Achieving balance || Myth or reality?

Hey guys, long time no write!

Recently, I started a new job (hence why the writing is occasional here, will work on that) and I started working from home again.
But before that I worked in a profession which was all consuming and seemingly never ending. 

I was a truck dispatcher for American market. 

And let me tell you- that job took everything out of me that I had.

I would start working from 1PM and would still be in the office by 2AM. 
I felt like I was always in the office.

I started seeing my coworkers more than my family. And my coworkers were working the same hours. Actually, no. They were working more. But, the funny thing is, none of them minded.
As we got closer, since we were spending so much time together, they started opening up to me. 
Some of them lost their girlfriends because they were working too much.
Family obligations got neglected. Lunches, dinners, birthdays, recitals.
Their personal health, both physical and mental was a mess.
That was okay for them
. "If you want to earn enough to live decently, you have to work hard"

It got me thinking that that can't be the way work-life should work, you know?
Like, do I really have to sacrifice everything that I have in my personal life just so that I would earn enough money that I won't even have the time to spend because, well... I'm working more that 12 hours a day? 

At that point I realized that BALANCE is the key to life.
Now, I may be young. I haven't seen more than 2% of the world and everything that this place has to give, but I'm pretty sure I found the secret of the universe.

BALANCE.

And, if I'm being honest, not being able to achieve it in this job position was the reason I quit. 
And I'm happy.
And I found a job that doesn't take the last atom of strength in my body, a job that doesn't make me feel like crap if I make one single small mistake, a job that helps me grow both in the work area and privately as well.

Then again, even there it's difficult not to give in and once again start working for 12+ hours daily.
My schedule is my own. I set it for myself.
I decide when I will hold classes. When I will start and finish my daily shift.
So, logically, your mind jumps to this train of thoughts:
"If I open 20 classes today, I will earn more money"

So... How do you find and keep the balance in your life?

1. PEN AND PAPER MOMENTS

Basically, sit down with a pen and some paper. Write down every single thing which needs to be done in your day to day life.
Include everything. Cleaning cat litter. Washing the dishes. Brushing your teeth. Go from small things, to bigger things. Reading for 30 minutes every day. Going to the gym. Studying for your course of choice. Whatever you as an individual need to do.
Do this for your days, weeks and months. Keep this list of things in your planner, or on a piece of paper that you will put on your fridge. Whatever works for you.
Why is this important? First, it shows you that you are a multidimensional person who is so much more than just your job. Second, it puts things in perspective. With this step, it's easy to see what you're working with. 
Highlight your priorities, things which you know that you need to do in order to feed your mind and spirit. Underline the mundane things, things which need to be done and are unavoidable.
Sit down, make a list of every duty that you have as a fully formed person. That is your starting point. 



2. SET BOUNDARIES

If you work in an outside office, for a company of which you are not an owner, for you this would mean arriving to work precisely when you need to be there and leaving as soon as your shift is done. If you work from 8 AM and your work is done at 4 PM, 4 PM is when your booty is out of the door.
This is important because you are showing your coworkers that you are to be respected. Arrive 10-15 minutes early only if you feel the need. As in, you need that amount of time to prepare for the work day. And leave as soon as you're done, so that you can devote yourself to the things from the list from step one.
If you work from home and you are in any shape and form your own boss, setting boundaries means that you have a designated spot in your home where you do work. My partner and I have a kind of separate room where both of our work desks are in. We do our studyings, readings, paperwork and writing in here and I also conduct classes from this desk. This desk is not for hanging out. I do work here. Setting boundaries in this sense also means that you have a block of time in the day where you do nothing but that work. 
All of this allows you to prepare the field to implement step one lists.



3. TIME BLOCKING

Blocks of time are incredibly useful. Go back to your planner, or take a piece of paper for start, and write down times of the day. Start from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. Although, for me it's much more visual if I write down every half hour of the day. So, I would start from 00:00 and end up with 23:30. That way I can also see how much time goes to sleeping.
This next step is much more simple if you color code. Use 3-5 colors for different areas of your life.
For me, I use pink, green, yellow, blue and purple. 
This is your own thing, you can totally skip all of this, but for me it just makes it more visually organized. 
Anyways, look at your time table and color in your shift. Let's say you start work from 8 AM and you finish it at 4 PM. That time is impossible to divide between anything else. So, color in a block from 8 to 4 and write down that this is your working hours. 
Now, block out the times where you are sleeping and doing personal maintenance things. Personal hygiene, sleeping, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Now, you have even less time and it might seem daunting. But, try to block out 7-9 hours of sleep, depending how much you personally need to feel well rested and block out times for food and hygiene. These are those non negotiable mundane things I told you about a bit earlier. 
With the time you have left, you put in the highlighted priorities from step one. 
Maybe you can squeeze some of them in during the non negotiable things. 
For example, my morning coffee is non negotiable. But, I'm not gonna sit down and just drink coffee. I always take my book and read a bit while doing something non negotiable.
Each day you will have a block of time where you are not sure what you should be doing. Every day of the week might look a bit different, but in those blocks try to squeeze in your family and your friends. A good advice is to assign each day of the week for something. An example from my personal planner is: Saturdays are for cleaning, Sundays are for family times (lunches, coffee dates, phone calls etc). On Mondays I like to leave out a chunk of time that is exclusively for planing out that week.
Figure out what works for you. 


4. SELF-DISCIPLINE

This is the tricky part. You planned it all out. You have your color coded time table in your planner, or on your fridge, or even on your phone. You know what you need to be doing in order to achieve the ultimate balance in your personal universe. But then, a little voice pops up in your head:
"What if you just take 40 minutes, just to watch one episode of Gilmore Girls? That couldn't be that bad, right?"
And, if you're like me, you give in to that voice, you plop your behind on the couch and you promise yourself "only one episode".
From my personal experience, it is never just one episode. 
The key to achieving balance in life, where you do everything which you need and want to do is self-discipline. That means that you follow the plan. 
If you hear the voice pipe up in the middle of the afternoon, just after your work, to watch one episode, look over to your time table. What did you devote that chunk of time to? If it's free time, then by all means, go right ahead. But, what you also need to keep is mind is this- you have to stop once that chunk of time is done. 
If you said that you will do laundry at 6PM, but between finishing work and 6PM have nothing in plan, you go right ahead and watch some Netflix. But, you have to have enough discipline in yourself that once you see that 6 PM is nearing, you don't start another episode. You get up and you do your laundry like a big girl.



5. KNOW THYSELF

Step number five kind of aids step number four. If you know that certain things will hold you back from doing the things that you need to do and want to do, then kick them to the curb. Maybe an example might be a bit helpful here:
I know that I fall deep into the binge hole.
I know that once I watch one episode, I will want to watch another. 
If I watch one movie, I will watch three more after it.
I know this, because I know myself.
By knowing this, I don't even turn Netflix on.
I grind out throughout the day and get everything done. And then, if I still have some time by the end of the day, then I turn Netflix on and chill out.
Know what will set you back and then kick that thing as far away from you as possible.





By following these five steps, I am sure you can achieve whatever you put your mind to. 
This will ensure that you have not only work-life balance, but balance in life in general, which in turn makes it that much easier to achieve your goals.
What are some other things which you feel might add to this list? 
Try them out and let me hear about your personal stories, either down below or on my social medias (find me here or here )


keep growing
omega

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