Last month I wrote about how I balance it all—from work to dance to friends to dating. In addition to getting really clear about what matters most to me (and cutting out the things, activities, and people that don’t) over the years I’ve also intentionally cultivated three habits to better manage my time and priorities. These three tricks have helped me reduce overall stress and find the time (and mental energy!) to devote to the areas in my life that I want to invest in.
Sharing them below! I hope they help you find your own version of balance in your life.
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Keep A Very Detailed Calendar
Everything goes into my Google calendar (and I mean everything!). I actually keep three separate Google calendars that I use everyday: a work calendar, a personal calendar, and a dance calendar. Meetings and project deadlines go on my work calendar; social plans, events, travel, and appointments go on my personal calendar; rehearsals and shows go on my dance calendar, which is shared with my dance partner. Having a shared calendar helps ensure we’re both on the same page about our practice schedule and any up coming gigs we have. It’s also a great way to keep one another informed of personal travel or projects that will affect when we can or can’t take a show together.
I even block out transit and break time on my calendar. Allocating enough time for getting from one place to the next, and making sure to build in times to re-set and re-charge throughout the day (even if it’s just 10 minutes to walk down the street and grab a coffee!) helps me set (and keep) a realistic daily schedule. For me, that’s a super important part of managing stress! Nothing makes me feel anxious or overwhelmed like being late for a meeting or having to power walk from the subway station to the studio. It’s a sure way to zap my energy and leave me feeling tired and unfocused for what I’m about to do next.
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Plan Ahead As Much As Possible
It is way less stressful to wake up in the morning and follow a list of things you’ve already decided to do, than to wake up in the morning and have to make a bunch of decisions. Decision fatigue—the inability to make good choices after a long session of decision-making—is a real thing, and it’s exhausting! I’ve learned that on any given day, I have a finite amount of mental energy and willpower and I need to be intentional about using that energy for the activities, people, and projects that matter to me. To make sure I can do that, I try to make small decisions, like what to eat or what to wear, ahead of time, so that in the moment I can stay focused on a the project I’m working on at work, or so that I can conserve mental energy for something big later in my day, like dance rehearsal!
I write out meals for the week on Sunday evening and meal prep as much as I can (I like to have breakfast ready for each weekday, and lunch and dinner ready for the next two days). I store workout clothes in my dresser as “outfits” by folding a sports bra, shirt, and underwear into each pair of leggings I put away (like this), so that I always have something to grab and toss in my gym bag as I’m running out the door to a dance rehearsal. They’re small ways to plan ahead, but I’ve found that not having to make these sorts of choices in the moment (like when I’m hangry after a tiring day at work and need to get back on the subway in 30 minutes to make it to rehearsal on time) allows me to conserve that willpower for the things, people, and experiences I want to be fully present for.
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Use In Between Time
Even without a long commute to work, I still end up spending a lot of time in transit getting to the next place I need to be. All of those 20 to 40 to 60+ minutes on the subway or in the car really add up. They can feel like wasted precious minutes and make me feel anxious and stressed if I’m not intentional about how I spend that time.
If however, I make an effort to use transit time to either 1. Do something I enjoy (like listening to a podcast or music, reading an article, or calling a friend) or 2. Tackle a task (like writing out a grocery list, a packing list, or responding to emails), I actually look forward to that “in-between time” because I know it will either help me recharge or have more time to sleep or relax once I get home.
What other tips do you have for balancing your dance life (or other side-hustle!) with the rest of your life? I’d love to hear them below.