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1️⃣ Treat yourself like an employee.

Remember back to that last job you had in retail -  🤔 when the clock hit quittin' time, you were outta there. You should have the same boundary with your "boss self" - when it's time to close up shop, do it. Tell your boss, "Hey, sorry! You only had me scheduled until 5 o'clock! I'm out. But see ya tomorrow." If employee-you didn't feel the need to work overtime, why are you doing it now? Remember - there will always be work to do - and even if you do all of it, there will still be more. 

Work will eat whatever you feed it. So put it on a "work-life" diet and only give it what you're willing and wanting to. 🤤 Stop feeding an insatiable beast.

2️⃣ Protect your Fridays.

Now this is a new one I've been trying out. No, it's not the whole "4-day work week," but instead an overage day - a day I allocate for any work that wasn't done the four working days prior. I don't schedule anything on Friday, but I reserve it for those inevitable tasks that have a nasty way of sneaking into an already packed schedule.  

If you don't work a Monday - Friday schedule like I do, guess what! You can choose your weekends. If you do pick-ups on Saturday, make your weekends Sunday and Monday, then your overage day could be Monday. It's your schedule, boss, and you get to set it.

3️⃣ Smart-ify your Work Schedule. 

I found these smart plugs on Amazon that work with Alexa and Google. Basically, any device you plug into these suddenly becomes "smart" meaning I can now control it from an app. I use these to help me stay on balance by:

• Having my office lights turn off at closing time.
• Having my bedroom lights turn on a bedtime. 
• Schedule to turn my 3-D printer off after the print is finished.
• Turn my crock-pot on in the morning.
• Turn my pet's lights on and off depending on the day.

These small hacks can help you stick to your work-life regimen of closing down at a certain time (trust me - working by computer light in the pitch dark makes you wanna run for the covers!). 

4️⃣ Budget for a Solid Sleep Schedule. 

I'll take this one to my comforter-lined grave - get a good sleep schedule and stick to it. EIGHT HOURS - you read that right. Don't believe me? Snag the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker (PhD). If you're operating at a sleep deficit, your mind is operating in a fog.  

5️⃣ Batch Your Week.

Reverse calendaring (thanks Jessica Gensel for that Facebook Live), weekend pre-planning, and batch baking can all save you work time leading to a better work-life balance.