Module 2 - Self Directed Learning

Have you got a mentor? If not, make it a priority to select somebody. If you have, book in your sessions for the rest of the 12 months. What do you want support with? What activities will you share?

Stuck for what to do on your self directed day? This agenda is offered as a guide for how to plan and structure your time.

Read some of our testimonials from past participants who talk about the lasting impact of being on the programme

Set time aside to decide how you will work together throughout the programme. Book times in to meet after each Module. Work through or revisit Handout 4 in your Module 2 Workbooks.

Links to all the module materials

Set time aside to work on your one year plan.
- Is it complete?
- Have you shared it with your mentor?
- Have you taken any actions to complete any milestones?
- Keep focussed on this!

Set aside time to work on your career plan. Suggestions:
- Take on board comments from Module 1
- Share with your mentor
- Redraft based on reflections
- Start working towards your first milestone

How often do you consider what you are really working towards – happiness or success? This article explains why the key to a happy, healthy life lies in questioning and defining what success means to you.

There are 168 hours in each week. How do we find time for what matters most? Time management expert Laura Vanderkam offers a few practical strategies to help find more time for what matters to us

Have you completed your Ideal Life Pattern?
Does it reflect your ideal?
Share it with your mentor, peer group, family.
What steps do you want to take to get to your ideal?

Watch this inspiring short video showing older women reflect on the balance in their lives

Join the Crossing Thresholds LinkedIn group. A forum for past and current CT participants, to share ideas, contacts and resources; hold discussions; offer help or support; make suggestions for alumni activities

Watch this video from Dave Coplin at Microsoft on what's possible if organisations could embrace tech to create an open, collaborative, flexible working culture.

What do you think?

Using your Wheel of Life, your 8 Life Choices and your Ideal Life Plan, what do you want to put in your diary to increase the chance of it happening - either regularly or as a one off. Do it!

Thresholds' facilitator Emma Ryan walks you through the Wheel of Life worksheet step by step.

According to behavioral scientist and Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans, "always-on" work culture is not only ruining our personal well-being - but our work, as well.

Too much screen time, too many video calls and too few boundaries make working from home hard for all of us.

Nigel Marsh sets out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity -- and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen.

Burnout isn't just about individuals or resilience; it's something that can affect whole organisations. Leah Steele explains how burnout develops in teams, why it's contagious and the practical, simple steps you can take to both limit the risk and create sustainable solutions.

Who inspires you with their 'balance'? Reach out and ask to shadow or have a (virtual) cuppa with them - think about what you want to ask them or see them in action doing and email them!

These days, work-life balance can seem like an impossible feat. Technology makes workers accessible around the clock. Work-life balance means something different to every individual, but here health and career experts share tips to help you find the balance that’s right for you.

In this video recording from a Thresholds' networking event, our guest speaker Amber Sorrell discusses the importance of caring for mental health in the workplace.

Email celebrates its 50th birthday this year and has been ubiquitous in the office for a couple of decades. Yet it is hard to think of a workplace practice that causes more aggravation.

Define your Framework Questions that will help you when you are asked to do something you'd like to say 'no' to, but feel pressured to say 'yes' (Handout 6). Use them next time you're asked.

Watch Oliver Burkeman suggest a solution for those who feel there's no longer a ceiling on how much you can theoretically get done and so constantly feel overwhelmed.

Practice saying no by real-playing with your peer group or mentor. Use specific examples to practice what language, tone, body language and strategies you will use to say 'no' in the way you want to.

Read article from Tim Harford's who says 'There have never been so many ways to get things done – or so many distractions. This is the ultimate guide to mastering the technology that rules our lives'

In the quest to be more productive, we’re continually flooded with advice and techniques for how to do more in less time. But perhaps we’re looking at productivity all wrong.

These days, almost all of us feel pressed for time. Leadership expert Dorie Clark shares three hidden reasons people fall into an endless loop of feeling constantly busy, and invites you to question what really motivates how you spend your time.

The Eisenhower Matrix, also referred to as Urgent-Important Matrix, helps you decide on and prioritise tasks by urgency and importance, sorting out less urgent and important tasks which you should either delegate or not do at all.

This article argues the case that not only does multi-tasking decrease your productivity but it also has a negative impact on your mental health, and can even affect your IQ.

You may need to hear this (if you haven't already): your job is not your family. While you can develop meaningful relationships with your colleagues, calling work your family can actually breed burnout and be detrimental to your mental and emotional health.

Recommended by Thresholds facilitators: headspace app - meditation made simple. Taking even the most sceptical through some easy and simple guided mindfulness practices. Also available on Netflix

What is mindfulness? Watch this short video for simple introduction and explanation on what it means to practise mindfulness

Recommended by facilitators: insighttimer app. Free resource to help any level practice mindfulness, meditation, yoga, music and more

Mindfulness means deliberately attending to and becoming more aware of our experience: our thoughts, feelings and body sensations. Read on to find out more about how it can help calm a frantic mind