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In this episode of Care Conversations, Kristen Buglione, senior program manager of well-being and health coaching at TimelyCare, breaks down how higher education faculty and staff can improve their time management. Join Kristen and host Sushi Suresh for a discussion to learn some simple and effective time management strategies that can enhance the health, well-being, and success of those working in higher ed.
Care Conversations is an audio series by TimelyCare, higher education’s most trusted virtual health and well-being provider. Each conversation offers thoughtful insights from a subject-matter expert on different topics impacting the health and well-being of campus communities.
How can faculty and staff manage time wisely and prioritize tasks effectively while balancing administrative duties or teaching responsibilities or research?
Kristen Buglione:
It sounds simple, but finding a calendar and a to-do list strategy that works can be really effective! While we have so much going on and feel like there’s not enough time in the day or days in the week to get to it all, to be able to harness some control over your time is really important.
Blocking off time for certain types of tasks can also be really helpful. Identifying windows of time on your calendar, blocking them off, and then creating a to-do list of the things that you’re going to get done on certain days or at certain times can be so helpful.
Sushi Suresh:
I know things are so busy in the moment, but you’re right, being able to be like, ‘Okay, this is a weekly task. It’s going to happen on Friday. Don’t stress.’ That can really help and ease our stress of what we’re busy with at that moment.
Why is work-life balance important?
Kristen Buglione:
It’s important to experience both. Work and your other life experiences, whether that ends up, in the end, being a perfectly balanced work and personal life, that depends on your own life and your priorities.
I think it’s important to think about, and to identify, what your values and priorities are related to your work, life, your personal life, and to think about strategies to create some balance between the two.
Sushi Suresh:
I love that idea—that it’s not always going to be 50/50. We have to be realistic with the balance. And you need to know that anticipation of what is important to you in that week.
How can schools prioritize work-life balance?
Kristen Buglione:
There are a lot of ways to approach this organizationally. There are structures, policies, procedures, and ways that managers can influence how work-life balance is talked about or approached. There are simple ways that we can support each other, like noticing and acknowledging that we have lives outside of work that put a lot of demand on our time. There’s also checking in, asking how we’re doing, how things are going, and seeing if there are ways to support one another through some of those ebbs and flows.
Building trust and respect, and having open communication to create that supportive environment is really important.
What tips do you have for improving work-life balance?
Kristen Buglione:
Figure out your non-negotiables. For me, it’s movement, it’s being outside, it’s having my meals and snacks prepped, and spending quality time with family. I know if I don’t get enough sleep, I can’t concentrate. I can’t focus. So for me, those things are so important.
If I can really prioritize those things in my personal life, I know I’m going to be set up for success. I think that’s the first piece. Having that set schedule of how I’m doing those things in balance with my work responsibilities is really effective and helpful for me. I’ve recently started using my notes app, and that’s really working for me right now. So I’m really focused on putting all of my to-do’s in there and then checking it. It’s just really helpful, and then I have reminders built into my calendar.
Sushi Suresh:
There’s nothing more satisfying than for a pending task to go to a completed task. I totally feel that.
Closing Thought: Proper time management can stand in the way of productivity and efficiency for faculty and staff in higher education. However, by setting expectations and priorities with yourself and implementing some simple strategies into your schedule, you can improve your daily routine.
This transcript has been edited from the original conversation for clarity.
