Crafty Business (Part 3): Finding Balance
Happy Friday My Readers!!
I hope you are enjoying the Crafty Business Series so far. Today is the third post in this series, brought to you by another one of the administrators of The Sew Much Talent Facebook group, Laquana Drayton.
Many of us are like Laquana, have to-do list and priorities that work us overtime. But, we still need and want that "me time", our business(es), and/or our hobbies. So, how do we make it all happen and keep our sanity, and keep our families together?
Well, let's read on and see what Laquana shares from her own experiences...
Women in particular need to keep an
eye on their physical and mental health, because if we're scurrying to and from
appointments and errands, we don't have a lot of time to take care of
ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own
'to do' list.
Finding balance is the goal for 2018, stress,
disorganization and over extending ourselves are a thing of the past. But, wait, I have so much to do, and so
little time, does that sound familiar? Hi, my name is Laquana and blog over at www.MadebyLaquana.blogspot.com
and thank you for stopping by! I’d like
to share with you how I balance my life.
Sewing and blogging are my favorite hobbies and they take up a lot of my
time. I’m also a Wife, Mother and full
time Accountant/ Analyst, needless to say, I’m super busy! I like having things to do just as much as I
like doing nothing on the beach. I get
over extended just like everyone else, there are goals that I need to make time
for and others that I need to let go of.
My secret to managing everything is my accountability
partner and keeping my tasks and goals organized and realistic. Balancing my tasks/ goals and being mindful
when I’m out of balance does not come easy, I have to work at it. I’m a recovering procrastinator that still
falls off the wagon. I write down what I
need to do on my white board and calendar, I’m electronic, if appointments are
not on my calendar or white board for me to see they will most likely get
overlooked. I move things around as I need to and I make sure I make time for
the things I want to do. I try to put in
exercise, vacations, networking, workshops/classes and research on my
calendar. I want to be well rounded so I
know that I will need to make sure that months don’t go by without taking a
break or I make sure all orders were completed by the scheduled date. More importantly, I schedule down time and
when my body says it’s tired, I listen to it, I take breaks and I break down
task into manageable chunks. I also have
accountability partners that I rely on to help me stay focus.
So, what’s balance, balance by definition is” an
even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and
steady. There is a point when things become
unbalanced and we have to take stock of our personal goals and what they are
rooted in by our own definition and balance things out. This, is the hardest thing for me to
manage and I work on it daily.
I can tell you to spend 30 min before bed sewing, but
if that’s the time you spend with your family, that won’t work, you may have to
cut out patterns on your lunch break or early in the morning. You have to make a plan that works for you
and your family, you have to make time for the things that are important to
you. More importantly, you have to
schedule your hobbies just like you schedule your meditation, work, meals,
exercise, etc. You may not spend every
day on your hobby so the time you do commit has to be maximized. You may have to get up before everyone to get
30 minutes of uninterrupted time to mediate, exercise, write, etc...
If you are a business owner, keeping track of orders,
financial/ tax information and customer communication are important and should
be organized. You should have a daily
ritual and schedule of what should be accomplished and how long it should take
you. You should make a habit of writing
down what you need to do and what you have done and checking it off your
list. If you’re not a list maker, you
have to find a system of organization that works for you, this can be on an
app, in a journal/notebook, white board, calendar, sticky notes etc. I believe looking at what you have to do at a
glance can help you to see where your over extended and where your time wasters
are. Also, seek assistance and help
where needed, you may have to get help with ordering, packaging, sending emails,
etc. Use your resources!
I’ve learned the hard way that burn our is real and
sorry to say, there is no one size fits all approach to balance, time management,
or organization. I do think that there
are some tools that will work for most people.
When I owned my own business, I was always working my business, I had to
make sure I made contact with vendors, returned emails, social media, sending
out product, following up on inquiries, networking, paying bills, invoicing
customers, looking for new business and the list goes on. I was horrible at delegating and my
Blackberry (dating myself) was always in my hand, I understand how much work
goes into owning your own business or hustle while having a family and other
interest. The goal is to reduce stress,
and find balance, it won’t take it all away but it can make things manageable.
So, are you ready?
OK, let’s jump right into my seven tips to maintain balance, these are
in no specific order:
Don’t
over plan your day: I follow the 75/25 rule of planning, I
try to plan no more than 75% of my day to leave room for life. You have to leave time for unexpected and
unplanned things like picking up a child from school or helping a friend. If you know something takes you 3 hours with
no distractions to complete and you only have 2 hours and the kids or
responsibilities, why say yes? Sometimes
you have to, but managing expectations are very important with meeting your
goals and being who you want to be. Your
integrity and character are important and taking on more than you can manage
and not getting things done timely can be a problem if people are depending on
you.
Reduce
distractions: your time is very precious, use your
time wisely. Find your time wasters and
work at reducing your time doing them.
It could be T.V, social media, window shopping, talking on the phone,
browsing the internet etc. There’s nothing
wrong with these things, but if you spend all your free time doing them how do
you get your goals accomplished?
