As a solopreneur & contract worker, I don’t get paid sick time. If I’m not working, I don’t get paid. That said, for myself only about 53% of my time last month was spent on contract work that is directly paid at an hourly rate.
The rest is spent doing:
things that may eventually lead to income, such as developing products, content creation, and promoting my offers,
behind the scenes work of organizing myself and my tasks, connecting with other business owners, and dealing with emails, or
volunteer work, such as with the Arthritis Health Professions Association.
When I am sick, I am nowhere near max productivity. The same goes for when I am sleep deprived because the child had a terrible night’s sleep. Or when my joints are extra stiff or achy (arthritis, it’s not just for old people).
And yet, things still need to be done. I’m less productive. I need more rest than usual. But shit still has to get done.
Balancing self-care and hustle
The hustle culture mentality would say to just push through at all costs. Just get the work done. It doesn’t matter how you feel. Mind over matter — all that junk.
But, if you push yourself too hard, you’ll burnout. Burnout isn’t something that you can push through. It is a complete collapse. Sometimes it triggers mental health issues, sometimes physical, often both. No matter how it manifests, it’s going to be unpleasant and annihilate your ability to do any amount of “hustle.”
And yet, stuff does need to be done. Luckily for us, most of the time, you don’t need to be completely “off” to get rest. Especially when you are multi-passionate solopreneur who actually enjoys most of the work you’re doing. Plus, I also have a variety of contracts (as my business ventures are currently not paying the bills). So I have a combination of self-imposed deadlines (such as my content schedule) and external deadlines (like meetings).
So the trick becomes balancing self-care with work. It’s taking some of the pressure off to get all the things done and instead focus on the most important things. I use Notion to organize my tasks and typically, I will view my to-do list according to what time-block I planned to do the work. But when I am less efficient than normal. like today, I switch things up. I view my to-do list based on the priority level. I go through the items for the day and stack them up according to how important they are. Then I start working with the most important tasks. That way whatever I don’t finish will be fine to wait for another day.
Don’t focus on time-blocking when you are sick. Focus on priority.
Bottom Line
One of the biggest benefits of being a solopreneur, self-employed or working contracts, is that we get to work how we want to work. Which means that the majority of our time is flexible. Use it to your advantage and rest when you need to. And if you need a mid-day nap, take it.
Until next week,
-Samantha 💜
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