Being self-employed has changed my life in many ways. My career is more fulfilling than it ever was before, and I get to travel the world without compromising my success. I take on projects that I want to, rather than whatever my bosses like the sound of. It is definitely for the best.
However, there is an issue that keeps coming up for me and many other solopreneurs: balance. When you work for a company, you can afford to work tightly scheduled nine-to-five days. You leave at the end of the day in the knowledge that you’ve done your part. Working for yourself, on the other hand, you’re entirely in charge of your own success.
Many of us end up working longer days than we ever would have agreed to for a boss. We work strange hours and find it difficult to prioritize our non-work needs.
There are some very useful ways to stay balanced while working for yourself. Here are my favorite.
Meal kit delivery services
If you want to know the impact meal kit delivery services are having, you just need to look at Home Chef food delivery reviews. Experts and customers alike love the benefits of using these services.
Basically, a meal kit delivery service sends the ingredients for a meal right to your door, prepped and ready to cook. All you need to do is follow some simple ingredients, essentially putting them together and popping them in the oven. Depending on where you are stationed in, there are various companies offering such services, and one example is this healthy food delivery Singapore for those working in that country.
Meal kits have been so revolutionary for me, considering I had no idea just how much my bad eating habits were affecting me. Prepping my own food always felt like such a chore, and I often ended up getting takeout or simply skipping meals.
Since I’ve started using meal kits, I eat consistently nutritious food, cooked fresh. Nothing goes to waste and I end up saving money. I also feel far better about my health and have more energy.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is going through something of a renaissance. The practice, which has been around for thousands of years, has been commodified and used by both mental health professionals and savvy startups. In my experience, this is a very good thing.
Quite simply, mindfulness works. It provides balance in your life. It lessens your anxiety. It allows you to be more productive. But most importantly, it allows you to pause. This is exactly what you need when you’re self-employed.
When working for yourself, it is easy to become solipsistic. You are seeing the world not through other people’s eyes, not through your own eyes, but through the eyes of your career. Everything work-related seems incredibly urgent. You can justify any amount of time spent working.
Mindfulness advises you to stop and breathe. Turn off your constantly working mind. Look at life from an unattached perspective. Look at your own life from this perspective. Your priorities won’t suddenly change – and nor should they – but the amount of headspace you give them will.
With apps like Calm and Headspace making mindfulness easy and goal-oriented, finding balance in your life can be relatively easy. As a self-employed professional, it’s exactly what you need.
