Discover Your Unique Work-Life Balance

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Hi, everyone, and welcome to today’s webinar. Discover Your Unique Work-life Balance, hosted by HRDQ-U and presented by Patty Massullo. My name is Sarah and I will moderate today’s webinar. If you have any questions or comments, please type them into the questions box in your GoToWebinar control panel, and you can access today’s handout under the handouts drop-down. Our webinar today will last around one hour. Make sure that you check the chat your questions in the questions box, as you have them, and we will answer as many as we can during our time together today. And today’s webinar is sponsored by HRDQstore, for 45 years HRDQ has provided research-based, off-the-shelf, soft-skills training resources, for classroom, virtual, and online training. From assessments and workshops to experiential hands-on games, HRDQ helps organizations improve performance, increase job satisfaction, and more. You can learn more at HRDQstore.com.
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And I’d like to welcome our presenter today, Patty Massullo. Patty is a certified leadership and professional development coach and Maxwell DiSC trainer. She has been an entrepreneur, most of her adult life owning both online and offline businesses.
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Patty has mastered the art of communication using proven strategies to help businesses create compelling, new ways to connect in every area of their life, both at home and in the workplace.
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Also, certified in mental health and brain health, Patty, is passionate about how people are wired and thrives in helping individuals and companies work and play to their strengths.
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Thanks so much for joining us today, Patty.
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Well, thank you, Sarah, I appreciate it. Thank you for that warm welcome, and good afternoon, everybody. I’m so happy to be here with you today. And Sarah gave you a good description, description of me, so I won’t go over that again.
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But, And I realized that there are people here, and companies at different levels. So some of these things may apply to you, some things might be new to you.
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And a lot of you also work from home, I understand, so I’ve included some information for that as well.
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And honestly, one of the reasons I created this training was because I went on a journey myself to find work-life balance, and it’s really a process. It really is. And I know that there’ll be questions. So, Sarah will be monitoring the questions for me, but they’ll also be a few questions along the way during the presentation. Like, a little poll for you to answer questions, just, to kind of keep us in, tune with where we’ve been and then, if you stay till the end, I do have a drawing for our two disk assessments. And also an opportunity for a whole team to receive a complimentary Virtual Training.
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So, if you’re interested in that, we can talk more about that at the end.
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So, our objectives for today are to explain the benefits of work-life balance and recognize the signs of an unbalanced life. Because, how do we know if we can’t measure it?
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And then to create balance at work and at home, how to manage stress. And to discover your unique work-life balance.
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Because research has consistently demonstrated that when clear goals are associated with learning, it occurs more easily and rapidly.
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So what is work-life balance? Well, on your screen, you’ll see it says, the state of equilibrium where a person equally prioritizes the demands of your career and the demands of your personal life.
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In other words, it’s just setting priorities in work in life.
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And this is going to look different for each person. Which brings me to my next point, which is what it, whoops, went too far. What is your unique work-life balance?
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So that’s gonna look different for everyone.
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Depending on your personality, it depends on a lot of things. Now, I am certified in disk, the Maxwell method of disk. And we have something called the power disk, which goes into seven different areas of leaderships and strength in leadership.
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So I use it in almost all my trainings. And honestly, some employees and even employers have realized that they’re in the wrong position Sometimes when they do that.
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So I’m going to briefly go over just the four different types of personalities, and I’m sure that you will see yourself in some of these.
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So if you are a “D” wired person, you’re that get it done person, you’re results oriented, Gotta get the job done, You set clear boundaries between your work and personal life, but you tend to neglect other areas of your life. So, prioritizing and delegation become extremely important to you. So work-life balance in setting boundaries with yourself and others is really important if you’re wired.
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Now, if you are an I wired person, that’s the people person and that is my biggest strength, I am a high I, and then D is my second trait.
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You love connecting with others. You love being sociable. You seek new experiences, and, but sometimes, you might overcommit and have a hard time saying no. But you have to take time to recharge.
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And we also, as I wired people, we have to make time for socialization. Even in the work environment, it’s just how we thrive.
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Now, if you’re one of our … friends, you are that steady, loyal person.
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You want a consistent, predictable environment.
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And also a well defined routine.
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You can be very co-operative and supportive to any team, and you are inclined to put others first. So because of that, sometimes you need to set boundaries and practice self care. So having that work and home routine is extremely important if you’re S wired.
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Then if you’re C, Y, or this is the very detailed, organized person, you’re very analytical, very, you take a very systematic approach to things, focusing on being accurate and precise.
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And you also have very high standards, but you need to prioritize and promote your mental and emotional well being now. You might look at these slides and say, Well, I mean, I have a little bit of this and I have a little bit of that. And honestly, we all have a little bit of all of these traits, so don’t think that you’re boxed into one or the other. But we primarily do see that 1 or 2 are really, really high for most people. And that you might have a few few in the other areas. And we’re really, I really believe in working to our strengths and not concentrating on trying to get better at weaknesses necessarily. So what, what are the benefits of a healthy balance?
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Understanding the benefits of a healthy balanced life will motivate anybody to make changes.
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Balance improves the lives of individual employees, as well as the company culture, so learning the best, the basics of work-life balance is also going to increase employee productivity, health, and boost morale.
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So why, why is all this so important?
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Well, a healthy balance between work and home should be a priority for everyone.
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Implementing proper work, life balance offers many important benefits.
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However, there are some hazards that are linked with an unbalanced work in home life.
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Some of the risks are poor health.
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You’re working longer hours without taking time to relax. That takes a toll on your health.
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Then you can have unresolved conflict.
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A lack of balance can create conflict at work and at home, then, of course, there’s poor performance.
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Taking on too much responsibility can lead to exhaustion and sometimes there’s even a financial loss.
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The impact on health and productivity takes a financial toll on individual employees, and sometimes, even the organization.
