Good morning Loves. I was talking with one of my freelance employers and she said to “OK I have to let you go now, I’m home and I need to spend time with daughter.” My initial thought this was a little strange because if you’re trying to build a business don’t you work 24/7? My second thought was “Oh that sounds nice, I wonder what that’s like”. Not the kid part, but the part about turning off your business life so you can enjoy your personal life.
Does anyone have one job anymore?
Yes I wonder what that’s like. I’m 35 years old and I come from a generation of hustlers. I mean we want nice things in life and we are willing to work hard to get them, we don’t expect everything to be handed to us (not like those millennials). I know it’s a big statement to speak for an entire generation, but it’s true isn’t it? At least it’s true in my circle of friends. We all have at least two jobs – or in my case six, but I love it. At least I think I do.
Everyone is working two or three jobs to achieve the American dream, isn’t that what life is all about? If your 9 to 5 salary isn’t enough to get you where you want to be then find a part time job or start freelancing. That’s how I did it.
There has to be a life in your work life balance
The key to working a lot is to not work all the time. This is a lesson I’m slowly learning. I used to hate sitting around watching TV because it wasn’t relaxing. All I could think about was all the money I was losing when I wasn’t working. However now I’m looking for a better quality of life.
I am letting go of the need to always have more money and starting to enjoy my life. It’s creating new down time in my life that I usually spend sleeping. I am going the gym on a more regular basis and I am in bed by 11 pm every night – it used to be 1 am. To say that more sleep at night has helped me become a more pleasant person during the day is an understatement.
Just unplug yourself
This is the number one thing I’m trying to do. Two nights a week I give myself a hard stop at 9 pm; the phone and the laptop turn off. It’s a transition, I usually spend about 30 minutes making a list of all the things I didn’t finish and write them down to remind myself to do them tomorrow. After that panic wears off and I talk myself out of turning back on my laptop I calm down and get ready to enjoy my evening.
Put on your pyjamas
You know they say if you work from home you should still get up and get dressed in business clothes every day because it helps you be more productive. Well I’ve found the exact same thing to be true if you want to stop working. Put on your pyjamas and crawl into bed to help yourself get out of business mode and start relaxing. Pyjamas are comfy and most likely so is your bed, once you’re there hopefully work is the last thing on your mind.
Photo from I’d Pin That
I used to work 2 jobs, 60+ hours a week and found that after 2 years, I had no “life” left in my balance. I absolutely burned myself out – be careful that you don’t! It sounds like you’re getting on the right track.
Hmm… I wonder if I’m being much less productive lately because as soon as I get home from work, I change out of my uniform and into my pajamas. Maybe I should try putting on “real” clothes and seeing if that keeps me going? Especially on the days where I only work 5 hours.
Uh excuse me? No. Many millennials I know, I including myself have a full time job that doesn’t pay well because companies think they can still drag us along with the “You’re LUCKY to have a job at all” nonsense, so we also have at least one other part time job. Mine is reporting for a newspaper. One friend runs sound at a music hall on nights and weekends. Another teaches computer classes for old folks on the library on the weekends. So no, millennials don’t all expect everything to be given to them. Most of us have had our career trajectory fucked over by previous generations and we’re doing all we can to survive.