Health is Wealth | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Holly Cybulski, School of Media and the Teaching & Learning Centre, and Sherri Parkins, Counselling and Accessibility Services and the Teaching & Learning Centre

in the September 2020 issue

Picture this: your second class of the day starts in 10 minutes, you have 30 more assignments to mark by tomorrow, and your email is blowing up like lights at a disco. Where do you begin?

With so many moving parts each day, it can be difficult to not only meet the deadlines, but also to remember to care for oneself. You should be at the top of the daily to-do list! The challenge to find balance can be exacerbated by a work-from-home environment, where distractions and simultaneous demands on time restrict flexibility to manage so many moving elements of one’s day. Tiny changes to daily habits can have an incredible impact. The following is a list of healthy habits faculty may wish to explore and adapt into their daily routines.

Healthy Habits:

• Compartmentalize your time – Where to begin? Often with many deadlines and responsibilities mounting, it can be hard to organize the tasks. Prioritize the deadlines and plan a specific amount of time for task completion. The planning of time is key; otherwise, before you know it, the revision of an article or editing of a file can take all day. This will not only support the management of your workload, but will provide an informative benchmark to assist your efforts to manage task completion in the future. Whiteboards are great planning tools to map task completion!
• Set weekly goals – In addition to a to-do list, set manageable goals to motivate and inspire yourself. When times are tough, these little wins can be just the pick-me-up needed to continue to push through busy times. Celebrate your achievements!
• Talk to your team – You are not alone, but it may feel like it some days, especially from a home office. Keep in touch with your team and invest time to reconnect and simply chat.
• Drink water, eat healthy – We have all been there, typing for hours without a break. Keep a water bottle beside you for convenience. Resist the quick snacks and Starbucks sugary goodness; instead, reach for a healthy alternative.
• Schedule breaks – This also includes limiting screen time. Walk away from your technology. It will wait for your return! Set a timer in another room that makes you walk away to turn it off. How frequently? Health and safety experts say 5 minutes for ever 60.
• Get outside – Stretch your legs and take a deep breath. Moving into a new environment can be just the reset needed to continue to make it through a busy day.
• Gratitude – What is working? What is wonderful? Who is amazing? When we are busy, we can sometimes get lost in the mix and focus on the negative. Essentially, we become our own worst enemy. Journals, even simple pauses of reflection throughout the day, can significantly improve your outlook. The key to success is simple: highlight the wins and shift your focus to what you can do, instead of what you cannot.

As the saying goes, health is wealth. We are our own greatest advocate, so remember to treat yourself as wonderfully as you support those in your world!

View the September 2020 issue of the Academic Newsletter.