Chapter 9 – Deliverer
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creative, etc., in other parts of your life. Conduct the short audit below, to see how
balanced you are across seven dimensions of work-life balance. For each dimension, a
score of zero indicates that you are not spending any time at all in this area and it is a
deficit. A score of ten indicates you are spending a major amount of time in this area of
your life. There is no ideal score, but by looking at each dimension and the scores you
allocate to them, you can gain a more holistic picture of where you are spending your
time, and if you are satisfied with this allocation. If not, you can use the information to
start making changes that bring more balance and reduced stress in your life.
Physical activities Score: ...........................................
Spiritual activities Score: ...........................................
Family activities Score: ...........................................
Social activities Score: ...........................................
Intellectual activities Score: ...........................................
Work activities Score: ...........................................
Cultural activities Score: ...........................................
Psychological resiliency – mindfulness
This section looks at one of the major causes of stress, specifically, the manner in which
you think about life events. It explains why the same situation is stressful to one person
but exciting to another. The importance of mindfulness has also been referred to as self-
talk and relates largely to a person’s world views and orientation towards pessimism
versus optimism.
But what do we mean by self-talk? Stop for a moment and do nothing for about 20
seconds. Can you hear a little voice in your head talking to you? Probably not, but you
probably noticed that you had thoughts running through your head. These are examples
of self-talk and sometimes they can be positive, and sometimes they can be negative.
The best way to illustrate an example of self-talk (in this case negative self-talk) is to
provide an example.
Situation: Imagine that you are in your office. You are about to go home and a student
comes in wanting to talk. You advise the person that you need to go in a few
minutes. The student is trite and says: "Well, it’s only 4 pm and I need some
advice on my assignment and need 15 minutes!", and proceeds to go into detail
about her needs.
Inner thoughts: You probably would be thinking “I want to go home. I have worked hard
all day. How dare she treat me like that? She must think I am a pushover and
have nothing else to do.”
Feelings: More than likely there would be some feelings of dread (how am I going to get
this student out of my office?), irritation, and anger.
Feelings, images and beliefs about yourself: I am the person who is right here; you
are wrong for barging into my office without an appointment. You have no right to
be rude; people should always be polite and respectful and not hurt people's
feelings by being so trite and ungracious.