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But there are benefits.
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There’s the fulfillment, because people who successfully implement work-life balance improve their sense of fulfillment at work, and at home.
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Then, of course, a healthy work-life balance decreases your risk of heart disease and other health related problems.
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You’ll have greater productivity because you’re relaxed and well rested and that increases productivity and improve, improves your work performance.
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And then there’s your relationships, Strong relationships are important. So personal and professional relationships are strengthened and conflicts are avoided when you have a good work-life balance.
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So let’s talk for a minute about increased productivity.
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It might seem counter-intuitive, but work-life balance can actually increase productivity.
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While it’s true that working overtime sometimes can improve increased production, that search only lasts for a few weeks before it takes a toll on you.
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In fact, working longer hours for an extended period of time leads to exhaustion and unhealthy habits and ultimately decreasing productivity.
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Shorter work hours will actually increase productivity in the long term.
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So studies show that people who take short, frequent breaks are more productive than people who only take a single break all day.
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So, why that went already?
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take Healthy Breaks, take time to refresh yourself, stretching, walking, and taking a break during your day.
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Taking enjoyable breaks. There was a study by Don Chen and Vivian Lim from the National University of Singapore. They discovered that taking a few moments sometimes even if you’re just serving the Internet can mentally change gears for you and put you back in work mode.
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And then taking time off Because when we work to the point of burnout, it’s not productive or healthy.
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So don’t lose those vacation days, even if you have to spread them out.
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Because studies have shown that people who take vacations are much more productive of the from those who don’t.
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And then, of course, we have improved mental and physical health.
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It’s common knowledge that stress is directly linked to different diseases.
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Numerous studies have discovered that work is a leading cause of stress, stress related illness, and injuries such as stroke, heart disease, and even mental breakdowns.
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So, becoming aware having a balanced lifestyle increases personal awareness, allowing you to identify potential health problems early before they get to a crisis, state, and lifestyle.
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A balanced lifestyle automatically improves health, it encourages healthy choices, and it helps you develop the body and the mind.
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So what about increased morale?
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Work-life balance is an effective tool to increase morale and improve company culture.
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Employees, a lot of times, will seek out companies that support healthy work-life balance.
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The only factor, which I found so interesting, more important than balance to job seekers is compensation.
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And that’s according to Forbes Magazine.
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And then there were several other surveys that were taken, that that talked about work-life balance, improving happiness and overall job satisfaction.
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And employees are more invested in companies that will support that.
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So work-life balance typically translates to employees who work harder and are more productive in most cases.
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So here’s a practical illustration. I had a client that was a CEO, he was, it was a small company, but it was growing.
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He worked long hours, but he never seemed to accomplish anything.
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To make matters worse, he felt like a failure because neither his work or his personal life was meeting his expectations.
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He reacted by sleeping last, taking time away from his family and that didn’t solve anything as we all know.
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Stressed out and exhausted he ended up in a full-blown panic attack at work.
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And his doctor told him to take more time for himself but he kept saying, I don’t have time.
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So here’s one of this poll questions, And that is what is not a benefit of work-life balance. If you could take a minute and take, take that.
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Great. The poll is now open.
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So you can take a few seconds here to submit your answer, and then we’ll get your results up on the screen.
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And we’ll speed through these today.
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So I’ll give you 15 more seconds here to answer before we get the results up.
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Awesome.
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So do you see those results on your side, Patty?
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I do now. Yes. Yes.
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OK, We have Increased productivity, better health conflicts, and it’s actually compensation.
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compensation is the, I don’t know why that is showing a different.
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Hmm, hmm, I think that is showing a different poll than the one we had. The question that we had up there.
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I thought were on the first poll there, but we can go back to the first poll, But my slides for some reason are acting a little strange, and they’re very fast, so we had 94% saying conflicts for what is not a benefit of work-life balance. Yes, conflict is not caused by work-life balance. You’re right, you were on the first one I was on second my, my dad.
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OK, so now we have the second one, what is the one factor that ranks higher than work-life balance for employees?
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And, again, we’ll give you a couple of seconds here to submit your answer before we share those results. Whether that’s compensation, benefits, location, or company values.
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And I see the results streaming in here.
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OK, great, let’s get those results up on the screen. There we go.
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OK, good compensation. That is correct.
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I was actually kind of surprised by that one myself.
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OK, so, what are signs of an imbalance?
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So, we even know, they’re usually unmistakable. We see people suffering from poor health, burnout and stress every day.
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And for companies, this increased costs in the form of absenteeism, health costs, and turnover.
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If you recognize the signs in your life or your organization, you want to take an action immediately and focus. Focus on work-life balance and what you can do to make it better.
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A good example would be, when we get on an airplane, right, the airline attendants will tell you, put your mask on yourself first.
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And they do that for a reason. Because we can’t help others or do our job well, if we’re not healthy And if we don’t have things in control.
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So, the health risks, well, imbalance promotes core health.
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And over time, this leads to devastating results. Sometimes life-changing consequences, right?
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So, some, just, some of the things are obesity, Not taking time to exercise or eat well, can increase obesity, which, obviously, can lead to heart disease and other health risks, Then, there’s exhaustion. Sleeping, well can add years to a person’s life. I’ve been reading so much about sleep lately.
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Sacrificing sleep for work will have negative effects on your health and increases your chances of getting sick.
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then there’s emotional problems.
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Stress and exhaustion will wreak havoc on your emotional well-being, and this will affect relationships and your personal identity.
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So what about APPT absenteeism?
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Poor health increases employee absenteeism.
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And so therefore that’s a costly problem, right?
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There are hidden and direct costs that must be paid when an employee is absent from work.
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So first, they’re sick pay, employees with sick days are still paid, which is a direct cost to the company, then there’s loss of productivity.
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And most people who take time off are legitimately sick.
