The perfect work-life balance that is. I know I haven’t. Some days I stare out of my office longingly at my horse, wishing that I had the time to ride him more often and that I didn’t feel guilty when I did ride him, always thinking that I should be working or putting a washing on. Some days I stare at my phone far too much, while my children run riot as I send ‘just one more email I promise’.I think it’s impossible to remove the guilt entirely but I also think there is more that we could all be doing to help find that elusive middle ground between life and work. I’m no expert, and I don’t always practice what I preach, but here are a few ideas that I’m going to try and which you might also find useful.
- Don’t check your email whenever you hear a ‘ping’. Set specific times each day when you check it and find a cut off in the evening so that email doesn’t interfere with everything. Perhaps you’ll decide not to check emails between 8 pm and 8 am for example? I even once found myself googling ‘timed security boxes’ that you can lock your phone in for a set period of time to physically prevent yourself from endlessly scrolling. Slightly old fashioned but it might work!
- Say no sometimes. When you are asked to do something by a boss, colleague, family member or friend, do you always say yes, even if it doesn’t fit your job description or you really don’t want to do it? Even when parties resume, it’s OK to say no to one sometimes if it doesn’t sound like your cup of tea.
- The Mental Health Foundation counsels “Work Smart, Not Long”. Employ tight prioritisation, allowing yourself a certain amount of time per task and making yourself complete it within that time. At the same time, try not to get caught up in less productive or distracting activities, such as unstructured meetings or, in my case, scrolling Instagram!
- Leave work at work. Kind of an obvious one and easier said than done, especially if you are self-employed, but it can be done. Even if you just promise yourself that work is left behind at the weekends, or certain evenings in the week, that’s a start.
- Delegate. I often think that it will take longer to explain a task to someone else to do than to do it myself but that’s just a short term excuse. If there are regular tasks that you always do yourself but which someone else could do (and I don’t just mean at work, maybe your spouse or children could help more with certain tasks?) then offload them and see what a difference it makes. In my case, I’ve recently delegated the vacuuming to a small circular robot named Euphemia and it’s almost true to say that it’s been life-changing! It certainly eases the mental load I feel (I do like a clean and tidy kitchen) and saves me time. Win-win.
- Last but not least, remember that if, at the end of the day, you simply don’t have time for, or can’t prioritise, doing the PR or the social media for your business, that Scene & Herd is here to help. Just drop me a line anna@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
