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Tips to Avoid the 24 Hour Workday!

“OUCH!”  “WHAT A PAINFUL PUNCH TO THE SOLAR PLEXUS!”  Those were the thoughts of Julie Smith, from Home Instead Senior Care, when her son informed her, “You care more about your career than your children!”  Instead of ignoring her son’s complaint, Julie did some deep soul-searching and decided to make significant changes in her life to devote more time to her family.  She shared her journey towards Work-Life Balance with the North Alabama Dietetic Association on September 10, 2013 in a lecture entitled, “WORK LIFE BALANCE:  TIPS TO AVOID THE 24 HOUR WORKDAY!”  This blog will share Julie’s hard-earned wisdom with us.

 

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JULIE SMITH – FROM HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE IN HUNTSVILLE, AL

STRIVING FOR A BALANCED LIFE!

Julie started her talk by sharing statistics on how hard Americans work.  Here they are:

1.  In a survey of 800 Senior Executives, 73% work after hours.

2.  63% work weekends.

3.  70% believe modern lifestyle (i.e., technology) decreases their leisure time.  She gave the example where answering an email within 24 hours was the norm about 10 years ago and was considered a timely response.  With the advent of texting, that time has been trimmed to 5 minutes.

4.  The majority of people check Facebook three times a day:  morning, noon, and evening.

5.  According to financial guru, Clark Howard, a majority gave up 9 days of paid vacation.

6.  In regards to working women, it is not so much the struggle to get ahead that is their number one priority, it is knowing when to turn off work.

7.  For Generation X’ers, 28% logged more work hours this past year versus three years ago.

8.  Sadly, research shows it is much harder for a 30 year old woman to handle a full-time job and children today than it was 15 years ago.

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With these depressing statistics, is there anything one can do to create balance in their life?

Here are the tips from Julie to bring forth balance in life:

1.  Most people wait until vacation to take a break from their work.  She recommends “Staycations.”  These are breaks that can be intermingled throughout the week.  Examples include a game or movie night, evening walks, evening fishing trips or tennis matches.  She encouraged us to use our imaginations in our quest for “Staycations.”

2.  Take time to enjoy the view.  Last year Julie and her family went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  She especially loved the view of the majestic Grand Teton Mountains.  One day she was in the lobby of their hotel.  The windows had a magnificent view of these mountains.  Julie observed she was the only one in the room admiring the view.  ALL of the rest of the people in the lobby were texting, talking on the phone, or gazing at their smartphone computers.  What a sad commentary on our society!

3.  Julie said she had to learn to “JUST SAY NO.”  This was the hardest suggestion to fuse into her life.  She also learned to delegate more…which ended up to be a “WIN WIN” situation at her work.  By delegating, she gained more life balance and her colleagues got to take on more responsiblity, which offered them more growth at work.  She gave an example of when she had to attend a must-go-to meeting.  In the meantime, a local TV station called and wanted to interview a representative from Home Instead Senior Care, which would bring great publicity to the agency.  She decided to attend the important meeting.  The trip to the local TV station was delegated to one of her colleagues, who happily rose to the challenge.

4.  “Do a few things great, instead of a lot of things mediocre” is a new mantra for her.  Also, she says it does not pay to be a martyr because it only leads to more stress.

5.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Her mother offered to help Julie with the laundry, a task her mom enjoys. For years, Julie refused.  One day she relented and asked her mom for help.  The result, according to Julie, “For the first time in years, I don’t have mountains of laundry to be done in my home!”

6.  Julie began her journey into Life Balance by identifying four things she would like to change.  She chose one action item per week to work on.  She said the road to Life Balance has not always been smooth, but the pay-offs have greatly improved her life.  One of the heartwarming rewards is her son waits to read to her each day.  Julie happily says, “It is our special time together that we both look forward to!”

What about your life?  Are you feeling that the demands of your job never cease?  Are there any of Julie’s suggestions you would like to merge into your life?  Perhaps you have other “Life Balance Tips” to share with us working women.   If so, please register on my site to share them with others!  In closing, I wish you, my dear readers, a Happy Balanced Life!