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And they’re stressed sometimes. And sometimes they’ll take time off just to catch up on personal obligations, and usually they feel justified in doing so.
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So stress, we talked briefly about it earlier, but honestly, work is the main source of stress for most Americans and stress connection to obesity for workers and sedentary jobs is more significant than diet and that is according to a research published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
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And the effect on heart health is really can be deadly, obviously.
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So some signs of stress, or being overly emotional, we’re more emotional when we’re under stress. I know that’s me lethargy. I hope I’m saying that Word right lethargy. The physiological impact of stress can cause us to be tired all the time.
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And then, restlessness stress can make it difficult to focus, causing hyperactivity and restlessness and, of course, anxiety because prolonged stress causes anxiety disorders. So everybody looking at this picture has felt this way at one time or another, that burnout.
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Most people know that overworked employees eventually will burnout.
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It’s the physical and psychological response to long term stor stress.
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So some signs are loss of interest, burned down.
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employees can’t, can’t make themselves care about their work, which is their source of stress to begin with.
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Then there’s lack of emotion.
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Emotional responses are abnormal when someone is burned out, then possible depression, even.
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Burnout is closely related to to depression and loss of motivation.
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So another illustration is there was a manager of a production company. He was recognized for the wrong reasons. He had high turnover. His rate was like 35% and growing. And since he knew that no one would stay for long, he pushed his employees even harder to get them to do more.
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At their exit interviews, people always said they simply lost interests, and didn’t think that the job was worth it.
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So he was threatened with his job, and he was forced to change.
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So he reduces demands on employees, which he thought was going to be disastrous.
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But he was surprised, because turnover dropped about 10%, that’s very next quarter.
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OK, so here’s another poll question. What is the result of burnout?
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Whoops.
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Back, again, for some reason it keeps forwarding those.
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Let’s see if we have the poll open and we’ll give you some time here again to submit your answer, whether you think that’s vacations, turnover, absenteeism, or promotion.
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I’ll give you 10 more seconds here to submit your answer and then we’ll get the results up on the screen.
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OK, great.
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There we are.
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All right, yep. Well, it’s, it’s turnover. Turnover is the biggest, the biggest issue. In that case, there will they all apply, but turnover is definitely the biggest one.
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And what is the result of prolong stress?
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And we have the second poll here Open, so you can answer submit your answer.
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Do you think that’s anxiety, turnover, exercise, or interest?
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And the results are streaming in fast. We’ll give you five more seconds to answer.
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OK, great, let’s see we have 85% of the folks today saying anxiety, That’s 14 Perfect. 14%.
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So turnover, OK, yeah, anxiety is definitely the main thing.
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OK, so James Arthur Ray said, Control is never achieved when sought after directly. It is the surprising outcome of letting go. So when we let go, we actually gain more control.
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So now we’re going to talk a little bit about employer resources. Now, some of this may or may not apply to you, depending on the size of your company or the company that you’re with.
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And these are just some ideas, but employers have the opportunity to improve work-life balance for their employees and increase productivity at the same time.
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Using the resources that employers have at their disposal to change work conditions, it might seem counter-productive.
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Why my screens keep doing that. But they are effective. And so again, these will be different for each company, depending on the size of your company and what type of company and all of that.
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So here’s one offering more employee control. So traditionally, employers set all the parameters concerning jobs.
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Keeping all of that control, however, puts stress on employees, simply offering them more control over their lives and establishing better white work-life balance.
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We’ll help alleviate that stress.
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There are many ways to offer control to employees, and we’ll go over some of them in detail a little bit later.
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But just for an idea is flexitime, job sharing and telecommuting.
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There are just a few examples. Anything that empowers an employee to take charge of their life offers them control.
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So, asking employees for suggestions.
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Sometimes, employees have some of the best ideas on how to improve their job and the company as a whole.
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However, they’re not always communicated. A lot of employees feel that they’re not heard. So the best way to hear about new, innovative ideas is to create an employee suggestion program.
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So, a tip, some tips for that is just make it simple.
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Create a simple process for giving suggestions, because complicated things, don’t encourage creativity anyway, and let employees know that you have heard their suggestions, and you will consider them.
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And then, thank them. You want to thank every employee who gives a suggestion, even if you don’t use those suggestions.
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And, of course, rewarding reward employees who come up with useful suggestions.
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one of my favorite shows on TV is Undercover Boss because they take an interest in what their employees think, and they they implement changes as a result of it and see better productivity and happier employees.
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And then, there’s Employee Assistance Programs, and, again, this depends on the size of your company.
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I’m self-employed, but my husband works for a large company and they have this, given the unavoidable stress of life, most people face times when they need assistance, and that’s what EAP is do.
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The effects of stress can spiral out of control for some people, so this gives individuals an opportunity to seek help and learn skills to improve their work-life balance.
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Things like personal crisis, work stress, financer, substance abuse, and they’re they’re very, very useful investments because they prevent turnover, and they reduce absences because they’re teaching strategies for work-life balance.
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And then reward your staff. This might seem very basic, but rewarding your staff is an effective method for promoting work-life balance.
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Employees who feel appreciated are more confident, and they’ll be more likely to repeat that behavior.
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And rewards can also provide breaks that reduce stress, and they don’t have to break the bank. There are simple things you can do, no matter how small your company is.
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So, for instance, like, public acknowledgment of service, just being acknowledged is a big deal to people.
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Some extra time off, maybe some. Sometimes it’s awards and promotions or even parties.
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Just having a fun celebration sometimes can be helpful.
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So, there was a CEO of a large retailer that listened to some of the suggestions from his employees, and they wanted him to create hours that were more flexible. So the plan was implemented. He did it on a trial basis.
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At the first review, his productivity increased by about 8%, And by the second review, another 5%. So, of course, morale was up, turnover was down, so he decided to keep the flex hours.
