Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life

More often than not the majority of us feel out of balance.

ADVERTISEMENT

We want to travel more but we’re also inundated with work…

We want to spend more time with friends and family but again, we’re too heavily focused on something else.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sometimes it takes stepping back and looking at your life from an outside perspective to realise that you’re seriously tilting towards one aspect of it.

Maybe this is why you’re feeling down…

ADVERTISEMENT

Unfulfilled

Heavy…

So today I want to show you some strategies that will help you to balance your work, travel and personal life.

Let’s get straight into it…

Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life

It’ll benefit you to remember these tips on how to balance work, travel and personal life, so pin this to your relevant board on Pinterest >>

Are you tilting? Do you dream of traveling but work commitments are getting in the way? Do you want to catch up with old friends but something else is weighing you down? Today we look into why you may be focusing on one aspect of your life more than others & how you can balance work, travel and personal life to become more fulfilled. Click through to read now...10. Strategically plan out your vacation time

Are you currently invested in a full time career?

Don’t have a lot of free time to travel since most of it is spent catching up with family and friends?

This is why you need to strategically plan out your holidays.

If you have 4 weeks per year and your partner does too, the first thing I would do is plan to take your holidays at the same time.

To achieve this, it is important to schedule and confirm your holidays with your employer early in the year.

Now, because we’re talking all about balance here, why not take your 4 weeks and separate them evenly throughout the year?

For the first and third holiday break you could go somewhere new and for the second and fourth you could spend quality time with your friends and family.

Even better, if you have children and want to spend more time with them, take them with you on one of your trips.

“But how can I go traveling when I only have one week to spare at a time?”

Believe me, it’s easily done…

If you live in Europe, well, you’ve got it better than anyone..

You can get on a plane for an hour and end up in a totally different country with totally different people, architecture, scenery, food, customs and weather.

And you can find amazing low budget flight deals.

If you live in the US, you can get on an easy two hour flight to escape the freezing cold temperatures of New York and land in a hot and sunny destination like Miami.

One week is enough to relax, unwind and explore somewhere new.

Even if you only get 2 weeks of vacation time per year, split them in half and take the family on a cheap vacation 2 times per year…

It could even be a camping trip or a ‘staycation’ in another town in your region.

Strategically plan your holidays | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life9. Take advantage of long weekends and holidays

To take your strategic vacation planning even further, take a look at your calendar and find where all the long weekends and holidays fall.

You can either plan your time off so that it falls directly before or after a long weekend or holiday…

Or you can further break it up so that it feels like you’re getting more holiday time.

With a balanced schedule like this you can get through the year without burning out and still have plenty of time to explore new places, even if it’s just the next city over.

Again, request your holidays early so that you get first preference.

Also, refrain from thinking things like “I don’t have time“, or “It’s too much effort for just a few days” because long weekends are perfect for exploring new cities and destinations within your own country.

Think of all the amazing memories you can create and exciting new things you can do, just by leaving your house for a few days.

Go anywhere! Just satisfy your craving for adventure. 🙂

Take advantage of long weekends | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life8. Research, research, research

Have you ever gone on a trip only for it to be over in the blink of an eye?

Even worse, have you ever arrived home not completely satisfied that you got the most out of your trip?

Sometimes when this happens, it feels like we need another holiday straight away to go back and do all the things we wanted to do.

So to overcome this, it’s important to start researching and planning your trips as soon as your vacation dates are confirmed.

While we love a good spontaneous trip from time to time, this isn’t so effective when you’ve got a limited schedule…

If you leave it all to the last minute, you’ll end up missing out on the best flight and accommodation rates…

You’ll forget about most of the things you originally wanted to do…

And your mind will be so jumbled up with last minute work tasks and the pressure to plan your whole trip that you’ll end up saying f*** it and just lay on the beach the whole time.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I also love a good beach holiday but when you go to a completely new place, why not squeeze all of the delicious juice out of it?

Why not step outside of your comfort zone and actually take in all of the uniqueness surrounding you?

Why not do all of those things on your wishlist while you’ve got the chance?

Life’s short!

So research, research, research… It’s the only way to achieve all those things you want to do on your trip and come back feeling fulfilled, refreshed and ready to take on the next couple of months of work.

