I’m not perfect, and I’m certainly not an expert. Some of my friends might say it’s a joke that I’m writing a blog about work-life balance! But there are things I’ve learned over the years, and it is something that I’m still working on.

Phases of life

We all go through different phases of life. Your work-life balance will continue to be in flux as your go through your life and career. When I first started teaching, I didn’t have a wife or kids. I was able to get a lot of work done in the evenings and on weekends. Now that I have a family, the evenings and weekends are the time I want to spend with them. Sometimes I would look back and feel like I wasn’t getting as much done as I used to. Then I realized that this is just a different part of my life, and the outcomes will not be the same.

Do the best your can at this moment in your life. Try not to compare yourself to other people at different stages of their life than you. 

Why I’m trying to make a change

I attended an OMEA conference several years ago and went to a session about work-life balance. The presenter started by telling us a story about how his first job was replacing a band director that had just heart attack and a few years later had to retire early. The principal was lamenting about how the music program used to be great, but it just wasn’t the same after Mr. B had a heart attack. In the interview, he was excited to get a young person in there to bring it back to its former glory!

The presenter took the job but quickly realized how much work it was and how much was demanded of him. He worked there for a few years and then moved on to another job, hoping it would be easier and have a more realistic set of expectations. It didn’t, and he was even busier than the first one. His stress was through the roof, and he could see the long-term effects on some of his older colleagues. He couldn’t help but feel like he would someday end up like the poor band director who worked himself to death.

He talked about how sometimes we hop around to different jobs to try to solve the problem, but most of the time it doesn’t fix anything. A better solution is to make changes in your current job and life so that you can be successful in the long term.

This presentation helped me realize that this is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to think about your longevity in your career and make changes so you can be successful and healthy in the long run.

How I am trying to live a more balanced life

1. Determine your priorities

My top three priorities are Family, Health, and Relationships. Knowing what is most important to you will help you to be sure you are achieving your goals in this area. It will help motivate you to work on your balance and make changes when necessary.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: What are your priorities? Write them down on a list and refer to them often.

2. Do less, but go deeper

One issue I have is saying yes to too many things. The next time you are asked to do something in the future, ask yourself this: If I had to do this today, would I have time to do it? If you don’t have time today, you probably won’t have time in 2 months to do it either. Sometimes we feel that because this new commitment is a long time from now, we won’t be as busy as we are now. Most of the time, this is not true. We spread ourselves too thin and struggled to fit everything into our schedule. Something is going to break, and it will probably be you.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Instead of adding more things to your schedule, try going deeper with the things that you currently are doing.

3. When you are at work, use your time wisely

For me, my plan period is at the end of the day. After teaching music all day, sometimes it’s hard to sit down and plan. My brain (and body) need a break. I find myself sitting at my desk but not being very productive. Then, later on, when I’m at home, I need to finish work that wasn’t done earlier.

One thing that has helped me a lot is using the Pomodoro Technique. Here’s how to do it:

• Set a goal for your work session
• Set a timer for 25 minutes – I like keeping the ticking sound on to remind me to keep working.
• Work on only that one task for 25 minutes (multi-tasking is a myth)
• at the end of 25 minutes, take a short break (5 minutes).
• After four sessions, take a longer break of 30 minutes.

For me, this has helped me stay focused. On average, our brains can’t focus on one thing for more than 25 minutes. The short breaks allow us to reset and then start again.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Try out a Pomodoro timer and see if it helps you!

4. Practice self-compassion

Be okay with not getting everything done on your to-do list. Do the best you can today, and tomorrow try again. On days that you only have a little to give, give less. On days you have a lot to give, give more. It will all work out in the long run.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Be nice to yourself!

5. Make sleep a priority

I could go on and on about this… SLEEP IS IMPORTANT!

I used not to make sleep a priority. It started in college as a music major. Late nights of doing papers, early mornings of music history, long practice sessions, late night gigs that ended at 2 am… and don’t forget about the socializing. Then I started teaching, and my poor sleep habits continued. As a young 20-something, I felt like I had a lot of energy and didn’t need a full night’s sleep. A little coffee will do the trick!

