How Ray Plans to Prioritize Self-Care in 2024

I have been so focused on thinking and writing about The City at Eye Level that I forgot to write a self-care post. This basically summarizes how much I focus on taking care of myself. As my dates and employees frequently tell me, I need to have a better work-life balance. I have found it tough to prioritize work-life balance when I am passionate about my work and volunteering when I am not at work. Yes, I need to get better at saying “no” when asked to volunteer. I feel the need to volunteer because I am concerned that no one else will step up to volunteer. Hopefully, the below self-care book’s daily practices and inspiration will help me set a healthy balance between helping other people and taking care of myself.

Can I get in a habit of using this self-care book enough to create a healthier work-life balance?

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I decided to start reading the book in advance of January 1st. In case anyone else gives me a gift that starts on January 1st but says that people can start at any time during the year, please encourage me to not wait until January 1st to use the gift. Brandie mailed me the book last February when I was experiencing a mental health breakdown, but I felt weird about not starting the book from the beginning. As page 1 from the book wisely suggests, I am not seeking to share a stereotypical quantifiable New Year’s resolution. Due to the high percentage of resolutions that fail, I think quantifying and placing the pressure of a deadline are big mistakes that many people make with their New Year’s resolution. Instead, I am seeking to focus on a long-term journey of healthy living. While it can be tough to trust in this process when the results likely will not make a fast and big splash. I have to trust that the small ripple effect of self-care will eventually show itself in measurable ways as well, but without the guilt or pressure of deadlines.

As a planner who is focused on creating key performance indicators (KPIs) with the pressure of deadlines, I expect to struggle with trusting a process that asks me to trust that the process will eventually help. While I do not want the public to get nervous about the following comparison, I believe my struggle to trust the self-care process is similar to the public’s struggle to believe that our planning efforts to create a safer transportation network will be successful. I am sharing this perspective as initial feedback that I have received even before the $800,000 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Action Plan process that I am managing publicly starts in 2024.

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I think another big mistake that many people make when they try to do self-care practices is think that the self-care process is as simple and easy as checking a box. This reminds me of how some organizations think that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work just involves checking a box. I could write a whole post on my concerns about DEI work. I want to keep this post focused on how I will prioritize self-care in 2024. I am actually breaking Dr. Shaw’s “pressure of deadlines” advice by including 2024. As I am sure self-care experts likely know, improving self-care is a lifetime process. I am glad that I enjoy being a lifelong learner!

Future Blog Post

I am not sure how much I will share about my self-care process in future posts. I mostly wanted you to know that I am trying to improve my self-care practices so you can help to hold me accountable when I do not prioritize this in the future. While I was about to write that I wish that I had a wife to hold me accountable on a daily basis, I need to be able to hold myself accountable. I believe achieving this accountability will make me more attractive to future dates and show coworkers that I can achieve a healthier work-life balance. Since I know that I am not the only person struggling with prioritizing self-care, I want to wish everyone good luck with this as 2024 approaches!

Reflecting on my first 6 months at Clackamas Community College and 1st-year goals

I am excited to share that I passed my six-month probation evaluation! Even though I believe most employers have a one-year evaluation, my boss informed me that my next evaluation will be at two years because that is what the Classified Association (one of three recognized CCC unions) bargained. My six-month probation period ends today, so I want to reflect on my first six months and share my first-year goals. Since I resigned from working as a full-time, temporary Urban Planner I at the City of Alexandria, VA to start working as the full-time, permanent Transportation Systems Analyst at CCC, I want to share my initial thoughts before moving back to Oregon. Even though I did not plan to enroll in the Associate of Applied Science degree in Project Management when I accepted the job at CCC, I want to share how this decision has impacted my life so far.

Initial Thoughts About CCC Job Before Moving Back to Oregon

While I only worked at the City of Alexandria, VA for three months before resigning, I was close enough to my Neighborhood Planning and Community Development Division coworkers that they invited me to join them for lunch. Since I was nervous about whether CCC and the surrounding communities’ car-dependent cultures would allow me to work on reducing car usage and expanding active transportation services, I expressed these concerns to my division coworkers. Even though it has not always been easy and will take years to overcome Clackamas County’s strong car-dependent culture, I am pleased to report that CCC and my community stakeholders have been open to working with me to reduce car usage and expand active transportation services. The below letter of support from the Clackamas County Pedestrian/Bikeway Advisory Committee (PBAC) for the City of Milwaukie, OR and CCC’s joint application for dockless electric-assist bikeshare and scooter programs shows proof of this.

SIGNED Letter of Support from Clackamas County PBAC 12-4-18 from Ray Atkinson

A major reason why I am able to partner with the PBAC is that my position and program costs are mostly funded through an Oregon Metro Regional Travel Options (RTO) grant. I am in the process of reapplying for an RTO grant, which would fund my position and program costs from July 2019-June 2022. Oregon Metro, which is based in Portland, likely would not continue funding my position and program costs if CCC did not support reducing car usage and expanding active transportation services.

Reflecting on my first six months at CCC

Since my boss wants to put a plaque on the wall to show how I won $273,083.25 during FY 2019-21 for expansion of the CCC Xpress Shuttle, this was my biggest financial accomplishment during my first six months at CCC. The shuttle expansion includes extended year-round weekday evening service on Monday-Thursday until almost 11pm and offering summer term service for the first time. This expansion will be funded through the competitive Regional Coordination Program, which is funded through Oregon House Bill 2017.

I also wrote and had CCC’s President Cook sign a letter of support for the new Oregon City Shuttle, which will have at least one stop on CCC’s Oregon City campus. As the below project list shows, the Oregon City Shuttle was also funded.

