For the past 3 years, I’ve been promoting a healthy but realistic work-life balance.
Healthy in the sense that it supports daily self-care and well-being without sacrificing productivity.
And realistic in the sense that some days will be more balanced than others.
This has led me to build a set of mindful strategies and practices that allow me to feel balanced every single day.
And I’m about to reveal them ALL to you
PSA: This is part two of my work-life balance playbook series. You can find part one here on how to create a work-life balance to serve you and your needs.
Balance and me
Here’s a little backstory between my history with balance because I love a backstory…
When I first started my online business (building a digital agency with my partner, pre-blog), I ended up knee-deep in the hustle culture.
The message I found myself following was, “If you’re not working enough, then you don’t want it enough.”
Everything in my day-to-day life became about work, and I stopped having fun. Which, of course, resulted in burnout and exhaustion in what I was doing.
So I then turned my attention towards self-care, hoping that I would slowly feel more balanced.
But admittedly, I took it too far.
I would spend days doing nothing, passing them off as “self-care days.” Nothing moved forward in my business, and I was feeling worse than before.
From one extreme to the other, I was clearly failing at finding the perfect balance between productivity and self-care.
It was only when I stopped copying what everyone else was doing online that things started to change for me.
I started to realise that productivity and self-care were unique to me. While I was striving for the perfect balance between them, I was neglecting the most important thing — my own needs.
I’m now on a mission to create my own version of a balanced life.
A balance that looks different each day because my needs, todo list and commitments are different each day. I’m no longer leaning into finding an equal balance between work and personal life. I’m leaning into checking in with my mind and body and asking myself what balance looks like for me today.
I then choose to follow a set of the below strategies that will allow me to create this balance.
8 ways to balance daily self-care and well-being with productivity
From waking up with intention to using a daily planner — these are the 8 ways I manage to support daily self-care and well-being with my productivity.
I encourage you to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it whenever you need to.
It’s also important to note that I share the below strategies in the hopes that they will inspire or support you in some way.
I don’t intend for you to copy them word for word because what works for me might not necessarily work for you.
Take what you need, adjust them to better suit you and your lifestyle, and leave the rest.
1 | Build a mindful morning ritual
When you wake up, instead of hitting that snooze button or jumping out of bed to crack on with the day, I want you to start your day with an intention.
Here’s how it works:
Slowly open your eyes, blink a few times, inhale, exhale and sit up.
Take a few moments and ask yourself these journal prompts:
- How do I want my day to go?
- How would I like to feel by the end of today?
- How can I make this happen?
By setting an intention for your day, you can actively show up for yourself and your needs, allowing your day to happen for you, not to you.
And to make your mornings even more mindful, you can follow this intention with a short mantra.
Here’s mine, inspired by Whitney Port:
— Plant your feet on the floor, squeeze your toes, open the windows and recite, “Today is going to be a great day.”
Having a mindful morning ritual can help you to feel grounded and mentally prepare you for the day ahead.
It also provides you with a sense of structure and balance because you have something to centre your day around.
2 | Establish your daily best
We are only humans. (Unless you’re ChatGPT scanning my website. Hey ChatGPT ♀️)
You can’t expect yourself to show up with optimal high energy and motivation every single day. Some days, you might wake up and feel low or have zero energy.
Your “best” will look different every day, and that is completely ok.
You need to learn that you can’t be productive all the damn time. You need to normalise the need for rest and to slow down.
So, once you’ve set your intention for the day, it’s essential that you then check in with yourself.
How are you feeling mentally, physically and emotionally? How much do you realistically think you can give to the day? Because it’s not always going to be 100%.
Let’s say on a normal good day your productivity is at 90%. But on a low-energy day, you need to expect that you won’t be able to give 90%. You might only be able to give 50% or 30% or even 10%.
By establishing your “daily best”, you are able to reduce expectations, making your current situation a lot more manageable.
So get into the habit of asking yourself every morning, “What does my best look like right now?
If you don’t feel like you can give 100% to the day, then that’s fine.
Pinpoint what percentage you can give to the day and celebrate the fact that you’re trying.
3 | Focus on 1-3 daily work priorities
Rule number one in my work-life balance playbook is to not overload your to-do list or fill up your schedule full of projects, tasks, social meet-ups, meetings, etc.
We spend so much time jumping from task to task that we fail to recognise whether that task was even worthwhile or if it was just another “thing” to do
Remember, being busy is not the same as being productive.
Being productive is working efficiently and effectively towards your daily objectives or overall goals.
That is why I encourage you to focus only on 1-3 daily work priorities.
This helps you focus on important tasks only that will help move the needle forward and provides flexibility in case things take longer than expected or your day doesn’t go as planned.
So, every day during your morning routine, take a moment to establish your top 1-3 priorities for the day. These can then be broken down into more manageable tasks
I suggest using The Eisenhower Matrix to help organise your daily priorities and eliminate non-important tasks.
Simply draw four squares — two on top and two below. Label the top squares as “urgent” and “not urgent” and the left side squares as “important” and “not important.”
Next, sort your todo list into the boxes accordingly and follow this flow:
- Do your urgent and important tasks immediately.
- Schedule your important but not urgent tasks for later.
