We are all told how important it is to get a proper work/life balance. What about when you have two works? How do you balance your work/work/life balance? What about if what is now your work, always used to sit as a hobby in the ‘life’ part?
Before I go any further I should make one thing clear. This is not a how to, it’s a confession. I don’t balance these things very well at the moment. As you may know, I work part time on my business and part time as an events fundraiser. My charity work leaves me three days and evenings each week for everything else. And there’s a LOT of everything else. Friends, family, loved ones, pooch, pub, eating, drinking, Netflix and holidays.
Then there’s the everything else else. Admin, emails, murals, digital sketching, posting orders, applying to markets, selling my work, monitoring my stockists, practicing my craft. Then there’s my number one love of my life; good old fashioned sleep. Plus, there’s the times that my fundraising job steals extra hours from my weekends and evenings as well as my brain space in other hours too. My job is wonderful and I love it but it’s pretty full on and there’s always lots to think about. How do you do it all?
Spoiler alert: I don’t.
Well,I do. But I don’t get the quantities right. I always want more lie ins, more puppy cuddles and more time for the people who mean the most to me than I am currently getting and giving. Visiting family is hard when it is going to take at least a weekend with all the travelling, but there never seems to be a weekend free.
Then there’s my business. I have a huge to do list. At first it was a ‘one day I want to try this’ to do list. Then it became a ‘things to do when you get chance’ to do list. Now? Now it’s a ‘here’s everything due soon’ to do list. There’s no time to learn new artistic skills, explore new avenues or research new opportunities.
Spend your time wisely
I am slowly learning that the reality is that until a cure for needing to sleep is invented, there is just no way to have it all. The trick is to priorities. Learn to say no, value your time and carve away time for what is important to you. If it helps to block out a night to spend time with friends, do it. Make it obvious in your calendar and don’t shift it for anything. I find booking tickets for shows makes me not miss those dates, so do what you have to to keep that time for you. Monitor your work balance. make sure you only agree to jobs you have time for. Only jobs you want to do. Your time is precious so treat it so. When you know you are going to be busy with something else, take on less.
and perhaps most importantly…
TAKE.TIME.OFF.
I can’t stress this enough. Don’t feel guilty about recharging and relaxing. it is vital and necessary. Schedule it in and stick to it. In the midst of all of my million commitments I always allow myself time for me. It keeps you sane and helps you to have the clarity of mind to decide how you want to spend the rest of your time and how to priorities it.
We all want to build successful business, and the income can be a strong allure. Just make sure that you are never letting it cost you too much from your energy and life. If it helps, remember this,
No one on their death bed ever regretted that they didn’t work enough days in their life