I recently wrote about transparency, and in my comments, the discussion moved to finding balance, managing work, home, and finding strategies to being more accessible, but mindful that we need to be present in our non-work lives. In looking at many of those using social media in education, the common denominator was — we have young families — making this issue/concern even more relevant.
The question: “How do you find the time?” is one I am asked, more than any other, from educators interested in social media. I also hear more from educators worried about expanding their accessibility online, “I just don’t have the time for it.” To be clear and upfront, it takes time to build as well as participate in the community online. There are no promises that being accessible, modelling the use of social media, and engaging with others online, will reduce your work hours. Then again, we don’t need to sell everything in life with a promise it will allow us to work less. There are many other motivators than the “promise of less work” in our lives.
I don’ t have the answers, but as with my blog on Transparency, I do have an emerging list of beliefs and strategies to make sense of my work/non-work relationships.
Building on a response to Chris Wejr on my blog, here are some principles/strategies which guide me:
1) I have no idea what it means to have a work/home balance, so I’ve given up on talking about this notion. More and more, work is not about a place — my office is very often my phone and it can just as easily be in my den at home, or my car (hands free) as it can be my business office. I love the ability to jump in and out of work at home. Technology no longer forces us to stay at the office late every night. There are times we can go home early, spend time with our families, and go back to “work” later that night.
2) I block out time on my calendar that is virtually non-negotiable as private time. It is not a lot of time, but it is consistent every week.
3) While I play, learn and engage in social media, I limit the tools I use. I don’t know how some people participate in so many places. In my non-work life I participate in Facebook, and in my work-life I engage in Twitter and through my blog (and others blogs).
4) Every way I interact digitally (not face-to-face) can be done through my mobile device. I encourage people to call my cell or text me, and I have access to my blog and Twitter through my mobile device. I don’t need to be in any one particular place to be working. I can’t imagine having to come into “work” on a Sunday to do work.
5) Sunday is my writing day. I often post one or two times a week, but the draft posts are written on Sundays. I don’t have time during the week to write, but there is also value in not making postings too close together — so I try to be strategic about when I write and when I publish. I tend not to write “news” posts (except on topics like PISA), so the timing is often not crucial.
6) I commit to commenting on five posts for every one I write. On Sundays, I also read what others are saying, and often, my thoughts. I tend to prioritize local (BC) bloggers, and those in similar roles. I see this as part of being engaged with the online community, so I set time aside for it.
7) I organize Twitter. I am often asked, “how do you follow 400 people?” I use TweetDeck and have a series of columns. Right now, I am following bced and cpchat, as well as several specific lists. I also accept I will not see everything posted from everyone. I will often drop in to Twitter at lunch, or when I have a few minutes before a meeting, but I don’t get excited about missing something. And, while I know the research about multi-tasking, I will usually have it on as background noise at night when I work.
8) I don’t do things other people do. For one, I don’t write newsletters. It is about choices. I find the learning from Twitter, and the reach and conversations through blogging, to be extremely powerful. Conversations in social media domains can help lead the narrative in our schools and community.
9) I define my work day online. Unless it is urgent, I will usually not e-mail members of the community outside of extended business hours (e.g. no e-mails at noon on Saturday from my son’s soccer game). I might write the e-mail but will delay the sending of it. Of course, if it is urgent, I respond immediately. I just don’t want to get into a back-and-forth e-mail conversation while standing on the soccer sidelines.
10) I really see technology as largely invisible. I don’t think of being on-line or off-line. I tend to always be connected and, very often, being habitually online saves a lot of time longterm – solving issues before they become problems.
Finally – I signed up for busy – when I applied for my job and had a family. Work keeps me out most Monday to Thursday nights – but I try to find ways to include my family (for example, I will take my kids with me to school plays). Like so many of us, I don’t sleep a lot – but love it. As I said in a previous post, “Hey, my choice.”
I too have made the choice and make the time to include social media in my teaching, learning and life. I too keep twitter for work and facebook personal. Finding the time is both easy yet intrusive. I am reading this and responding using our family iPad while my husband watches tv. What I have to be mindful of is switching off even when I don’t want to in order to maintain a family/ work life balance
I like that “easy yet intrusive.” We try to set rules in the house about times / places that we are online – since it is so easy to be online all the time.
Very well put, Chris.
