're using delegation, and that you're having the power to challenge and say, Well, just hang on, remember I said no. Uh, hang on, you know, my calendar and my work schedule is completely blocked out. I can't take on anymore. Now, I'm quite happy to do this, but you're going to have to help me deal with what I've got now. Can I delegate this and just be reasonable how you approach things? But your nine to five schedule might look pretty bland, just on this sheet here, say nine to five work. But you should use something like the Eisenhower matrix or another tool that Breeder and I have talked about that could help you manage your time during your work hours. Set the boundaries, clearly define the boundaries in your life between work and personal time. Communicate those effectively to your work colleagues and family members, I E, look, you know, when I leave the office now at 5:00 or 530, I'm on family time, so, you know, I won't be taking phone calls, and I won't be answering emails. Dedicate the time accordingly with the goals and activities that you want to achieve in your personal life. You owe it to yourself to do this. And unless you draw a line in the sand and create your work life balance, you'll never get there. It's you that has to make the change. Now, it's important to include breaks everywhere. These are important. Downtime is important. It's important to take a rest. It really is and to recharge the batteries. This helps you maintain productivity. It reduces the tendency to lean towards a burnout, which nobody wants. If it's a lunch break that you have, don't work through it. If you have to work through your lunch break, there's something either wrong with your time management or the amount of work that you're being given to do in the time allotted, and you have to draw attention to that. Now, let's start with implementation and monitoring. Now, I said start small. Just do one or two changes at the time. Gradual introduction, bite sized chunks, baby steps to get you there. This helps manage your feelings and keeps you in a very positive frame of mind without being overwhelmed. Maybe do your daily exercise and your work boundaries first. Start somewhere, but just start. Draw the line in the sand, start. Got to track progress. Got to measure what you're doing. You've got to monitor what you're doing, how you're progressing towards the goals that you've set. You've got to review, you've got to adjust, and you've got to maybe adjust the time allocations for various tasks that you've set yourself. And seek feedback. If you've made a change, if you've drawn a line in the sand and you've told family and you've told friends and colleagues and particularly colleagues at work that you're making these changes to be a better person to really get work life balance on plan, get feedback from them. Ask them. Well, you know, have you noticed any changes recently? Is my mood better? Am I more positive person? Am I contributing more. Is my work more effective? Am I, you know, more productive in work now that I'm prioritizing and scheduling myself. And you've got to reflect on a regular basis. You know, you can't just expect to go from A to B in a straight line. It just doesn't happen. My mother and father often said to me when they were alive, and when I first started work, they said to me, you know, son, you've got to be prepared sometimes to take one step back to move two steps forward. And sometimes when you're making these changes with your life plans, you've got to do the same thing. Regularly check on what you're doing and assess where you're going towards your end goals, but you may have to make adjustments. Nothing is straightforward. Life priorities can change and circumstances can change. You've got to be flexible. I mentioned it a few sessions ago to count your wins. And you've got to celebrate successes that you have in life. Now, the how small, because this reinforces positive behaviors and motivates you to continue to move forward. I think I highlighted the example of a project with nine parts where you broke the overall project into nine bite size chunks. And every time you completed a section or an area of the project, you check a box or you tick a box. When you have six or seven ticks or checks, boxes checked or boxes ticked, you feel motivated because you're seven out of nine to getting the project, the task completed. Count your wins, very important in life. Counting wins keeps you very positive. Keeping you very positive keeps your health good, keeps you balanced, keeps you motivated. And also, from a work perspective, keeps you very productive. You've got to stay committed. Maintaining a work life balance is an ongoing process. Stay committed to your goals and be willing to make adjustments as required. Got to remember, you don't just go from A to B, you might go A to C to F to H, to R to V, and then to B. You've got to be prepared. It's an evolving process. You've got to be prepared to move sideways every now and then and adjust. So let's look at what we talked about there. We did a quick self assessment of your current situation. We talked about setting the clear goals. We looked at developing an action plan, and we looked at implementation and how to monitor your work life balance plan. Now, that concludes creating a work life balance plan. Reeder will be along with the next lesson, which is maintaining work life balance. So she'll see you when you're ready. 