Smart Habits for Translators

As the year is drawing to a close, it’s a good idea to review how things went for you both professionally and personally before you start setting your goals and priorities for the new year.

There are so many different ways to do this! You could do your planning on paper, digitally, in your favorite planner (we’re excited to try our Full Focus Planners in 2020!), using an online tool, a mind map, or a vision board… The sky is the limit here!

One way of reviewing your year and planning for the next one is by planning and holding a business retreat. In fact, you can do it not just once a year, but twice a year or quarterly if you’d like.

Tune in as we talk about planning and implementing our own business retreat and how it helped us to look back at our successes and struggles from this year and come up with our vision and priorities for the next year.

As freelancers, we often have a hard time hitting the “OFF” button when it’s time to stop working. Whether you are wrapping up your work day, spending time with family or friends, or taking a much-needed break, it can be hard to stop thinking about work, and that often triggers feelings of guilt.

In some way, shape or form, we all experience some guilt as freelancers when it comes to the amount of time we spend in our business and the amount and quality of time we spend with those we love. A lot of us work from home, which means that the lines can become a bit gray when drawing the boundaries between time at work and time away from work.

Tune in as we talk about our own struggles with these feelings of guilt and offer some strategies and tips on how to tackle them.

Do you sometimes find yourself working for hours without proper breaks for movement and healthy meals? Healthy exercise and nutrition habits can be tough for many translators to maintain, because we tend to work long hours in front of the computer.

We tend to think of exercise first and foremost, but the truth is that it goes hand in hand with a healthy diet, drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, and many other factors. So, we though that we should talk about exercise and nutrition as one piece in this puzzle of making sure that you feel your best.

Tune in as we talk about strategies and tips that can help you fit exercise into your busy day and make it a habit to move and eat nutritious meals, so that you have the energy to do the things that you love and enjoy your work.

Translators have to read a lot for work, but for many of us it can be hard to find time and energy to read for pleasure or to learn something new. Yet, reading is crucial for maintaining our language skills, learning new terminology, language style and usage, and becoming better writers. Tune in as we talk about strategies and tips that can help you read more when you’re not working.

We all know that it’s important to follow up with leads and clients, but this can also be a bit nerve-racking. There’s always the possibility that a client may say “No” to a pitch or a quote we send them for our services, and we all have days when the impostor syndrome gets the best of us.

But that’s no reason to avoid this task. Tune in as we talk about strategies and habits that make it easier to follow up with leads and make your efforts more likely to pay off.

Do in-person networking events fill you with anxiety and stress? Or are you excited to attend the moment you put them on the calendar? Conferences and meetings can be a major source of inspiration and energy for translators (and a great way to meet new colleagues and clients!). ⁠⁠But there is so much effort that goes into preparing for these events, not to mention the fact that they can truly be exhausting for introverts or people who prefer not to toot their own horn. ⁠⁠Wherever you are on the scale from "I love going to conferences" to "I'd rather stay home", we've got you covered! Tune in as we talk about smart habits for attending conferences and how to make them a worthwhile investment.

Have you ever doubted yourself, sabotaged your own plans and dreams, and thought that others surely think that you are NOT who you say you are? Have you ever felt like an impostor in a room full of geniuses and experts?

Tune in as we talk about Impostor Syndrome and how to overcome that suffocating feeling that you are not enough.

In this episode, we introduce ourselves and talk about the idea and vision behind the Smart Habits for Translators Podcast. We also talk about work/life clarity, why we prefer this term over "work/life balance", and how to set your boundaries and priorities intentionally.