By: Natasha Archary
Let’s face it, it’s not practical to have just one job during the pandemic and lockdown. This is why many people have a side hustle to bring in some extra cash. It’s important to balance your side hustle and well being so you focus on your main source of income and don’t drop the ball there.
Working a regular nine to five means there’s little time to manage these hustles and the majority of hustlers tap into their sleep time to do what they need to do. At great personal cost. Juggling more than one career is enough to send you into stressful overdrive and it’s important to find equilibrium and balance the roles accordingly.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults between the ages of 24 to 64 should be getting between seven to nine hours of sleep a night. The guidelines were put together by eighteen leading scientists and researchers who consolidated that sleep is a vital indicator of overall health and well-being.
This afternoon on Kaya Drive, Sizwe talked about side hustles and most of the Kaya 959 listeners had hustles that helped them through difficult financial times.
Listen to the team talk about side hustles:
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Tue 15:13:01 to 15:27:07 Kaya 959 95.9
Also read: Tips for starting a COVID friendly side hustle in South Africa
4 tips to balance your hustle and well-being
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Know when to say no
If you’re burned out and feel like you’re about to pass out, stop yourself from doing anything until you’ve rested. This means switching off your mobile and taking some much needed R&R. Understandably, when you’re trying to launch your own business, you’ll want to give it your all but pushing yourself beyond the brink of exhaustion is not healthy.
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Prioritise
Plan your day to help you stay efficient. Down to every last appointment, meeting and deadline. Give yourself reasonable timeframes to work with and aim to never go above that with each task. If you have to take five meetings after your first job, push to have all five meetings done before a certain time. Giving you ample time to get home, shower and, yes, sleep.
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Eat clean
If you’re trying to stay focused and get through the day with boundless energy, eating a diet rich in whole foods, lean meats and loads of fruit and veggies is essential. Fresh juices throughout the day will help keep your sugar levels up without all the unnecessary junk that energy drinks are loaded with. You have to avoid extreme spikes in blood glucose to keep you at your optimum level of “I got this.”
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Take time for you
It’s great that you want to bring your dreams to life and we respect that remaining in a regular nine to five is not your dream. But pushing yourself too hard can have severe effects on your health. You could work yourself to a heart-attack, stroke, exhaustion or worse: death. Take some time everyday, to relax your body and mind. Whether it’s a fifteen minute walk, meditation, some yoga or a hot bath, give yourself some time to unwind.
Side hustles allow us a little lee-way to enjoy the things our average jobs can’t. We’re able to break even at the end of the month or splurge on our loved ones with the extra cash, so it’s perfectly reasonable to want to keep going. As long as you know where your limits are and try to bring balance to your life, we’re all for it.
