Key Messages
Upcycling Your Career: Finding a Better Work-Life Balance Through the PROPEL Model
#Upcycle Your Job is designed to help you make the most out of your career without sacrificing important parts of your life.
The book introduces a PROPEL model that will allow you to establish a better work-life balance and create a professional career tailored to suit your personal needs.
You’ll learn how to eliminate low-value tasks and set boundaries to handle work spillover, as well as discover how job crafting can add meaning into your life.
The sections in #Upcycle Your Job will provide you with the necessary tools and insight to finally make progress in life – not by giving up on everything entirely, but rather by upcycling your job.
With this approach, you’ll be able to have newfound control over what matters to you and build an impressive career that doesn’t come at the cost of spending quality time with friends and family.
You Have the Power To Reshape Corporate Culture and Manage Your Work-Life Balance
In today’s fast-paced world, it is vital to maintain a healthy balance between work and life.
For many of us, the line between professional life and personal life has been completely erased.
This leaves us feeling managing our work-life balance can seem impossible.
It’s important to recognize that it is up to you to find ways to effectively manage your workload while still honoring your other priorities.
It may not be easy, but you owe it to yourself (and your loved ones) to make a conscious effort at achieving a balance that works for you.
It’s also worth noting that society and corporate culture don’t always make this easy for women, who are often faced with having their time spread thinly across multiple obligations – hired work plus housework, for example.
Companies may tout the benefits of flexibility in terms of hours or location; however, sometimes these changes come without the necessary resources or strategies needed to actually complete tasks efficiently in less time.
To take advantage of organizations which might offer flexibility, it is essential to have clarity about what you want to achieve and commitment towards reaching this goal.
It also requires being brave enough to voice your needs – like requesting resources which may not yet be available or advocating for increased autonomy on how jobs get done.
Finding the Right Work-Life Balance by Understanding Your Preferences and Managing Boundaries
The ultimate goal of upcycling your job is being able to build a job that meets all of your preferences.
But before you can do this, you must take the first step and come to a clear understanding of what you want out of your work-life balance.
Each person has different desires in terms of how they want their work life to be structured and integrated with their home life.
You may prefer to completely separate the two or you might be open to integrating them.
As such, it’s important to take an introspective look at yourself and really think about what will make you happiest.
PROPEL, the model for job upcycling, suggests that having such clarity on your personal values and goals is the initial building block for this process.
Once you know exactly what kind of lifestyle works best for you, then you can go about creating a job that supports it.
The Key to Playing Multiple Roles Efficiently: Identify and Reimagine the Ones That Take Up Too Much of Your Emotional Energy
It’s important to remember that playing multiple roles is inevitable in life.
But, you have the power to choose how you play them and make sure they’re actually serving you.
According to psychologist Donald Super, each role should be played in one of four theaters – the home, the community, at school, or in the office.
If you find yourself having to juggle more than one role in multiple theaters simultaneously (like being both a mom AND working full time), then take a look at Super’s Life Career Rainbow.
This rainbow-shaped diagram has each color representing a different role like spouse, parent, worker, etc., so turn inward and ask yourself how many roles are your currently playing at once? And see if too many bands of color on your rainbow is a sign of overburdening yourself.
At the same time though, it’s important to understand that having multiple roles can also offset stresses from other parts of your life.
For instance if something happens at work which causes stress for you – think about how embracing another supportive or loving role from home with family may help restore balance and clarity.
If any one of your roles no longer seem to be serving you however small its part may be – start by taking an honest look into it and get clear on what contribution its making – assess if there is any way to upcycle it and make changes so it eventually becomes a role that serves?
Secure a Flexible Work Schedule by Showing How it Will Benefit Your Employer
Securing a flexible schedule at work is no easy task.
Your employer needs to know that you are not just trying to cut down on your hours, but rather that flexible working hours will have a positive impact on the company’s bottom line.