Research | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life7. Become Location Independent

Now, this is where we get to a whole new alternative way of balancing work, travel and your personal life.

If 2 – 4 weeks of vacation time per year is simply not enough for you and you’re tired of being stuck in a rut, it may be time to consider becoming location independent.

Being location independent basically means that you’ve set up systems in which allow you to earn an income from anywhere, whether that’s your living room, local café or a tropical island on the other side of the world.

The reason why this helps so many people to find balance in their lives is because it ultimately creates freedom & flexibility

No more commute

No more time spent away from the family…

No more hard work for little in return

No more restriction

Just you doing amazing things to support yourself and your family as you seek adventure, education, challenge, perspective, opportunity, excitement, love and freedom through travel.

To learn more about how you can become location independent, sign up for my free eBook, 12 Steps To Full Time Travel.

Become location independent | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life6. Take a remote year

Something really unique and amazing has been taking place over the last couple of years and I find it totally inspiring.

Now there exists groups of people who travel around the world together for long periods of time whilst working on their online business and remote jobs.

Basically, the idea is like co-working, networking, mentoring, masterminding and traveling all rolled into one.

How cool is that?

So for most of these ‘remote year’ tours you do need to have an online business or job on the go so you can keep up and support yourself along the way…

That said, this is a project designed to help each other learn and grow whilst being able to meet new people and see the world, so you don’t need to have a thriving business or high up position to get involved.

I believe that if you are single, this can be a fantastic way to balance your work, travel and personal life…

First of all, you get to work alongside inspiring and goal driven people who will help and support you to grow your business or step up the ladder as a remote employee.

This will immediately take away the stress of ‘going at it alone’…

You know, when you’re so caught up in trying to build a successful career that you spend all of your time working and no time focusing on other important areas.

Having people there to support and help you every step of the way will be transformational in every aspect of your life.

Secondly, you get to form lasting friendships, business relationships and sometimes even romantic relationships with a whole new bunch of people from around the world. Social life sorted!

And finally, you get to travel around the world while doing all of this!

*balance*

Take a remote year | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life5. Save up and take a career break

You may be thinking, “yeah, easier said than done“, but believe me, there are plenty of people doing it – often with their children too.

Did you know that in many cases traveling is actually cheaper than living at home?

I’m not bluffing, you can spend a year traveling around Southeast Asia or even Latin America, having the absolute best time of your life for a quarter of what it would cost you to live in places like the US, Western Europe and Australia for a year.

When Dan and I were (semi) living in Thailand, our rent for a beautiful little log house on a lake was $250 per month, including everything…

Most of the time there were 4 of us living there so it was literally $65 each per month.

The scooter Dan and I shared was $50 per month. Fuel was next to nothing.

But even so, you might have this voice in your head saying…

“Well I still need to save enough money to support us for a year”…

And yes, this is half true but if you think about it, you’ll be gone for an entire year, so…

Why not sell all that extra clutter you don’t need anymore?

Then, why not rent out your house/apartment? You’re not gonna be in it…

Or if you’re renting, perhaps you could look into subletting

As I said, there are plenty of people who have made this work for them.

In fact, along the journey, many of them build up the skills necessary to run online businesses or freelance gigs and never need to return back to their old jobs after all!

Take a career break | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life4. Home School

So the next question you may have about how to balance work, travel and personal life through location independence or a career break is, how do the kids get an education?

Surely they don’t just.. not go to school?

And you’re right… As much as the kids might not want to do school work, they still get an education while traveling.

These days there are all sorts of programs your children can go through to receive an education while away…

School-at-Home, Distance Education, Unschooling, Eclectic Learning, Traveling… ;-).

Caz and Craig from YTravel Blog spent 18 months traveling around Australia by car with their two young daughters, Kalyra and Savannah.

Not only did they teach their daughters from hundreds of different destinations around Aus, but they also built a successful digital business at the same time which is now about to support them on their next journey through the US.

Talk about perfecting the balancing act!

Home school | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life3. Apply for a Working-Holiday Visa

If you are still young, without kids, perhaps single and ready to mingle… heading overseas on a Working-Holiday visa can really help you to balance out your travel, work and personal life.

