Comments on: Work-life balance in a 2.0 world http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/work-life-balance-in-a-20-world/ Exploring e-learning, social learning, and instructional miscellany. Wed, 20 May 2009 14:12:24 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: carla arena http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/work-life-balance-in-a-20-world/#comment-99 carla arena Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:14:00 +0000 http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/?p=171#comment-99 Hi, Kevin, I guess the ones really into the Web nowadays face the same challenges as you do. I, besides all my online projects, have two little kids, a husband, a house to take care, my life to take care. I keep telling myself every morning that today I'll stop at a certain time, but rarely do I really keep my promises...Your post is an eye opener for something I'm struggling myself. I've been writing in different blogs, my professional development one, my personal, one for former students, two for the course I'm teaching now. Crazy. I've become a fan of moblogging as it limits my capacity of writing longer posts and makes me more objective. I just take photos and blog via mobile. Setting a time limit could be one solution. Just the other day I found out that in gmail you have the option to have your screen blank after a certain time, break time! well, an alarm might work! Or even finding some new hobby that you could do with your wife. For example, before I moved to the US, I decided to give my husband and myself tennis lessons. It was just an incredible year of fun, but still very productive. I'll keep following suggestions here to try to wind down my own addiction! Hi, Kevin, I guess the ones really into the Web nowadays face the same challenges as you do. I, besides all my online projects, have two little kids, a husband, a house to take care, my life to take care. I keep telling myself every morning that today I’ll stop at a certain time, but rarely do I really keep my promises…Your post is an eye opener for something I’m struggling myself. I’ve been writing in different blogs, my professional development one, my personal, one for former students, two for the course I’m teaching now. Crazy. I’ve become a fan of moblogging as it limits my capacity of writing longer posts and makes me more objective. I just take photos and blog via mobile. Setting a time limit could be one solution. Just the other day I found out that in gmail you have the option to have your screen blank after a certain time, break time! well, an alarm might work! Or even finding some new hobby that you could do with your wife. For example, before I moved to the US, I decided to give my husband and myself tennis lessons. It was just an incredible year of fun, but still very productive.

I’ll keep following suggestions here to try to wind down my own addiction!

]]> By: Kevin Shadix http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/work-life-balance-in-a-20-world/#comment-98 Kevin Shadix Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:49:53 +0000 http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/?p=171#comment-98 Janet and Dan -- good idea using draft posts and saving ideas for posts. I started doing that. recently, and it definitely helps reduce the sense of overwhelm that. Plus it is nice way for me to just get ideas out of my head, since I typically have a gazillion going at any given time. :-) Dan, you are spot on about the hour of time spent on blogging is a time perhaps better spent with family. That is the exact thing that has been bumming me out lately. Here's a nice tip I found on a "getting things done" blog. Simply give yourself a time limit for any task....say 45 minutes to read blogs or write a post. Set your timer. At 45 min, stop, and go hug a dog, kid, spouse, or neighbor. Janet and Dan — good idea using draft posts and saving ideas for posts. I started doing that. recently, and it definitely helps reduce the sense of overwhelm that. Plus it is nice way for me to just get ideas out of my head, since I typically have a gazillion going at any given time. :-)

Dan, you are spot on about the hour of time spent on blogging is a time perhaps better spent with family. That is the exact thing that has been bumming me out lately.

Here’s a nice tip I found on a “getting things done” blog. Simply give yourself a time limit for any task….say 45 minutes to read blogs or write a post. Set your timer. At 45 min, stop, and go hug a dog, kid, spouse, or neighbor.

]]> By: Dan Johnson http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/work-life-balance-in-a-20-world/#comment-96 Dan Johnson Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:39:55 +0000 http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/?p=171#comment-96 Hi, just came across this post because I'd read some news at the weekend about people cutting short their weekends because they are worrying about their forthcoming week at work. Apparently 40% of people resond to work emails on Sundays. I write regular blogs for the holiday company I work for and I have noticed recently that I spend lots of times outside of work hours planning topics, doing research, looking at other blogs and so on. Even an hour in the evening eats into the time I should be spending with my family. The key for me is trying to cut down the subjects I try to write about. When I started blogging I would follow up anything that caught my eye, which meant I spent lots of time researching topics I didn't know much about. I've also cut down on the number of other blogs I try to read. It got to the point where I was spending more time thinking about ticking off the next blog, rather than thinking about the information in the blog I was actually looking at. A good RSS reader is also a must, so I don't spend time logging into individual sites to catch up. My other tip is to save up good ideas rather than post everything at once. I used to post lots of different thoughts very close together, whereas now I'm much more content to leave time between posts to reduce the pressure on me. Hope that's useful Hi, just came across this post because I’d read some news at the weekend about people cutting short their weekends because they are worrying about their forthcoming week at work. Apparently 40% of people resond to work emails on Sundays.

I write regular blogs for the holiday company I work for and I have noticed recently that I spend lots of times outside of work hours planning topics, doing research, looking at other blogs and so on. Even an hour in the evening eats into the time I should be spending with my family.

The key for me is trying to cut down the subjects I try to write about. When I started blogging I would follow up anything that caught my eye, which meant I spent lots of time researching topics I didn’t know much about.

I’ve also cut down on the number of other blogs I try to read. It got to the point where I was spending more time thinking about ticking off the next blog, rather than thinking about the information in the blog I was actually looking at.

A good RSS reader is also a must, so I don’t spend time logging into individual sites to catch up.

My other tip is to save up good ideas rather than post everything at once. I used to post lots of different thoughts very close together, whereas now I’m much more content to leave time between posts to reduce the pressure on me.
Hope that’s useful

]]> By: Chrys Horn http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/work-life-balance-in-a-20-world/#comment-95 Chrys Horn Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:48:03 +0000 http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/?p=171#comment-95 Hi Kevin, I've just started following your blog and have been puzzling over some similar kinds of questions. I suppose what we really need to know is how do we use Web 2.0 technologies intelligently. Like any tool, I guess unreflective "boots and all" style of activity won't do it. It reminds me of the sentiments behind the adage: "To every man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail"! I gave you a mention in my blog http://learningnchange.blogspot.com/ in case its of any interest. Cheers Chrys Hi Kevin,

I’ve just started following your blog and have been puzzling over some similar kinds of questions. I suppose what we really need to know is how do we use Web 2.0 technologies intelligently. Like any tool, I guess unreflective “boots and all” style of activity won’t do it. It reminds me of the sentiments behind the adage: “To every man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail”!

I gave you a mention in my blog http://learningnchange.blogspot.com/ in case its of any interest.

Cheers
Chrys

]]> By: With the onslaught of Web 2.0 tools, how many ways can you be contacted? Overwhelmed, what do you do? « (e)Learning 2.0 & Beyond… it’s about what will be! http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/work-life-balance-in-a-20-world/#comment-94 With the onslaught of Web 2.0 tools, how many ways can you be contacted? Overwhelmed, what do you do? « (e)Learning 2.0 & Beyond… it’s about what will be! Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:46:40 +0000 http://shadylearning.wordpress.com/?p=171#comment-94 [...] Shadix writes in a September 2008 WordPress blog about the importance of Work-life balance in a 2.0 world.He asks four questions. How would you respond to [...] [...] Shadix writes in a September 2008 WordPress blog about the importance of Work-life balance in a 2.0 world.He asks four questions. How would you respond to [...]

]]>