Balancing work and Hobbies

Balancing work and Hobbies

We are all in a race in the current era. In this race, we have nearly forgotten our loved ones, hobbies, etc and above all, to live life. We are working under tremendous stress and so, it is even more important that we should concentrate on our hobbies at least an hour in a day.

Some people make their hobbies as business and some people are not able to. However, there are many  people who are interested to work and also spend time on their hobbies… but they are not able to manage their time. We all must balance our hobby and work so as to keep our-self happy, positive and in less stress. So, I am hoping this blog may help you to start coming out from your current stressed lives.

Here are a few simple steps you need to follow to achieve the above:

 1.       T - Make a Time Table and find time

       2.       P - Prioritize your activities

       3.       W - Make a wish list

       4.       R - Rest adequately / Sleep well

       5.       N - Learn something new

A few pointers on each of the above.

TIME TABLE

                     Set a weekly time table for your daily activity and try to give at least 1 hour for your interests like gym, music, games, painting or drawings, reading books etc. Try and wake up an hour early so that you will be having much time as before. For some of you it might be sleep an hour later, but that is not healthy. Try and find more time in the day by cutting out on things that are not critical to your work and not to your hobbies.

PRIORITIES

                     In continuation to finding time in the day, make a list of things with rough time you spend on it in a typical day. Then work on it with the below questions and thoughts:

·         What is more important?

·         Work/painting or your favorite TV show?

·         You can play your show in background and work on hobby but keep in mind your TV shows may come back but not time that you lost

·         Are you missing anything not listed here?

So you need to sort your priorities and get efficient with your Time Table.

WISH LIST

                  You may want to do many things and taking note of those things will make it easy for you. Make a list of the tasks that you would like to do (include things that you are currently doing and things that you are not doing due to lack of time). Now, split this list into daily, weekly, monthly lists. Eg, you might want to read every day, nut, music class might be once or twice a week and holiday might be monthly or quarterly.

Take the daily list and plan how you will get done in the day. Once you have that list ready, get cracking on it. You will find it easier to finish tasks when you know what needs to be finished by the end of the day. Where there is a note of things that needs to be done, you have things in your control and it is easier to pace it in the day. Make a Time table of this list, which will be useful in the initial days until it becomes a habit. They say that once you do something for 21 days, it becomes a habit. So, it is critical to practice it like a time table by referring to the list for the first 21 days.

REST WELL

                  Yes, this is very important… even more important than setting time for your work and hobbies. One should not take up too much stress. Take a break , avoid giving more time to social media, turn off your mobile before a hour while sleeping, enjoy music and have a restful sleep at least 7 to 8 hours a day. If you have an issue of lack of sleep, tire yourself with physical activities and if that does not help, see a doctor. Even if it means, that you need to take help from a doctor, yoga, a game, etc., please do it… Without good rest, you will not sustain your timetable and wish list for a long period of time.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

                  Nobody is perfect! Every day is new for everyone! Lots of things are there to learn!

Try something new… get out from your comfort zone and try attending workshops to pick up new skills. The more you try new things, the more you will experiment with unknowns and hence, you will get many new ideas. New ways, new techniques, new people, new tasks….. Ultimately the more fun you will have

To summarize, follow the TPWRN this lockdown and get your priorities right to form a wish list that you will do on a time table. These are the few steps to follow to balance your work and hobbies. Try to implement in your daily routine and I am sure that you will enjoy life. Never stop… even if you are able to do 80% of your time table in the first one week, you are on the right path.

Always remember “We can, We Will”

                                                                                                                - Prashant Mudhol