Work-Life Balance

Original

Calm down and be more effective

If you think about too many things you are not able to focus on that one you should be working right now. That slows you down, you are not effective.

Especially in creative work you are not able to create if your brain is full of other things like is that task finished, did I tell Peter to do this and that…

Also when your hands are full its hard to focus on one thing and it makes work extremely hard and you get under the pressure.

What if I told you that you can work with a clear mind? That you will never have to think about ten things at the same time and get under the pressure, because you don't, be 100% focused on the tasks and became much more effective. When your mind is calm that you find out that you are much more creative and effective.

It also helps you to avoid sleepless nights when you are thinking about the work.

It helps also gain work-life balance, because if your mind will be clear then you can rest better and fully enjoy time with your friends and family.

I was in the same situation.

All day thinking about what is done, what is not, if I sent the important email, if we have that issue covered etc. This overloaded mind caused that I wasn't able to fully focus on the tasks so they took me longer. When I arrived home I wasn't able to stop thinking about the work. Sometimes I woke up at night and have to writte down some notes about the issues that has to be solved.

After a few months I realized that I'm completely exhausted and all things became harder and harder. Then I realized that it can't be this way and I realized that I have to find some place where I will see all my work in one place. 

Thats why we add my work to Logicalplan.

It combines all the tasks from all workspaces on one timeline, where are all the tasks that I has to do. It is like to-do list, but the problem with list is that you can't see the deadlines visually so it is hard to set priorities each day. On the interactive timeline, you can see all tasks you had to do, all tasks you have to work on today and also all tasks that you will have to finish next days. With this complete overview of your work you know what to focus on each day and you don't have to think about tasks that you have to do tommorow or if you didn't forget something. 
Thanks to that you can focus strictly on the issue you are solving right now witch make you much more effective. 

It is also good to have this overview to see your real workload.

Sometimes we have meetings and we also plan tasks for ourselfs at the same day, then we realize that it is not possible to finish it all even if we are working during the nights. Our unfunished tasks then slow down other team members that are waiting for them. 

What I personally do is that I created my own project called “My tasks” and I add my personal taks into that. For example tasks like buy a present, visit a service with a car etc. 

Find a one source of truth where are all the tasks, communication and where you can easily add your personall tasks to clear your mind and be able not only to focus on your work, but also to enjoy your free time. 

Your brain has only a limited capacity, some scientists say that you are able to to think creatively less than hour a day, don't waste your brain capacity on petty things like thinking if the task is finished or that you has to visit a service with your car

Find one place where you will connect all the tasks that you have to do so you will be able to stop thinking about them and focus on the work that you are doing right now.

Try it and you will immediatelly find out that you feel better, you enjoy your free time more and finish more tasks in a shorter period of time.

Edited

How I Avoided Burnout and Found Work-Life Balance, and How You Can Too

You have a fantastic product that could change the world.

You have an amazing team behind you.

But there's one huge problem: you're starting to feel incredibly overwhelmed.

You have so much on your plate that you feel paralyzed and unable to figure out what you should do next. 

You're unable to focus on one thing because you feel like if you don't keep an eye on everything at once, some part of your project will go spinning out of control.

As a manager, trust me, we've all been there. 

We've all felt that feeling of despair while you try your best to keep everything under control just to watch helplessly while things inevitably go haywire.

But here's the thing... Every manager who has felt this feeling and gotten past it will tell you that if you want things to change for the better, you have to do what you can to prevent that situation from happening.

They'll tell you that it's counter-productive to try to juggle ten things at once and deal with a soul-crushing amount of pressure. To get rid of this feeling, you have to unload your mind.

Your brain has a limited work capacity; some scientists say that you're only able to think and work creatively less than an hour a day.

It's important not to use up your valuable capacity with stressful thoughts or unproductive activities that can be avoided.

Unloading your mind will allow you to sleep soundly through the night without waking up and trying to remember if you gave a team member a critical assignment.

Unburdening yourself will help you find a healthy work-life balance. Since your mind will be clear, you can rest easy and develop better relationships with your friends and family.

How do I know all this? Well, let me tell you how I got there.

Years ago, I was in that same situation. I spent all day worrying about what was done, what wasn't finished, whether I forgot to send an important email, what my team should be working on, and so on. 

My mind was so overloaded that I wasn't able to entirely focus on any one task, which means everything I did took longer than it should have.

When I got home, I typically ended up bringing work home with me in two ways:

1. I'd literally bring work home and shut myself up in my office all night, or
2. I wouldn't be working on anything, but I'd spend my off time thinking and worrying about the project.

Sometimes this anxiety would keep me up at night. I'd be furiously scribbling notes about an issue that needed to be solved. This worrying was having a real adverse effect on my life.

After a few months, I realized that I was completely and utterly exhausted and that I was starting to reach my burnout point.

I realized then that I had to make a change.

To unload my mind, I realized I needed to become more organized. I needed a way to see all the work I had across all my team's project in one place.

This realization is what drove me to create LogicalPlan.

With LogicalPlan, I can see all the tasks on my plate on one central timeline. It's kind of like a to-do list, but better. With a to-do list, you can't see your deadlines visually, so it's more challenging to set daily priorities.

On an interactive timeline, you can see all the tasks you need to do, all the tasks you need to work on today, and which tasks you'll be finishing in the next few days. 

With this complete overview of your work, you'll be able to focus on what you need to get done each day, so you won't waste time and brainpower trying to with that out on a daily basis (and worry that you left something important out).

If you can focus strictly on the issues at hand, you can work much more effectively.