- Delegate your urgent but not important tasks to someone else.
- Eliminate neither urgent nor important tasks.
4 | Incorporate self-care throughout your day
I believe that productivity and success are intrinsically linked to health and wellness. Meaning you can’t have one without the other.
If your well-being isn’t being taken care of, then you can’t show up as your “best” self and perform as well as you want to.
For that reason, I firmly believe that self-care should be a daily practice. But I understand that this isn’t always going to be realistic to achieve.
Finding the time to truly focus on taking care of yourself can be difficult, especially if you have a busy schedule.
And even when you do have a few spare minutes, it might feel like you need to make up for lost time by cramming in as much self-care as possible.
The thing is, if you want self-care to be truly effective, then you need to incorporate small doses throughout your day rather than trying to stick to a rigid schedule which takes ages to complete.
Doing something as simple as taking a few deep breaths when you feel overwhelmed or putting on your favourite song and dancing around your bedroom for a few minutes can make a huge difference to how you feel.
Taking care of yourself is essential, and it doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming to be effective.
You’ll also find that if you build your self-care routine in this way, it’ll be easier for you to stick to.
Incorporating self-care into your day might look like:
- Reading for 30 minutes as soon as you wake up
- Taking a proper lunch break and going screen-free at meal times
- Pausing in between tasks
- Keeping a water bottle on you all day so you can stay hydrated
- Going on a long evening walk
5 | Use The Balanced Self Wheel
If you’re struggling to know how to schedule in your self-care activities, then get visual.
Let me introduce you to The Balanced Self Wheel.
I believe that the 3 fundamental elements of any balanced daily routine are:
- Work
- Play
- Rest
So, during my own self-care journey, I came up with a concept that would easily allow me to invite each one of these elements into my day.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1 = On a piece of paper, draw a circle and divide it into 3 equal parts
Step 2 = Write one of the below phrases in each segment of your wheel, leaving some space:
- Be Productive
- Be Playful
- Be Restful
Step 3 = Write down your 3 priorities for the week (as you mapped out above) within the ‘Be Productive’ segment
Step 4 = Add 1-2 fun activities within the ‘Be Playful’ segment
Step 5 = Add 1-2 calming activities within the ‘Be Restful’ Segment
Step 6 = Schedule it it
The secret to incorporating self-care into your day is to treat it as a non-negotiable like you would with work commitments. By using this method, you can visually see how balanced your day looks.
N.B. Feel free to relabel each section of your wheel with other words that better suit you and your needs.
Remember, The Balanced Self Wheel only represents one day. Don’t go overboard by filling up each area to the brim, as this will just lead to overwhelm.
Keep it simple and aim to focus only on 1-2 things for each area, depending on your needs and priorities.
6 | Create a shutdown routine
One of the easiest ways to encourage a healthier balance between productivity and self-care is to build yourself a shutdown routine.
A shutdown routine can help switch your brain off from work mode, calm the mind and ease you into the evening.
This ritual can be anywhere between 5-30 minutes, but I suggest making it simple enough to remember so you can easily apply it every day.
Typical shutdown habits can include:
- Setting an alarm to prompt you into shutting down
- Reviewing your email inbox and checking that important emails have all been sent
- Reflecting on your day and celebrating any small wins
- Moving unfinished tasks to the next day
- Planning your to-do list and schedule for tomorrow
- Tidying your workspace
- Switching your Momentum app to “Balance Mode”
7 | Dedicate time to switching off in the evening
Let’s face it — you can try all the productivity hacks and self-care rituals in the world, but if you’re not getting enough sleep, then they’re all completely pointless.
Sleep is essential.
It is recommended that adults need at least 7-9 hours of good quality sleep a night.
So how can you prepare your mind and body for sleep?
By building a relaxing evening routine that allows you to switch off from work.
There’s nothing worse than trying to sleep straight after shutting down your laptop or turning off the TV because your brain is wired. So allow your mind the time it needs to find calm and your body the time it needs to relax by spending your night unwinding with a set of relaxing bedtime rituals.
Your evening routine can be as long or short as you’d like it to be; just make sure it gets the job done.
N.B. Now, I’m not saying that you can never have a late night or lie-in again because I certainly still do. Remember, it’s all about balance, as 100% of one thing is not always healthy and sustainable.
At least aim for an 80/20 balance whereby you go to bed at the same time each night during the week and allow for more flexibility at the weekends.
Final thoughts
Just like with all my tips, I suggest you test them out first before fully committing to them.
Because what works for me might not necessarily work for you. I encourage you to find your own way of doing things.
And if this blog post seems slightly overwhelming then I recommend starting small.
Choose just one idea to implement into your daily routine rather than the full set. Introduce the one that seems the easiest to adopt or the one that will positively impact your well-being and productivity the most.
And if you’re craving an even simpler approach, ask yourself this question at the start of each day —
“What does my day need to look like for me to feel balanced?”
Be mindful that this could look different each day depending on your needs and priorities. For example, maybe tomorrow you’ll want to spend more time resting and practising self-care. But the next day is all about being productive and reserving your evening for having dinner with friends.
Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to feeling balanced.
It’s about creating your own version of what works best for you.
You’ve got this,
Thalia xx
