The truth about the work-life-hustle balance

Today, I am so happy to have one of my favorites sharing with you all on the blog. This topic is one that I’ve thought about endlessly. What is the right about of hustle and leisure to build a life less draining? I hope you all enjoy Rachel’s take on this –I know I did!

Hi everyone! I’m Rachel + blog over at Nourish. I’m super passionate about spending your time intentionally to create an awesome life on your own terms and don’t believe you need to spend every waking hour working – you just need to be intentional with how you spend your time.

Amber asked me to write a post about how to achieve a work-life balance and as I pondered the topic, I realised there is no such thing as a work-life balance.

Life is a balancing act in itself – there are so many things balls in the air we need to keep juggling at any given time – how could we ever think we could achieve such thing as balance?

Then there is the big myth about productivity: that it’s all about ‘getting more done’ – but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here’s the thing: productivity is not about doing more – it’s about doing better and creating awesome work you’re immensely proud of.

So rather than trying to chase the elusive work-life balance, I want to share with you 3 simple ways to re-frame how to spend your time to set yourself up to be your most productive – A.K.A best self – every single day.

Focus on the 1-3 most important daily actions to take.

Your daily to-do list should be determined by what your overall goal is and you must have a firm plan for each day so you are very clear on what you need to get done. Rather than trying to get through an exhausting to-do list each day, focus instead on the top 1-3 things you need to do.

Reducing your focus helps you get more done and when your most important daily tasks are laid clearly in front of you, you’re firmly in the drivers seat to make it happen.

Say ‘no’ with grace.

When you are very clear on your vision and the plan for how you’re going to get there it suddenly becomes a lot easier to turn down things not aligned with your goal. If you need to say no to a social occasion – do it. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in the guilt of whether you should or shouldn’t go. Part of being intentional with your time means making hard decisions about how you spend it. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t make time for fun – not at all – I’m just saying that when you have a goal, you must be willing to make sacrifices along the way.

Frame it this way – having the discipline to say no to things that will make you happy in the short term means you’re saying a BIG yes to your dream – you know, the thing that is going to make you happiest in the long term?

Do the things will make you most proud.

Focus your energy on what will make you the most proud – those tasks and activities aligned with your overall vision and that are delivering you results. One way to keep track of what you’re spending your time on is to keep a daily journal for 1 week and write down everything you are spending your time on. Then at the end of the week, review your list and see what you can remove from your day/week that is not delivering you the results you want.

I hope these 3 simple check-in’s help inspire you to be more intentional with your daily actions. I don’t want to sugarcoat it – there will be days that are jammed packed and filled to the brim, but rather than trying to achieve ‘balance’, shift your perspective to one that is about intentionally spending time on creating a life you love and cut out everything holding you back from this.

I’d love for you to pop over and say hi – you can find my blog here and also playing on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter + Facebook.

Rachel xo

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