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Before youβve even gotten out of bed, you already know how many emails lay waiting in your inbox. Youβve just checked your phone for the 23rd time, and itβs 9:15 am. Your days are filled with constant stress and unrelenting stimuli because of the overwhelming pressure to be productive, on your A-game, giving your 110% (at least). At lunch, while other people are able to take breaks for 15, 30, or sometimes even 60 minutes, youβre sitting at your desk, clambering away on your keyboard, trying to clear up your to-do list. You donβt take lunches, at least, not unless theyβve been scheduled in your calendar weeks in advance. At night, when you get home, youβre tired, mentally drained, a bit cranky, even. But you donβt have time to be cranky. Youβve got stuff to do, messages to respond to, an empire to build.
Does this sound like you? Because it definitely sounds like me.
Has anybody noticed that the idea of βworking around the clockβ and being βalways onβ has become more of an accepted practice these days? If you have a corporate job, emails or texts from your boss at 10 pm are no longer off-limits, even if youβve technically clocked out hours ago. If youβre a freelancer, itβs more of a gray area. And if youβre a side hustler (someone with a day job and a project on the side that takes as much time as a part-time job, if not more), like me, itβs even more of a struggle. These days, weβve started to equate being busy with being significant. I have never seen this mindset more blatantly apparent than in Los Angeles, where everyone seems to be a writer-photographer-musician-actor who also works in a law office or delivers DoorDash during the day. Work is great, and having multiple things going for you is never a bad thing. But being overworked is potentially devastating. Whenever I am overworked (and I let it happen often) I get easily irritated, burnt out, and worst of all, I lose my creative spark. I just donβt want to deal with it at that point.
Note to self (and to you): snap out of it.
Itβs okay to relax every now and then. But as with most good things, itβs much easier said than done. I am without a doubt a Type A personality through and through, so packing my morning-to-evening with βstuffβ is my default mode. Relaxing β I mean really relaxing β is hard. Iβm not talking about scheduling time for weekend brunches and movie nights, though those are great too. Iβm talking about really surrendering to the present moment, and not letting anything else get in the way, regardless of whether itβs for 10 minutes or 10 days.
At the end of the day, itβs okay to be focused, but your career will benefit even more if you allow yourself to unplug and unwind every now and then. Below, Iβm sharing a few things that I am currently working on practicing in my own life to help me find more balance between the chaos of it all.
Get Things Out of Your Head, and Onto Paper
If I have 1,000 thoughts bouncing around in my head, Iβm going to be on-edge about it. I worry 24/7 about things I need to do β doesnβt matter if theyβre small things like buying toilet paper or gigantic things like finishing a work presentation. One thing that helps clear my mind seems so simple, but it works. Write it down. Take a moment to build a robust, fully thought-out to-do list or journal about everything thatβs bothering you. Getting things on paper reassures my mind because thereβs less chance Iβll forget about it, especially since I look at to-do lists every day.
Delegate Your Work Better
Having a lot of stuff to do comes with the territory. Youβre building a life you want to be proud of, and that takes WORK, after all. If thereβs a lot of tasks that you need to get done, be better about structuring your workload into a system that ensures everything will get done. I try to schedule all of my personal work and blog work on Sunday – Thursday of each week, in the evening, after my day job. Something else Iβve been trying to get better at (but itβs haaard!) is time batching, which is the idea of doing more than one thing at once, and sticking to that consistently. For example, dealing with finances and meal prepping for the week on Mondays (and only Mondays), working on personal projects and answering emails on Tuesdays, reading/taking a bath/TLC on Wednesdays, and using Thursdays and Fridays as your days to catch up with friends. This structure is honestly hard for me because Iβm the kind of person who needs to write almost every day to feel productive, and who can get completely thrown into answering emails and forget that Iβve got other stuff to do thatβs more important. Blogger Lauryn Evarts swears by time batching though, and has a longer write-up about it on her blog, the Skinny Confidential, which I think about often whenever I’m trying to organize my work week.
Schedule Time to Relax
I know this sounds counter-intuitive. But, if youβre seriously a Type A like me, the only way youβll really be reassured that thereβs some relax time happening in your life is if you actually schedule a time to do so. Pull up a chair, grab a cup of tea (or wine, or coffee), and designate some times throughout the week where you give yourself permission to not do ANY workβnot even checking your email or scrolling through Instagram. Itβs almost amusing how hard it is to actually find time to relax throughout the week, but itβs probably the most important thing you can do.
Plan a Trip
I like to plan as many trips as possibleβa habit which, by the way, my wallet detests me for. But travel is high on my priority list, and having a trip to look forward to instantly reinvigorates my mood and gives me a reason to make it through the week. Travel doesnβt have to mean shelling out thousands of bucks for a week in Greece. Day trips, hikes, and staycations count, too. Try to do something every now and then that takes you off the grid for a short period of time, even if itβs only for an afternoon. I promise, the grid will still be there when you get back.
Remind Yourself to Be Present
Do you ever find yourself crawling through the week, trying desperately to fast-forward to the weekend? Iβve been so guilty of this for so long, but recently, Iβve discovered that this way of thinking is so toxic, not only for productivity, but also for dealing with the delicate balance between relaxation and stress. When you catch yourself slipping, remind yourself to be present. Focus on whatβs going on now, whatever that might be. Youβll feel a bit more fulfilled and less anxious about time passing. I usually catch myself when Iβm working out or when I’m driving, and I try to remind myself to stop trying to rush through it all.
Relaxing isnβt about zipping through your issues or your tasks so that you can make more time to do nothing. Itβs about learning to walk the line in between it all, and do it in a way thatβs a bit more sustainable.
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