Since I have started using social media and creating blogs, I have found that a number of people ask me how I find the time as well. I have two young children (my five month old is cooing right beside me as I type), and work at a large and busy school. I find that it is just a matter of priority. I make the time to follow Twitter, to read a few blogs, respond to a few more, post a couple of things to my own blog, and work on our School Improvement Blog. But as you have said, it is in manageable chunks.
I tend to have Tweetdeck off during the day, but will check in when I get to school in the morning, maybe for a couple of minutes with a sandwich in hand at lunch, and while I am watching a college basketball game at night after bath and storytime with the kids. Like you, I post to my blog on the weekend when I can sit down for a more than a few minutes. With our SIP Blog, we try to post to it as things happen–spending 20 minutes right after a staff meeting or when we have done a survey to describe what has happened and snap a quick pic with a phone breaks hours and hours of work into very manageable (and enjoyable) chunks. When I present our SIP blog next week to our administrators, I know that many people will glaze over and think “Too much time and effort”; I would agree, if you try and do 20-30 hours of work all at once. But by breaking it up into small bits, it is very do-able.
The one thing I have learned through (sometimes painful) experience is that there are truly very few shortcuts. A buzzer-beating basket in overtime may look like a singular snap shot because the thousands of hours practicing are not particularly exciting to watch. This is much like spending time dialoguing with our PLN or using Social Media; it is not particularly glamorous, but it is every enjoyable for me, and I hope that my choice to ‘practice’ allows me to ‘nail that jumper’ for my school.
An important and well-articulated post.
Thanks Cale. It is sometimes hard to explain the “how” we create manageable chunks of time to those who are new to using social media. I am sure the time I spend connected online has replaced something else – but it has become the new reality – it is not like I think back to a simpler time.
I admin that I sometimes think “in blog posts” now – so if I am at a session or in a meeting I will craft notes that could later become a post.
There are many different ways to do what we do but I would agree – no short cuts.
Everyone needs to find what works for them to “balance” their work lives vs home life. With or without technology this has always been an issue in people’sl lives. With all this social media and constant changes to this tech connected world we live in…one MUST figure out a way to use what works for them while still being present.
Absolutely Lauren – there is a need to continue to work to be “present”. I am working on some bad habbits, including looking up from a conversation when I hear the noise on my computer that I have new mail, and also trying to check my iPhone less in pulbic situations. We need to be engaged in social media – but be careful of addiction.
Great points and very well made! As a working mum, I have to say that some of what I am able to do is only possible because of the tools we now have – including the use of a personal learning network via twitter to develop my own knowledge and understanding – the tools enable me to dip in to aspects as and when it suits and fits around the other things I need to do. That flexible approach to working is essential for a balance and means I’m not stuck in an office or at school when I need to be elsewhere. A 3G phone means I can catch up when it suits me. Of course, as Henrietta said, there are times when a choice needs to be made to NOT catch up!
I read your blog post originally this morning on a reader app on my phone and tweeted it out (couldn’t comment unfortunately!) – given the number of retweets it obviously rings true for a lot of others too!!!
Thanks Jan for the comment. There is definitely another post about how 3G has changed our lives. I am lucky that my role allows some flexibility, and the expectations of the job mean while some require me to be in a specific place at a specific time, others do not.
I like how you acknowledge that you “signed up for busy” and “Hey, my choice” at the end of your blog. I find that once many of us realize that, there is a different and more productive mindset. I too like the use of Twitter and Blogging in combination with one another. As I use twitter more, I find there are large conversations we are all trying to have but the limited amount of text leaves room for misinterpretation and it can lack context. Blogging makes up for this, in my mind anyways.
As a teacher, I cherish the face-to-face interaction with my students but also see a need to interact with them online, and through technology and social media, to develop their skills for today’s world. So I work hard to make sure there is a healthy and productive balance of the two. In our digital world, and with movements like 21C learning and interconnectedness, it is easy to be lured into the fascination and speed of communication and opportunity. However, I was reminded yesterday of the power of being present in face-to-face contact and how much that means to being human.
