Productive scholars establish a routine, a rhythm, that boosts productivity. Most preserve morning hours to tackle their most intellectually demanding tasks and push more routine tasks like meetings and teaching to the afternoon. Most work 40-50 hours per week, though some work more, with about half that time focused on research activities. Productive scholars set goals, prioritize tasks, and orchestrate to-do list plans for reaching them. They are efficient. They fill large time blocks and small time pockets with scholarly work. They take breaks to keep fresh but don’t procrastinate. Productive scholars have learned to say “no” to invitations that interrupt priorities and other time-killing tasks and distractions. Most productive scholars seek and attain a healthy work-life balance that includes time for family, mental rejuvenation, and physical activity, and they lead stable lives marked by routine. Some, however, find it difficult to disengage from work. Female scholars, perhaps because of societal norms, are particularly challenged in attaining a work-life balance.

Successful retirement requires proper planning through the decades, starting in your 20s and continuing through your 70s. The key to saving enough for retirement is to invest as much as possible, as early as possible. The bottom line is this: you must create an investment strategy where you literally do not run out of money before you die. Future financial freedom is dependent on the exercise of current financial discipline. By creating realistic budgets, adequately funding savings and retirement accounts, following wise investment strategies, and reacting appropriately to economic and market conditions, you have the best chance to fund and enjoy a future that meets your needs and goals. Chapter describes important financial planning through the decades of life, 20s, 30s,40s, 50s, 60s, 70s,80s, 90s, and 100s.

In this chapter, we discuss much of the research that explains how work-life balance contributes significantly to life satisfaction. We explain the direct link between work-life balance and overall life satisfaction through satisfaction in multiple domains, positive spillover of domain satisfaction, and minimal role conflict. Furthermore, there are two indirect links, namely through domain satisfaction (satisfaction with marital life, family life, health and safety, and leisure life) and stress reduction (emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, and mental health).

In this chapter we describe segmentation— a cognition-based intervention of work-life balance. Segmentation involves creating boundaries (or psychological walls) to insulate life domains. The goal is to prevent negative spillover from the segmented domain to other domains. We discuss four different segmentation interventions that people commonly use to prevent negative spillover: temporal, physical, behavior, and communicative. We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can institutionalize to achieve higher levels of employee work-life balance based on these segmentation interventions.

In this chapter we discuss the concept of value-based compensation and the research supporting it. This concept refers to individuals changing the way they perceive the importance of work and nonwork roles and life domains as a function of their successes and failures. They value those roles/domains they find satisfying and devalue those they find dissatisfying. Doing so allows them to maintain a semblance of life satisfaction overall. That is, they “compensate” for the dissatisfaction they experience in roles by decreasing their salience; and conversely, they increase the salience of satisfying roles. We discuss two specific interventions used in value-based compensation: (1) sequencing work and nonwork goals and (2) revising existing work and nonwork goals and selecting new goals. We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can institutionalize to achieve higher levels of employee work-life balance based on these personal interventions.

This chapter describes a personal intervention of work-life balance referred to as whole-life perspective — an approach to decision-making that considers possible consequences in work and nonwork life domains. The whole-life perspective in decision-making is implemented in terms of (1) evoking multiple identities in work-life decisions, (2) framing work-life decisions broadly, and (3) applying broadened rules to guide work-life decisions. We also discuss how instructors can use these three whole-life perspective principles to train employees to achieve greater work-life balance.

In this chapter we discuss another behavior-based personal intervention, namely role balance. Role balance involves engaging in balanced activities— balanced between maintenance activities (those designed to maintain role functioning and meet basic needs) and flourishing activities (those designed to allow the individual to meet growth needs). Specifically, we describe some maintenance and flourishing activities that are essential to creating role balance in work life and nonwork domains (e.g., family life, health and safety, love life, financial life, social life, leisure life, and cultural life). We then discuss how instructors can implement the role balance principle in workshops designed to train employees how to increase work-life balance.

In this chapter, we discuss various definitions along with key characteristics of work-life balance. Work-life balance is defined from at least five perspectives: (1) equal engagement and satisfaction in work and nonwork domains, (2) engagement in work and nonwork roles compatible with life goals, (3) successful accomplishment of goals in work and nonwork domains, (4) full engagement in multiple life domains, and (5) minimal role conflict between work and nonwork life domains.