Hey there —

Do the “have tos” in your life feel all-consuming?

Is your calendar crammed with obligations while your 9-5 dominates your daylight hours (and then some)?

Do you dream of a completely unscheduled day where you can toss aside your responsibilities and do whatever you like, Ferris Bueller style?

Then you need…work-life balance! Sounds great, right? We all want balance. And we know we need it, especially as burnout continues to rise. 😰

But if one single day of restful luxury feels impossible, how is it practical to expect that we can find more margin in our daily lives?

While it’s true that perfect equilibrium between work, play, and rest may not be possible, there is hope for our spiraling schedules — if we take intentional steps to create healthier rhythms.

But here’s the thing to remember: that rhythm is going to be unique for everyone and will shift over time.

The key is to evaluate your current priorities and…prioritize them. 🔑

We know that’s often easier said than done. So if you’re feeling the exhaustion of trying to juggle it all, take a step back and try the following process to gain some clarity.

First, assess these three areas to evaluate what you actually need (and want) to devote your time and energy to:

#1. Your foundational needs. Two things should always be top priority: your physical health (e.g. sleep, rest, nutrition) and mental health (e.g. activities or hobbies that fill your cup, going to therapy).

#2. Your non-negotiable responsibilities. Work, school assignments, picking the kids up from school — these are the things that have to get done.

#3. What’s most important to you. Whether it’s nurturing new friendships, finally launching your YouTube channel, rehearsing your rap-battle-style wedding vows, or volunteering at your local food bank, decide what commitments are most important to you right now.

Once you know your priorities, and what falls outside these three areas, it’s time to take action.

🙅 Determine your boundaries. It takes intentionality to protect your priorities. If you want to eat dinner with your family each night, that means clocking out at 5 p.m. Decide where you need to draw the line and how you’ll stick with it.

💁 Make necessary changes. If you’re constantly compromising or struggling to maintain your boundaries, you may need to take stronger action. It could be saying no to a non-essential commitment, or a big shift like switching your college major or quitting a demanding job for something more flexible.

Finding a healthy work-life balance means empowering yourself to take back control of your schedule in any way you can.

Of course there will be periods where you must make temporary compromises to handle an unexpected crisis or meet a tight deadline. But by revisiting this practice and making adjustments as needed, you’ll be far less likely to get stuck in an unhealthy, imbalanced rut.

You may worry that things will fall through the cracks or you’ll have to give up too much. But properly prioritizing actually helps you make sure the truly important things happen — and you’ll be far more productive when your stress levels are lower and you feel fulfilled.

While you can’t have it all, you might find you can still have an awful lot — and enjoy it even more. 🥰

Sponsored by Shortform

Get more from top non-fiction books in less time

Hey, Matt here! With a new home and a baby on the way, I’m looking for ways to make more family time while still pursuing my business and self-development goals. And Shortform has been a great tool to help me do just that.

Shortform’s book guides provide a condensed summary of today’s top nonfiction books, delivered in easy to understand language with added insights and exercises to help you apply what you learn.

To help hone my focus and make the most of my work time, I recently downloaded the guide for Cal Newport’s Deep Work. While the audiobook clocks in at 8 hours, Shortform’s audio guide delivered all the key takeaways in a fraction of the time. Here’s some of what I learned:

• Focus is like a mental muscle. Through deliberate training, you can strengthen your focus and expand your mental capacity.
  

• Deep work isn’t just more productive, it’s more fulfilling. Shallow work feels productive and meaningful, but deep work actually moves you toward happiness and fulfillment. That’s because deep work is when you’re most capable of tackling your thorniest problems — yielding the largest rewards.
  

• It’s most effective to approach deep work with structure and discipline. It’s difficult to simply will yourself to do deep work on demand. But if you make deep work a ritual or habit, you no longer have to employ your willpower to overcome distraction.
  

• There are many different ways to make deep work a practice. You can go totally off-grid for a time, schedule a full day of deep work once a month, or designate a block of time for deep work each day.

Get access to the world’s best book guides at Shortform.com/matt and you’ll receive 5 days of unlimited access and an additional 20% discount on the annual subscription.

Check it out →

How to spot signs of toxic productivity

by Erayna Sargent

Speaking of work-life balance…what if you actually love your job and don’t feel the need to work less? How can you know when healthy ambition has crossed the line into toxic productivity? ☢️

Erayna Sargent, mental wellness advocate and founder of workplace-burnout organization Hooky Wellness, answers this question and shares the quarterly self-reflection practice she uses to gauge how productivity is impacting different areas of her life.

It’s a great process to help you avoid burnout and still celebrate your strong work ethic.

Check it out →

If you want to take on big problems, try thinking like a bee

by Mary Halton

According to beekeeper Marianne Gee, the best way to tackle giant problems that seem nearly unsolvable is to think like a tiny honeybee. 🐝

That’s because over a worker bee’s lifetime, they’ll make only 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey — just a fraction of what the hive needs to thrive. But when combined with the efforts of their fellow bees, they leave behind a generational impact.

As the article’s author summarizes: “Keep making honey. Your 1/12th of a teaspoon counts.”

Read the article →

Too Good to Go app

by Too Good to Go

Did you know that globally, more than ⅓ of food becomes “lost” or “wasted”? This includes perfectly edible goods that end up being thrown away when they go unsold or uneaten. 😱 

With the Too Good to Go app, you can help reduce food waste — and get something delicious in return — by purchasing surprise bags from local grocers and restaurants at deeply discounted prices. It’s a win for your stomach, your wallet, and the planet!

Get the app →

QUESTION
Hey Matt! What’s on your mobile homescreen?— Jane S.

ANSWER

As you can see, most of the apps on my phone’s home screen are utilities (Google Maps, Google Calendar, banking, password manager, etc.). But there are a few that I’ve been using frequently to help me with everything from getting better sleep, my mental health, and productivity. Here are three of my favorites:

Daylio: I recently decided to start tracking my mood. I’m up to day 150 now! I plan on making a YouTube video about this soon, but it’s definitely taught me a lot about how my mood changes over time (and what the biggest triggers are that lead me into a downward spiral of anxiety).

Calm: Love this app! There are some brilliant music-scapes that I listen to when I’m flying that always calm my nerves (I tend to get a little nervous on planes), and I always play rain sounds while sleeping. When you live in a major city (which I’ve done for my entire adult life), there are always loud sounds that interrupt your sleep. Rain sounds cover up the racing cars and random screams from neighbors walking by.

TeuxDeux: This is still my favorite productivity app. The reason it’s so great is because it’s so simple. I don’t need lots of bells and whistles when it comes to tracking my to-dos (whether those need to be done today, tomorrow, or in a month's time). This app makes it really easy to quickly jot tasks down without unnecessarily overcomplicating things.

Those are some of the apps that round out my home screen! Hope this helps you keep your own devices intentional and clutterfree!

— Matt

Got a question for the Slow Growth team? Click here to send it our way!

Written by Ashley Martin

Edited by Matt D'Avella & Kerstin Sheppard