Luckily, I read a book called Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker.

His book is very good, and I highly recommend it. You do have to get through the first part of the book, where he talks about the negative health effects of lack of sleep. The second part of the book talks a lot about research, and technical stuff explained in an easy-to-understand way. The final part of the book gives tips for better sleep. The Appendix gives Twelve Tips for Healthy Sleep and has been very helpful for me. Getting a full night’s sleep is not an option – it is a requirement.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Check out Dr. Walker’s TED talk for a primer!

6. Work when you are most productive

I found I am way more productive in the early mornings. My wife is the opposite and gets a lot of things done in the evenings. Find out when you are most productive and schedule activities that require the most focus and brain power during that time. My ideal schedule is to go to bed at 7:30 pm and wake up at 4:00 am. The few hours before school is very productive for me to get many things done. This works out great because my kids also got to bed early.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Find your most productive time of the day and get things off of your to-do list!

7. Eat your fruits and vegetables

When I am very busy and stressed, I find my diet goes out the window. Diet, in this sense, is not me trying to lose weight but trying to have a strong and healthy body. Let’s face it, no one in the world says that too many fruits and vegetables are bad for you. Most of us don’t get enough (me included). This is something I’m trying to work on all the time.

What I do know is that when I eat healthily, I have more energy. My brain has less fog and mental strain. My mood is better. All of these things affect me at my work and when I’m home with my family.

Lunch has been especially important to me as a music teacher. If I have a light and healthy lunch, I have energy for the afternoon when I teach 1st graders. The days I have a large unhealthy lunch give me an afternoon slump and make it very hard to be an effective teacher.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Try finding a healthy diet that works for you and food for a strong and healthy body.

8. Focus on relationships

This is a hard one for me. Building strong relationships with your family, partner, and friends is super important, and I always hear how relationships affect your health and brain. It’s something I always need to work on because when I get busy, I’m perfectly content to keep to myself. But when I schedule time for my family, spouse, and friends, I find myself much happier.

Scheduling is the key. Write in your planner when that date night will be. Book a babysitter now! The other day, my friends had a success story with this. We all talked about getting together at this new restaurant while we were at my friend’s house for a Halloween party. Without us knowing, he put it on his calendar in his kitchen. Later on, as we were at the restaurant, we were all thankful that he wrote it down on his calendar because we had all forgotten about it!

At school, focus on building relationships with your students. As a music teacher, sometimes it’s hard for your students to know you as a person. One thing that has helped me is to take a lot of time at the beginning of the year to let them see me as an actual human. I tell them about my family, my hobbies, and where grew up as a child. I let them share things with me about them, and we have conversations. Later on in the year, they will be more apt to learn about quarter notes and eighth notes because you spent time getting to know them.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Take an extra minute to listen to your students and share things about yourself!

9. Make time for the things that bring you joy

As a music teacher, I think it’s important that we remember that we are musicians first. I am lucky to play in jazz ensembles with some of the best musicians around the Cincinnati and Dayton area. My main instrument is the trombone and my favorite group to play with is the Blue Wisp Big Band. We play twice a month at Caffe Vivace, and I always leave feeling musically enriched. The next day when I return to teaching 1st graders, I feel more energized and enthusiastic about my lessons. I think this balance helps me be a better music teacher.

Work-Life Ballance Action Step: Focus on your passions and hobbies outside of school. Spend time doing the things you love.

Conclusion

For me, work-life balance is about longevity. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. If your work-life balance is out of whack, something will break, and it will probably be you.  Focus on changing small things and make minor improvements to your work-life balance. It sounds cliche, but you need to take care of yourself before you can care for others.  

The job of a teacher is never done, and if you allow yourself, you could spend every hour of the day getting ready. One of my mentor teachers told me that you would never totally feel like you are 100% finished.  There is always something more you can do. Please don’t feel bad about turning it off when you go home.  

I want to spend my entire career teaching and hope to have a healthy long retirement. Think of the big picture and how to care for yourself so you can be the best version of yourself now and at the end of your career. 

Take care of yourself, my friend.

-Scott