What are some of your tricks to keeping a healthy life/work balance?
Shaya AlArfaj
10 replies
Hi!
As someone who has recently-ish started working from home on my own venture + freelance, I'd love to hear about some of your tips for keeping the balance between life & work! My checkboxes so far have been changing out of pjs and being outside at least once a day, baby steps. What're some of the tricks you use?
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Andy Rosenberg@andythegiant
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@shayaalarfaj turning off slack pop-up notifications on my phone
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@shayaalarfaj
How I keep a good work-life balance
Some things I do since a few years already:
Get up before 7am. Don’t try to fall asleep again if it doesn’t work immediately. Get out of your bed and start your day with whatever makes you happy. Head to work and get home early.
Fixed working-hours. If you have the luxury of flextime it seems tempting to enjoy the flexibility to start and end working whenever you want. However I would recommend that you set your own hours which allow you to do some life-related stuff after work.
A “yes” should be rare. Learn to say no! Say no to friends, say no to co-workers if they ask you for after-work activities (of course you can and should do it from time to time, but it shouldn’t be the norm). Also say no to tasks if you can do them the next day early in the morning. Since a few weeks I try to adapt the Eisenhower Matrix to my workflow.
Find a workout partner. If it feels like an arrangement between a friend/partner to show up at a gym or park for exercising you have to leave the office or otherwise break your arrangement and feel guilty. If you exercise with a friend or partner you can work on a friendship or relationship and your fitness at the same time. Win! 🙂
Cooking and grocery shopping with your partner. This ensures to spend some time together even before couching.
Of course it’s okay to constantly refine your priorities and routines. But in the end it should always help you to keep a nice balance.
@shayaalarfaj I like to turn notifications off in the evening so I don't get tempted to reply to Slack messages or check email. Sometimes I forget though which makes it really tough!
More and more I try to stick to a routine e.g. I wake up in the morning and don't turn my phone off 'do not disturb' until I've done meditation.
I also like to plan out which fitness classes I'll go to during the week on Sunday night so I've guaranteed slots throughout the week dedicated to my wellbeing.
Shaybazaar
@abadesi thanks for all the advice!
Scheduling workout classes beforehand is such a good idea, I always make plans to go but let other things 'come up' instead. I should just commit and sign up to a few instead!
How did you get into meditation? When I ~do~ make it to yoga I love the few minutes we take to just breathe and be still but I haven't managed to translate this over to do at home.
Cake Equity
@shayaalarfaj probably like @abadesi said before... Create a routine it is the best way to have a balance between life & work.
I created my plan in a paper the first time and try to improve every week with some ideas came up during that week. Then, I tried to adjust my plan again in the paper and keep doing like that every week until I know what I have to do and when I have to do it. Also, a list of things you don't want to do like pick a phone late, read emails after work-time or don't go to your favourite crossfit class because you have a meeting. Nope. You have to create your own balance.
In my case, it is simple.
8AM-3PM working time in a full position.
3PM-4PM having lunch.
4PM-7PM working on my freelance projects.
7PM-9PM sport time (crossfit: Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Run: Tuesday and Fridays, Swim and Basketball in the weekends)
9PM-11PM dinner, cook, read, relax, and so on.
Saturdays to do my stuff at home and shopping.
Sundays enjoy the beach doing paddle surf or kayak or doing hiking in Tibidabo.
I think it is super important to have a plan and stick to it. And my best advice is to make it things simple. Super simple.
Kelvin (Beta)
@shayaalarfaj Be extra aware of scheduling social time for yourself! Sometimes getting sucked into the remote work thing means sliding away from human interaction, which sometimes isn't that positive. I use a pomodoro timer (turning it on now, forgot to do it this morning since I just jumped into work!) to remind myself to stretch and look away from the screen. I like @abadesi's suggestion of planning out fitness classes - I have been trying more and more to be more consistent about when I'm getting a good dose of movement in!
Shaybazaar
@sarahloertscher So true about slowly isolating yourself! Too easy to stay indoors all day. Seems like planning my day ahead of time and keeping myself on track to stick to it is the way to go!
Working from home requires self-organization. I quickly understood that I need a proper daily schedule. I do exercises in the morning and take breaks during working hours to do stretching. Also, it is essential to spend some time outdoors and take vitamins (I usually order them here https://www.vitasave.ca/collecti...). All this helps me stay healthy and avoid stress.
I also work from home and decided to make myself breaks every two hours for 15 minutes in order to do some exercises and drink a glass of water