The never ending topic of work-life balance! But considering how many young people are racing towards burnout, it’s a too important a topic not to discuss.
We have fallen into the trap of working harder and later than is responsible for our health a few too many times, so here are some tips on keeping the balance healthy especially if you own your business.
1. Mission
To ensure that you don’t overwork yourself but also to keep focussed when things aren’t going great, define monthly missions and a couple of big goals. You can evaluate in the meantime whether or not your missions are realistic and modify if needed. It’s key to break down missions into individual actions. For example:
Year mission: get 10 new clients
Monthly mission: 1 new client
Weekly mission: contact 30 potential clients each week
2. Rhythm/Structure
When we first started doing FashionContainer full-time, we literally worked 24/7. On top of that, we never left each other alone. Meaning that we’d bombard each other with questions on Sundays, at night, at parties and where not. But this doesn’t work! Your mind never switches off! We might not like the principle of working 9 to 5, but it’s necessary to call in boundaries. Define working hours, stop yourself from checking emails (simply log out, if it’s too tempting not to check) and put aside your phone.
3. Responsibility
We think it’s responsible to work a LOT because then at least we look like we care about our jobs, but the truth is, it’s not. It’s responsible to take into account your work-life balance in every decision you make. If you don’t, you’ll pay for it sooner or later. Being responsible in your job is working on your missions, completing them and taking care of yourself in the process.
4. Tolerate
Especially when you’re just starting out on the career ladder or running your own business, you likely have a great urge to proof yourself. You take everything personal, any rejection will make you want to burst into tears and you feel like the only way you’ll ever get ahead is by running faster, faster and faster. STOP it. All successful people have started small, with 10001 rejections and failures. Do yourself a favour and see everything as a process rather than a failure.
5. 3 Month reflection
A good work-life balance needs reflection! Ironically, it’s easy to miss important details if you’re constantly too close on everything you do. By doing both a personal and work reflection every 3 months, you’ll gain more insight in what you’re doing wrong and right, what you should change and what you should definitely continue pursuing. If you compare each 3 month reflection with the previous one, you’ll gain an actual objective insight on the progress you’re booking.
Do you have any magic tips for the best work-life balance? Share!
Photographer: Tatiane Kozijn | Instagram: @tatianekozijn
