Jeffrey Zeldman read my mind.
This is totally how I feel about my situation and needing to take one business day a week for myself:
Jeffrey Zeldman - @zeldman http://twitter.com/zeldman/status/1587407020
If I don't keep blowing off clients, colleagues, and potential new business partners, I'll never finish redesigning my blog.
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I've been in a conundrum lately. I run my own design business and it never feels like I can catch up with the amount of work I have, whether for my business or my home. My mind is constantly cluttered and I think it will take a massive reset button to finally get it cleared the hell out. There doesn't seem to be as much of a work-life balance occurring as I want or need. There's constantly a feeling of confusion and bad sleep patterns to make up for it all. The problem is that, it's not really making it up. It's just adding to the confusion and frustration. I've been thinking of something that might help.
I may decide to give myself one workday off per week, to collect my thoughts, ideas, make art and unclutter my space and life. This day would allow me to carve out time for marketing tasks, billing clients, catching up on industry news, personal promo art/projects, filing papers, doctors' appointments or just breathing for Chrissakes. At first, Fridays seemed attractive, especially for summer but it may have to be a floating mental health/get the office in order day. Who knows, it could end up being a Wednesday for all I know and that could be a good hump day break for me.
And wow, as I was writing that list of what I could do on the free day, it occurred to me, "Don't try to stick it all in one day! That's why you get burned out!" Lesson learned/learning. But, with all this comes a main issue: money. Would taking a full day off working on client projects be all that financially smart? I could possibly just learn to live on less income until I get more higher paying clients to even it out.
For those of you running your own business or even just starting with part time work, do you give yourselves a 4-day work week? If so, how have you structured your time and client management? Has this pace allowed you achieve both personal and career goals and how long? Was meeting those goals pushed back or do you find the pace just fine for you? I'm curious, please.
x-posted to graphicdesign & hip_domestics
Jeffrey Zeldman - @zeldman http://twitter.com/zeldman/status/1587407020
If I don't keep blowing off clients, colleagues, and potential new business partners, I'll never finish redesigning my blog.
----------
I've been in a conundrum lately. I run my own design business and it never feels like I can catch up with the amount of work I have, whether for my business or my home. My mind is constantly cluttered and I think it will take a massive reset button to finally get it cleared the hell out. There doesn't seem to be as much of a work-life balance occurring as I want or need. There's constantly a feeling of confusion and bad sleep patterns to make up for it all. The problem is that, it's not really making it up. It's just adding to the confusion and frustration. I've been thinking of something that might help.
I may decide to give myself one workday off per week, to collect my thoughts, ideas, make art and unclutter my space and life. This day would allow me to carve out time for marketing tasks, billing clients, catching up on industry news, personal promo art/projects, filing papers, doctors' appointments or just breathing for Chrissakes. At first, Fridays seemed attractive, especially for summer but it may have to be a floating mental health/get the office in order day. Who knows, it could end up being a Wednesday for all I know and that could be a good hump day break for me.
And wow, as I was writing that list of what I could do on the free day, it occurred to me, "Don't try to stick it all in one day! That's why you get burned out!" Lesson learned/learning. But, with all this comes a main issue: money. Would taking a full day off working on client projects be all that financially smart? I could possibly just learn to live on less income until I get more higher paying clients to even it out.
For those of you running your own business or even just starting with part time work, do you give yourselves a 4-day work week? If so, how have you structured your time and client management? Has this pace allowed you achieve both personal and career goals and how long? Was meeting those goals pushed back or do you find the pace just fine for you? I'm curious, please.
x-posted to graphicdesign & hip_domestics