Over the past few months, work has picked up and it’s been go go go morning ’till night. Working in advertising, it’s a busy time of year – between finalizing campaigns for the end of the year, and working through 2019 planning across all the brands I work on. It’s a fun and exciting time of the year, but it’s also been a lot of longer hours, double latte days, and grinding it out to make sure everything’s running smoothly.
And then this little blog is still something I’m deeply committed to, even on those days where I wonder if there’s any way I’m going to meet my deadlines or find a new creative spark to keep me motivated. It’s all a fine balance of attempting to do it all between work and my “side hustle” – and I’ve gotten a ton of questions from co-workers and readers who are starting blogs with a full time job about how I manage to balance it all.
The reality is….I totally haven’t figured out the perfect balance. And while I definitely don’t have it all together yet, I have found some tips and tricks with time management to help me be a better blogger with a demanding work schedule too.
And since I’m always trying to be an open book – I wanted to share how I’ve managed to keep most things running smoothly with my blog and work-life, and what I’ve admittedly given up on in the process – since I’m always looking for progress rather than perfection (let’s be real, perfection isn’t usually all it’s cracked up to be!) Here’s a few of the tips and realities I’ve learned to embrace:
Commute time = my time for personal social time/blog emails: I commute about 30-35 minutes each morning from my house to work, and rather than diving into too many work emails (pending any emergencies that pop up!) I spend my commute checking blog emails and posting anything for the day on social media (these days, usually Instagram). Even if I’m smushed on the train between 35 of my new best friends, I take the morning and evening commute to knock a few things off my personal to-do list. Plus, commuting hours are usually some of the times you get the best engagement on social too!
Putting in a few late nights each week: I usually work from around 8AM – 7PM at the office, and then head home or to a blog event if I’m able to squeeze it in. My second shift is usually a mix of logging on to answer work emails 1/2 of the nights I get home, but if my inbox is under control, I’ll then take the time to answer more blog emails or attempt to write a post or two before bed. It’s a lot of time behind a computer each day, but I’m lucky that both my job and personal blog are both creatively fulfilling and challenging in really good ways.
Weekend blog post writing: Sunday afternoons are usually spent cranking out a few blog posts for the week ahead. I’ve come to the realization that if I don’t schedule blog posts on the weekends, there’s a really good chance I won’t have a post go out that week. And while it used to drive me crazy if I wouldn’t get a post out in a week, I’ve now learned to do a better job letting it go and accepting that I can’t do it all. And as much as I want to think people are going to miss hearing from me on my blog or Instagram, most of the time no one really notices – and I’m good with that 😉
Find and embrace help! While I love photography and getting creative with my posts, I’ve learned that I don’t always have the time to do an amazing job and get things done on time. So I’ve been working with photographers that I love and try to schedule at least 2 shoots per month so I can save time and ensure I have content I love. I typically shoot for an hour and try to fit in 4 posts in that time – whether it’s style posts, sponsored posts, or anything else I have on my to-do list. It’s made me less stressed, and I’m usually much happier with the content I end up with than if I attempted to do it myself.
Letting go of little things to focus on the big: People don’t really know all that goes into blogging – from SEO optimization, to commission links, coding your site, pulling together look books, the list of things you can focus on is miles long. And since I’m not able to spend my work days focusing on blogging alone, I’ve learned that I need to focus my time on the big things vs. the little things I can’t always prioritize. You may notice that the featured products on my site are from last Christmas (whoops!) and while it’s on my to-do list of things to update…it’s probably not going to get done until this Christmas if we’re really being realistic. But hey, I got 3 blog posts out this week instead – so that’s pretty good for me!
I would love to know if any of you who blog and work full time have tips and tricks on how you find better balance in life (because let’s be real – finding true balance probably isn’t ever going to be possible!). Feel free to shoot over and questions or tips and tricks too! xx
