Hacking hustle habits for the holidays
One of the hardest times to find work life balance is during the time of year you would take to spend time with family. If you remember a time in child hood when you felt so lite, running towards the exit doors of your school. It’s funny, as an adult, I notice that getting to pick back up on my creativity gives me this same feeling. If you love any form of creativity, and you found a passion around this, whether it’s anything from programming, painting to speaking to writing; you’ve developed a daily habit to make time for your passion. When it Comes time to express your art, this same lite feeling can often come up. It often feels like your sneaking off the playground with your buddies. That feeling of laughing uncontrollably in the back of the class or, sneaking too many cup cakes before dinner. Your inner child is still there. The key is, not to stop, but to change habits.
Establishing Alone Time
The first thing you may want to do is establish what I like to call: uninterrupted flow time. This is time you earn for yourself to work on projects and immerse yourself in creative interests. Your alone time will depend on 3 factors: if you are a morning or night person, how the seasons affect your sleeping patterns, and how much sleep you need. These vary depending on mood, and are never the same for every body. You can find these kind of things out for yourself through trial and error.
Next, you’ll need to understand when family expects you. One way to avoid conflict of schedule,lack of communication, or unnecessary arguing; is to ask questions to a couple family members about what time they plan to be there, if a neither time will work better, or how long do we need to be there. This can include, school plays, decorating, buying a tree, holiday parties, or other family traditions.
Wording matters a lot so think carefully when communicating. For example, when are you coming: puts a lot of pressure for someone to decide an exact time that pleases every body. When can you plan on being here: let’s them know to consider what will work for themselves and their schedule. They may even feel freer to think about this before getting back to you, depending on how far ahead you and your family plann. Sometimes, planning less and doing or being together more can make life simpler for you and your family. Go with what works.
Being in the present moment can be frustrating for you Ann your loved ones. One way to help you enjoy time with family is to plug your devices in. Plugging in to charge not only gives them time to charge, taking a minute or so to plug your devices in can give you time to wrap up that conversation or mark your place where you were last working. Be mindful of how long you spend putting your devices on charge and try to plan five minutes ahead.
What ever traditions and holidays you celebrate, remember that time flies. Rest is also a huge reward and can help you reset. Enjoy your season.
