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How do I balance full time, side jobs, and interests?

Many friends around me have asked me a similar question at the same time: “How do you balance a full time job, side job, and interests?” “How did you get to where you are now at age 20?” Therefore, today I will share with you my lifestyle and mentality, and I hope to encourage you to reach your goals.

What am I doing at the same time?

First, let me briefly introduce my work at the same time. I've been a full time product manager since I was 20 years old at Expedia Group in London, mainly responsible for products related to artificial intelligence. My side job is to provide various design services to companies around the world by opening and running my own creative studio since 2019. My interest is this blog, which I started three years ago (18 years old), to record my travel experiences and life bits and pieces. Having only one full job means being completely dependent on the company, and it is very difficult to achieve financial freedom. Therefore, I prefer to work full time and develop my own business at the same time to ensure that I can do what I fully love.

(1) Keep trying

To be honest, everything I'm doing now started with the mindset of trying it out. For me, I love to try it out and see if that's something I'm interested in. Even if it didn't suit me after trying it, I gained some experience and got to know myself better. In technology companies, we also have the concept of trial and error, and we are constantly trying to find developments that are beneficial to the company. If you refuse to try it simply because of the negative mentality of “I don't know if I'm not interested” or “I don't think I can succeed,” you'll never be able to explore your potential.

(2) Effective use time

I've heard many people use “I don't have time” to promote anything that requires getting out of our comfort zone, but we actually have time intervals every day: for example, when taking traffic, queuing up, or even the bathroom. I use the time I travel every day to read books or study online, and many of my friends also choose audiobooks (Audiobooks).

In addition to this, I also use my time to read books when I wake up in the morning and before going to bed at night to avoid reading electronic products all the time. In addition to avoiding falling asleep in the morning, this also makes it easier to fall asleep on time at night.

My To Do List (To Do List) is categorized into different categories and stored in the cloud so I can easily access it on my computer and mobile phone. I will determine what needs to be accomplished in a day based on the urgency and workload of each item, including both high-intensity and low-intensity work. For example, after working for a few hours, I can do housework to rest my computer bag. Of course, if things don't go well on that day, I'll have time to move the matter to the next day.

(3) Prioritize your physical condition

In order to quickly improve my resume and experience, I took on all the projects that contacted my potential clients. However, I often overlook work-life balance, especially my physical and mental state. Afterwards, I discovered that if I actively fought for it, the opportunities were limitless. Therefore, putting priority on one's own health can bring long-term success.

Other than that, have you ever tried participating in certain social activities that left you physically and mentally exhausted? I would set aside time for myself to rest and avoid participating in these “negative social interactions.” Although you may not feel it at the moment you participate, these social activities will affect your physical, mental state, and spirit at the same time.

I respect the circumstances of my body. If I was really tired that day, I wouldn't arrange extra work for myself to spend the whole day focusing on rest, and I don't need to follow the habit mentioned in point 2.

(4) Reflect on your life plan on time

If you just keep running and don't stop to reflect on your journey, then you can't know if what you're doing helps your long-term goals. If you've never tried a life plan, try the most common 5-Year Plan (5-Year Plan) or Odyssey Plan. The 5-Year Plan (5-Year Plan) is about setting goals for yourself for the next 5 years, and then dividing them into small goals to determine the goals for each year. The Odyssey Plan, on the other hand, is an advanced version of the five-year plan, which includes (1) the most likely five-year plan based on existing resources and circumstances, (2) the most likely five-year plan if the first one fails, and (3) your ideal five-year plan without any resource restrictions (such as money, time, talent, etc.). The second and third editions are likely to give you a deeper understanding of yourself and regain the dreams you have buried in your heart!

Conclusion

The suggestions mentioned above are all based on my personal experience over the past few years. In addition to hoping for everyone to gain something to reflect on, I can also use this to remind myself to keep going. I believe that hard work can bring you more luck, and I hope everyone's life path will make you a better person.