Balance
>> Friday, January 6, 2012
Maybe my theme for 2012 will be "Balance." I still haven't done any goals for the year and I'm starting to realize that maybe it will stay that way. But working toward balance is something I need to work on.
I left my old employer because of long hours and high stress. With my new business, I work even longer hours. It doesn't feel like "work" at all though because I love what I do and truthfully feel like I could do it all day long and never tire of it. But that doesn't mean I should. My husband made a comment to me last week - "You never watch movies with me anymore." And he's right.
My office is in the den off the living room. I can sit at my desk and still see the TV in the living room, so that's where I spend all my time. I get up at 6am and immediately sit at my desk. And lots of times at 11pm, I'm still sitting there working. I never turn it off.
So I've decided to make some changes right away.
1. No more Sundays. My phone is being turned off on Sundays and I'm updating my voicemail to say, "If this is a Sunday, I will return your call on Monday."
2. Lunch breaks. I'm taking at least 30 minutes each day over lunch and again, if my phone goes off, I'm not answering it until I'm done eating. No more letting my lunch get cold because I get a phone call.
3. Set business hours. I still need to be somewhat flexible but if I work late one night, I am blocking out my schedule the next morning or something along those lines. Maybe I'll just do one evening each week since some clients can only meet at night. But I'm penciling my day and my hours into my schedule...just because my planner goes until 9pm, doesn't mean I have to schedule that late :)
(as I type this at 7:12am, my phone is ringing...I'm ignoring it)
4. Schedule my workouts. I miss working out but work has my priority and I need to remove "exercise" from the back burner. I've scheduled my WOD's for the next 3 weeks and wrote down which workouts I'm doing those days.
I have a business partner I meet with regularly who is experiencing some of the same challenges. We're going to help hold each accountable. I might turn my phone on this Sunday just to call her & see if she picks up her phone! ; )
We'll see if any of this helps and if I'm able to stick to all of them or just a few. 2012 is the year of balance!
Until tomorrow,
KelsaLynn
4 comments:
I'm becoming a big fan of being goal free - that doesn't mean I'm not working towards something, it just means I'm doing it in a different way.
I know you have to be flexible for your clients, but maybe you could set 1-2 nights a week that you work evenings to accomodate people and then Saturday mornings, but work "regular" hours the rest of the week, making sure to take that extra time off to make up for working Saturday. That's what we did in the insurance industry. We worked 9-6 M-W-F and 11-8 p.m. on Tues. Thurs. Then we rotated Saturday mornings.
I think that as long as your aware of your long work hours and it's not negatively impacting other areas of your life that are important to you, then it doesn't matter how much you work. Mindfulness is key and it sounds like you know exactly what's going on.
I love Megan's business hours suggestions! One other thing that I wanted to mention is that since you have the flexiblity to set your own schedule, you should keep that in mind when scheduling certain tasks- for instance I am my MOST productive 1st thing in the am- during that 2nd cup of coffee...so if you are too, I think it would still be fine to review budgets or do projects over your morning coffee as long as you make up for it by taking a break (FOR REAL!) during another time.
So proud of all that you have accomplished and that you have the ability to make smart choices for yourself now!
It's so great that you love your job so much that you want to do it all the time! But you're absolutely right that you need to set some boundaries for yourself. I think life is always a balancing act and I'm not sure you ever hit the perfect balance. I agree with Megan that if it's not affecting other aspects of your life then you're fine but it sounds like a) your husband needs more time and b) you need more time for yourself. Good luck! Keep up the good work!
Kelsalynn...I just wrote a big long message and then wordpress deleted it...so I'm going to abbreviate :)
I love your blog, as always. I have always though, since reading it, that our lives are super in line.
I all too well understand your theme of 2012 being balance, I have actually quoted that on several accounts. Opening a business is TOUGH!! It can easily consume every little minute of your life if you let it! It is so, so, so important to create strict boundries for yourself, for your health, and for the health of those around you :)
I am also SOOO glad to hear that you love your job, and it sounds like its doign GREAT!!!!! Yay for that!!!
Keep up the awesomeness Kelsalynn :)
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