Finding Balance When You Need to Lean In

In the nonprofit sector, juggling a growing number of balls in the air is business as usual. The pace of work is set by external factors, such as firm grant deadlines, immediate community needs, and the rhythm of school calendars. However, while these factors are beyond your control, the way you respond to them isn’t. Here are five practices you can put into place to stay balanced—and able to lean into what is needed.

1. Establish (and stick to) a routine to start and end each day.

Routines provide a sense of order, even when it feels like there is chaos around you. Start each day the same way, to ready your mind for what the day brings. I walk our dog every morning, and use that time to identify my highest priority items for the day. After pouring my coffee, I turn the page of my daily calendar, an annual gift from my father that has a different artwork each day. I take a quick moment to appreciate the art for that day as my computer boots up. At the end of my day, I review what I accomplished for each client and identify the most timely items for the next day. This doesn’t just keep me organized—it also helps keep the stresses from spilling over into evening and important family time.

2. Use a flexible system for organizing tasks.

As a business owner whose work is set by multiple clients, my to-do list is ever-changing and full of short- and long-term tasks. It’s essential that I have a way to track all the down-the-road firm deadlines and the minutia of tasks leading up to them—all while not losing sight of the many things I need to do to keep my business running. I recommend finding a platform that lets you organize key actions under each project. Most project management platforms (e.g. Hive, Monday, Asana) have a free version that is sufficient for organizing your own work; subscription costs come into play when you’re wanting to organize teams. Entering your to-do’s on a platform puts everything in one place (goodbye, Post-its!), and the visual representation makes it easier for you to anticipate overlaps. Having a clear picture of what’s at play leaves you better equipped to extend yourself a little grace and move things around to prevent overload and balls being dropped. Want to know a secret? Writing this blog has, ironically, been on my to-do list for months, but something had to give during the intense rush of grant deadline after deadline in December and January.  

3. Clear is kind.

“Most of us avoid clarity because we tell ourselves that we’re being kind, when what we’re actually doing is being unkind and unfair.

-Brené Brown

Brené Brown’s work on courage is such a valuable tool for both our work and personal lives. Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind. It’s important, especially during busy periods of competing priorities, to be honest and upfront with colleagues and collaborators. Be clear about what you need from them to be successful in a task—the extra time spent on an email clarifying what’s needed will save you both time in the long run. Be clear in what you can and cannot do yourself, and don’t shy away from tough conversations that will help you set boundaries and learn from any missteps. This will ensure that you can depend on one another to balance what’s needed keep the work moving forward.

4. Have go-to things that can provide quick breaks.

Study after study demonstrate the importance of taking short “micro” breaks, and how those breaks actually lead to increased productivity. We are batteries that need to be recharged, and when we are depleted, we take longer to complete tasks, lose our creative spark, and worst of all, (gasp!) make mistakes. So, why is it so hard to listen to the research and pause? When we are immersed in the stresses our never-ending to-do lists, coming up with a reason to take a break can actually feel like one more thing. When you’re not stressed out, brainstorm a list of things you can do in under 10 minutes. My go-to things? Play one song on my guitar. Weed a single flower bed. Walk three blocks in the neighborhood. These are all things that help get me out of that bogged down head space and give me new energy to take a fresh look at what’s in front of me.

5. Lean in to the quieter times.

When you slay a huge deadline or emerge from a particularly busy period, don’t forget to take a longer moment to recharge. Don’t immediately shift to looking for the things you should do! Don’t should yourself to death. It’s easy to continue on the hamster wheel of doing what you think you should do instead of stopping to check in to see if it’s what is best for you (not to mention your organization!). Take a longer lunch. Take a personal day. Do so without guilt, and instead with the confidence that it helps prevent burnout and will allow you to show up not because you should, but because you want to do the good work you are doing.

Cover photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash