How do you try to achieve a Work/Life Balance?
Replies18
- Turning the laptop off... :)
- @Gemma Purkiss Just looked up Digital Minimalism. Thanks for the recommendation. Soudns like something I want to encourage.
- @James Worsley given 2020 and 2020 part 2, I can definitely appreciate this!
- @Natalia Glaz That's great, structure really does help with creating a good balance. I think for me, what I struggled with most in finding a balance was defining what works hours I wanted once I became freelance and what I would do during slow work times - in my first few months this was just me binging The Handmaids Tale - but now I try to fill it with exercising and upskilling because there's literally nothing else to do in lockdown ;)
- @Yasmine Lindskog 100% I love your reframed view of balance as efficiency. What helped me most of last year was sticking to a time-table, I'd curate my days depending on what paid projects were going on and if I had free time in between what I would do with them. Plus the added bonus was being able to see how much time I really did spend working on paid projects vs working on upskilling vs having a life!
- @Katherine Luna Gate YES! It's so important to learn when to say no, especially to ourselves. I sometimes I feel such guilt when I'm having a bit more of a life focussed day and have to remind myself that this is why I chose to become freelance, equally when I'm just in a great work zone and happy to continue working into the night. Saying no definitely helps to create healthier boundaries.
- @Kevin Banks That's great to know, this is my third year coming up as a freelancer. I retrained as a graphic designer and leapt into the freelance world in 2019, definitely took me a year to find my feet and then 2020 happened. In some ways I found it a blessing, the forced slow down of the world definitely helped me re-assess why I became freelance and how to value my time. Plus, nothing beats a solid lunch hour, I love being able to eat a freshly prepared meal (most of the time)
- @Thomas Benjamin Cooper Love that flexibility, I find it hard to not feel guilty when suddenly an idea strikes on the weekend and I just have to run with it but the idea of having a full day/ half day break further along in the week would definitely take that feeling away
- @Martyna Makes Definitely! When I was working full time I always used to check my emails on the weekend, now that I'm freelancing I try and stay away as much as possible on the weekends to enforce 'down time' or otherwise it quickly leads to burn out
- @Jordan Uwins Love this. I think breaking up time is hugely important as well as taking screen breaks. I recently listened to Digital Minimalism which made me rethink how much time I waste looking/scrolling and not really interacting. My choice activities to break up the day are walking and cooking, would love to through a ukelele in there too!
- Alcohol
- As many of you these days I've been working from home since March 2020. I basically try to act as if I am still in the office during working hours – I do get ready in the morning as I would normally do, I have my break, I do focus on work. So far so good!
- I like to think of it as work-life effeciency--trying to be effecient and proactive with all I do. And this involves being clear on what my priorities are.
- By learning how to say "no" - to others AND to Yourself.
- I agree with many of the responses already posted. Been working from home for about eight years. The first year was hard, but two things eventually saved me: 1: Don't work weekends. Save them for friends, family, and yourself. And 2: Take a full lunch hour and eat something good.
- I work 5 days a week. Not necessarily monday-friday, but just make sure I give myself 2 days per week for myself. I achieve that 90% of the time :-)
- Creating boundaries, no emails on weekends!
- Hi Gemma a little work/life balance I like to try while working at home is to nestle some nuggets of 'life' into my work day. I like to plan screen breaks of 10/20 minutes long and do a mini ukelele practice or meditation or anthing completely different to my work.
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