9. Maintaining Work Life Balance: Hello, and welcome to our lesson on maintaining work life balance. So coming up in this lesson, we're going to look at the importance of maintaining work life balance and the four Ms. So maintaining work life balance requires ongoing effort. A plan alone isn't enough. Regular assessment keeps balance effective. And we do need to adapt to changes and changing demands. So life and work priorities shift requiring regular balance and adjustment. We need to sustain the effectiveness. So ongoing maintenance ensures balance remains supportive and practical. And, of course, we want to prevent burnout. So actively maintaining balance reduces the risk of stress and burnout. So now we have our plan created and implemented. So you're moving forward away from the starting grid, time to introduce the four s. These are maintenance, momentum, measurement, and modification. So maintenance is about using the tools and resources that we've already covered. Momentum, of course, is keeping up the good work. Measurement, are the changes noticeable? Are we making progress? And modifications do we need to course correct? And course correction will be required from time to time. So let's look at maintenance. We've looked at prioritizing and planning tools, so the Eisenhower matrix, are we using these things? Are we taking advantage of our scheduling tools such as our calendars, our productivity tools like Trello and Toggle track, and our communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams. It's really important to keep these constantly on your radar so that you're getting the full advantage of them. Let's look at momentum. Here I look at the power of routine. So we've set our morning and evening rituals. We have our boundaries set. So, maybe it's morning exercise, meditation, and evening family time or hobbies. Be sure to keep your dedicated work and personal hours. My need to adjust as time passes, be flexible, but maintain the time allocation. And weekly planning. So review the coming week's commitments and set any priorities to avoid overwhelm. I like to do this on a Sunday evening, so take a look at my schedule and get familiar with what's coming up. So this ensures minimal surprises, but you do need to remain adaptable to allow for flexibility. Everything can be set in stone, but the routine will help you keep things flowing. Measurement. This is quite important. Seek feedback from work colleagues, family and close friends to whom you alerted about the changes that you were going to make to improve your work life balance. Have they noticed the changes? Make a note of that. But very relevant is, were these changes the ones that you initially set as goals? Are they in alignment with your goals? Are you less stressed? Are you more present with the family? Do you have increased focus and are you more productive at work? Do you appear to have more time? Are you less rushed? Are you happier overall? So you want to constantly reassess this and see if your goals are actually being achieved. Modifications. Always need to be able to adjust your work life balance strategies as your circumstances and priorities change. You know, you may have a new hobby or family commitment. You may even change jobs. And of course corrections are not a sign of weakness. They're really a strength to be able to be adaptable and flexible as the need arises. And you'll find that the more structured you are with your work life balance plan, the more flexibility you actually have, which sounds strange, but the more you have things in a structured fashion that you can see exactly what's happening, the easier it is to make changes. And if you feel it's possible or this is something that would help explore flexible hours or remote work to better balance work and personal life. Lots of options are available to you. So let's review the lesson. We looked at the importance of maintaining work life balance and the four s. So that concludes maintaining work life balance. Do go to your workbook and check out the exercise that's there for the assessment on maintaining your work life balance, and we'll see you in the closing lesson. 10. Closing And Summary: Hello, and welcome to our final lesson, which is our review and closing. So we're going to take another look at the course key takeaways and benefits which we covered in the introduction and summarize again, the importance of work life balance. So what were our key takeaways? One, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of work life balance now, its importance and how to achieve it. You'll be equipped with practical strategies and tools for managing time and responsibilities effectively. You'll know how to create and maintain a personalized work life balance plan and seek support when needed. You'll be empowered to recognize the signs of imbalance and how to take proactive steps to address them. And you'll understand the role of workplace policies and practices in supporting work life balance and how to advocate for necessary changes. And you'll also have completed exercises in the workbook which will enhance your learning in all areas. So let's summarize again the importance of work life balance. So it's crucial because it impacts overall health, your productivity, your relationships, job satisfaction, personal growth, and the workplace environment. So it spills over into every area. By maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life, individuals can lead more fulfilling lives, perform better work, and contribute to a positive and productive workplace. So that concludes our course on work life balance. We hope to see you again on one of our other courses.