Remember, balance. I make a lot
of calls during my commute or while I’m waiting for something else. I may schedule a coffee date to catch up with
a friend or catch a movie. Down time is
important, but too much down time can be a time stealer.
Be
stingy with your time:
your time is very precious, use it wisely. Make sure you have time for your family, your
health and your friends but more importantly make sure you have time for
yourself. If you need 20 min a day to
decompress and mediate, make that happen, if talking to your family and friends
is important make sure you have time for it.
Contrary to popular belief, you can say no or not right now every once
in a while, it’s healthy!
Identify
what you want to do and work on it: Be careful of jumping around from thing to
thing or idea to idea and not completing anything. Set goals of things you want to do, and try
your best to finish it. It’s nothing
like starting five things at one time and in the end not completing any of
them. If you want to write a book, start
writing, if you want to start a blog, figure out what you want to blog about
and start working on content, if you want to sew your own wardrobe start with
pieces you can make and build up your wardrobe.
Progress over perfection is your mantra, the goal is to start somewhere,
practice really does make perfect.
Consistency: I can’t stress how important being consistent
is. Be where you say you’re going to be
and do what you say you are going to do.
If your mission or goals change, that’s fine, but don’t stop. Keep learning, keep working at it and keep
seeking ways to become better. If you
set a schedule keep it until it becomes a part of your routine. Answer emails and correspondence, provide the
item/service you were paid to provide.
For example, if writing a daily blog post is too much, try twice a week,
if that doesn’t work go for once a week and make the content worth the wait. If you can only get a garment a month
completed, that’s fine, make it worth wild, something that you enjoy and
something you will wear.
Support
and accountability: Find
a partner and networks that share the same goals as you. Get support from the people you trust and
care about you, people that will help you stay focused and will help you along
the way. People you can count on, that
you can learn from and will be a support system. Helping and teaching others are great ways to
help build a support system and help you to be accountable. Your network should be positive and encourage
you to be the best version of yourself, it should be a safe place. Your support system could be a family member,
friend, mentor, coach, gym buddy, therapist, church member. or networking
associates. Get in the habit of checking
on the people you care about and get the support you need.
Be
the author of your life:
Set your own goals and try not to compare yourself to others. Not everyone can do everything all the time. I can’t sew a (wearable) garment in an hour
most times and I won’t sew a wardrobe in a weekend so I shouldn’t even set that
goal because it’s unrealistic. It may
take me five hours to sew a dress and two years to have a closet full of me
made garments, but you have to be realistic about your goals and your ability. Get
good at reevaluate your personal system, is it working, are you getting what
you need to get done, done? Do you need
to change things around? Make time for
research and inspiration. This may be
researching how to do a thing or a niche in your current market that you want
to get into. Join groups to see what’s
out there and how you fit in without allowing them to consume all of your time.
There are so many resources out there on how to
organize your workspace and life using: worksheets, calendars, to do lists,
software, apps, and checklists. I think
these resources are great, but they only work if you use them and they make
life easier for you. Take these tips
loosely and play around with them until you find what works for you. I’ve met a lot of people who ask how I stay
organized, how do I have time to sew and blog and generally how I manage my
time? I will tell you, I’m not an
expert, and I have a lot to learn, but what I do know is, I’m a work in
progress and I try my best to follow my tips to keep things in balance.
I’d like to hear from you, how do you manage your
projects, work and family? What are your
go to tools?
I know this was a little lengthy, but I hope you thought it was just as informative as I did.
Laquana, thank you for lending insight and solutions to an all so familiar subject!
Come back next week as we here from another one of the administrators for the Sew Much Talent FB group, Linda Faye Lewis of the blog Faye's Sewing Adventures. Faye will talk to us about the administration of blogging. I can't wait !!
Love you to life!
Alethia
Well, who would like to volunteer to be my accountability partner??? Laquana really shared some pearls of wisdom here. A whole lot to chew so I'll definitely need to break it down into bite sized pieces. I'll start with "Becoming The author of my life" then move on to consistency. One step at a time - right!
ReplyDeleteFaye I'm already your accountability partner and you're mine!
DeleteYou are so right KMQ!!! And you had better STAY on your job too!!!
DeleteThank you!
DeleteLove all of tips and words of wisdom! I am consantly reviewing my goals, and this give me some different insights!
ReplyDeleteThank you Laquana for sharing these important tips and giving me insight on time management. Great info.
ReplyDeleteOMG, this is my second time reading this. I have so got to get busy. I start something and never get back to it. I first goal is to master the things I love to do. I have a planner this year, my first year, getting it out and writing in it. I have set some goals. And I am working on complete a big goals this month. This was a amazing blog. My maon goals with God's direction is my fabric store, even if I have to start at home. We do not have a store here. I need to research to see how hard it is to get one going here. Thanks again for the encouragement. 2018 is going to be an overflow.
ReplyDeleteHey! like the interesting post of yours. keep up the good work and visit Beauty Write For Us
ReplyDeleteGood reading thiis post
ReplyDelete