3 Ways to Balance Gigs and Personal Life

When it comes to working freelance, it’s not all workdays at the beach and binging ‘Friends’ while working on your latest project. (I mean, it is that, but there’s more to it). In fact, when working as a freelancer, the lines between work and home life can be blurred way more than you’d expect. It’s harder than you’d think to switch from “word mode” to “relax mode” when your bedroom and office are in the same place!

And this is exacerbated by the fact that many of us are on-call. When a long-term client calls with an emergency, you answer. When a piece of work has been rejected, you make the edits. There’s a sense of desperation when it comes to working freelance, because you know that one too many mistakes, or being unavailable one too many times, can push your hard-earned clients to look elsewhere.

So how do you break out of the funk? What sets you free from the rut that freelance work can become? Read on to get some tips!

1. Keep All Your Work in One Room

It can be tempting to work in the living room or the dining room, but if you have a designated workspace, don’t let your work bleed out from there! Once you start doing work in every room, every room begins to feel like an extension of your office. That’ll make it hard to relax in those very same rooms once you’re off the clock.

So, whether it’s a full home office or a TV tray desk in the corner of your living room, keep your work in that one space as much as you can.

2. Take Coffee Breaks

It might seem obvious, but take breaks! It can be really easy to be caught up in the hustle and bustle of managing work – and possibly housework – and forget to take a bit of time for self-care. Working in an office, you’d typically get a few coffee breaks and a lunch break, but without set office hours, it’s all too easy to breeze right past those breaktimes in your home office.

Setting up recurring alarms on your phone can ensure that you don’t forget to take those rightfully-earned breaks. Be sure to even put what you plan on doing during your break in the calendar event title!

3. Mute Work Messages After 5pm

One of the perks of freelancing is setting your own office hours. While it can be tempting to work flexible, unpredictable hours so you can take regular breaks throughout the day, keeping normal office hours can help plenty with work-life balance.

This is a double-edged sword, however. By being so technologically-connected and easy to get ahold of, it can be tempting to answer work messages that you get in your off-hours. Don’t do this! Once you start crossing this boundary, it becomes a habit that’s very hard to break, and can end up causing you to work far more than eight hours a day. It’s a slippery slope, so set hard work hours and stick to them.

It takes a while to find a groove, but once you do, you’ll never want to go back to working in an office!