Work/Life Balance: How Can I Keep My Personal Life and Business Life Separate?

Most people lead a double life: a personal and professional life. As a result, many of them struggle to keep their personal and business matters separate. But, by keeping different calendars, it is possible to manage both lives simultaneously.

Pick the Right Calendar

To start off, if you want to separate your personal and business calendars, you have to find the right calendar app or service that can meet your needs. There are two options: paper and electronic. Although considered old-fashioned, if you decide to go the paper route, you can limit notifications, which can keep you from getting distracted. You can also hang calendars on your bedroom wall or fridge, and they can become good visual reminders. Moreover, some people tend to remember things better if they write them down. If you are one of these people, try using paper calendars or daily planners to separate your tasks. You can even decide to leave your business calendar at work and keep your other calendar at home to help establish clear boundaries.

If you choose to go electronic, make sure the app offers services like seamless sharing, good user interfaces, and other necessary features. Weigh your options and make sure your needs can be met. Take a look at some of the apps we recommend to get you started:

• Calendar integrates calendars from popular services like Google, iCloud, and Outlook into its system. It also lets you set buffer times and has a time zone detection to avoid confusion.
• Cozi is a family organizer that keeps your family on the same page. It manages schedules, appointments, and activities for your family and even lets you share shopping lists, recipes, etc.
• WorkLife Calendar helps you juggle your professional and personal commitments by allowing you to share your work schedule with your friends and family. It even lets you search for fun activities near you and invite other users to join.

Know What to Include

Deciding what kind of information to include is just as important as picking the right calendar. If you add too much, your calendars can get messy and unmanageable. Instead, focus on important events like meetings, networking opportunities, and due dates for your work calendar. For your personal calendar, you can add vacations, doctor’s appointments, and other important tasks to keep you on track. However, make sure to not include unnecessary information like to-do-lists and excessive notes to avoid clutter.

Sweet Tip From Ally:

The above tips can help you keep your personal and business life separate. Remember to do research on the different types of calendar apps and decide what information you want to include to get the most out of using different calendars.