I was given this top from Jane.com. All opinions are my own.
Work and life balance. For reals where to even begin? Awhile back on my Instagram story I asked what people would like to have me write a blog post on. I had a flood of messages asking me to talk about how I do everything that I do and how I balance it all. Honestly my first thought was “gotcha all fooled!” In all seriousness though, I’ve spent years trying to figure out how to find a balance between work and life, while getting everything done that I need to. I definitely don’t think I’m an expert in the field of balance, but I’ve definitely learned some things along the way. So today let’s chat about work life balance tips while getting stuff done!
WHAT DO I EVEN BALANCE IN MY WORK AND LIFE?
For those that don’t know me, I’m going to give a quick overview of my life. I run my blog and social media channels all by myself. I don’t have an itern or employees, meaning in order to make this blog run and make me money, I have to work my butt off. Besides my blog, I own my very own music studio called Notes Music Studio. I teach private piano and voice lessons, along with group music classes such as a mommy and me class, a preschool music class, a kids choir, and group piano lessons. I have employees that work at my music studio, so that’s an additional aspect of business that I have to deal with. Owning your own business is amazing, but so hard. I didn’t know what I was doing when I first started, and sometimes even still I’m just making things up as I go. The hardest thing for me about owning my own business though is that sometimes I can’t let it go or put it down. My businesses are always on my mind and I’m always striving to see how I can grow them and make them better.
In my personal life I’m a wife, a dog mom to 2 cute pups, a friend, and a family member. I try to always make time for my dogs, my husband, my friends and family, all while making time for myself. It’s really crazy, but I love my life. Once you figure out how to balance it all, it’s even better.
Before we get into the tips can we talk about how cute this top is by the way? I love the color, the style and especially the price! I got this shirt from Jane.com which is an online discount site with daily deals for fashion, home, and more. I buy a lot of clothes from Jane.com and recently found their Style Studio section, which is a section of the latest style trends on sale. I’ve bought shirts from here for under $10 before, so I try to check the site daily as it is always changing.
WORK AND LIFE BALANCE TIPS
1. Time For Work and Time For Life – Making specific times for work and certain times to just be with my family or having “me time” is my biggest tip for balancing your life. As a business owner it can be hard to set “work hours” when really I am working as much as I can to make my businesses grow, but it is so important to learn to set aside time for when I can work and then when I need to put it down and spend time with my family. I set certain times during the day that I work on my blog and certain times I work on my music studio and then I have 30 minutes to catch up on Instagram or comment while I’m with Kyle, but other than that when he is home I keep my work to a minimum, and it’s only if I need to do something that I’ll break that rule.
2. Self Care: Do What You Love – This is one of my biggest beliefs in life. Everyone needs something that they need to do for themselves. For me, I love blogging and so that is my fun “hobby”. I also love playing soccer, so I set aside time each week to make sure I do what I love. It’s nice that my hobby has turned into a job for sure. I think that in order to feel like you have a balanced work life and personal life, you need to find something you love and do it often. I suggest at least once a week, but even starting out once a month will do wonders to your life. I can promise you that! Think about what makes you happy that is just for YOU and go do that. Set that time aside and don’t let anything get in your way.
3. Date Nights – We have a weekly date night (normally on Friday) where we spend time just the two of us. We make sure to go out and have dinner or have a fun activity, but we get out and do something. For us we need to get out and do something because with me working at home everyday I’ve learned it’s crucial for my sanity to get out of the house, but if you are more of a homebody, set up a time for you to spend time with your significant other or a friend or even yourself, and have a fun date night! I blogged my favorite date night in activity here to help give you some inspiration.
4. Involve Your Cheerleaders – We all have people in our lives that cheer us on, and thank goodness. Involve those people in your work life. I try to keep Kyle updated on how my businesses are going and I’ve learned that by talking about my work life with him, it keeps us involved in each others work lives, which then in turn makes the work and life balance seem to even out. If I tell Kyle about work, he understands if I need to spend an extra hour on Saturday writing a blog post. He knows how important it is to me and because I involved him in a photoshoot or a piano recital, it gives us time together, while still working.
5. Life Over Work – Although it is really hard for me to recognize this tip, I think it is the most important. We are never going to get this time in our lives back, so why are we we spending all of our time working? We shouldn’t be. Living your life is more important than any work thing that comes up (if that is taking over you living your life). Make sure to put your life and family first, and everything else will fall into place.
TIPS FOR GETTING STUFF DONE
1. 5 Daily Goals: Kyle and I text each other 5 daily goals of things we need to accomplish that day. The next day we let the other know how we did on our goals and submit 5 new ones. Sometimes we hold contests to help encourage ourselves to get all our goals done. Having someone hold me accountable for the things that I need to get done has helped me get more done than anything else I’ve ever tried.
2. Plan, Plan, Plan: I have my blog planner, my online music schedule calendar, and my phone app that all helps me to keep track of my life. The beginning of every day after I submit my goals, I take a few minutes to plan out how my day will look. I map it out using time increments. For example: 8:30 – work out / 9:00 – shower and get ready / 10:00 – answer emails / 10:30 – write lesson plans for piano. Setting these times helps me to stay on track and make sure that I know I have enough time in my day to get the things done that I need to. Don’t stress though if something happens and you don’t stick right to the schedule. I let this be tentative so that it helps me, but I don’t over stress if something happens. Sometimes when things come up and I’m unable to control it, I just redo the plan for the day and take out some of the less important things. Sometimes that can be hard for me because I wanted to get everything done, but it’s nice to plan it all out.
3. Be Flexible and Realistic: Understand that sometimes things will happen out of your control and you may not finish a goal, or something will come up that needs to be the priority. That is okay. This is one of the hardest things for me, but realizing that the days I let things come and go and that it is okay has really helped me to then get more done later on in the day.
4. Routine: If you can set up a routine for your week or your day, that you stick with on a regular basis, it will really help you get stuff done. I know that I work out on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. This stays the same and I just know that I will be getting that done on those days. Then I have my same days I work on lesson plans, same days I write blog posts, same time I work on Pinterest, certain days of the week and times that I clean the house, etc. Sticking to this routine has helped me get more done than ever before.
5. Have an accountability buddy: We talked earlier about Kyle being my accountability buddy, but I felt like this needed its own tip because it is so important for me. The days I tell Kyle I am going to get certain things done, I hold myself to it as well. It helps me get way more done.
6. Give Yourself a Few Breaks: You don’t have to be working non stop all day long. Give yourself a break for however long you need for whenever you need. If you know that in one hour you’ll get a small break, you’ll be a lot more productive. For example the first of every hour I give myself 5-10 minutes to get on Instagram or mindlessly look at my phone or play the piano. It’s a good brain break and helps me get more done.
7. Make Getting Stuff Done…Fun: While I work or clean, I am someone who can have background noise. I turn on an old Netflix show or a fun music playlist and turn work into fun. I know that I won’t mind answering emails because I can watch whatever Netflix show I am binging and that doesn’t make it seem so horrible.
8. Reward Yourself: Did you do awesome on your daily goals? Spend an extra half hour doing nothing but relaxing. Take a bath. Paint your nails. Go to a movie with some friends. Reward yourself for a good hard day of work!
Hopefully these tips help you see the best ways I’ve learned to get stuff done, while still balancing my home and work life! It’s not easy, but if you use these tips I know it’ll help you get on the path to being better than you were before!
Don’t forget to pin this pin so that you can remember this post for later! Plus it’d mean a lot if you’d share with your friends!