I attended the Celebration of Life for Lorne Bodin who was to be our principal at McNair Secondary. But as his brother put it, he was killed by cancer because the disease never defeated him and he never succumbed to it. Two students spoke about Lorne and both talked about how he was present in their lives. One, a special needs student, told how he and Lorne would count the number of times the two would say “Hi” to one another. They got up to 11 one day! The other, a cancer survivor, told how he woke up to Lorne standing over his bed in the hospital with his usual greeting “Hello my friend.” At this point, I am not convinced that technology and social media will ever be able to have the same affect. Our school was overflowing with his present and former colleagues and students, well over 1200 people. Lorne was the model human being, administrator, educator, and he could barely use his cell phone! I love tech and social media, and what it adds to mine and my students education, but I will also aspire to be more like Lorne.
Thanks Bernie – great comment about someone who had an amazing impact in our community.
I think everyone has the same general idea here. Social media is a valuable tool that we are all taking advantage of (by being here and reading this blog, which most of us probably found via twitter), but the greatest value comes when it helps us to make our offline lives better. Online and offline lives should complement each other.
Nicely said Ashley. I think it is a growing blur – it is all just “our lives” whether it is online or off-line. But yes, I think offline enriches my online life, and online enriches my offline life.
It’s a positive feedback loop!
Chris, it seems to me that the question is not so much about how to find time, but identifying the things in our lives that make it meaningful and engaging in practices that reflect those values. Perhaps balance is the wrong metaphor; balance implies equal amounts of time and energy that I am not sure is realistic. Instead, maybe consider the idea of flexible boundaries. It appears that you have successfully identified what is important to you and created the boundaries necessary to protect the integrity of those values. Perhaps by beginning to answer the existential question of what makes life meaningful first, we can then establish the flexible boundaries around what is important, and then figure out how social media can fit into that structure.
I like that framework, and I would agree that I have found blurring the lines between face to face and online has added value to my relationships and has helped add value to my life.
A really interesting thing about this post Chris is your continued transparency. Allowing others to “see” into your life in this way while maintaing boundaries that work for you, is rather unique.
I like that you said “it takes time” to participate in these networks. I do think that is what scares many people off. I know, I’ve introduced many to twitter and blogging, but few have embraced it. It takes a commitment but to do that, people need to answer the question commentor Maureen says “what makes life meaningful”. For me, that would be a blog post in itself but specific to this topic, blogging satisfies my interest in writing. Twitter satisfies my need to connect to ideas (and interesting people). Thus, I invest time to blog and tweet.
I’ve always wondered how you managed your time, now I know 🙂
I am curious what the experience is like for those who drop by Twitter once a week or occasionally will read a blog. While they may gain some knowledge, they miss the power of the connections. Some, though, do seem to find value in this.
I do find power in the connections and the network. Like with a great staff – when you always want to hear the stories at lunch – it is this kind of powerful connection.
I also find that online conversations help drive conversations in schools. People will take what they read and write online and share it with others at recess or lunch or in the parking lot. More and more I am convinced that the conversations we have online can drive conversations and change in schools. One only has to look at the conversations around awards that started from Chri s Wejr’s blog post. I must have heard it referenced a dozen times in West Van last week – and not by people who are online, but the conversations started online and moved to the larger community. If Chris W. was not online that story would never have gone beyond the walls of his school (or perhaps his district).
Chris,
Thanks for the thoughtful post. As a principal and father of three children I can certainly relate to what you are saying. In general, I feel that wellness is rooted in balance. As the principal of my school, I also have to model living a balanced life.
Agreed – I think staff look to formal leaders in schools and districts to model a life that values work and family. And for so many of us in these positions, with our own kids in school, we can really model a new way. We don’t have to be at the office every night late to be “working.” We can do better and different.
Money and time are both finite resources. The difference with money is that if someone spends it on something another person sees as frivolous, they assume you just have more money to spend or are stupid. With time, people all have the same amount so when you’re asked “where do you find the time?” they often are thinking, “what a waste of time”.
My response usually refers to the benefits and necessity of investing in people who help me do my job better and make it more enjoyable. The tips and tricks are useful but until you realize and can demonstrate to others those benefits, they’ll continue to see it as time wasting.
Nicely said Dean. You are right that most who question the amount of time participating online will take, don’t think it has a lot of value. This also leads into a conversation that we have shared before – and the great discussion about “being busy” and our need for others to know just how busy we are; we cannot possibly do one thing more.
