3 Simple Time And Energy Management Tips

If you have the opportunity to work from home right now, it’s the perfect time to get started on those side projects—or side hustles—that you’ve been dreaming of.

We know it can be a bit overwhelming to do so, especially if your dream side hustle has been, well, nothing but a dream, until now.

The good news? We’re here to help.

Managing Your Time And Energy Can Be Challenging

A side hustle is so rewarding and fun, but it means you’re juggling a ton of stuff right now. You’ve got to master managing your time and energy to make everything work.

You don’t want your side hustle to add stress to your life, especially when you may be facing more stress than usual (i.e. with your kids staying home from school, shifting to working remote, etc.).

The best way to make your side hustle a source of joy and motivation—instead of stress— is with some good, old-fashioned time and energy management tips.

Here are our 3 simple tips for mastering your time, energy, and money with a side hustle.

1. Create and stick to your own schedule.

Remote work comes with a lot of flexibility. Bye-bye, morning commute!

But it’s easy to abuse this flexibility. In reality, remote work shouldn’t be too different than physically going to an office. Even if you’re working on your side hustle, stick to some kind of routine.

Create a schedule and stick to it. That means:

• Waking up around the same time every day.
• Eating breakfast and making coffee.
• Showering and getting dressed—with real pants, please.

Try to make a schedule that’s as normal as possible right now. You want a sense of normalcy in your day so your job and your side hustle don’t drain you.

If you have kiddos at home, do your best to make a loose schedule and routine for them, too. That will give you more predictability and time to focus on your work.

2. Block off time for your side hustle.

Now that you’ve made your schedule, you need to carve out some time for your side hustle. It’s best to stick to a regular block of time just for your side hustle. That way, your kids or spouse know what you’re up to and won’t bug you when you’re trying to work.

You can try making time for your side hustle by:

• Utilizing break times: Meal prep on Sundays so that you can use lunchtime to work on your side hustle instead of cooking.
• Combining exercise and your side hustle: Walk on the treadmill in the mornings while using that as brainstorming time for your side hustle.
• Identifying your most productive times of the day and scheduling out a “side hustle block” during that time.

3. Track your time with an app or calendar.

Have you ever said, “I’m sticking to my schedule today,” but it just didn’t happen?

We get it. Life gets in the way of plans.

The best way to prevent deviations like this is through discipline.

The best way to get disciplined about your time is tracking it with your app or calendar. There are plenty of time tracking apps you can find online for free, but we like Timeular and TomatoTimer, for starters.

This helps you:

• Spend an appropriate amount of time at your day job
• Not feel overwhelmed by your side hustle
• Carve out time to actually relax, decompress, and be a person

If you don’t know where to get started, check out some of our favorite apps like Basecamp, Asana, and Hive.

The bottom line

We want you to be happy and healthy, so make sure you’re managing your time and energy appropriately right now. Create a schedule, make time for your side hustle, and track your time to make the most of your energy.

Once you get into the swing of things, you’ll be well on your way to time-management heaven and remote work harmony. Good luck and happy side hustling!