7 mins

Agency life

Working on your work-life balance (plus free planners!)

Date 28.09.2018

Work and life, have you found the balance yet? Yeah, we haven’t either.

But, since we know you’re short on time and your to-do list is long, we’ll give you everything you want up-front. We made a daily planner and a weekly planner for you to download, print, and use throughout the day – they should help to keep your tasks organised and achievable while keeping your mind and body healthy and clear.

Grab your free planners

5 quick tips to remember:

  • Taking breaks away from your screen is important.
  • Be kind to yourself. Mistakes happen. Learn from them and improve.
  • Understand that you can’t be at 100% every single day.
  • Give yourself something to look forward to – like a holiday or time with friends.
  • Drink water, eat well (sometimes), and exercise. It’s incredible for your mind.

If you feel like digging into the details a little more, read on for the full tips:

I don’t know if there’s anyone who’s got this work-life balance thing perfected (if you think you’ve cracked it, please slide into my DMs), but it’s something I’ve been working on. I’m still on the road to balanced scales, but I wanted to share my findings so far with you…

1. Make time for breaks.

Not five minutes to swallow a sandwich whole, but a proper break. Step away from your desk and go for a wander, read a book or magazine, put your earphones in and listen to a podcast or your favourite music, or simply have a conversation with the people around you.

Breaks give our brains much-needed time to relax and we’re often more productive for it.

2. Be kind to yourself.

Nobody’s perfect. It’s that simple. Mistakes happen, but it’s important not to dwell on them for too long. Take lessons from each setback or mistake – they can often be our best teachers, and as long as you learn from a mistake, then it was worth it.

If you’re anything like me, you’re your own harshest critic. Try to remind yourself that even though one thing may not have worked out, you can do A, B, and C brilliantly and you’re going to do X, Y, and Z differently next time.

3. It’s okay not to be 100% every day.

It’s not healthy to be on 100% every day… When you’re motivated to hit a goal or deadline, no matter what it is – something personal or work related – you’re going to push yourself to get it done and done well, right?

Late nights at the office are okay in short bursts and can be productive, but this should happen on rare occasions. Going for gold every day can put stress on you physically and mentally; skipped meals, missing social events, less sleep – these aren’t things you want to become the norm.

4. Give yourself something to look forward to.

Who doesn’t like feeling excited? Planning a catch-up with friends, a short trip, or a big holiday can do us the world of good. Having something to look forward to can motivate you through your slower, tougher days and having a time limit can push you to be even more productive in the run-up to your break.

5. Healthy body, healthy mind.

Without trying to sound like a health guru, I think it’s safe to say that when you feel healthy and good about yourself, you’re generally more positive. This might not always be the case, since we’re only human, but it makes sense to help ourselves where we can, no?

A few things I try to stick to:

  • Drink 1.2 litres of water every day (NHS recommended!).
  • Try and exercise around three times a week. Now, this is flexible, but it can really help to find an exercise partner to be more consistent and even make it more fun. I have a good friend I go walking with. After an hour of speedy walking, chatting, and laughing, we’ve probably done upwards of 6,000 of the recommended 10,000 steps per day.“Alexa, play ‘Here Comes the Hotstepper.’”
  • Catch up with friends. This is so important. I went through a period where I was very focused on my career (and I still am), but it was to the point where social outings slowly grinded to a halt. Never again. Social interaction is way too important to give up, so try and keep a few social outings in the diary and forget all about work while you’re there – nothing is so important that you can’t take a few hours off.
  • Planning meals helps me keep on top of healthy eating, as not too long ago I was on a first-name basis with my local Dominos. I try and cook on a Sunday and do enough to last a few days, I’ll they try and do the same on a Wednesday evening, saving time (and money) later in the week.

In summary, try to eat well, drink plenty of water, book that holiday, take breaks, exercise, but most importantly – be kind to yourself.

To make all of this a little easier, remember to download our new daily and weekly planners. We created these to help you to organise your days and weeks even better, along with a few helpful reminders to get your daily water and exercise, plan your meals, and budget for the week. Basically, you’ll have everything you need to be on top of your game without losing your work-life balance.

Share this post