For the last six to eight months, I have been trying to figure out how to juggle a full-time job, further studying and running a business. At the time of writing this blog, I’m still going with all three, so I thought I’d try and break down the difficulties and challenges that juggling these tasks face, as well as some tips and tricks that have helped me out.
Currently I feel that there is a pressure to take a hobby or a passion and turn it into a business by working 24/7 and constantly hustling. That might work for certain people, but for me, I am at my best when I am well rested and able to focus on the task in hand. That might mean the odd day where you Netflix the day away, meet up with friends or just generally doss about. For me, that time where I’m switched off and away from my tasks means that when I get back to work, I can be 100% focused on the job at hand.
I’ve always really enjoyed the process of photography – from the literal pressing of the shutter button on the camera, developing the image in the darkroom or digitally in Lightroom, to sharing the image with an audience – be it on social media or a client. So, work such as marketing or contract writing aren’t as appealing or fun to do but are 99 times out of 100 a lot more important to complete. By allocating specific time for me to get on with the work I don’t like doing, I find that I can use the act of doing what I enjoy as a sort of reward for getting the hard work done.
Everyone has different ways of organising and planning their work. I use Google tools such as Google Calendar and Drive, to set reminders of assignment due dates, project delivery and essentially build to do lists. At work I write out a daily to-do list for the next day, ticking off each completed task and re-writing each uncompleted task on the following day’s list. Whatever your method might be, I’ve found that the most important thing about organising is to ensure that priority tasks are identified daily. I don’t like to put pressure on myself regarding completing these tasks, however I make myself aware that not completing these jobs only affects me. If I didn’t write this blog, it wouldn’t have made a difference to anyone, but by forcing myself to complete it and tick this task off the to-do list, I’m ensuring that I’m on the path to my long-term goals.
So these are my thoughts and ideas, would love to hear your opinions!