Many professionals struggle with work-life balance even if they only have one job. If you add a side hustle to the equation, self-care is usually one of the first things to fall by the wayside.
The problem is, without self-care, maintaining a rigorous professional pace gets hard quickly. Luckily, finding a balance between self-care and your side hustle doesn’t have to be difficult. If you aren’t sure where to begin, here are some tips that can make balance achievable.
Get Enough Sleep
In many ways, high-quality sleep is the foundation for self-care. It allows your body to rest and rejuvenate and gives your mind time to work through the activities of the previous day.
For most adults, getting at least 7 hours of sleep is essential. However, you’ll want to commit more time than that. It takes the average person 10 to 20 minutes to actually fall asleep. Additionally, you may want to spend an hour or two winding down before you head to bed. That way, you can get high-quality rest.
Focus on Your Health
Staying healthy is critical for success in your personal and professional lives. When you’re healthy, you’re better equipped to deal with stress and may be less likely to develop harmful medical conditions or fall ill.
Usually, good health revolves around diet and exercise. Make sure you are eating nutritiously, favoring vegetables, fruits, and lead proteins. Additionally, try to get about 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day.
Make a point to enhance your home for healthy living too so that it becomes commonplace. Keep filtered water on hand, and drink it often. Stock up on healthy foods for your pantry and fridge. Add more natural elements like plants, or invest in an air purifier.
Maintain Your Spiritual Practices
Spirituality has an impact on mental health. It can be a source of hope and peace, bolstering inner strength and improving their self-esteem. As a result, spiritual practices can be an essential form of self-care for many.
Carve out time in your schedule specifically for your spiritual pursuits. Make it a recurring appointment, ensuring it's always part of your plan. Additionally, set a notification up in your calendar to remind you that the time has arrived, reducing the odds that you’ll forget.
Hire Help When You Need It
If your biggest issue is not having time for self-care, hiring help can be a great idea. For example, you can find a freelancer through sites like Upwork to handle some of your side hustle activities or get assistance with housekeeping through a platform like Care.com.
Once it’s time to turn your side hustle into a full-fledged business, you can get help with that too by using some low-cost software and tools. Look for software that can help you manage your inventory and finances. You should also find ways to run your business more efficiently. For example, you can reduce PDF file size by using an online compression tool. This makes it easy to send large files while still preserving the document’s quality and format.
Set Boundaries
Boundaries can be your best friend when you’re trying to maintain a level of personal and professional balance. Begin by determining what hours you’ll dedicate to your primary job and which ones are focused on your side hustle. Then, designate the rest of your time as personal, creating a level of structure.
Once you’ve done that, outline rules that prevent each aspect of your life from crossing into another. For example, don’t let work-related tasks intrude on the time you’re spending with family by not checking emails or handling similar activities during off-hours.
While drawing a line in the sand can be hard, it’s often a necessity. That way, you can make time for self-care and your side hustle, giving you a degree of balance.
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