As a professional women juggling a full time job at a fast past non-profit, a side hustle of marketing services, a newborn, husband and furbaby, my life can sometimes end up a jumbled mess. Life is so fast paced for all of us but then add the stress and anxiety over just daily tasks and lists we forget. I constantly find myself saying ohhh I have to remember this, and then turning around to write it down and sometimes forgetting in an instant what I needed to remember.
I consume work life balance blogs, articles, podcasts, I subscribe to every life hacking guru and I have tried it all... and a lot of it works- if you keep up with it. Things can't be another chore or something else to remember and often times I will be so gung-ho about something and it only lasts a week or a few days because it's impossible to work into my already, often disastrous life.
But there is one thing that I have discovered I can not live without practicing! And if you are like me and finding yourself working more and more from home in this current reality we live in, you have to try it!
I started this just about a year ago. Everyday I start my workday setting a timer and using the :50 minute productivity rule and it is my only shining light to sanity. I first discovered this from Brendon Burchard (which if you don't follow or read you must tune in my friend brendon.com), and its way more complex than how I use it but let me tell you the basics of what I have adopted.
Everyday once I start working I begin by setting a :50 minute timer. Then I start my tasks of priority for the day, and once that timer goes off I get up and move NO MATTER WHAT! It doesn't matter if you're in the middle of an email, a blog post, the most life-changing or inspiring piece of content you've ever created- you get up and you move! It seems counter intuitive but I am telling you it works. Do you feel utterly exhausted by the end of the day? Usually dehydrated, eyes strained, and hardly able to function, and then you just sit and think about how you need to clean your house, do laundry, workout, and on and on and on.... The reason you feel this way is because you ARE dehydrated and your eyes are strained making you unable to function!
Taking just even 30 seconds to a minute every :50 minutes gives you a pause. A pause from your computer, a pause from your stress, a pause from the surmounting workloads we all have.
HANG ON, MY :50 MINUTE TIMER JUST WENT OFF.
OK, I'm back... and as I was saying that pause gives you a whole new lease on life! At the end of my workday I no longer have that same wave of exhaustion. I can cook for my family, and play with my daughter and sometimes even squeeze in a workout! I also challenge myself to drink a 12 oz glass of water during each :50 minute interval, and if my timer goes off and I haven't finished, I slug it down. I feel lighter, healthier, and all around more energetic with the increase in my water intake!
Now more than ever it is important to keep a work life balance, with the insanity of the global pandemic we face because of COVID-19, many of us who are fortunate enough to remain working are working from home. When your life exists between four walls, I have found you often forget to take breaks, trust me your work will suffer! I am thinking we should start a fun challenge for ever :50 minute break, maybe start with 10 squats, and add 5 more each week? Let me know what you think and share a pic of your :50 minute break in the comments below!
~ No matter our path in life, dress fabulous and let's practice some social graces.
Amanda xoxo
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