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So, three different ways that you can manage productivity are getting the job done, monitoring progress on the task, and assessing the output, and sometimes that’s based on client feedback.
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OK, here’s another little poll question, Employee control increases what?
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And the poll is now open, Profits, a turnover, loyalty, or stress.
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And we’ll give you 10 more seconds here to answer. You see many of you have voted already.
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Let’s get those results up on the screen now.
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Yes, It, it increases loyalty, and it also decreases stress.
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OK, so then our next question in this section is, appreciated employees are more.
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And again, you can take some time here to answer the last poll question, competent, likely to leave, nervous or ambitious.
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And those results are streaming in.
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10 more seconds here.
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Great. Let’s get those results up there.
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So, 72% confident, and 28% saying ambitious. OK, good, Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely increases confidence, for sure.
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OK, so this little quote by William Penn says, that Time is what we want most, but what we use wurst, so now we’re going to talk a little bit about time management.
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Because that’s important to work-life balance.
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Most people complain, they don’t have enough time.
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The truth is that most people don’t know how to manage their time wisely.
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Time management is crucial to an effective work-life balance and effectively, implementing time management will reduce stress and help bring balance to life in and out of the office.
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OK, so this is, You may have seen this matrix before the urgent important matrix. And but what you might not know, which I was surprised to find out was this concept was originally presented by our 34th president of the United States, Dwight D Eisenhower. I did not know that just a little trivia.
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So many people confuse the urgent with the important urgent tasks do not need to be done quickly, but that doesn’t make them important.
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We’re often stuck completing urgent tasks at the expense of the important ones. And the important ones are the ones that help us meet our goals.
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So often, urgent tasks, such as fixing the copy machine, are distractions for what is important.
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So learning the difference between urgent and important makes time management skills better for everyone.
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So, for instance, an urgent but not important, task, would be maybe responding to an e-mail, and asking for clarification on a non critical manner.
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While it does require immediate attention completing it does not contribute to your long term goals or your priorities.
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On the other hand, an example of important, but Nesa not necessarily urgent, would be helping the company create a long term plan for maybe a particular department. And even though it’s essential for long term success, it doesn’t necessarily require immediate attention.
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So managing time requires that we say no, sometimes, now this doesn’t mean to our boss, obviously, but this and it might seem cruel, but it’s not possible to meet everyone’s needs.
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You must learn to say no, kindly, but firmly.
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Don’t allow people to talk you into urgent tasks because you need to stick with a schedule and a plan of action.
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Don’t deviate unless it’s a true emergency.
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For example, if a colleague asked you to proofread proofread a letter for them, that is not an emergency that you have to complete right now.
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So complete your important tasks first.
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And always remember that, no is a complete sentence.
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You don’t have to give a ton of reasons. No is a complete sentence.
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So what about flexibility?
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That is such an important skill.
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Life can’t be predicted and infinite inflexible people, they fail to all the pieces when change when change comes beyond their control.
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Being flexible simply means that you’re not resisting the inevitable changes of life, flexibility doesn’t mean passively.
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It’s being able to embrace change.
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This will reduce stress and improve work-life balance.
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For example, if you have car trouble one day, that’s going to throw off your whole schedules. So, you’re not going to try to keep up with your daily tasks, because you have to take care of that.
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OK, we’ve all heard of the 80 20 rule, right?
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according to the 80 20 rule, 80% of our success is the result of 20 percent of our actions.
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The role implies that we should place our focus on the 20% of activities that are the most successful. So, this means that we have to prioritize right?
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I just read a phenomenal book, called 10 X is easier than two X by Dan Sullivan.
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And it’s the opposite of what we’ve been told like if you read like Grant Cardone spoke about taking action and thanks in your activity. This is not that this says going for the ted-x requires letting go of the 80% of your current life and going all in on the 20% that’s relevant and high impact. And then I follow a man on LinkedIn.
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His name is Justin Welsh and he’s a one person business but very successful businessman.
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And he says that hard work does not equal productivity.
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Eliminate, simplify, automate, and delegate.
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And whatever’s left over is your 20% high impact task work on those.
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So, here’s another practical illustration. This is a friend of mine, actually.
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He always had the best intentions when he went to work, but he always had to stay late, is spent most of his time fixing other people’s problems, He would make copies for people. If the coffee machine was acting up, he would, he even trained his partner’s mentee and met with angry clients the same day. He always said yes, when he was asked to help.
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His average work was about, I guess it was like 60 hours a week, and he was nowhere near his personal goals.
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So, he had to do something, and we had a discussion about it because Aye, used to be the person that would say yes to everything myself. I had to learn that the hard way.
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OK, so the another little poll. What is necessary for the 8020 rule?
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And you can take some time here to vote.
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All right, you guys are getting the hang of this here, you see great responses streaming in will give you five more seconds.
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Awesome, OK, let’s get those results up on the screen there.
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Yeah, good priorities is number one, and that is that is correct. Although, flexibility is important to, I see a lot of people voted on flexibility. So that’s extremely important, as well.
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Then, the next question is, most people complain that they don’t have enough watts.
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You can take a couple seconds here to vote enough, money enough, friends, enough, time, all of the above.
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And five more seconds here, if you haven’t voted, you can do so now.
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All right, great. Let’s get those results on the screen.
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Yep, enough time. And although people do complain about other things, that they don’t have enough money, and you could say all of the above, as well.
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So, if you want to live a happy life, tied to a goal, not people or things, that was Albert Einstein, that said that.
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So, now, we’re going to talk for a few minutes about goals.
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In order to effectively manage time and live a balanced life, you have to be aware of your goals.
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It’s important that you have goals, because they provide us direction.
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Working towards a goal will help focus energy and reduce the stress that comes with not having any purpose at all.
