Free People UK talked to us at the lovely All Bright female members club in Fitzrovia about how we stay balanced and we offered 5 tips about how to strike a better work/life balance which they published on their blog and Instagram channels.
These were our tips:
Keep scheduling in one place.
It can be so confusing to keep track of a Google calendar, wall calendar, emails, things on your mind… try to consolidate everything into one go-to calendar you find the easiest to check. We also like to combine our personal and work calendars — and share them — so we know if the other is available for something without having to ask.
Make space to do both.
We like places that facilitate both work and play, like the new wave of female co-working clubs like The Wing in New York or The All Bright in London. We like to conduct afternoon meetings at the All Bright, and then catch up with our friends during cocktail hour!
Stop checking your emails!
It can be hard when your personal email account becomes a work email account, to not check it at all hours, but you need to remind yourself that no one is expecting you to reply at 8am on a Sunday morning, so don’t do it! Give yourself at least one day a week to just not open your emails.
Make time for zen and for you.
Traditional meditation works for many people, but not for everyone. Go within and find that thing! Give yourself time to zone out for an hour or so every other day, or half an hour every day That could be a yoga class, listening to a podcast or even the much underrated cat nap.
Expand your mind.
It might sound like a bad idea, but add something a little left-field to your schedule, anything from rock-climbing to antiquing. We love to go to talks, conferences or festivals from disciplines totally different to our own like CogX (an artificial intelligence conference taking place in June in London). Or multi-disciplinary events that cover lots of fields like Tech Open Air in Berlin, SXSW, Summit and of course, our favourite, Burning Man. Often, more authentic connections can be made when you aren’t trying to push a business card into someone’s pocket but are just being yourself and genuinely interested in the other person. It’s also always great to learn new things.
