Speaker 1: One of the biggest things that I've learned this past year is that achieving a good and efficient work-life balance is actually quite hard. This past year, I was able to graduate college and have a six-month internship that turned into a full big girl job. Doing all of that while posting weekly videos on YouTube and being a co-host on my weekly podcast, What's the Juice. There was a lot of work that was happening. I basically just burnt out in 2022 and I really wanted to sit down and talk about the few things that I've realized are actually really important in making sure that your life is as much as a priority as your work. Keeping track of your work digitally is so important. I know there are a lot of people that are big fans of physical notebooks, but I truly think that organizing yourself is that much easier when it's digital. I highly recommend you get a calendar and some type of digital to-do list that you can access from multiple devices. I'm a big fan of Google Calendar and I use it for absolutely everything. It has literally saved my life so many times because if I didn't write it all down and knew exactly what I had to do every single day, I would completely either forget or it would just be a mess. So why clutter your mind with all of this busy and kind of like minute information that even though it's important, it can really take up a lot of storage in your head. So why not put it on a device and then you don't have to worry about remembering these things and your mind capacity can be used to actually get work done and have a social life. Preferably, you can also color code. So if you want to color code different projects or if you want to give a color to work things and a different color to your social life things, that would be a great idea. I know people are also big fans of to-do lists and so am I. If I didn't have a to-do list, I also would just be sitting in front of my computer and just wondering like, what do I have to do now? I use my notes app on my phone that I can also access on my computer and anytime I need, if I'm working on my computer and I need to update it or check it out, it's there. If I'm on my phone and I need to do the same thing, it's there. It's constantly accessible. If you have a notebook, that's great if it works for you, but I think it just adds that extra reminder of like, oh, let me grab it with me when I go to the coffee shop. Let me grab it with me when I go here. And last but not least, Grammarly, who is sponsoring today's video and who has been with me through my college journey into my big girl job. Grammarly has helped me so much when it comes to writing anything. In any work setting, communication is key. Being able to get your point across quickly and effectively. With Grammarly's confident tone suggestions, it always ensured that I was coming across confidently. When you're under a time crunch and you have to hit a specific deadline, communicating with your team or writing emails can get really tricky because you're trying to get through all of them in a timely manner while still maintaining professionalism and a good tone. But sometimes that's hard. Grammarly always lets you know so that you can adjust your tone to make it sound a little bit more professional. It also makes sure that your work relationships stay intact under pressure. You can easily download Grammarly and it works wherever you work, like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, your email. The right tone can help you move your projects forward with the help of Grammarly. So go to Grammarly.com and sign up for an account. But if you want to level up your writing and your tone, you can upgrade to the Grammarly premium and get 20% off. So I realized there's two kinds of people in this world. You're either the person that has a to-do list of all things they have to do and they do a little bit of everything and they like to multitask. Be working on this about 10-20% and then do another 10-20% of this one, 5% of this task, 30% of this task. Kind of worked on several things all at the same time. There's the other person, like me, who I prefer to look at my to-do list and take one task and take it from A to Z and cross it off and move on to the next task. Take it from A to Z and cross it off. That way, you actually feel like you are moving forward and you're crossing entire tasks off of your to-do list and your workload. The way that I mean tasks is that if I say edit video, then I take that big task and put it into smaller ones. Rough cut video, then second rough cut video, then add transitions and text, then add music, then export and upload. All of these little tasks are actually part of me making a video. Rather than, I'm going to rough cut a little bit, then I'm going to add a little bit of music, then I'm going to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And then it still feels like I have so much longer to go. Trust me, it will help your mind and it will help you get through the work more efficiently and faster. Now, this next point might only work for somebody that works from home or that has work flexibility. Make sure that you actually take breaks. I've never even thought about breaks as being so important, but they're crucial. I mean, just like you log into work at 9 a.m. and then it's 12 or 1 and you literally are like, you know what? I'm going to close this computer. I'm going to get up. I'm going to be myself a cup of coffee or I'm going to go for a 15-minute walk. Again, I don't