Source: https://trimet.org/meetings/hb2017/pdfs/2018-09-28/presentation-9-28-18.pdf

My biggest non-financial accomplishment during my first six months at CCC was successfully supervising and mentoring my first student assistant. While I supervised and mentored a high school intern during my unpaid internship at Charlotte B-cycle in 2013, my internship was part-time so I consider my first student assistant as my first real supervising and mentoring experience. I created and effectively used a shared Google Sheet to collaborate with my student assistant on several projects. My student assistant said they never experienced a day where they had nothing to work on, so I successfully supervised them.

They also said they appreciated being given opportunities to manage projects with limited supervision from me. Even though they made mistakes when managing these projects, they valued the learning experiences. They preferred having me be their mentor and not just their supervisor. Their job description did not include managing projects, but they were bored with basic assignments like tabling so I wanted to give them opportunities to spread their wings and fly. Since my first student assistant accepted a promotion at their other job, they resigned last Friday to start their new position. They handwrote the below note to me on their last day. I will miss working with them!

While I will have to train a new student assistant in January, I am thankful to have a supportive team to help me train them. My team handwrote the below notes on my 28th birthday, which was September 19, 2018.

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A post shared by Ray Atkinson (@rayplans)

Applying What I Learned During Project Management Courses

Even though grades probably do not matter anymore for me because I do not plan to transfer to another school and employers likely will not review my grades anymore, I am excited to share that I made an A+ in both of my first project management courses at CCC. Since I manage several projects at the same time, coordinate with internal and external stakeholders, and supervise a student assistant, being able to apply what I learned during project management courses is more important than showing that I earned high grades. The below network diagram shows one way that I am applying this knowledge.

My 1st-Year Goals at CCC

Since the current RTO grant that mostly funds my position and programs expires in June 2019, my top 1st-year goal is being awarded and receiving enough funding from the new RTO grant to continue my position and programs through June 2022. Thankfully, CCC has earned Core Partner status through being a long-standing Oregon Metro partner with fully developed RTO programs. This means that a three-year RTO grant for $150,000 is guaranteed as long as I submit the application. I plan to apply for other RTO grants to expand the programs that I manage.

As I mentioned earlier, I am working with the City of Milwaukie and Clackamas County to launch dockless electric-assist bikeshare and/or scooter programs. The first phase would include the Harmony campus. The second phase would likely include the Oregon City campus. A future phase could include the Wilsonville campus. While the first phase likely would not launch until after my first year is over, my goal by June 2019 is to receive funds through Oregon Metro’s Partnerships and Innovative Learning Opportunities in Transportation (PILOT) program to continue planning for the bikeshare and/or scooter programs.

My non-financial goal is to have a Portland State University (PSU) Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) team select my workshop project proposal, which involves creating a Rural Access Plan to CCC’s Oregon City campus. Here are examples of past workshop projects. My MURP team worked with the City of Tigard, OR and State of Place to complete our workshop project in 2016. I will find out in January whether a MURP team selects my proposal.

I plan to keep readers updated about my progress in achieving these goals through future posts. Thank you for reading my blog!

Can Artistic Bike Racks Meet Rigorous Design Standards?

Since I doubt the standard approach to bicycle planning will encourage more people to bike to Clackamas Community College (CCC), I have been thinking of creative ways to entice people to bike. While I could install standard bike racks, this will not create the visual shock value I am seeking. CCC has a Welding Technology Program with teachers that are American Welding Society-certified professionals, so I am partnering with welding teachers to have them teach their students how to weld artistic bike racks. While I am excited about this partnership, I need to be cautious about how the artistic bike racks are designed. This is a major reason why most bike planners only install standard bike racks. Can artistic bike racks meet rigorous design standards?

Artistic bike rack being welded. Source: StarHerald.com

The main welding teacher has expressed excitement to have a real-world project for their students to work on. He invited me to present my idea to everyone in the Manufacturing Department at the October department meeting. Since my position is not located in the Manufacturing Department, I feel honored to help break down silos by presenting to a different campus department. While I want to give the welding teachers and their students full artistic freedom, I need to ensure the artistic bike racks meet rigorous design standards. I have not worked with welding teachers and students before and have no welding experience, so I am curious to learn how feasible this process is. I am thankful the Manufacturing Department is open to considering my idea.

Since this is a perfect opportunity to include placemaking, I plan to suggest placemaking ideas be included in the artistic bike rack designs. Placemaking could include showing pride in CCC or Oregon City. CCC’s main campus is located in Oregon City, which has a rich history because it is the End of the Oregon Trail. If possible, I want to include this history in the artistic bike rack designs. The below artistic bike rack on the Trolley Trail in Milwaukie, OR is an example of placemaking because the bike rack was designed to showcase the Trolley Trail’s history.

Artistic bike rack using placemaking in Milwaukie, OR. Source: OregonLive.com

You may be wondering why I feel it is so important to create artistic bike racks and have welding students create them. Since I feel it is challenging in an American suburb to entice people to try biking, I feel it is important to create a visual shock value. Standard bike racks cannot create this visual shock value. I chose to have welding students instead of an off-campus bike parking company create the artistic bike racks because I assume the students will want to use the bike racks that they create and show them off to their family and friends. While an off-campus bike parking company is more familiar with bike rack design standards, their employees will not use the bike racks. Plus, I hope to save CCC money by producing the artistic bike racks on campus.

Since creating artistic bike racks are not free, I am currently applying for a grant that does not require a financial match. Grant winners will be announced on November 19, 2018. What do you think of my idea?