Chris, thank you for detailing these points for your readers. In nearly every conversation I have with groups of admin or teachers when I attempt to demonstrate the benefit of making these connections, I’m asked, “Where do you find the time?” or the irksome remark of, “It must be nice to have that kind of time,” as if my time is any less valuable than theirs. As you state, this is about choice. Choice of profession, choice of how we structure our day, choice of how we prefer to communicate, choice of how we strike the balance between that which is important to us in our home lives and our work priorities, choice of how we prefer to learn and whom we choose to learn from… everyone has a choice. No one is saying an administrator can’t be fantastic without engaging in Twitter conversations or blogging. What we are saying is that we personally and professionally have found the connections we’ve made online to be incredibly rewarding, and we’re doing our part to share our learning with others.
“It must be nice to have that kind of time” – GOLD. Yes, this is also one of my favourite quotes. I think we are very lucky in both school and district administration positions that we have some choice in how we spend our time. We all want to make a difference, and there is no one right way. I have often heard as I have moved between jobs, once you become a ____ you won’t have time for this. Actually I will, because it is important and I will make time.
Thanks for the comment – you are someone I am learning from / with on a regular basis.
Thank you for your post on balance – it’s an essence I enjoy reading, writing, and talking about. When considering what tools and means I use to pursue joy, whether they be on-line or off-line, I try to push myself to consider why I am using the tool or means. Sometimes I see people (including myself) rush into figuring out all about the how, and overstepping rationale and purpose. When we take the time to consider the why, we are able to choose and use tools more effectively, and hopefully get closer to being balanced.
When you talk about how you use your tools, it appears that you have considered their purpose in bringing you joy, instead of just using them because they just happen to be out there.
Thanks again for your post.
Thanks for your post on finding balance. For me, it’s been about figuring out my priorities and making those things that are my priorities central. I am fully aware that decisions around my career can have a huge impact on my family and I feel the pressures of being a working mom.
I am learning that I have the 14 min drive before I pick up my kids to change geers, let go of the day and become Mom. I know that home-reading, practice for my son’s spelling test, and hearing about the latest Star Wars Lego comes first, and I am learning that somewhere in this, I need to find time for my husband and myself.
I know that my choices cause a ripple effect but I’m hoping at the end of this journey, I will be able to stay true to my priorities.
I like how you define your priorities in your day. You have clear boundaries of what you want and what you don’t want. You want to be on top of the emergency and priority items, and put them in line behind your family. (I love your description of avoiding an email chat during a soccer game.) I have a very similar way of organizing my life. However, I am not on twitter, and do not follow anyone on twitter – for now. I am on skype quite a bit, and facebook. I get the feeling that there are many more intellectual groups out there talking without me, which is why I think twitter is an inevitable move for me.
My family always jumps when their cell phone rings. They come running to tell me my cell phone is ringing if I happen to be in the loo when it rings. My cell phone is not my leash; I can answer or not. If not, that is what voicemail is for. If I do answer, I make the conscious choice to answer it with the correct mindset to the other party. I have a similar set of priorities in life and in media, only that I have a different set of tools to set those priorities.
As a blog-virgin – this is my first post ever, my doctoral class requires it – I am not sure where to take this post now, except to say that I am intrigued by the intellect I am finding in these blogs.
Thanks Jennifer for the comments. I think you will find Twitter very powerful as a professional learning tool and a great way to extend your learning network. I am using Facebook less and less all the time, and use it almost exclusively as a personal tool not a professional tool. Twitter does give you the power of feeling you are not alone, and you can extend your community around ideas.
All the best with your social media exploration.
[…] of options for learning and connecting with others. I have experienced the very real benefits of time invested in developing my own personal learning network, utilizing the Web and social media […]
[…] of options for learning and connecting with others. I have experienced the very real benefits of time invested in developing my own personal learning network, utilizing the Web and social media […]
Thank you for these simple yet seemingly effective strategies. Being very new at all of this (Twitter, blogging, social networking online), I have been struggling to balance out my life as mom, wife, educator, writer and individual. I find the latter often gets left to the end (no “me” time!). You wrote about a few things that I’m going to keep in mind to make it a little more manageable. The one thing that is for sure: I’ll work “smarter” because there is SO much sharing occurring that I feel I don’t have to reinvent the wheel (maybe just tweek it), and that’s there’s plenty of affirmation and support out there.
Thanks Daniela – very kind comments. I have also had the chance to check out your blog – congratulations, it looks great. It is a wonderfully supportive community – great you are “jumping” in.