THINGS I'M DOING RIGHT NOW TO HAVE MORE A BALANCED DAY

Although some wouldn't consider this a bad habit it's not something that I love about myself. When my boyfriend leaves for a tour I tend to go into overdrive with work and it's pretty much all I do, I don't take days off and I just work, work and work some more. And I'm not telling you this in order to be like woe is me I work really hard because everybody works really hard. But something that is so important is taking a break and I do take a couple of hours for myself every few days but it's nowhere near what I should be doing. And I don't know why I do this to myself, I know it only results in a burnout and a standard of work that I'm not happy with. But I still fall into the same pattern every single time. So here are a few things I'm trying to do right now in order to have a little more of a balanced day where I don't work from 5am to sometimes 10pm.

READING WHEN I WAKE UP

Something that I'm pretty bad for is opening up my laptop as soon as I wake up and starting work within about 10 minutes of opening my eyes which is usually around 4.30, sometimes 5am if I'm lucky. And there is absolutely no reason why I need to be working at that time, it doesn't mean I'm super productive it just means I'm exhausted throughout the day and it takes me way longer to do anything then it would do if I hadn't started my workday ridiculously early. I'm an earlybird, that's just who I am and I can't see that changing anytime soon but instead of working as soon as I get up something I'm currently doing is reading instead. I'm so desperate to get in some time with a good book as my to read list is getting ridiculously long now. Even just doing this for a few mornings I've noticed such a difference in my mood as well as how productive I am with work throughout the day. As much as I would like I can't read for more than half an hour or so whilst I eat breakfast but even that makes a difference.

EATING LUNCH WITHOUT A SCREEN 

I've always been aware of is how bad it is to eat when distracted by a screen. And lately, I've been terrible for eating lunch at my desk with my workload up on my screen staring at me. As of right now, I am living by myself so eating alone certainly does get a little lonely so I don't mind watching something with dinner but something I hate doing is working through lunch. I definitely don't need an hour to eat my lunch or dinner but half an hour to eat my food in peace not flicking through my e-mails or uploading pictures. Again, it's not one of those things that I think will make me extra productive because it never does and you never end up really enjoying your food either. 

STOP TELLING MYSELF I DON'T HAVE TIME

For so long I've absolutely hated the phrase 'I don't have time' but it's something I've found myself saying more and more in the past few months. And I don't have unlimited hours in the day and everything has to fit into 24 hours somehow but I do have time, I'm just not using my time wisely enough and really focusing on my work. And sometimes this just happens, some days things just don't flow the way you'd like them to and that's fine but then telling yourself that you don't have time seems to make everything so much worse. The more I tell myself I don't have the time the more my brain automatically goes to that thought and I just end up feeling panicked and rushed. 

& ALL THE LITTE THINGS I'M DOING TO ACHIEVE MORE BALANCE

• Creating my own definition of balance. 
• Working the hours that work for me.
• Finishing each day without any outstanding e-mails so I don't have to do them first thing. 
• Allowing time for general life things like cleaning, food shopping and showering. 
• Writing a fresh to-do list everyday. 
• Keeping my work and life to-do lists separate. 
• Taking a little bit of time for myself each day so my mind can process what I'm doing and I don't feel like a hamster on the wheel. 
• Making sure I keep in touch with my loved ones. 
• Not making my to-do list super long and unachievable. 
• Listen to a podcast rather than mindlessly watching TV. 
• Staying away from the work profile on my laptop when I want to relax.
• Focusing on one thing at time. 

Do you have any tips for finding a little more balance?