Aurora’s team finds significant pride in its organized chaos. We believe that experimenting and learning from mistakes yield the best results. Being a part of an aspiring startup could really take its toll on one’s life, and in many times we’ve felt consumed by the load of work we have; however with time, and a lot of experimentation, we believe we’ve gotten the hang of it. In the following lines we share the combined outcome of our experiences for reaching the ultimate work-life balance.
– Think Hours Not Days
Your thoughts dictate the quality of your work; matter of fact, they dictate your whole life. One of the thinking mechanisms our team developed is the “think hours not days” mechanism . Give it a try. When you start thinking in hours, you will realize that there is way more you can do during a day than you have ever thought, and eventually you will reach a work-life balance.
– List Things Down
Always do lists of your tasks, deadlines and projects; things become way clearer this way. Whenever you feel overloaded write down what you need to do. Our brains have a way of magnifying everything out of proportion, and doing a list can help you put things into perspective; not only for work but for leisure as well.
– Focus on Delivering Rather than Perfecting
Along the way, we found ourselves too focused on perfecting every task. This occurred so often that we started losing track of the initial timeframe. Being perfectionists is not a bad thing, but with the rapid digital age and the fast pace of our lives, we needed to focus on delivering with the best quality possible. With time, the level of quality you deliver will increase within shorter timeframes.
– Disconnect to Connect
There are way too many distractions in our modern age. Phone calls, texts, emails, gadgets among many other mediums can be very distractive. You have to learn to disconnect from technology and connect with your thoughts instead. Being interrupted with an alert every 5 minutes can reduce your productivity.
– Give your Weekend Some Respect
When you have passion for your work, you aim high. You start working on evenings, you take extra shifts, and before you know it you can’t even remember when was the last weekend you took off. It might seem productive at first, but in the long run you will become drained, and instead of needing a weekend you will find yourself begging for a long vacation. So here is a new rule for you: No work on weekends!
– Always Do Something on the Side
Try to have something that would take your attention away from work; and we don’t mean the usual hangouts and friends’ outings. Instead, you should pick up a hobby, or register in a new course, or even play a new sport; something that you would commit and look forward to during your week. Having something on the side will help you unwind and relieve work stress, in addition to achieving the work-life balance you’re looking for.
– “No” Goes a Long Way…
Another thing that will help you achieve work-life balance is to learn to say “No” more often! “No” doesn’t make you’re a bad employee, it is just a word that helps set boundaries and define your limits at work; at least till you’re ready to take on more. Saying “no” will allow you to focus on the tasks at hand, and consequently you’ll learn how to allocate your time more efficiently.
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