My husband and I (and Starbuck) have officially lived in our new home for a little over a month and I’m very glad to report that we are really getting back into the groove of life and work, at last! We’ve completed many home projects, purchased a lot of new furniture, and although our work is far from done, that anxiety I get when things are completely out of place has dissolved. August was my first month back to work full time at my biz after my very long and exhausting summer of moving and home ownership prep. I’m surprised that I was able to transition back into my old work habits pretty quickly, but then again, when the alternative is obsessing over unfinished home projects, work really seems like a welcome treat!
What I didn’t do
1. Wake up early everyday: I think this is one part due to my new home and the lesser amount of light that comes into our bedroom, but I’m also not forcing myself out of bed in the morning. Although I don’t plan to keep up this routine much into fall, I think that with the exhaustion of moving and all the extra home projects, I just need more time to sleep. So I am giving myself permission to sleep more if I want to.
2. Work 8 hours a day: I go through periods of time when I work full days and then periods when a few hours of work is all I need. Since I have been keeping my workload light this summer, I haven’t been working full days as of yet. After sleeping in and allowing myself to take it easy in the morning, I have started working around noon and ending work around 4pm.
3. Focus only on work: Right now I have more on my plate outside of work, so again, I have given myself permission to spend time on things that aren’t work related. Some of that is establishing new routines in my home. Some of that is taking care of random new home things I never had to manage before. I only have 24 hours in a day and when new essential items are added to your life, it’s important to take measure of what you can scale back on so that you remain balanced and not overwhelmed.
What I did do
1. Set my priorities: All of the recent home life changes have meant that I needed to reevaluate my priorities. In doing so I was able to determine the areas of my life where I would be able to cut back without causing a crisis. Taking the time to sit down and think about your priorities and what you are trying to achieve is crucial whenever you’re managing change.
2. Enjoyed my evenings: In establishing new routines for our home, my husband and I have been focusing a lot on enjoying our evenings. We have a patio with a gazebo where we like to spend some time with a drink in hand to unwind. We also have a larger living area and more spaces without our home to use and enjoy and we are really trying to make the most of it. Especially now that we aren’t renting a little apartment and have a place of our own, I really want to enjoy our space and the fruits of our labor.
3. Started a weekly newsletter: So this was the one business project I kicked off this month! I have been wanting to do a newsletter for a while and I actually scheduled it out on my project plan to get this started at the end of the summer. I have been taking steps to arrange this for a few months now and it feels great to be on track with my business projects even if I’m not thinking business 24/7!
What I learned
1. Making progress in your personal life will trickle over into your work: It might seem like common sense that if you want to improve a certain area of your life, you should focus on that area alone, but I think that perspective ignores the bigger picture. For me, I have found that by spending time on my personal life and getting that in order, I have made progress in my work life. The more time I spend relaxing in the evenings, the greater my capacity for work is the next day. The more I get my eating habits under control, the more structured I find my workday. When you think work-life balance, I think there is a misconception that it’s all about shuffling around tasks and priorities until you find equilibrium, but I think that simply taking action to take care of one area of your life will tilt the scale for other areas of your life as well.
2. To take advantage of my flexible schedule: This was my big a-ha moment this month. Obviously, since I work from home for myself, I have a flexible schedule, but I don’t usually take advantage of that flexibility. I normally insist on creating a consistent workday schedule that might mimic a normal 9-5. This month, I challenged myself to understand why. Why do I force myself into that mold if I have created a business and lifestyle where I have the ability to legitimately break out of that mold? I know it comes down to old habits and expectations, so this month I loosened those expectations and gave myself permission to sleep in, start working later, and finish up with time to spare in the evening without hopping back on to my computer in bed! Flexibility in your schedule is only a blessing if you use it and I want to use it!
3. Patience: I don’t think I have ever been a particularly patient person. I like immediate gratification, I tend to rush and I don’t like not having control over situations that affect my life. But holy cow! If buying a home doesn’t teach you patience, I don’t know what does! Not just patience with the process of purchasing, but from the moment we bought our home there were a few dozen projects and repairs that I needed to manage and if you follow me on snapchat you might already know that seriously, nothing went according to plan! Every contractor encountered issues beyond what we were already facing. Every important delivery or installation was botched. I have lived in my home for over a month now and we are still dealing with contractors that haven’t finished their work from the first week of move in. It’s crazy- apparently this is normal- but because of all of this, I have learned to let go and be patient. I’ve had to turn my obsessiveness off and just accept things for what they are.
Let me know in the comments how your month went!
xoxo,
