How can system administrators build resilience through work-life balance?

If you don’t take care of yourself first, no one else will. Your physical health, as well as mental health is crucial to the person that shows up to work. We have to limit ourselves from being on all the time, and being available all the time. Self care, self reflection, and self investment must take priority over the work. That is not to say the work and its responsibilities are not important. However, your attitude towards the work is diminished when you don’t feel good mentally and physically. Resiliency will show up when harmony and balance is achieved.

As IT administrators, our work schedules demand a unique approach to work-life balance. While our hours extend beyond the conventional 9-5, due to the unpredictable nature of our responsibilities, it's important to embrace flexibility. However, it's just as important to recognize and communicate when the workload becomes excessive, ensuring we make time to recharge. Detaching from work after hours is crucial for our mental health. It allows us to fully enjoy our personal lives with family, friends, and hobbies. Remember, work is a part of life, not the entirety of it – there's always a new day to address new challenges.

I respect your time as I respect mine. So I do hard stops for meetings, put my status on focus during the work day and go hard during that time. Once done, I leave and go to my real job….home to my family. Yup, I’m off the grid to do what ever else I want to do. Talk with loved ones, play games, eat good foods, pray, meditate, plan for what’s next. Personal projects help me to recalibrate my purpose away from the job. I enjoy talking with my wife and children individually and together to find out what’s going on in our lives is never a dull moment. Exercise is a wonderful.

Time is an invaluable resource, and it's something you can't purchase. Even if you could, you'd miss out on a lot, especially life experiences. You can't fully enjoy life if you don't allocate time for it. Agree with your line manager and colleagues on how you manage your time. Use your collaborative tools to indicate when you're busy working on projects, let people know how they can reach you, and they'll respect your time. Don't assume others know when you're available. Set clear expectations; if you respond quickly to messages now, people will expect the same in the future.

Delegation is often overlooked in teams, both by certain managers and team members. It's essential to learn how and when to delegate effectively. Delegation isn't just telling someone to do a task; it involves providing all the necessary information, clear instructions, and a specific goal for the task. Without these elements, failure is likely. When delegating, be mindful and avoid taking on everything yourself.

I've always found that when we share our knowledge openly and assist colleagues where we can offer strength, the entire team becomes more robust as this is also about forging partnerships and friendships within your team, there is no I in team. By transforming your effort into a team effort it increases your chances of success on each new challenge you face. Therefore, I see delegation not just as a task management strategy, but as an opportunity to uplift the entire team, encouraging learning and growth and innovation.

Many of us are apprehensive about automating tasks we are familiar with. I can assure you that automation is an excellent way to exercise your critical thinking skills, enhance your troubleshooting abilities, and validate your assumptions, ultimately leading to continued learning. Keep in mind that learning takes time, and the more time you invest, the more you'll relax and effectively learn.

In my experience, I have found that by automating a process you can find the tiny flaws in the manual way things are done. Once you have any process down, try to automate it and see if you can find where it has issues or can be improved.

I’ve found that dedicating a mere five minutes each day to learning something new can have a profound impact. It could be reading an article, exploring a piece of code, or dissecting the latest tech trend. This small investment of time consistently becomes a habit, one that often grows into a pursuit driven by genuine interest and passion, at that point you transform your work into your hobby. The world around us evolves day by day so its natural for us to keep up with it, specially in the IT sector.

It is very important to make time for at least a little bit of technical reading every day. Once this becomes a habit, one can spend time learning even after a long exhausting day at work and keep the inertia.

Use your vacation days to rejuvenate and thus prevent burnout and when on vacation, try to disconnect from work-related communication.

Physical activity is extremely important for administrators who spend their days sitting on the computer. Even if one does not like to exercise, they should find a sport or a similar activity they enjoy. That way it won't feel like a chore and will bring them the much needed physical activity to counter the sedentary lifestyle that comes with the job.

A leader's role is not to micromanage you but to support your growth and well-being. Speak to your line managers, share your priorities and what matters to you in your life. A good line manager should understand and help accommodate and respect your work-life balance. If they don't, you may have a problem on your hands.

"Work-life balance” is not limited to the job but encompasses overall well-being, which includes health, financial stability, job competency, and family expectations that need to be managed effectively 1.Ensure technical competency: It is important to have the required level of competency in your technical area of work. 2.Attend trainings and get certified: 3.Prioritize health: Always remember that health comes first. Exercise for at least 45 minutes per day, five days a week, 4.Ensure financial stability: Financial stability is important for overall well-being. 5.Continually improve: Continually improve in whatever job you are doing. 6. Manage family expectations 7. Enjoy your work