Balancing it All
If you’re an event planner, a business owner, a parent, or all three like me, you know that finding work-life balance can feel impossible at times. Faced with never ending to do lists and technology that allows us to be reached at all hours of the day (and night), we are navigating challenging times. In this post, I share some tips for attempting to find balance and sanity. This is also an accountability post – by putting this out there, I hope you’ll remind me to practice what I preach.
Plan ahead
One of my clients introduced me to the Finisher’s Journal, which has become my favorite time management tool. You start with a 3-month, specific and actionable goal (e.g. increase sales by 20%) and then prioritize your weekly and daily tasks to ensure you are focusing on actions related to your goal. My Sunday ritual involves spending 15-20 minutes looking at the work week ahead and prioritizing tasks. If we are not completely depleted by the end of the weekend, my husband and I also connect on our family schedule – who is dropping off which kid at school, reminders of the days I’m working late, etc. Beginning the week with a plan helps me stay focused.
Outsource
When I started my business, it was hard to spend money on anything that I felt I could do myself. I hated seeing dollars come in and go right back out. By now, I’ve realized outsourcing is crucial to protecting my time and growing my business. For entrepreneurs, I suggest you start by outsourcing bookkeeping and social media – these are surprisingly time consuming, and there are experts that can do the jobs better and faster than you. For parents and/or those working in demanding jobs, what can you outsource at home? Cleaning services? Meal prep? We are fans of ipsa in our house. Their frozen food is delicious, healthy, and ready in a pinch when we have a busy week.
Unplug
Recently during dinner, I looked at my Apple watch and sighed as I skimmed a Slack message from a client. Why do I have Slack on my watch, I thought? It was automatically uploaded from my iPhone when I bought the watch, but nothing is that urgent that I need it attached to my body. A favorite reminder for event planners and hospitality planners - “we’re not saving lives.” Lately, I have been trying to put my phone down somewhere inconspicuous when I come home from work and spend that time giving my attention to my family. If you have your phone nearby or in your pocket, it is too tempting to look at it every time you get a notification. I often go back online after the bedtime routine, but if I can unplug for two to three hours in the evening, everyone benefits.
Give yourself grace
Event planners tend to be perfectionists, so it can be hard to let go of mistakes at work or on the home front. I just wrapped a three-day event in New York City, and it was a proud moment for me, but tiring. I haven’t been to the gym in three weeks, missed my kids’ bedtime several nights, and drank more coffee than water. I believe in practicing a healthy lifestyle, especially when life gets busy, but it just didn’t happen, and that’s ok. Meanwhile as I was focusing on the event at hand, I felt stressed in the back of my mind about falling behind on emails from other clients. There was a time in my life when I would have been hard on myself for all of this. Maybe it’s being in my forties now, but I have the wisdom to know that I am doing the best I can. I want to share that with you: give yourself a break, and if something goes wrong, learn from it, and move on. We are all human.
The mom guilt might be the hardest part, and if you know, you know. One silver lining of a busy schedule is that it reminds me when I am with my children, I should be present and appreciate the time that I see passing too quickly. I am taking them to visit my parents in South Carolina for the first time in over a year. I was tempted to leave my laptop at home after feeling a bit burnt out, but here I am typing this blog from the plane. I like to write, and this is the first flight where my kids don’t need my attention every five seconds. Is this what they call self-care? I’m kidding of course….but writing this blog post is a task I can mark as complete in my Finisher’s Journal.
Hope it helps some of you to know that if you’re struggling to find balance in your life, you are not alone.
