NSGConnect

NSGConnect Spark!

This quarterly email is sent to NSGConnect members to inspire self-reflection and discussions with colleagues relating to professional development topics including leadership, self-care, research, and many more.  As a member of NSGConnect, add your thoughts to the NSGConnect Discussion Forum and visit the NSGConnect community page to find out other ways you can engage with the program!  You can also utilize the NSGConnect Library for additional resources.  We welcome your feedback on these memos at wdinonno@natera.com or salma.nassef@bcm.edu.

Time Management

"Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can't afford to lose." --- Thomas Edison

TED Talk Spotlight

Guy Winch "How to turn off work thoughts during your free time"

https://www.ted.com/talks/guy_winch_how_to_turn_off_work_thoughts_during_your_free_time

"Ground zero for creating a healthy work-life balance is not in the real world. It's in our head." Guy Winch discusses ruminating about work during time outside of work activates refers to replaying the same worries and thoughts and is not the same as thinking about work in a creative and problem-solving way. Ruminating activates our stress response and disrupts our ability to recover and recharge in the off hours. Guy Winch discusses how he worked to break the involuntary habit of ruminating.

Tips to decrease amount of time ruminating about work during personal time

1. Have clear guardrails. Define when you stop working, and be strict about it.
2. When telecommuting, ritualize transition from work to home. When working from home, designate one space where you do work and when done working do something concrete to shift atmosphere from work to home. This could include leave your designated work space, change your clothes, and shift atmosphere by changing lighting or playing music.
3. Convert a ruminative thought into a productive one. Pose it as a problem to be solved. Winch gives the example of, "I have so much work to do." is really a scheduling question. Instead, convert it to something more concrete and solvable like, "What can I move in my schedule to make room for this more urgent thing?"

Self-Reflection/Discussion

• Are there times when thinking about work during personal time leads to productive results versus increasing stress levels? Have you noticed how reframing the work thought could lead to these different outcomes?
• With the majority of people having less of a physical boundary between work and home, particularly given restrictions due to COVID-19, what concrete steps have you taken to help keep a boundary between the two?

Additional Resources

• Podcast: "Before Breakfast with Laura Vanderkam" https://lauravanderkam.com/before-breakfast-podcast/

Episodes are an average length of 5 minutes and address listener questions or strategies for how to make the most of time at home and at work.

• Laura Vanderkam also has a blog about time management, life, careers, and family. https://lauravanderkam.com/blog/
• Book: Hyperfocus: How to manage your attention in a world of distraction by Chris Bailey

This quarter's SPARK! Memo brought to you by Karen Corneliussen with the editing help of Michelle Jacobs and Wendy DiNonno.