What is a Working-Holiday visa?

Well basically, a Working-Holiday visa allows you to stay and work in a country for (usually) one year, with the potential to extend for one more year.

Tons of people from all over the world under the age of 30 come to my home country, Australia, to spend a year earning good money, backpacking, partying, meeting new people and living it up in the sun.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t grow up in Australia just so I could have the opportunity to go and do that as well!

But then again, I get to stay there sooo, who’s got the better end of the deal here?

If you would love to spend a year or two traveling, perhaps working seasonal jobs and having a wonderful, crazy, fun-filled personal life, a Working-Holiday visa could be just the medicine you need.

Working Holiday Visa | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life2. Set a schedule and goals

One of the big reasons why we’re often out of balance is because we spend too much time doing one thing and not enough doing the other…

So an effective way to overcome this is by setting goals and creating schedules.

To really focus on creating this sense of balance, it’s important to set goals in all aspects of your life…

Not only in your business or career

Not only when it comes to travel

We’re talking social, physical, mental and spiritual goals as well…

One thing I really struggle with whilst working on growing the business and fulfilling my travel dreams is keeping in regular contact with my friends and family.

Time just seems to slip right past me and before I know it, it’s been months since I’ve messaged my friends.

Then when I finally decide that enough is enough and I start working on reaching out to everyone, making phone calls, sending out messages, I lose track of what I’m doing in the business and then that suffers…

So very recently I decided that I can’t keep living this out of balance, spending hours and hours working and not leaving time for physical exercise, catching up with the people closest to me and doing other productive things…

So I started my first schedule, and I can tell you now, it’s already making a huge difference.

This schedule is actually a simple ‘publishing calendar’ which I’m following to add content to this blog each day.

While this schedule doesn’t take into account anything other than the content I’m posting, it is helping me to spend more time on other areas of my business and life.

How? Because I can now spend less time procrastinating and thinking about what to write.

Also, because my deadline is that day, I don’t spend hours into the night trying to perfect my writing… I can instead spend that time focusing on another area of my life.

So I recommend figuring out your goals and then scheduling them…

It may be that every Tuesday you have dinner with your best friend…

Or every morning at 8am you do 20 minutes of meditation…

Or every second weekend your visit somewhere different…

It’s really starting to make a difference in my life and I believe it’ll help you to find the balance you’re looking for too.

Set goals and schedule | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life1. Look after yourself first

You know when you’re sat on a plane watching the safety video before you take off and there’s that little part where they talk about how to use the oxygen masks…

One key point they make here is placing the oxygen mask on yourself before helping anyone else, including your children…

I used to think, jeez, that’s a bit selfish

Until I grew up and realised you can’t help your children put on their oxygen masks if you’re already passed out.

And so it goes with life as well.

As selfish as it may seem, you need to put yourself first sometimes. You need to put that oxygen mask on first.

You need to be healthy and happy before you go and help others to be healthy and happy, otherwise it’s just not going to have the same effect.

Creating balance in your life means:

Saying no to people sometimes…

Leaving work on time and not spending hours working overtime just to please your boss…

Following your dreams and not following the crowd because that’s what you’re ‘supposed’ to do…

Nurturing and loving yourself and not running yourself to the ground…

Because without putting yourself first, you’re going to live a consistently tilted life.

Look after yourself first | Are You Tilting? How To Balance Work, Travel and Personal Life

I hope these tips on how to balance you work, travel and personal life have helped you to gain more clarity and understand what you need to do in order to feel less tilted.

Life definitely has it’s ups and downs but at the end of the day, we’re in control of how it plays out…

So if you want to travel more, find a way to save the money, create the time and go…

If you want to get back in contact with an old friend, it’s up to you to make the first move…

If you want a successful business, you need to work damn hard at making it happen…

But remember, always strive to come back to that place of balance.


Now it’s over to you! Leave you thoughts in the comments section below…

  • How do you balance work, travel and personal life?
  • What do you struggle with along the way?
  • I’d love to hear what you have to say and I’m sure others will benefit from your experience and advice too, so go ahead and leave a comment. Let’s get a conversation started! 🙂

Comments are closed.