What’s the right balance between work and non-work time? The traditional 9-5 has slowly disappeared with the emails and zoom and texting going far beyond traditional business hours. We asked members of our community to share with us how they think about work-life balance.
GAYLA HARRINGTON | Women’s Football Team Owner (Miami Fury) & Accountant
I started playing women’s tackle football back in 2002. After 2 seasons I ended up buying the team since the previous owner moved back to her home state. When I decided to purchase the team it was not something that was on my radar to do. My main reason was to continue to have the opportunity to play and offer other women the same opportunity. During all this time I worked a full time job. Then in 2008 I had my daughter and the work life balance got a bit more challenging. I worked full time, had the football team and a new baby. It amazing worked out since I had great coaches, players and friends that helped out. Not to say it wasn’t hard but I managed to balance it all. Even to this day the balance of life in general is constantly changing so you have to adjust and change with it. Read more>>
Alice Gualandris | Conference Interpreter & Translator
Over time my work-life balance has changed a lot. When I was an employee my schedule was dictated by external conditions, which made me feel like I was never in control of my workflow. Hence, the feeling of having ‘taken over’ is probably what I most love about freelancing. As a conference interpreter, I am virtually on duty 24/7 and yes, I do work long hours. The distinction between work days and the weekend is often blurry – I have found myself staring at my laptop at 3am more than once (can anybody relate?). However, I manage to carve out a one-hour chat over a cup of tea or squeeze in a Wednesday breakfast with a friend, go see my sister at her law firm for a quick brunch or organise a little Thursday getaway with my partner: this freedom pays me back for all the times I have to be on on a Sunday. Most importantly, once a year I just shut off from the world and leave for India for a one-month intensive yoga retreat: it recharges my batteries and keeps me focused for the challenges ahead. I believe one could see it in two ways: either I am always working, or I am always off. Read more>>
Zoey Bullock | Master Energy Healer & Consultant
When I finally took the leap to full time in my business and left the corporate world years ago, I thought balance was something I had to achieve… coming from a life of burnout working long hours in the office. So when I opened my own office not long after quitting my professional career, I would spend all day there, having to spend copious amounts of time away from home, building what I thought was my empire. I sat down to think about what I wanted from being an entrepreneur, and what I truly desired what freedom. I was conditioned to believe working hard meant success, and eventually balance but I didn’t believe fulfillment meant sacrificing my peace. Eventually I learned how to have a different perspective of time, by adapting to the lifestyle that I wanted to create. So I was able to shift my business into alignment with the balance that I envisioned. Read more>>
Cindy Mesa | Digital Content Creator & Mommy
I have had to learn to really organize and pace myself. Between work, parenthood, creative content, and life in general, things can get extremely overwhelming. I have slowly started to implement a system that works for me and my family, we work as a team, and we know when to stop and take a breather. Some days are harder than others, but we try our best to always put our little family unit, above anything else. Read more>>
Adolfo Herrera | Musician/Producer/Composer/Drummer
My balance has changed many times in many ways through my whole life. As a passionate person, unbalance used to reign. Used to be the rule. When it was about music, then EVERYTHING was about it. when it was a new love, then that was it. Only with time I learned to balance between art and love and passion and the rest of the life. Now, I think achieving balance is THE main goal. A life that is full comes from being able to share yourself between all the areas that relate to you within the aspect of love and passion, combined with the fulfilment of the majority of your neccessities in the spiritual and material fields. Read more>>
Edvardo Archer | Marriage and Family Therapist
The key to balance is giving yourself the permission to get out of balance. As time passes and new priorities present themselves, I find it most useful to give myself a window of time to allow other balls to drop while I pour more focus and resources into a new priority that I want to bring into my balanced life. After this window of time, the new priority should be a formed habit with a supporting system. This will allow the necessary automation that is crucial in maintaining work life balance. Read more>>
Stephen Rafferty | Entertainer & Multimedia Sepcialist
As I get older and wiser, I realize that having a work-life balance becomes more important and greatly beneficial. I have been in entertainment for 10 years now going on 11 and I am the type of individual that has and will work long hours, especially when I am working in my field. I have been able to have my levels of successes over time, but I realized that having a work-life balance is a crucial part of that success. When you have that work-life balance, you manage to focus on certain tasks more effectively. The nature of working in entertainment is hectic to say the least. Anybody that has been in it knows that it is a 24/7 gig. Most people will not do it, nor they will not put the time and effort into it. As successes and opportunities occur, it becomes important to take care of yourself and make sure that you are present and effective with your decisions and career choices. Read more>>
Lashawn Dreher | Marketing Strategist & Networking Maven
How I balance has improved, but honestly, as a solopreneur the thought of work-life balance seems ideal, yet impossible. Yes, we need and deserve breaks, vacations, and all the things that come with putting business to the side. However, when those moments come, our minds are always on go. We’re consistently thinking of ways we can improve, new strategies to implement, resources to try, conducting research on our industries– it’s never-ending. Work-life balance just sounds good because we know we need it, but achieving it is a different beast. It requires you to give your personal life the same discipline given to entrepreneurship, and that’s no easy feat. Read more>>
Anniesha McDonald | Owner of Ann-LASH Beauty Bar
I opened my Business Ann-LASH Beauty Bar during the height of a global Pandemic. My grand opening was scheduled for March 14th, 2020; however, the nation was under complete lockdown. During the days of quarantine, I worked on my social media presence. I posted safety and sanitation content at least three times a day as well as interacted with my fellow followers. Social media was a breeze due to the fact I had nothing but time on my hands. Once the state of Florida opened back up, I took a part time job as an instructor teaching skincare. Between trying to gain new Clientele as well as making lesson plans many of my days were spent drained. To maintain work life balance, I have adapted block off days in my schedule. During this block out time period, I spend time with family, prepare my meals for the week, and catch up on Netflix worthy binge watching. I have come a long way of having hours to like posts and Tik Tok. I am forever grateful for the overflow in work, for if I have learned one thing from weeks of quarantining, it is extremely important to align your psyche so you are able to “Show up and Show Out”. Read more>>