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Whoops, OK, so this is what we call the three P’s.
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This is going to help you achieve goals. Approaching your goals incorrectly is only going to result in failure. So, the three P’s will motivate you, and help you from becoming discouraged.
33:07
Hopefully, when setting goals, you make sure that they are positive, which means that they need to be phrased positively.
33:14
So they help you feel good about yourself and what you’re trying to accomplish. So an example might be, I want to enroll in pre law classes, so that I can help people with legal problems someday.
33:25
Then, you have personal, they have to be personal. They must reflect your dreams and values, not those of your friends and family.
33:32
When you’re crafting your goal statement, always use the word I, because then you brand it as your own. When your goals are personal, you’ll be more motivated to succeed and take greater pride in your accomplishments.
33:44
Then, of course, it has to be possible, when you’re setting goals, be sure to consider what’s possible and within your control.
33:50
Because sometimes, we can do crazy things like, say, OK, I wanna get into an Ivy League university.
33:57
That might be totally doable if you have great grades, But if you’re struggling in school, that’s probably not doable.
34:04
In the lot. In the latter case, it might be more reasonable to attend a university that offers courses related to your chosen career, or even volunteer until you get the experience.
34:17
OK, we’ve all seen the acronym smart. You’re probably tired of seeing it over and over again, that Your Goals have to be S, M a R T.
34:25
But, it’s there’s a lot of power in it.
34:27
OK, so SPN specific goals have to be specific. So, an example of a specific goal for, for health would be workout 30 minutes a day.
34:37
And then, we need to measure them right, because they let you know if you’re successful or not.
34:42
So, for example, lose £5, we know if it’s measurable or not, because we didn’t lose lose, Did we lose £5? Or did we not lose £5?
34:52
Then, are they attainable all goals, particularly, short-term goals need to be attainable.
34:56
For example, if you’re trying to promote an employee three times in six months, that’s probably not very achievable.
35:03
And, of course, they have to be relevant.
35:05
Goals have to be relevant to the situation.
35:07
So, a goal to find a mentor is not relevant to someone who is established in that field or taking classes for photography, if you want to be a chef.
35:17
Then they have to be timely goals require specific timeframes.
35:22
For example, lose £5 this month, is both measurable and timely.
35:30
Then, we want to prioritize our goals, so you know how to focus your energy.
35:34
In order to do this, you must consider how smart goals align with your personal vision and your values in life, A goal that does not meet your personal values is less likely to be reached.
35:46
So use this criteria to rank smart goals. This is in your handouts that Sarah sent over to you. You’ll hit, This is one of the sheets that are on there, it’s so that you can list your smart goals, It’s important that you balanced your goals with different areas of your life, and don’t forget, They have to be your goals.
36:03
OK, so a practical illustration. You know, we have all heard of the kid who graduates or goes to college, and their parents want them to do be a certain thing, right? And it’s not their choice. So we all we have all heard of that, But I actually had a client whose parents wanted him to follow in their footsteps.
36:21
Everybody was a doctor or a dentist, just about everybody, and he wanted to be a chef.
36:26
So, not only was it not his goal, but it was not in his area of strengths.
36:30
We did has just proof profile his strength finders, and none of that were in his strengths.
36:36
So we can’t depend on others to create what makes us happy and feel alive, because when we haven’t defined of when, we settle for somebody else’s one.
36:47
OK, there’s another question, A goals: A goal must be personal, keeps what pass voting.
36:55
Let’s go back.
36:58
Goals must be personal. They must reflect your own dreams and values. So a goal that does not meet what is less likely to be reached.
37:09
And the poll is open. You can take some time here to submit your answer before we get those results up on the screen.
37:19
Personnel literal or figurative were balanced And five more seconds here.
37:30
OK, great, now that results are up on the screen.
37:36
OK, great, 91% personal, Yep. They have to be, personally, I have to meet your goals.
37:43
one more question. Why should you prioritize your goals?
37:47
You can take some time here Again, submit your answer, and then we will share the results.
37:53
So is it to set expectations to eliminate unimportant values to understand alignment or to focus your energy?
38:05
And we’ll give you again five more seconds here.
38:08
Submit your notes.
38:11
OK, great, now let’s get those results up on the screen. There we go.
38:20
OK, Focus Your Energy, was the most, and those other things are all correct. It’s just that focusing your energy. When you prioritize your goals, you’ll know exactly where to focus your energy.
38:36
So, optional ways to work, or what we want to talk about next, are the traditional methods of work, can increase stress and imbalance in life.
38:44
Each person is unique, and providing different work options will allow people to choose the method, that helps them to be most productive.
38:51
Now, this might not be possible to roll out to provide every option for every company. I realized that A, but allowing for different work styles will improve company culture and it, and it promotes balance.
39:02
Each option comes with its own pros and cons, so we have to examine them carefully before choosing a new way to work.
39:09
So, for example, given the way we use Technology, Telecommuting is a popular work option.
39:16
It allows people to work from home and send their projects in when they’re due, but there’s the cost: companies can reduce overhead and other costs by allowing employees to work from home, so, that’s a good thing.
39:28
Then productivity, because a lot of people who work from home are often more productive. Now, that’s not always the case, but a lot of times, it is.
39:36
And it lower stress because many employees benefit from losing that morning commute and distracting officemates in the in the office.
39:45
Then personal control employees who work from home are able to take responsibility for their own schedule, but there are a couple of cons.
39:51
The first one is communication because when, when all your communication is electronic, employees may not communicate as well as they do face-to-face.
40:01
And then motivation people who are not self driven need more structure than telecommuting offers.
40:07
And then, of course, there’s longer hours, because a lot of people that work from home, they can’t distinguish between work and home, and that’s a big problem for people that, that work at home period. That’s something that really has to be learned. I know it was for me.
