Navigating career:
Maintaining work-life balance
Maintaining work-life balance
A healthy work-life balance is a must in today’s hustle world, and we hope you’ve already found yours or are on your way. Here, 4 design sharks dwell on how their life and businesses are balanced, and what keeps this equilibrium working or not working.
A healthy work-life balance is a must in today’s hustle world, and we hope you’ve already found yours or are on your way. Here, 4 design sharks dwell on how their life and businesses are balanced, and what keeps this equilibrium working or not working.
When it comes to work, I’m a marathon runner. I’m a naturally productive person raised in a family of hard workers. I know what it’s like to be financially poor, so I enjoy the rewards of hard work and am driven by making enough money to live a warm, comfortable, exciting lifestyle. This thought keeps me productive.
One foot in front of the other is my motto. I arrange my daily tasks and work in bursts, setting alarms for 40 minutes and taking small breaks in between.
When it comes to work, I’m a marathon runner. I’m a naturally productive person raised in a family of hard workers. I know what it’s like to be financially poor, so I enjoy the rewards of hard work and am driven by making enough money to live a warm, comfortable, exciting lifestyle. This thought keeps me productive.
One foot in front of the other is my motto. I arrange my daily tasks and work in bursts, setting alarms for 40 minutes and taking small breaks in between.
Beth Wilson:
Director of Warriors Studio and Founder of the International Assembly. She knows the secrets of a productive mindset and time management.
Beth Wilson:
Director of Warriors Studio and Founder of the International Assembly. She knows the secrets of a productive mindset and time management.
I’ve intentionally designed my career to live the life I want. For me, that means optimizing my business to have flexibility. I try to embrace the cliche motto ‘work to live’ or, in my case, work to ski. Having skiing as a big priority in my life forces me to figure out how to streamline my business, for example, by automating as many things as possible, leveraging my time, and hiring the right people to work alongside me. Last winter I skied 85 days between November and July. There are days when I work 12 hours, and some weeks when I might only work 20 hours.
I’ve intentionally designed my career to live the life I want. For me, that means optimizing my business to have flexibility. I try to embrace the cliche motto ‘work to live’ or, in my case, work to ski. Having skiing as a big priority in my life forces me to figure out how to streamline my business, for example, by automating as many things as possible, leveraging my time, and hiring the right people to work alongside me. Last winter I skied 85 days between November and July. There are days when I work 12 hours, and some weeks when I might only work 20 hours.
Sarah Doody:
Founder and CEO of Career Strategy Lab, a career strategy and coaching program for people in tech. She lives a flexible professional life and finds lots of joy in skiing.
Sarah Doody:
Founder and CEO of Career Strategy Lab, a career strategy and coaching program for people in tech. She lives a flexible professional life and finds lots of joy in skiing.
Hustle culture and productivity podcasts aren’t really my thing. That aversion is reflected in our company’s vibe: we’re a bit anti-work in the sense that we’re not trying to push the narrative of being productive 24/7. Our team is tiny—just the three of us—and we ’re pretty autonomous. There’s not a lot of hand-holding to get things done. We’re happy working hard and doing a good job, but we still find time for life outside of that.
There’s a common perception that most startup founders are on a crazy schedule of constantly grinding and not resting, but I find I do my best work when my life is balanced. In my free time, I do sports: mountain biking, road biking, and jogging. Kind of off-brand, but I got into golf over the past couple of years. Also, I’ve just got married, and we’re kind of homebodies now. So my balance hinges on working, sports, cooking, having dinner parties, and hanging out with friends.
Hustle culture and productivity podcasts aren’t really my thing. That aversion is reflected in our company’s vibe: we’re a bit anti-work in the sense that we’re not trying to push the narrative of being productive 24/7. Our team is tiny—just the three of us—and we’re pretty autonomous. There’s not a lot of hand-holding to get things done. We’re happy working hard and doing a good job, but we still find time for life outside of that.
There’s a common perception that most startup founders are on a crazy schedule of constantly grinding and not resting, but I find I do my best work when my life is balanced. In my free time, I do sports: mountain biking, road biking, and jogging. Kind of off-brand, but I got into golf over the past couple of years. Also, I’ve just got married, and we’re kind of homebodies now. So my balance hinges on working, sports, cooking, having dinner parties, and hanging out with friends.
Andy Chung:
Founder and Designer at read.cv, a ‘show, don't tell’ professional network. He runs a thriving startup with a team of only three and keeps everyone’s work-life balance sound.
Andy Chung:
Founder and Designer at read.cv, a ‘show, don't tell’ professional network. He runs a thriving startup with a team of only three and keeps everyone’s work-life balance sound.
Cat How:
Founder and Creative Director of How&How branding and design agency. She had to give up a lot to set up and run her business but found a healthy way to combine both family and work hustle.
If you’re running your own business, you have to make sacrifices. I had mine: I only got about a week of maternity leave with my second child, and even then, I was online and had to check emails every day. My daughter was born on the busiest day of the year for us in the business we were running at the time: two weeks before Christmas. We had hundreds of orders to handle in our design e-shop. My husband came to the hospital with my son, said a quick ‘hello’, and went back to packing boxes with the team. I feel like I missed out on spending time with my daughter early on, and I wish things had been different then. But I don’t regret running my own business and raising children at the same time because there is always another side: having my own gig meant I had more control over a huge part of my life, too.
Now, combining parenthood with business is slightly easier as our kids aren’t so young and all-consuming anymore. Well, they are, but just in different ways. I also believe it’s good for my kids to see the reality of what it’s like to run your own thing.
