Work Hard, Play Hard: Rhythm for School, Rhythm for Life
By Jen Hammonds, Middle School Counselor, American School of Doha Task Force Team Leader – Annual Events Committee
As we transition from summer back to the school year, it takes time to re-establish a rhythm and routine for school and for home. Learning how to strike the right balance between work life and home life is a challenge for students, parents, teachers, administrators, and counselors alike. It is a human challenge to find balance and to maintain balance.
Research shows that we all need breaks within our day to help us to be more productive, to enhance our well-being, and to promote positivity toward school & work (The Well-Being Thesis). We all can benefit from a
balance between our work hard & our play hard. As a school counselor, we are pulled in many directions during the day and sometimes we neglect ourselves; we neglect our need to have breaks to rest, relax, & recharge. By taking mini-breaks during our workday, we will enhance our own wellbeing and increase our productivity too.
What is a mini-break? What does play hard look like during your day? It can be anything from doing chair yoga, to taking a lap around your campus, to refilling your water bottle or making a cup of tea, talking to a colleague or eating a snack. You may even need to schedule in your calendar these mini-breaks or “play hard” moments for yourself. Here are some tips to prompt you to regularly step away and get some “play hard” time for yourself.
- Agree on break times with your peers and help each other to stick to the break time you’ve agreed.
- Set an alarm on your phone to prompt you.
- Plan to do something in your break that you enjoy – the anticipation of pleasure will motivate you to keep to the break.
- Pay attention to any benefits you experience when you take a break – this will imprint on your mind and motivate you to take breaks in future.
- Use post-it notes or drawings in your workspace to remind you to take a break & to give you ideas about what activities recharge you.
At the middle school of the American School of Doha, we use a motto that is familiar to many: “Work Hard, Play Hard” and have designed our school day around this rhythm to help everyone to have higher engagement in and out of the classroom. We use a rotating block schedule with 80 minute classes and provide “play hard” time after each academic class to help establish the “work hard, play hard” rhythm during the school day.
At the middle school of the American School of Doha, we use a motto that is familiar to many: “Work Hard, Play Hard” and have designed our school day around this rhythm to help everyone to have higher engagement in and out of the classroom. We use a rotating block schedule with 80 minute classes and provide “play hard” time after each academic class to help establish the “work hard, play hard” rhythm during the school day.
When you ask an ASD middle schooler, “What does work hard, play hard mean to you?” They share things like:
- It means working hard in my class, then getting my reward after class to hangout with my friends or play Gaga Ball.
- Work hard, play hard means doing both, keeping it balanced so you don’t stress out.
- When you work hard, then you don’t feel guilty when you play hard, because your work is done.
- It’s about having both…. It’s about balance.
- Because we have play hard time after every class, I like class better.
The research shows that student engagement in the classroom for learning increases when students are given the opportunity for brain breaks, movement, and blocks of time for informal connection & play (Terada 2018).
To reinforce this “work hard, play hard” rhythm we have at school, we encourage our parents and our students to continue to follow this rhythm at home. We believe that this balanced approach to working and playing is for life. Work hard, play hard is a rhythm for school; it is a rhythm for life. Therefore, we recommend to our students & parents that they keep following this rhythm after school. For instance, rather than doing homework right when you get home. We recommend that our students join one of our After School Activities (ASAs) or take some time to play hard when they first get home. We also emphasize that homework should not be completed in one long stretch (60-90 minutes). Instead, we recommend that our students break up their homework time into two different, more byte size, manageable blocks. This encourages them to get enough time for social time, recreational time, and family time outside of school.
We should all strive to keep a more balanced approach to work & to life. These are challenging times that we are living in, and it is vitally important that as international school counselors, we find ways to stay balanced between our work hard & play hard. We all need tips, tricks, & strategies for taking better care of ourselves & of others mentally, emotionally, physically & spiritually. Hopefully, learning more about using work hard & play hard as a rhythm for school & a rhythm for life will prove helpful as you continue to find your rhythm for this school year.
References
Indeed Editorial Team (June 2, 2021). What Does “Work Hard, Play Hard” mean? (And How To Do It)
Playworks. Organization for helping to support the integration of play into the school day in a variety of ways.
Slattery, Abbey (November 5, 2019). The Importance of Working Hard & Playing Hard… & Doing Both Well.
Terada, Youki (March 9, 2018). Research-Tested Benefits of Breaks: Students are easily distracted, but regular, short breaks help them focus, increase their productivity, and reduce stress.
The WellBeing Thesis (website 2022). The Importance of Taking Breaks.