Have two different planners
This is something I tried out over the past year and found it worked perfectly for me. I love having two different planners for my work and my personal life. My work planner should ideally be more detailed and in-depth but with my personal planner, I like to go lighter and also have some fun with the design. Of course, this is different for everyone, but my personal planner consists mostly of appointments and to do lists so I just don’t need as much space as I do with my work planner. But if this idea is just too much for you and you are scared you might get confused with the two: another good way to distinguish these two areas is using different colors in your planner. Maybe a blue pen for your work and a black one for your private life?
Blackout timeslots
So, now you have set up your new planner(s).. and what now? It might be extremely tempting to go all in and schedule every single minute of your days to a certain task and get on that ‘girl boss mentality’. But if you do that, trust me.. you will most likely feel like a failure in a couple of days time. Realistically tasks sometimes take longer to accomplish and other times something unexpected happens which takes away another hour from your day. Blacking out certain time slots in your day is essential. Maybe schedule one blank hour a day for your work things and one blank hour for your personal life. This way you ensure to meet your end goals for the day and in turn, you keep being motivated.
Prioritize & create boundaries
This is especially important when you work from home. But even when you have a more traditional job, creating boundaries is essential to achieve that work-life balance. Make sure you set yourself clear deadlines for the day when you have to be done with work and your personal life starts. Also, try not to do anything work related on weekends and if you have to, schedule another day during the week to have just for yourself. It is essential to have those downtimes for ourselves. Without them, we are less productive in our work life and less happy in our personal lives. So having those down times to yourself is a win-win for everyone. Your family and your employer.
Do not apologize, but explain
Everyone’s life and everyone’s jobs are very different. So obviously all of us make different decisions when it comes to work and life schedules. This is something everyone has to understand. So please do not feel pressured to apologize for getting work done when others are having their well-earned fun times. But explaining why this is so important right now and how you will get back that time in the future always helps.
Make those calls
In order to not neglect your personal life while climbing that career ladder, you sometimes have to force yourself to take the first step. Scheduling in calling your family and friends and setting dates to meet up is essential. Put it right up there on your to-do list. This is sometimes easier said than done, but it is so worth it. And if we are honest.. these calls only take a couple of minutes out of our morning. No excuses!