This can be accomplished in several ways.
First of all, you should explain how a flexible schedule will help you perform at your best, thus benefiting the company.
Stressing that this arrangement will save the trouble of replacing you if and when things start getting out of hand might also do the trick!
Additionally, don’t be discouraged by any biases your manager may have against flexible working schedules.
Be patient and persistent in presenting your case, and they may come around eventually.
To help make this process easier, it might also be worth asking them about their own experiences with flexibility in the workplace as well as other employees who work under such arrangements – and see what kind of advice they can offer!
Job Crafting Can Help You Increase the Flexibility of Your Current Role
Job crafting can be a great way to make your current job more flexible, without having to completely change it.
It’s a technique that refers to everything from the tasks you perform on a daily basis to the people you interact with and even to the way you think about aspects of your job.
Researchers from Yale University have found that tiny adjustments to an existing role can drastically improve engagement and satisfaction, meaning bigger payoffs for both employers and employees alike.
Job crafting isn’t about doing a complete overhaul of your work practices – small changes are what will lead to massive results!
To get started, begin by making a list of all of your tasks and paying extra attention to your specific skills and knowledge.
Think about which tasks don’t contribute directly towards meeting goals, and then ask whether they can be automated or delegated instead.
Could any of these tasks be done more quickly or efficiently? Removing low-value activities might free up 20% of your time – time that could be spent achieving better work-life balance!
To Succeed in Flexible Work, You Need to Be a Skilled Leader: Building Essential Competencies for Healthy Work-Life Balance
In order to avoid burnout or overworking yourself, it’s important to have a work-life balance that is both beneficial and sustainable.
Part of achieving this balance is creating boundaries between your work and home life, but in the end, it takes much more than that.
To make these arrangements successful, you must up your competency.
This means having more than just knowledge and skill when it comes to achieving a healthy work-life balance – it also requires certain behaviors and attitudes.
Things like effective time management skills, seeking out support systems when needed, being an assertive role model for others around you, being able to mentor those below you, having strong communication skills and creativity are all essential components of being competent while working flexibly.
All of this may seem intimidating initially; however practices lead the way to strong leadership bringing opportunities where one can learn lots along the way.
Upping your skills will help you become better at leading those around you with balanced leadership style marked by qualities such as authenticity, integrity and creativity.
With these skills in hand, you can upcycle your job and enjoy a long term healthy work-life balance for yourself!
The Key to Leadership: Focus on the Power of Positive Stories
It’s no secret that when it comes to the workplace, women have been driving important and necessary change for some time.
Unfortunately, this progress is all too often undermined by the fact that there are still far fewer women in leadership positions.
However, contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean that women don’t have ambition – they just face more obstacles in achieving their goals.
That’s why “focusing on the positive” is such an important concept when it comes to leading and stimulating change.
This method of leadership emphasizes team effort and collaboration with the aim of creating a nurturing environment.
And one great way to do this is through Appreciative Inquiry (AI), where organizations are seen as living systems capable of growth and change through the stories we tell.
To begin an AI approach in your workplace, it is important to look at what works and how it can be furthered instead of focusing on what isn’t working.
Ask questions that draw out a positive response rather than an unsure no.
Plus, small changes over time lead to big effects – so even if what you’re doing feels insignificant now, these small steps can add up quickly!
So ask yourself: What kind of leader do you want to be?
Wrap Up
#Upcycle Your Job makes a powerful argument that working women don’t have to choose between motherhood and a career.
It encourages them to examine the kind of life they want and how to adjust their routines so they can get it.
The book offers plenty of actionable advice, including turning off notifications during certain hours, as this will help improve productivity and reduce stress.
Ultimately, #Upcycle Your Job is all about honing your existing skills so that you can live your best life – which is exactly what every working woman should strive for.
With its helpful tips, engaging stories, and expert advice, this book is well worth reading for anyone looking to create a better work-life balance.
