How do I balance home and work?
Work-Life Balance is a Lie
Work-life balance is a lie, in our professional opinion.😉 Boundaries are real.
What does work-life balance look like for us? It’s a lie because it’s never fully balanced. Things come and go, like seasons. We work busy seasons and slower times.
We constantly work to improve ourselves and those around us. By being curious about why those around us tick, we work to be more self-aware. Part of this is showing up present at work and home.
For many, keeping your personal and professional life separate seems to be something of the past. But, for us, it was never really a thing.
Vivian and I (co-owners of Tandem Works) merged life and work together because we were friends before jumping into work together. We decided early on to leave the role conflict behind and realize we're humans with multiple roles.
We were strategic and thoughtful as we merged our business and personal lives.
Here are a few tips, platforms, and ideas to help you get it together, keep it together, or just some light reading.
A four-day work week - We take Fridays off. We work fewer hours than we did, put out more work, and make more money than we did working 5 or 6 days a week. We're at the top of our game Monday through Thursday, which allows us to put "personal" things on Friday. You can read more about how we transitioned and why it worked for us. Blog - Four Reasons to Work a Four Day Work Week.
16 Personalities - Machaela loves personality tests and finding out why people tick. 16 Personalities was an easy way for us to start diving more into each other's personalities, our team, and our clients. We've managed to strike an extraordinary balance with an Architect and a Campaigner. Vivian is an Architect - imaginative, strategic, and has a plan for everything. Machaela often reminds her she can live in the gray and that things don't always have to go as planned. Machala is a Campaigner, enthusiastic, creative, and social, and can always find a reason to smile. Vivian brings her back to reality and reminds her she has to finish one project before moving on to the next.
Telegram - Telegram is a messaging app that we use for work-related conversations. We keep text messages for personal use or say, "Hey, things are on fire. Check your telegram!" Telegram is easy to search for links, photos, and all the other things we send back and forth. It's another messaging app, but worth it!
Google Calendar - EVERYTHING goes in the calendar. We tell our husbands and friends if it's not on the calendar, we're not showing up, and it's not because we don't want to, but because we live by the calendar. We've been known to dive in full speed and forget we have a meeting starting. Alarms and sand timers are great for this.
A Virtual Assistant Rockstar- Ninja, wizard, whatever your word choice is, find one! She reminds us of everything, keeps projects on track, and does most of our scheduling. She has a totally different view on most projects and things and offers insight we can't.
Pen & Paper Planner - There's something about crossing things off a to-do list with a pen. Even though we capture in Asana, we still love a nice line through the completed task. Machaela uses the My Daily Overview Planner from Ramona & Ruth. Vivian is a huge fan of the High-Performance Planner.
Be Flexible - Flex to where you are at. Sometimes, that means having an extra co-worker tag along because daycare is closed.
The bottom line, you have to figure out what works for you and how you can set boundaries and live a great work life and a great home life!
Machaela, co-founder of Tandem Works and her daughter at a meeting because daycare was closed.
We're always open to connecting with others, it’s where we learn and grow!