40:22
So flex time is another thing. Flex time does not alter the number of hours that employees work, but it gives them flexibility to choose. So for example, you might choose working from 7 to 4, so you can be home early to spend time with the family.
40:35
Now the pros to that are, again, productivity people are more productive when they know that they’re able to take care of other obligations, and it does boost morale because everyone’s internal clock is different. People are happier when they can work at their optimal times.
40:49
Now some of the cons to that, though, are it’s difficult to manage because managers may have trouble co-ordinating meetings when everyone’s on working on different hours.
40:58
Then there can also be miscommunications.
41:01
It’s easy to forget to communicate ideas with people who have already left for the day.
41:08
So another practical illustration is a small business owner. He had. He was having trouble with employee absenteeism.
41:15
And many of his workers were taking time off to handle family responsibilities.
41:19
Now, he couldn’t fault people for leaving to pick up their sick children, but productivity was down. So after careful consideration, he offered his employees a opportunity to telecommute. After about six months, productivity improved about 20%.
41:35
Additionally, his overhead cost dropped dramatically and he began looking into other options. And by the way, look what happened during and after the pandemic, right?
41:44
I mean, I had a prospective client whose employees all work remote except to come in for annual meetings and trainings, and they’re still doing it that way. So, a lot of times, it works for the company. It depends on the type of business that you are.
41:59
John Wanamaker was a former US Postmaster General, from a long time ago, and he said, People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness. So we don’t want that.
42:13
That’s what we’re trying to avoid.
42:16
Maintaining balance at work can sometimes be difficult.
42:19
Outside influences, creep in and negatively can affect our productivity.
42:25
Becoming sidetrack can create job related stress, and that further increases the level of imbalance that you experience.
42:32
So, fortunately, we have a few useful tips that will help you regain your sense of balance while you’re at work.
42:38
The first one is leaving stress at home. Leaving home. Home stress at home. Now, I know this is easier said than done, believe me.
42:45
I know everyone has personal problems that create stress and hinder their job performance.
42:50
If these issues are severe, it might be necessary to take a leave of absence.
42:54
in most cases, however, there are better strategies to help leave stress at home.
43:01
And here are some, first of all, get up early.
43:04
Get up early enough to take a few minutes and prepare for your day. Focus on what’s ahead.
43:09
I personally have to get up hours before I have to be somewhere. I do work from home, but I have to go out and see clients. So if I have to go out that day, I have to be up hours before. That’s just how I function best.
43:20
Take advantage of your commute. View the commute as a chance to enter your work zone.
43:25
Mentally, gear up for the workday listen to a podcast. I am a huge podcast person. I’m always listening to podcasts.
43:32
Communicate appropriately, discuss your problems with a friend or a confidant outside of work. Don’t vent about home stress to your co-workers. That’s not a good idea.
43:41
Then, find outlets. Discover useful ways to alleviate stress, such as exercise. Maybe that will help keep you focused throughout your workday.
43:50
And, again, that’s going to be different for everybody.
43:54
And then projects and deadlines can be overwhelming.
43:58
So if you have a large task ahead of you, you might be tempted to just procrastinate. I know that’s what I used to do.
44:04
This only creates more stress. So a better solution is breaking up the task.
44:08
So first, you want to list the steps that are necessary to complete the task.
44:12
Schedule the time for each step, complete the easiest step first and then move on because that gives you a sense of accomplishment, don’t look ahead focus on the task at hand.
44:23
So, for example, I have found that it’s called chunking. That helps me, it takes a project and chunks sit down and makes a plan how each step gets done. So for example, with this workshop or any workshop that I do, I first choose my topic.
44:38
Then I gather my resources, my experiences, the stories that I want to share.
44:42
I’ll scribble my notes on paper next.
44:45
And then I create my slides. And after I create my slides, I practice and I go over to make sure that I can convey the message that I’m looking to convey to you.
44:57
OK, delegation I know not everybody is good at this. And I used to be really bad at this. People can avoid stress by delegating responsibly though.
45:06
It sounds simple, but many people, particularly my managers out there if you’re a manager. This is hard for you, I know you have problems delegating.
45:14
authority.
45:15
You don’t trust anybody else to do the job, but I have a few tips for you that might help you in delegating. First of all, choose the tasks that you want to delegate.
45:24
You don’t want to delegate sensitive or difficult tasks.
45:28
Choose people to help find responsible people that you trust to handle the task.
45:32
And by the way, the only way you’re going to know who they are is to give them the chance.
45:37
And then, give instructions. Make sure you communicate clearly what you want with a deadline.
45:42
And then be available.
45:44
Let people know they can come to you with questions, but don’t hover over them.
45:55
Setting accurate goals is extremely important, and decreases stress.
46:00
It evolves estimating the time that it will take to complete something.
46:04
So here’s a few steps that will help you.
46:07
First, familiarize yourself with the requirements, list, the actions that you need to do, and estimate the time necessary for each action that you need to take.
46:19
So here’s a practical illustration. This is a friend of mine. He’s a CEO of a small, thriving, pretty thriving company. He was accused of being a micromanager, but he did not trust other people to manage his company.
46:32
So, it slowed productivity because he had to personally improve everything.
46:37
Finally, he had a wedding that he had to go to in the family that forced him to take time off.
46:42
And when he returned, he expected to find a mass, but he discovered that productivity was, was just fine, as a matter of fact, it went up. So sometimes we have to trust other people to take over when we, when we can’t be there.
46:58
OK, so here’s another little poll question, I don’t know why those slides keep advancing for me.
47:05
What are we tempted to do when we’re overwhelmed?
47:11
We have the poll launched here, and we’ll give you a few seconds. Is that procrastinate, focus? Work? Click quickly, or slow down.
47:20
I’ll give you five more seconds here.
47:25
OK, great, and let’s skip those results up on the screen.
