I knew that it was well past her bedtime so when the phone rang I answered.

Hi Grandma😊

She was calling me because she hadn’t talked to me in a while. She wanted to know how I was doing.

I told her that I was doing “fine” and filled her in on my busy wedding season.

In fact, the night she called, I was at the studio editing photos and preparing a blog post.

She was happy to hear that I was doing “fine” and that my business was great.

Then she asked me.

Well, what do you do for fun? (insert southern Grandma voice)

I paused.

That conversation with Grandma never left me.

The word hustle hangs beautifully inside a gold frame and written in the prettiest calligraphy in my office. It has for a few years now.

I believe in hustle and hard work. 

But… I also want to be able to cultivate everything in my life that is important to me.

There’s no question that business owners love their business and what they get to do. We choose to be self-employed because we know entrepreneurship offers the enormous potential to live a life that we love, 100%.

But what happens sometimes is that we value our business so much that we spend 95% of our time doing our business and 5% of our time doing the other things that we love.

And even if we don’t feel like we’re working (because we love what we do), it can still lead to:

1. Seasons of forgetting about self-care
2. No space for creativity
3. Burnout
4. A tug-of-war feeling between life and work

At least it has for me.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever struggled with balancing/juggling all the things that pertain to life and work.

If you’re wondering, I have my hand raised too.

I recently shared with a friend, that I’ve felt as though I’ve been in hustle mode for a year now as I decided to bring brand strategy and growth coaching for women entrepreneurs to the forefront of my business.

I’m still a work in progress, but I’ve figured out some ways to take care of my health, spiritual health, and mental health while running my business.

One of those ways is definitely listening to my body.  It will let me know immediately when it’s time to pump the breaks and take a pause.

The problem is when I choose not to listen.

Choose a day to relax each week to turn off business. I know it’s hard, but it’s necessary. Start with a half-day.

My faith, my family, a small circle of real-life friends who help keep me grounded, some great Internet friends who always have great advice to share, and then there are my Powersheets.  If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m a huge fan.

How to balance work and life.

Okay, I love to use my Powersheets Planner to take some time to pause and reflect at the end of the month (month in review) to check in on what’s important for my business and life.  I also set my goals and plan for the month ahead.

And I also love the intentional questions that I am asked:

1. What are you saying no to?
2. What are you saying yes to?

At the end of April, my response was, “I’m saying no to hustle and overextending myself, and I’m saying yes to more balance in my work and life. I need/want to feel more aligned.”

Writing it down is just a way of making your goals move from brain to paper to real-life action.

For the month of May, I was focused and intentional about attaining a healthy work/life balance that felt right for me.

You won’t get very far in business, in a healthy, sustainable way,  if you don’t learn how to prepare for the month ahead and how to reflect on the month behind. That’s the only way you can make adjustments that align with what matters most to you.

Lastly, going back to Grandma, don’t forget to plug in some time to have fun.  Figure out what you enjoy doing, and do it.  This past month I had a girl’s day with a friend getting pedicures and manicures, and planting new flowers in my garden.

At the end of the day, you get to choose what’s best.

I encourage you to find the balance for your work and life that feels right for you.

Part two of this blog is coming soon! In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you.

Comment below and share one way that you balance work and life.