Social Media Burn Out & My “Work-Life Balance”
I recently read a post about work life balance on the blog “Ice Blue Banana” that really resonated with me, and inspired this post. It seems that at the moment anything to do with work life balance really tugs at my heart strings. I guess this is probably because I work a hell of a lot!
I work a full time job that keeps me away from home for about 11 hours a day, I help organise TEDxDunedin & Andy Moore and I are trying to kick start iThnk into a sustainable and profitable business.
Up until very recently my life felt quite painful – I was working insane hours trying to tick everything off my epic to-do list…I woke up hating the thought of leaving my bed and at night I went to sleep thinking “f#$k my life”.
Why was I so down?
Because the 11 hours a day I was spending away from home was heading me in a direction I didn’t want to go in, I had way too much to do and I was in a massive rush to get it all done…as a result my inner harmony with life was massively out of whack.
Social media burn out soon ensued and I started seeing Facebook, Twitter and blogging as a burden, a chore and a drain on my real world relationships – this was a dark place to be.
What’s changed?
I have been privileged enough to have the opportunity to incorporate my passions for social media and marketing into part of my 11 hours away from home, as well as being able to dabble in design.
Andy is now working full time on iThnk and we have realigned the structure of our responsibilities for iThnk which has freed me up quite a bit and allowed me to focus on what I’m good at.
More than any of this I’ve changed the way I manage my day and since Saturday’s TEDxSydney I’ve also altered the way I measure what constitutes a good day in my life.
What is a good day in my life?
This is the wrong question to ask, as of very recently I’ve learnt to stop aiming to have a good “day” – I now try to have “good weeks”.
This is so when things fall into tomorrows to-do list I don’t get stressed about them. This was my biggest problem with my mounting stress levels, I’d have too many things to do in any given day. The shear length of my to-do list loomed over me every day, and haunted me as I attempted to drift off into the land of nod.
So back to the question what is a good week? – A good week is where I write all the things I need to do down, I segment them into Four Zones:
- Relationship Zone- this is where I assign myself time to grow both my online and offline relationships – when all other zones overflow this bit tends to struggle which is why it now comes first in my priorities.
- The Doing Zone – is where I allocate all the activities that need to get done to help keep my life/career/business afloat.
- The Responsibility Zone – is where I allocate things that I have at some level subscribed to take ownership of (generally these are projects that take longer than a week).
- Creative Zone- this is where I assign myself time to spend thinking about how to expand on the business, my job, my life – things that start here tend to end up being broken down into a bunch of things that get thrown into The Doing Zone.
I then spend the appropriate amount of time in each zone depending on the demands of the week. If for example a week needs extra focus on relationships then if I achieve that focus on relationships well that is what makes it a good week.
Does this mean I work 6 hours a day and spend all my weekends at the beach – hell no – but does it mean that I get through my week with a smile on my face and energy to burn.
What do I need to make this system work?
- iPhone
- Diary/Notebook
- Calendar
Why an iPhone?
Having an iPhone allows me to maintain online relationships on the fly (FB & Twitter Apps Are Awesome!) – it also allows me to deal to a large number of things that end up in the “Doing Zone” – such as quick emails and editing blog posts. The Evernote application also allows me to capture pics and make notes and then automatically sync them to my computer when I get home.
Why a Diary/Notebook?
As great as my iPhone is there is something about scribbling a big idea down, doodling a design or mind-mapping a solution on paper that can’t yet be replicated by a mobile interface. Similarly ticking off projects that are sitting in your to-do pipeline is just so much more relieving on paper it also means that you can easily look back at all the projects that you’ve completed – which gives quite the ego boost (Getting a kick out of this makes me a loser I know).
Why I need a calendar?
Because it allows me to schedule in time to spend in each zone, for example every Thursday I spend two hours in the creative zone – this is where iThnk about the big picture and read blogs. It also allows me to de-clutter my brain by setting appointments for my to-do’s – this why I don’t have to remember everything on my own (my memory sucks).
So what’s the outcome?
This is still a work in progress – but the initial results are that I’m now more active socially ( both online and offline). I’m more focused on relationships and less worried about tasks, I spend more time enjoying my week and less time stressing about why my life is so dam busy. I get more done and I forget less. I also have more creative thoughts because I assign myself time for that.
What do uThnk?
This is my first crack at a system to help improve my life, so I would love to hear how you manage yours? How do you keep on top of social media and stay productive in the offline world?
(Image credit: BENFOR – Moleskin Sketches)