47:33
Yes, procrastinate. That is, that’s the one, OK, We’re going to do this one more poll, and then we’re going to skip the rest of the polls, because I want to make sure that I get you all the information while while we have the time. So, what should be delegated?
47:52
Complex tasks, simple tasks, sensitive task, or personal errands will give you five more seconds. Here. I see lots of votes streaming in.
48:05
OK, great, let’s get those results up on the screen.
48:13
Right? Simple tasks than, than what the majority said, competent complex tasks, as well, but simple tests, especially Thank you for taking those. I appreciate it.
48:27
OK, so Seneca was a major philosophical figure of the Roman imperial period. And he said, A man who suffers or stresses before it’s necessary, suffers more than necessary.
48:38
There’s an old saying about when we worry about things, most of the time, they don’t even end up happening. And 500 years ago, there was a man named Michelle …. And he said, My life has been filled with terrible misfortune, most of which never happened. And now there’s a study that proves even the Huff. Huffington Post said that 85%, about what we worry about never happens.
49:02
So a lot of times we put undo, undo stress on ourselves of something that isn’t even going to happen. I personally, years ago, over a personal family situation ended up in the ER and it turned out to be all stress related over something that never even occurred.
49:20
So let’s talk about relaxing When we we should be able to relax at home and unwind after a hard day, unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.
49:29
So home has its own stress, and it seems like Distressful Mark is constantly waiting to spillover.
49:35
So in order to have work-life balance it’s important to learn how to effectively manage the stress.
49:40
When we work from home, this can be especially challenging.
49:44
So the first thing we want to do is leave work at work.
49:48
Bringing that home is going to ruin your family life. And I know it’s easier said than done.
49:53
Additionally, not being able to separate from work is going to destroy your your balance and increase your stress level.
49:59
Luckily there’s a few strategies that will help you. If you have to stop on your way home on particular, stressful days, just decompress, pulled the car, over, listen to some music.
50:09
You might need to call a friend and vent while you’re in a traffic jam so that you don’t take it home to your family.
50:15
Because you want to enjoy your family, Don’t focus on the downside of family life.
50:19
Find ways to spend time together that everyone enjoys, then find outlets, discover useful ways to alleviate work stress, such as exercise or meditation.
50:31
As an, as a, just a practical example, I’d like to share with you something that I do, and I don’t know if you can see it from here, but I’m holding it up. I have this journal and I call it my Let it go journal. And believe it or not, it is so helpful to me, because I write in that thing. Every time I am concerned about something that I have no control over. Or, even if I have control over it. But I’m trying to figure out a problem. And I know that I’m not going to get the answer today. I put it in my let it go journal, and I have to let it go. And believe it or not, it sounds simple and silly, but it really works.
51:06
Then we have to turn our phones off sometimes, right?
51:09
Cell phones have made it nearly impossible to, to escape the pressures of life.
51:15
Now, there’s always a way for someone to reach us, especially if somebody else in the house has a phone.
51:20
We have e-mails, we have text messages, we have social networks, and there’s only one way to alleviate that stress turn off the phone for a period of time.
51:29
It’s healthy and acceptable to do that, and it doesn’t matter when you disconnect just that UDOIT take some knee time.
51:38
Now a lot of you might say, I don’t have any time. I have a family. I have work. I have all that.
51:42
But honestly, it’s essential to your personal health and well-being.
51:46
Often people think that anytime there’s a J at the spa or something extravagant that they can’t afford to do, actually meantime is very simple. It’s anything that you can do for yourself. There’s no set expense or timeframe that you have to follow.
52:00
It can be as simple as taking a walk in the middle of the day, if you’re working from home.
52:04
The only imperative is, you actually have to take it. So you have to have that meantime from time to time.
52:10
And so for me, sometimes that means just going in the other room and reading a magazine or something for pleasure or something that’s not work related. And but that will might look different for you.
52:22
Boundaries are very hard to learn, and they were very hard for me.
52:26
But they are important in every aspect of life. Without them, people will constantly pull your attention. So in order to achieve work-life balance, it’s necessary to establish boundaries.
52:37
And you can set a boundary, for example, that says, I don’t take hauls after 7 0 PM, your boundaries are gonna look different. But let’s just say that’s your boundary.
52:46
Once you set them and communicate them, you need to maintain them. Because nature, naturally, people are going to push your boundaries and test you.
52:53
So you need to stay strong, so sometimes letting a call go to voicemail, and only return it if it’s a matter of truly being an emergency.
53:02
After awhile, people will start to respect your boundaries.
53:06
And just remember, no is a complete sentence.
53:12
My husband learned as a practical illustration about this, because every time he has a day off, he is flooded with phone calls, and after hours, 7, 8, 9 o’clock at night. And the frustrated reading part is, most of the time, they weren’t important. There were questions like, Where is my order sheet? Where is this? Where is that?
53:30
Finally, he had to tell people, He could no longer answer his phone on this time off, and they could leave a message and he would call back if it was important, and over time, the number of calls have decreased.
53:40
Sometimes we have to do that.
53:42
Alright. We’re going to skip over this.
53:44
Let’s talk a little bit about stress. An old Chinese proverb says, Tention is who you think you should be.
53:50
Relaxation is who you are.
53:55
It’s impossible to experience work-life balance without stress, manage, management. It’s unavoidable.
54:01
It can have lasting effects, both physically and psychologically if we don’t, but we can learn how to manage stress.
54:08
Sometimes it’s through exercise.
54:11
It’s part of a healthy lifestyle. I do not claim to be a fitness guru or anything like that. I’m not telling you for that reason, and this has to be personal to each person.
54:19
You have to choose something you enjoy, not something you hate, and you have to start slowly because if it hasn’t been a habit, you have to make it a habit and then schedule it.
