I don’t pride myself on being a busy person, but the reality is I truly am. Law school alone gives more than enough things to do, but I also enjoy taking the time to create content and post on this blog! For the past three years that I’ve had this blog and built my presence on social media, it’s always been a balancing act of some sort. I’ve balanced it with working as a teacher, I currently balance it as a law student, and in a year I’ll be working as a lawyer and hopefully maintaining it then too. So here are some tips on how to make create a work-life balance as a part-time creator.
A Note on Work-Life Balance as a Part-Time Creator
First and foremost I think it’s important to clarify that “balance” is really elusive. What looks like balance is usually just prioritizing one thing over another at any given point in time. Some days I have important deadlines that have to be prioritized and other days I want to prioritize my social life because that’s important to me too. Balance looks different on different days. Don’t feel the pressure to have to work on every single thing in one day. Some days I may be able to block out time to work on school things and content creation, other days I may have to devote entirely to one or the other. It’s all about knowing your capacity and acting accordingly.
Now, on to the things that help me create work-life balance as a part-time creator.
Take Breaks
Everyone deserves rest. But as a part-time creator, it can be especially hard to take them, mainly out of the pressure to feel like even when you’re resting you need to document it for social media. I’m talking about the vacations and self-care days that really end up being content creation days. But when I truly want to inspire creativity for content or focus for school work, I know I need to just unplug from the world and social media, even if it’s only for 24 hours.
Break Down Tasks
Balancing a job/school and content creation can be very overwhelming because of all the tasks that need to get done. If you’re like me and you love the feeling of checking something off a to-do list, it can be very helpful to break down tasks into bite-sized pieces so that you can acknowledge progress and feel less overwhelmed by what is probably going to be a never-ending to-do list anyways. For example, instead of putting “shoot content” or “do readings” on my to-do list, I find it more helpful to list the specific content I want to shoot and break down the specific readings by class or page numbers.
Create Shortcuts for Yourself
Creating shortcuts or email templates for commonly asked questions or emails definitely helps save time. For example, I have a template for email responses to requests for collaborations that I want to turn down. On Instagram, there is a pre-written answer feature in the DMs that I use for commonly asked questions such as what camera I use.
Know Yourself and Be Realistic
One of the most counterproductive things I try to do is work through being tired or sleepy. Knowing when I’m capable of being my most productive, which in turn helps me schedule my time more effectively. But the reality is, if I’m too tired, I’m too tired. I acknowledge that and keep it pushing with a break, which brings me back to point one on this list!
Those are the main ways I’m able to maintain a work-life balance as a part-time creator. Though I don’t do as much of it now, outsourcing is another habit that would allow me to create a better balance. Whether it’s outsourcing a video editor for YouTube or paying for cleaning services, outsourcing can be a very helpful way to give you back your time. Because the goal is always to reclaim your time!
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phillipians 4:13
