Corporate workshop on Work life balance

1. HAMSTER ON A
TREADMILL
A Modern Individual’s
Dilemma!
Deepanwita Roy
-Clinical Psychologist

2. Objectives
1. Work- Life Balance
2. Imbalance and Burnout
3. Stress: Types and Causes
4. Coping with Stress
5. Personality and Stress
6. Neuroplasticity
7. The New You: Mindfulness
8. Mindfulness Exercises
9. Q & A

3. The questions in this scale asks you about your feelings and thoughts during THE LAST MONTH.
In each case, please select your response representing HOW OFTEN you felt or thought a
certain way.
Scoring
Higher scores are
correlated to more
stress.
Sl.
No
Particulars Never Almost
Never
Someti
mes
Fairly
Often
Very
Often
1 In the last month, how often have you
felt that you were unable to control the
important things in your life?
0 1 2 3 4
2 In the last month, how often have you
felt confident about your ability to
handle your personal problems?
4 3 2 1 0
3 In the last month, how often have you
felt that things were going your way?
4 3 2 1 0
4 In the last month, how often have you
felt difficulties were piling up so high
that you could not overcome them?
0 1 2 3 4
STRESS
TEST

4. Work Life Balance
Work-Life Balance implies
that there is a balance to have
in the first place and if we do
not have it something is
wrong with us.

5. Reality Check
Ideal World Reality
Work-life balance is just one more task for individuals to try and find time to tend to; one
more thing on our long to do list to fail and feel bad about not accomplishing in a day.
 Role conflict: psychological
effects of being faced with
sets of incompatible
expectations or demands.
 Role overload: the
difficulties of meeting these
expectations.
 Incompatible Parenting &
worker roles leading to guilt,
anxiety & depression

6. The (Im)balance
• Think of work-life balance as an equation: Mental resources + emotional
resources + physical resources (including your time) = achieving your personal
goals & fulfilling your responsibilities.
• Imbalance: problem is one of time. Is that so?
• The problem is: The goals and responsibilities you currently have.
• (Case study discussion)

7. Imbalance: Burnout
• Elevated Levels of Job
dissatisfaction
• Increased job turnover
• Increased medical errors
• Lack of energy and motivation

8. Stress
Stress is defined as “a state of psychological
and physiological imbalance resulting from
the disparity between situational demand and
the individual's ability and motivation to
meet those needs.”
Stress can be positive or negative:
Stress is good when the situation offers an
opportunity to a person to gain something. It
acts as a motivator for peak performance.
Stress is negative when a person faces
social, physical, organizational and
emotional problems.

9. Causes of Stress at Workplace

10. Coping of Stress
Cognitive Coping Strategies
• Challenging negative
thinking
• Positive self-talk
• Cost – Benefit analysis
• Keeping perspective
• Reducing uncertainty
• Using imagery or
visualization
Behavioural Coping Strategies
• Physical Exercises
• Relaxation
• Breathing
• Time- Management
• Social support of friends
• Seeking Help

11. Personality and Stress
• Personality types: do they
effect the amount of stress we
take ?
• Basic personality: optimistic
and pessimistic
• Personality and Stress: Type A
and Type B

12. Personality Type Test
Casual attitude towards time
keeping
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Always on time
Lacking competitiveness 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely competitive
Usually feel you have plenty of
time
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Always feel rushed
Slow at everyday activities, (e.g
walking, eating)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Fast at everyday activities
Lose patience if made to wait 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Able to wait patiently
Many hobbies & interests 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Home or work is main interest
Tackle tasks one at a time 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Juggle many things at once
Highly ambitious 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Not very ambitious
Good listening skills 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Poor listening skills
Express feelings 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Keep things to self
Talk fast, emphatically 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Talk slow, deliberately
Want to satisfy yourself,
regardless of others
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Easygoing
Keen to finish/do things 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Not concerned with deadlines
Add up the noted
numbers:
A score below 70
indicates Type B
personality.
70 to 100 shows a
balanced
personality in
which no one
personality trait
dominates to any
great degree
Over 100 shows
Type A behavior.

13. TYPE A
PERSONALITY
• A form of competitiveness which
is selective and proportionate to
the real importance of planned
objectives.
• Limited basic aggressiveness.
• A capacity to adapt to and tolerate
the differences of others and their
different rhythms.
• Interests in activities other than
work.
• Doesn’t suffer at the hands of work
stress
• A high degree of competitiveness
pervading every aspect of life
• Aggressiveness (often repressed)
constantly present in all personal
and social interaction.
• Muscular tension, explosive speech,
hyper vigilance, difficulty in
relaxing.
• Few interests apart from work.
• SUFFER higher degree from work
stress
TYPE B
PERSONALITY

14. Other Risk Factors
•Procrastination
•Not being in the present
•Always worrying about the future
•Lack of patience
•Passive aggression (towards others/ self)
•Not believing in oneself/ lack of self-worth
•Relationship issues

15. Neuroplasticity
•Recent research in neuroscience shows that we have the
power to influence our brains.
•When we think certain thoughts, it strengthens those
neural circuits. Mental States Become Neural Traits!
The brain is like a muscle that we can
build through practicing skills.

16. Mindfulness: The magical wand

17. What is Mindfulness?
Paying attention in a particular way, on purpose,
in the present moment and non-judgmentally. –
Jon Kabat Zinn
“Mindfulness means paying attention with
flexibility, openness and curiosity.”
-Dr. Russ Harris,
It includes a stance of:
•Compassion (Wisdom, Warmth, Strength &
responsibility)
•Interest
•Friendliness
•Open heartedness

19. What is not Mindfulness?

20. Who or what is a mindful person?

21. The Mindful Thought Process

25. Experiential Exercises
Take Ten Breaths
This is a simple exercise to center yourself and connect with your environment.
Practice it throughout the day, especially any time you find yourself getting
caught up in your thoughts and feelings:
1. Take ten slow, deep breaths. Focus on breathing out as slowly as possible
until your lungs are completely empty—and then allow them to refill by
themselves.
2. Notice the sensations of your lungs emptying. Notice them refilling. Notice
your rib cage rising and falling. Notice the gentle rise and fall of your
shoulders.
3. See if you can let your thoughts come and go as if they’re just passing cars,
driving past outside your house.
4. Expand your awareness: simultaneously notice your breathing and your
body. Then look around the room and notice what you can see, hear, smell,
touch, and feel.

26. Experiential Exercises
Dropping the Anchor
This is another simple exercise to center yourself and connect with the
world around you.
1. Plant your feet into the floor.
2. Push them down—notice the floor beneath you, supporting you.
3. Notice the muscle tension in your legs as you push your feet down.
4. Notice your entire body—and the feeling of gravity flowing down
through your head, spine, and legs into your feet.
5. Now look around and notice what you can see and hear around you.
Notice where you are and what you’re doing

27. Leaves on a Stream

28. Body Scan

29. What else can you do ?
• Self-talk
• 3rd person POV
• Gratitude Journal; writing
• Physical exercise/ going for a Mindful walk
• Thought Postponement
• Distraction (colouring books, organizing
closet, cleaning etc)
• Thoughts are just thoughts; Let them walk
away
• The power struggle: you or the thought

31. THANK YOU!
Contact information:
Ms. Deepanwita Roy
Clinical Psychologist (RCI Registered)
Email address:
deepanwitaroycp@gmail.com