Alright. Let's get started. Thanks for joining, today's session. Let's start with saying something you might have heard before, and I will say it again. Work life balance is overrated.It's impractical. It didn't work for me at all. And so today, we are going to challenge that myth, and we'll talk about something more sustainable, work life integration. I will share my personal ways how I apply work life integration in my busy life as an engineering leader and how it helps me avoid burnout. So before we get started, a brief introduction about myself. I'm Sheena. I have fifteen plus years of experience in technology and engineering leadership. My career and life spans across five countries, and and that's why I call myself a global citizen. Currently, I'm a senior engineering director at Priceline. Priceline is a leading online travel platform in North America, and that targets to provide the best travel deals for our users.

And I'm also the site lead of our Toronto office, championing leadership and growth locally. I enjoy travel. I have traveled to about 40 different countries. I like to stay active through yoga, and I'm good at getting things done. So here's how I picture myself in that so called balanced life, trying to perfectly juggle an aspirational career, my love for travel, family responsibilities, and my own well-being. It's like holding that tree pose in yoga. It looks graceful in theory, but in reality, I'm wobbling, overthinking, and barely lasting for even five minutes before I tip over. And that's why I call this a myth. First, it treats work and life as if we are they are two completely different forces. You are either working or you're living, which sounds nice until you realize that you're not a robot who can just flip a switch at the end of the day at 5PM.

It creates that unrealistic expectation of perfect balancing act. However, we do not live in predictable world where every day runs from nine to five and no one will ever get a production issue or a new team to onboard or a last minute exec review to prep for or even a dealing a sick child at home. It focuses more on time distribution and not meaningful outcomes. And as a result, it leads to stress, feeling of failure, guilt, which are actually the early signs of burnout. And that's where work life integration makes a meaningful entrance. Where you take that first step towards work life integration, something shifts. You start to see that your career, your family, your well-being, even your community aren't competing forces. They are not in conflict. When you blend those boundaries with intention, you realize that the energy, the joy, and focus you gain in one area actually fuels the others.

And, ultimately, it fosters this sense of fulfillment. So, alright, let's deep dive into practical stuff, how you can actually apply work life integration in real life. No fluffy theory here. I have compiled few examples from my own life that has helped me create a pretty decent synergy between work and life. For me, it started with a shift in mindset and acceptance of reality that I cannot aspire my life goals with a nine to five regime. I started with small integrations, a shared calendar between work and family. I maintain a common task of list from my work and from my personal to dos so that I can prioritize from that blended list. I sometimes get my best engineering ideas just chilling at cafe, which I do on Sundays. In fact, during vacation travels, I listen to engineering podcast.

To pursue my passion for travel, I'm lucky to be part of the company that allows work from anywhere for four weeks, and it helps in breaking that monotony monotony of the daily routine. Another thing that which helped me in blending things was sharing my goals and aspirations with family and friends. When they understand what you are striving for, they can support you, not compete with your time. And lastly, share your constraints with stakeholders. I can't do calls before ATM. I need my seven hour sleep. I'm not a early riser, and that's completely fine. They would appreciate the clarity and and would understand that you are organized and intentional. Taking back control. That's that is where we get more tactical. I love my Sunday resets. I have booked two hours every Sunday to design my following week. I check my schedule, priorities, adjust things, and do some preparation if needed to be in control of the week.

It's all about leading your week, and don't let it lead you. There is a direct correlation between mental and physical energy. Just last year, I realized that some form of workout is needed for me to function at my best. Even on the busiest day, a fifteen minutes work walk also, you know, does, like, wonders for me to have a better mental control on my day to day task. So if you are feeling constantly drained, it might not be just your calendar that needs adjusting. It could be your body asking for attention. I'm also a big believer of atomic changes, small, consistent action that actually sticks and helps you get back that control. For example, instead of forcing myself self to be in that early riser club overnight, I'm easing into with a simple habit, shift shifting my wake up time by just five minutes each week.

It's more manageable, sustainable, and the way it works effective than relying just on motivation alone. Quality over quantity. Everyone knows that. It's a very important one for success of work life integration. It's not about how much you could juggle. It's about doing what matters. I decide my top three critical impact opportunities per quarter, and I review it every month. I want to learn a new song in guitar. I want to do a personal speaking. I want to research and complete the proposal of improving web performance of my site. That's it. Stick to your critical impact opportunities. It's more purpose driven prioritization that helps cutting down things with intention and without guilt. Delegation is another important strategy. I'm not good with house chores, and I've taken that calculated decision to outsource that work to give me back the time that I need for things where I can actually add value.

And lastly, how leveraging technology could enable you in work life blending. I added this slide just because no talk can be completed without mentioning AI these days. But, seriously, choosing technology tools that helps to offload cognitive overheads of your day to day task is a very good strategy to have. I use Google Key for notes taking. I use various AI models for creating content, coding, understanding a new technology, getting meeting summaries, even planning my travel. Technology can be your personal assistant and helps you scale both work and life more effectively. With that, thanks for joining me. I hope you took good, takeaways from my experience. And please remember, the work life blend is less about perfection and more about progress and perspective. So don't forget to review, refine, and repeat what works for you. And if you like to connect or have any questions for me, please feel free to reach out.

Let's all integrate. Here's my LinkedIn handle. I would love to connect with everyone.