6 Tips For Creating A Healthier Life-Work Balance As A Creative Entrepreneur
When you clicked on this headline, I hope you noticed I wrote Life-Work balance and not work-life balance. I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it.
LIFE. COMES. FIRST.
I believe so strongly that we are born to have life experiences, learn, grow, and contribute. Work is a contribution and a way to sustain ourselves throughout life. But work is NOT the whole of our lives.
When we put work first and life second, our physical and mental health suffers. We experience burnout. Our families suffer. Children remember the times you were not present more. Physically and mentally not present.
As an entrepreneur constantly striving to grow your business, build a brand, serve your audience, and make money, it can be pretty tempting to keep “hustling” until you have everything in place. It could be months. It could be years. You may have heard the phrase “sleep when you’re dead.”
Well, some people do die trying. Or at least their health is impacted and they can’t even enjoy the fruits of their labor like they deserve.
When we lose sight of a healthy life-work balance, we eventually get so far gone that we find ourselves fighting for our lives back.
I don’t want that for you.
So I’m sharing 6 tips for creating a healthier life-work balance as a creative entrepreneur.
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR ENERGY LEVELS THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Your energy levels fluctuate throughout the day and there are many factors. You may be a morning person or maybe you’re a night person. Some people work best in environments with direct light or near windows. Or maybe with little sound. Some people need an exciting environment because the buzzing around them helps them create their best work. Environment matters. Even the energy levels of the people around you can impact you. Have you ever found yourself around a high energy person and felt absolutely drained by their bursts of energy and talking??
It’s really a thing. In Human Design, I’m a Manifestor, which means I do not have a defined sacral center that provides TONS of energy. Compared to some of my Manifesting Generator and Generator friends, I can notice a difference between our energy levels. I also have more energy in direct light and can feel refreshed when I’m in an environment with opposing views. Get me by the window! Knowing these things about myself gives me an idea of what to do to optimize my energy throughout the day.
DO YOU THRIVE WITH ROUTINES? OR ARE YOU A “GO WITH THE FLOW” TYPE OF GAL?
I know everyone says you NEED routines, but do you really? I do well with routines when I create my own, not when they’re dictated to me. But I know some people who just cannot stick to routines at all. They thrive when they go with the flow. Until Human Design, I did not know that our design can serve as an indicator as to which will help us be our best self! But knowing the direction of the variables in your Human Design chart gives you a clue. Left facing variables indicate more structure or routines, whereas right facing variables like to go with the flow.
REMEMBER, REST IS PRODUCTIVE
In our society, I think we’re taught to rest when we’ve finished the job. We’re rewarded for getting more done and beating the metrics, no matter the cost to our health. But as a Iearned in the book, Burnout,
“WHAT MAKES YOU STRONGER IS REST.”
And rest does not always equate to sleep. Rest is when you stop using a part of you that has been used up, worn out, or damaged so that it has time to renew itself. Sometimes you need a little mental recovery. Pushing through until you’re beyond fatigue may allow you to get (subpar) work done now, but you’ll only set yourself up for even more subpar work in the future. When you need to rest, in addition to sleep, try:
Switching to another activity
Do a low grade activity like laundry or watching that latest TikTok video (yes, social media wandering has its place)
Try an active resting activity like writing, painting, taking a walk, playing music, etc.
GET A LIFE
As a busy entrepreneur, you sometimes have to MAKE time for fun. Make time for friends. Actively nurture your community. You don’t want to neglect the living part of life by focusing on the working. Or else, you’ll look up one day and have the beautiful bank account and banging business, but no friends, lover, or family to enjoy it with. So don’t forget to nurture those relationships while you build and grow your business.
LIVE BY YOUR BOUNDARIES
I talk about boundaries a lot because I know from personal experience the type of anger and frustration that can result when you don’t have them. Getting clear on your boundaries helps you easily know how to express them, know when they are being crossed, and communicate properly when that happens. I wrote in a lot more details about boundaries here.
DO MORE OF THE THINGS YOU LOVE IN YOUR BUSINESS, TEND TO THE REST WITH DELEGATION OR BATCHING
Let’s be honest. You didn’t start a business to spend more time on the things you hate. You started a business to share with the world the things that you love…and of course to make money from said things. But when you’re in the building phase, there are 2838393993 tasks to be done and a lot of it can be admin, tech, or creating things that are just uggggh! But they have to be done. You’ll eventually want to get to a point where someone else can handle those tasks for you. Delegation is the name of the game! Either by hiring someone directly or by hiring a freelance VA or assistant. Even if you’re not at a point in your business where you can delegate, batching (grouping similar activities together to improve focus and productivity) the tasks you hate can still save you time and energy because you can get into a rhythm and knock them out faster. Try it and I’m sure it’ll help!
These are 6 tips I can fully get behind because I use these in my own business. And having in depth knowledge of my Human Design has been such a huge eye opener because I no longer try to force myself to run my business (and life) in ways that fit a societal model that is not suitable for my type. If you are curious about how Human Design can help you achieve a healthier life-work balance, I invite you to check out my Illuminate the Muse Human Design reading. Click here to learn more.