54:28
It has to be a priority, or you’ll never get to it. The same thing with eating. I found out that I was an emotional eater. A lot of times people are emotional eaters. So diet has a strong impact on our emotions, and the way we handle stress.
54:41
And actually what we eat.
54:43
So avoiding sugar and caffeine and focusing on good, healthy food and eating a little more frequently so that we balance out our blood sugar. Those are all important things to do.
54:54
Then, getting enough sleep. This is a big one for most people. I’ve read, like 4 or 5 books on sleep.
55:00
Many people are sleep deprived, and experts recommend sleeping between 7 and 9 hours a night, which most people don’t do.
55:07
But, since it plays such an important part in your health, we need to learn how to avoid Electronics’ before bed. How to relax and unwind.
55:18
And exercise. That’s kind of controversial, because they say, not to exercise before bed, but maybe just some stretching.
55:24
And then having a regular bedtime is helpful, too. That’s helped me.
55:29
So we’re not always aware of how much stress is affecting our lives. It’s possible to believe that you’re effectively managing your stress when when it’s managing you.
55:38
So one of your handouts in your worksheets is, is going to help you with this?
55:42
It’s going to help you being able to do this self assessment.
55:48
And a just a practical example is, as I said, I ended up in the ER with some things that were out of my control, and it was all stress related.
55:56
And so we want to try to get that under control as much as possible.
56:02
And stress is deceptive.
56:04
When you’re working from home, it has advantages and disadvantages.
56:08
So if you’re careful, your home office can take over. If you’re not careful. Your home office can take over your life.
56:14
So just follow a few guidelines with setting up your home office.
56:18
If you work from home, make sure you have a special area where you work from, and let everything you need is nearby, and clear out your office of anything unnecessary, And make it a workspace. And I also say, make sure that you’re dress for success when you go to work every day, if you work from home, because I know for me if I’m working in my pajamas, I’m not productive.
56:39
And then, again, setting those boundaries. It’s difficult to do that at home, but it’s really important.
56:44
So, for example, don’t take personal calls while you’re working, and expect people to challenge them. But eventually, they will respect them.
56:55
So, it’s easy to get distracted while you’re working from home, so you want to limit access.
57:01
Tell your family when you’re working. Use a timer. If you need to schedule breaks for activities. and then turn off the television. If you need a television for work, It doesn’t have to be on all the time.
57:12
And then, set aside time to talk on the phone, only when you need to.
57:16
Not every time the phone rings.
57:20
Making that schedule and sticking to it is crucial.
57:23
If not, you’re going to have trouble accomplishing tasks on time.
57:27
So, you set a schedule that works for you. eight o’clock, I have breakfast, 8 30, I return e-mails, and so on, and make your schedule for the day.
57:36
These are, so in closing, although this is coming to a close, I hope your journey to improve your work-life balance skill is just beginning.
57:48
Remember, though you can do this, OK. This is something that everyone can do, and leadership is developed daily, We have to work on ourselves daily.
57:57
And by the way, learn to have fun.
58:00
Work-life balance that is unique to you is very important.
58:05
Build that support network that can provide emotional support and encouragement, and look over your worksheets and fill them out and implement, because writing them down is the first step – but implementation is the most important step.
58:18
I’m now going to put this on the screen, because we’re going to have some Q&A, but it’s also my contact information. And if you are interested in the complimentary assessment and or the complimentary training for your team, please either scan the QR code on your screen, or go to the link that says pattimassullo/drawing.
58:38
And there’s a form there that you can fill out and at the same time if you do that, if you have learned something today that you found value in, I would appreciate if you could just say a few words about that. And all you have to do is put your first name, and your last initial, that would be so helpful to me as a testimonial, I would appreciate it.
58:56
So, I’d like to open it up for questions now if we have any Sarah?
59:00
Yes, thanks, Patty, for sharing such great information on something that’s really relevant and present, I think, in today’s day and age. And so we are approaching the top of our hour here, but I would like to see if you could touch more on this just a bit here from John who says, you know, I feel like I have to disagree with the separation of work and life in ways that it kind of seems unrealistic. I think that work-life effects personal life and vice versa. So could you share just a little bit of a closing statement on that before we wrap up our webinar today? Sure. Thanks. John. Yes. I appreciate what you’re saying, And you’re correct. That is totally correct.
59:38
But I think what it is, it’s just finding the balance. Because for everybody is totally different. I mean, I don’t know if you work from home, or if you work for a company, I don’t know. But I think they’re both equally important.
59:51
And I think that finding the balance is, is important, because some people are, you know, you heard the old saying that, when you’re at work, you’re always thinking about things at home. Or when you’re home, you’re always thinking about things that work. So, I don’t think that it’s, you know, it’s that cut and dry, or that black and white, I think it really depends on your situation, and I think it depends on a lot on your how your made up to, how you’re wired, as well.
1:00:15
Hopefully, that, and, with that here, that does bring us up to the top of the hour, I would like to share a comment that we received from Katherine, who said, This is one of the best organized and delivered events I’ve attended in some time. Thank you. Thank you, Thank you Katherine, I appreciate that.
1:00:32
Yes, and thank you so much, Patty, for your time today and sharing such great information.
1:00:38
Thank you.
1:00:40
And thank you all for participating in today’s webinar. Today’s webinar was sponsored by HRDQ You can learn more about HRDQ at HRDQstore.com, and make sure that you join me next week, for: Trust Me: Moving Trust From a Catchphrase to Action. And also, check out our new podcast, the HRDQU In Review podcast, hosted by me. So you can find me over there. Make sure you check that out. It’s been really fun. And we’ve had some really great conversations and lookout, because we’ll be having a podcast with Patty up and coming soon, as well. So, thank you all for participating in today’s webinar, and have a wonderful rest of your day. Happy Training!
1:01:20
Thanks, everybody.