sugar). You will have more energy if you eat more
fruits, whole grains and vegetables (and your
colon will also thank you).
Exercise is one of the best things you can do
to help yourself. It pumps fabulous chemicals
and hormones into your body, helps you think
more clearly and holds the effects of stress and
aging at bay. For example, in Western Australia,
researchers found that a 30 minute walk a day
kept memory loss away in over 50s.
Work smarter
Finding a suitable balance between work
and daily living is a challenge facing workers all
over the world. It is so important for people’s
well-being that France has passed a law allowing
people to disregard work emails when they’re not
in the office and the European Union has passed a
directive enforcing a maximum 48 hour working
week including overtime.
It is not healthy to regularly work long hours,
skip meals, feel stressed and be available for work
calls and emails 24 hours a day. It makes you
irritable and stressed with your loved ones and
harms your well-being.
There are some things you can do to ‘work
smarter’ and bring more control to your working
hours. The most important thing is to be aware
of your behaviours at work. Do you stay late to
make up time because you messed around during
the day? Have you organised your work space
to be clean, neat, comfortable, organised and
distraction free? Do you check throughout the day
to see if you are focused on your highest priority
or side tracked? Are you doing one thing at a time,
rather than multi-tasking? Are you doing your
most difficult tasks in high energy periods or
leaving them until the end of the day?
You don’t have to change all your bad work
habits at once. Pick one, start small and keep
going.
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Have an interest outside work
You feel better when you have an interest
you enjoy. It energizes you, gives you something
to look forward to at the end of the day and makes
you a more interesting person. If your only focus
is work, where are you replenishing the energy
you give out? Are you replenishing it or are you
becoming a paler version of yourself daily?
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Boundaries
It helps if you have healthy boundaries
between the things you do. There are three ways
you can manage your boundaries.
The first approach is that one part of your
life always comes first. Full Stop. End of story.
This is the person who takes work phone calls
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during family meal times but will not take
personal calls during work hours. This is also the
person who allows work to be interrupted for
family commitments, but family time is never
interrupted by work.
The second approach is the blend and merge
approach where there is a deliberate crossing of
boundaries. You might ask a work colleague to a
family BBQ, take your children on a corporate fun
run, switch between work tasks and personal tasks
throughout the day, have an extended lunch hour
so you can go to the gym and then you take work
home or spend two hours on the weekend devoted
to work and the rest to family or ‘me’ time.
The third approach keeps distinct boundaries
between different areas. Work is done during
business hours only. To make this work, you must
take responsibility for setting and enforcing your
boundaries. It won’t succeed if you spend family
time replying to work emails as they arrive.
Use the ‘reset’ button
When researchers asked families of CEOs
what it would take to have better life balance,
their answers were surprising. Their families
didn’t want more time with the CEOs, but they
did want the time they spent with them to be
happier time. Families disliked it when their loved
one brought work stress home.
This is where the ‘reset button’ comes in. It has
two steps and you push it in the space between
your activities (e.g. work and home). First, review
your day by asking yourself what went well, what
you could have done better and what you learned.
The second thing you do is ‘reset’ and choose
who you will be when you walk through the door
Are you going to be the person who is happy and
excited to see loved ones or the person who is
going to bring work stress home and dump it on
them? The reset button helps stop the overflow
from one area of your life into the next.
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THE EXPERT
Petris Lapis has worked
in accounting, law,
academia, banking,
business and training.
She has consulted for
government and industry
and published several
books and hundreds of
papers. She has studied
commerce, law, coaching,
NLP and hypnosis. Petris
is a rower, a coach and a
mum to two teenagers.
She loves warm sunny
days, great food,
laughter, exercise and
moments of calm.
Find more joy in each moment
Many of us spend a lot of time at work, so it
only makes sense to make those moments more
joyful. There are simple things you can do to bring
more joy to your work. Help colleagues see the
funny side of a situation rather than focusing on
the negativity and drama of it. Say ‘hello’ and
smile at people (even the ones you like to pretend
aren’t there). Treat others as you would like to be
treated; i.e. practice small acts of kindness. This
could be as simple as dropping someone’s printing
on their desk or making a cup of coffee for a
colleague you know is having a difficult day. Start
with the small changes you can easily make and
keep going until you feel life is more balanced. S
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www.petrislapis.com
Issue 2 2019 | Chief of Staff 61