The Week That Was: Life/Work Balance
All work no play makes Laura a dull girl. That’s what they say, right?
I can’t begin to tell you how packed out my schedule has been these last few weeks. I have been dashing about all over the country, attending meetings, meeting new folks and somehow trying to stay on top of all the other everything that I need to do. Wow, just wow! Somedays I don’t even know which way up I should be!
For all those folks that work from home, run a business or operate second creative business ‘on the side’ I salute you! Working for a living is hard, am I right? I guess that’s why y’all call it work! For nearly twelve months I have been working from home, working as my own boss, and have been setting up and running a creative business – it has been a steep learning curve. Don’t even get me started on business plans, writing pitches, staying on top of admin. As they say, good things come to those who work hard, so I’ve been hard at work, work, work for nearly a year. And, now I’m certain I have my Work Game pretty tight, it’s time to focus on getting that Life Game back in the running!
I’m a goal orientated kind of gal, what? You don’t seem shocked in the least about that fact! Well, for the last few months I have been muttering on to my long-suffering husband about how I “just need to shake things up a little bit and the whole life/work balance will magically fall into place”. Turns out, you need to do a wee bit more than simple mutter about it. You have to actually make a conscious change. Yes I have deadlines that I can’t shift. Yes I have a packed out workload that I need to focus on. Yes life is that thing that seems to happen all around me while I’m glued to the computer or the sewing machine. That’s true for so many of us, regardless of whether we work in the home or at an office. It would be lovely to power down at 5:30 and just kick back and get on with the life part of the balance? But, as any employee, freelancer or business owner will tell you – it ain’t always that simple. It’s perhaps more tricky if, like me, you are actually doing hot damn near to what you might call your Dream Job – why would you want to power off when you’re on a roll? Let me tell you why. Because you’ll burnout, you’ll become dull, you’ll forget what real life is really like.
Cue cute snapshot of ‘long-suffering’ husband and pup!
Now, that’s two sweet reasons right there to get the balance bang on target, am I right?! After a weekend of total relaxation with friends (there wasn’t a spot of work in sight – I swear it!) I’ve decided to set myself a few little Life/Work Resolutions to keep things on track…
Work Smart
Setting out (realistic) plans for the day’s work tasks is a great way to manage time and stay on top of deadlines, projects, duties and admin. Proceed with caution – adding too many items will leave you feeling like a failure in your work day when the bell rings for the end of the day and you still have a dozen items left to do, this is a sure fire way to see you working thorough into the wee small hours.
Work Time/Play Time
Working from home certainly gives you a whole heap more flexibility in life. You can just quickly catch up on that pile of laundry that it growing at a terrifying rate, you can decide that perhaps spending the afternoon catching up for a coffee date with a chum is a great idea. Flexibility is a double edge sword my friends. It is great to be able to set your own hours but quickly you will realise that goofing off on a sunny afternoon is mostly likely going to mean that you have extra bits and bobs of work to catch up on in the evenings or at weekends – which ain’t a lot of fun! try to keep the lines of Work Time and Play Time from blurring too much!
Tech-Free Time
It can be horrifying how much time can be spent online – both for work and for play – ditching the gadgets for as little as a couple of hours each day is a great way to get more time living in the real world. After all, you might just be hitting up your fave social media, but chances are you’ll be checking in on those emails too. If an email drops into your inbox in the late evening, chances are it can wait till the morning – even if you spend those hours planning out your meals for the week, grocery shopping, reading a book or catching a movie, you’ll be out there in the real world, doing real life things – which is the whole point!
Set a Non-Work Goal
Sounds pretty formal and clinical I know, but giving yourself something to work towards as a target in your personal life is a fun and rewarding way to help ensure that you to dedicate more time to real life activities. This can be anything you fancy – squeeze in three hours reading a week, clear out your closet by the end of the month, walk 10k steps a day. Anything! Knowing that you have other goals in your life, aside from work, is a great way to get the balance back!
Fresh Air
I’m going to say it again, because I just don’t care! Fresh air! There is a whole lot to be said for stepping out and getting a big healthy lungful of fresh air during the day. If you work from home, chances are there are days where you see little else than your own four walls. This is a one-way ticket to cabin fever. Not only will it send you towards Grouchsville without passing Go or collecting £100, you’ll probably find that your productivity or concentration starts to drop right off too, so you’ll be stuck for even longer trying to beat the tasks. Take a 10 minute walk, wander into your garden, heck go sit on your doorstep to drink your morning coffee – any of these things will work to clear the cobwebs and give you an instant lift!
♥ – ♥ – ♥
I’m starting on a new project this week, which is taking my workload right up to full capacity – and with very little wiggle room at that! So, for the sake of the sanity of myself (and my little family) I’m going to be following these resolutions and see just how much life I can shake into this Life/Work balance!
I’m always open to suggestions – how do you make sure that you’re getting as much Play as you get Work in your life?
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