As I opened my laptop and ordered a black coffee at a local waffle and coffee shop within walking distance from my house, I started having the same conversation with a friend and colleague that I often have. If you work in the online world, is there truly a way to balance work and life? 

Of course the conversation didn’t ask that question out right- oh no- we danced around it for 20 minutes, talking about all the work events we had coming up, etc. Then, oh yeah, my one year wedding anniversary was two months away and I hadn’t planned to do anything yet. Not because I hadn’t thought about it- I had, many times actually. While updating Facebook status’ for one of the travel companies I work for I would dream about those locations as potential anniversary trips. I’d look at hotels and wineries and beaches and imagine spending an entire week exploring them with Bob. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

Then I split my coffee and was back to reality. Besides the fact that my new white jeans (who wears white jeans while drinking coffee?!) were now totally ruined, I knew this dream  was never going to happen. Not because I couldn’t afford it or I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but because I didn’t know how to schedule it into my busy work life.

Do I like my job too much?

I love my job and I feel so lucky to have found a job that I not only like but challenges me and allows me to work on something that I find so rewarding.

Maybe I’m alone in feeling this way, but I have a huge FOMO (fear of missing out) on work opportunities. If someone asks me to do something or take on a new project, I don’t want to say no. And, of course we’re still traveling-  Just a sample of work trips this year: Riding camels in the Sahara desert– work trip. Exploring St. Kitts beautiful beaches– work trip. Exploring new-to-me towns in Idaho on an epic road trip– work trip.

And while I get two weeks of paid vacation time, I don’t think I took an actual vacation last year! I even worked up through the night of my wedding rehearsal because I wanted to make sure a project launched on time.

And I’m not alone. Only 25% of Americans recently surveyed take all of their paid vacation time. I’m sure work will still be there if I took off on a week long vacation, never checking my email. But let’s be real- that would never happen. Unplugging gives me hives.

Even when I do take vacations, and because I work remotely anyway, all my work can be done from anywhere with my laptop and phone. Don’t misunderstand- I totally love and appreciate this lifestyle, but there needs to be some balance.

How to prioritize? 

In a world that relies on 24/7 communication and sharing, and being able to literally work from anywhere, how can I prioritize my life to keep my work at the high level I want and still have a husband?* (this is an important question as I do like him a lot)

Back at the coffee shop my friend read out loud an email from her dad, advising in the sweetest way how to try and create that work/life harmony. And it made sense.

Schedule all of your events in one calendar- work, life, baby showers, weddings, times you want to work out, go out to dinner with your husband, etc. Write and schedule everything out. By making a schedule and adding in hobbies and relaxation time into your day, you are giving those moments equal importance to your work.

WebMD (the most trusted source in medical news- ha!) listed ‘Build down time into your schedule’ as the number one way to create a balanced work/life environment. Mayo Clinic (an actual trusted medical institution) says to ‘leave work at work’, even for people who work at home. When you’re spending time with family or friends, don’t have your laptop readily available or keep your phone in the car at dinner. While I love to take photos of my food and post them on Instagram, perhaps turning my phone on Airplane mode would help to not check emails.

The transition isn’t going to be easy. We’ve been programed to be in tech overload all the time. Did you know the average person checks their phone 110 times a day and logs into Facebook within 15 minutes of waking up? I even have alerts on my phone for GChat so I can be reached no matter where I am.

So how can we break this habit?

Start small.

– I’ve started turning my phone off at night. This seems like something so simple, but with all the social media alerts attached to my phone, I would easily wake up from the vibration, glance at them and then roll over to go back to sleep several times a night.

– Work out. Before I broke my knee cap I would try to work out every day at 5pm. This made a hard out to the work day and if I really had something I needed to focus on, I could do it when I got home.

– Make the Calendar. I have a new calendar open on my desktop, ready to be used. I’m not going to lie- I haven’t put one thing in it yet. While I love this idea, it seems like a lot of additional work at first and funny enough, haven’t had the extra time. (hand slap!)

– Make it a Priority. See note above about not having time to make my work/life balance calendar. I should be ashamed. I need to make this a priority.

Longer goals:

– Schedule a vacation and actually take off.

– Plan trips a few months in advance so I have something to look forward to and plan.

– Make work hours count. While I’m pretty sure I use every single second of work time really well, I’m sure I could streamline some things to make the day go by smoother.

– Make the weekends count. Schedule fun activities and visits with friends so that your weekend feels like a getaway from your job.

Thoughts? Are you addicted to your job? Do you have a good work/life balance? If so, how do you create that? If not, where are your weaknesses? Let me know in the comments section below!