know everyone's work schedule and how it works. Every job has a different set of how they function. It's so easy to just get deep into the work and be at home and not even get any time for yourself during the day when there's actually light outside. It takes your mind off of the work. It refreshes your mind. You also feel like you're actually alive. And I know that's like an obvious concept. Feeling alive when you're sitting at your desk all day is kind of hard because you start to like feel this draining feeling. But take the time to be like, oh, I have these 20 minutes left of my favorite podcast to listen to. Put on your headphones, go outside, go for that walk for 20 minutes, come back and then get back to work. It's so helpful and it really breaks up that work day and it makes it a little bit more manageable and you feel like a person. This point is another big one that I have been constantly struggling with and working on, which is the idea that work will never end. And I know that kind of sounds like really sad because I have several different roles. I could literally work forever. There's always other things that I can do. There's always especially because I'm managing myself as a YouTuber and I am the co-host of my podcast. So there's always work to be done. There's always emails to be written. There's always videos to be edited and planned out, but the work is not going anywhere. It won't make a huge difference if you work on this today or you work on it tomorrow. Guess what? The work doesn't leave. The work will always be there. However, what won't be there is time. It's the time that you spent working all through the day and you realize I haven't done one thing that's just for me. And that has happened to me many, many times. And I'm sure that some of you it's happened. If you're a student, that used to happen all the time. And that is the recipe for disaster because you really need to take care of yourself. The way that I said, you know, schedule and write down everything that you have to do in your day for work, do the same thing for your life. If I say I'm going to go for a workout at 6 and then I finish work at 5, then at 5, I'm not going to be like, oh, but I have a few other things like let me do it. It's like, no, I have a workout that I'm trying to get to at 6. I'm going to close the computer, get changed, have a little snack and then go and work out. Like you have to be more intentional with those things that are for you. The exact same way that you're intentional with things that you do at work. Me time before work is so important. Me time doesn't have to mean that you are going to have this elaborate routine in the morning and you're going to have to wake up at 4.30 in the morning to just have time for yourself. Even 30 minutes to actually give yourself and wake up in time so that you can enjoy your cup of coffee while you're listening to your favorite podcast and sitting there sipping your coffee. Just having that moment is a game changer. And just thinking about it, I'm like, you need to give yourself that time. You deserve that time. I deserve that time. But it's so easy to just be like, you know, I'm just going to sleep in because I'm really tired. And yes, sleep is very, very important. But at the same time, I could wake up a little bit earlier. Committing to this is crucial because it's so easy to sometimes just want to sleep in, which is something that I did many times that I proposed to myself. Oh, I'm going to wake up at 7.30. So I have enough time to maybe do a workout and then shower and then make a coffee and have some nice morning vibes until I actually start work. Guess what? I would wake up at 9 and have no time to do any of that. And now last but not least, making plans. And I know you're like, Alia, you want me to make more plans? You want me to add more things to my calendar? Well, these are fun things. And what I mean by making plans is like, make plans that are fun. Make life plans. Intentionally making plans with friends, family, your significant other, yourself. Make plans during the week. Plans and social plans should not just be exclusively for the weekend. That's not fair to you. Like, we should have things during the week that we're looking forward to the same way that we're looking forward to the weekend. And this applies to everyone. If you're in school, if you have a job, if you have several jobs, whatever it is, making plans that are fun and that are feeding your heart and your soul is really important. So those are all of the points that I wanted to share with you guys in this video. I hope that they were useful and that there is maybe a little bit of new information that you didn't think about before or a reinforcement on something that you've been meaning to do but haven't gone around to it yet because trust me, my sleep schedule, it's still not good. Do I take time in the morning? Not all the time. Do I have plans this week? Actually, I don't even know. Oh, yeah, see? It's in my calendar and I highly recommend all of these tips if you're not already doing them or if you're doing some of them. Some might work for you, some might not, but I really wanted to share this with you guys because work-life balance is so important. So I hope you enjoyed this video and I never say this, but if you want to subscribe and like this video, that would mean a lot to me. Anyways, I'll see you guys later. Have a great week and I hope that you have some plans scheduled after you watch this. Okay, bye.