Work-life balance with a Serious Hobby — DIY your own Workboard!
Transitioning to a full-time job when you have been a freelancer for years is no easy feat. I struggled to manage my time when I joined Mighty Bear Games full time as a Marketing Intern (read about my internship experience at MBG here!), but now, thanks to what I fondly call my Workboard, I’m managing my time a lot better!
In this article, I will be breaking down aspects of my Workboard, how it has helped me, and how you can make your own Workboard catered to your needs! 🥰
What is a Workboard?
I’m not going to lie, I got overwhelmed pretty quickly once I started working full time. I wanted to continue making miniatures and creating process videos of them, but they take a lot of time and that put me in a constant state of thinking I needed to work work WORK (after I’m done working my day job 😵)
It became very unhealthy and I would start to feel guilty for RESTING. 😅
I was worried about getting burnt out, so I started to dig deeper into it. I wondered if it was because I couldn’t see the whole picture. Perhaps it was the lack of planning, which made me feel the need to constantly work whenever I got the chance? 🤔
So I decided to create something to help me visualise my month better, and break down each task on my list into more doable chunks. I’m a crafty person by nature, so I ended up making something that was physical.
In short, the Workboard was created out of necessity. I wanted to make sure I get ONE video out every month minimum, while still having a social life, and while working full-time. More importantly, I wanted to be able to rest without guilt.
Yet another time management tool?
I hear you — you already have Calendar, Notes, Habit Tracking, and all sorts of other apps that help you manage your time. I use them too! I even use GoodNotes and have a monthly digital bujo as a mini diary.
These apps, however, tend to ask for minute details that end up making it very difficult to visualise your month as a whole. What my Workboard does is to show me immediately what my month looks like at a glance.
Will I be getting enough exercise and rest this month? Today’s been a rough day, can I postpone today’s work to another day? Do I have time to clean the house this Saturday when I’m going to be out?
These were questions I realised I’d been asking myself more, and I personally felt the positive effects of these self-care thoughts!
Being a physical board helps as well, as it’s really easy to reschedule my plans by switching the tabs out 😀 — no need to wait for an app to load, no need to zoom in and out! (Although, if you can make it work for you digitally as well, why not?)
Workboard Breakdown
Here’s how I made my workboard ✨
I started by purchasing this magnetic whiteboard monthly board. I had no intention of using it as a whiteboard (writing things down takes so. much. time.) but I wanted a hardy material that I could add and remove things from repeatedly without it tearing or getting scratched.
The top of the board came in handy for parking unused post-it blocks or when I’m planning for the next month and rearranging the Workboard!
If you start your week on a Monday like me, no biggie — just paste a piece of tape over and write over it! Don’t be afraid to make this board YOURS.
I also found these beautiful translucent post-it notes, which were more of a plastic texture, making them more durable than normal paper post-its. They’re not really great to write on with ink/ballpoint pens, but for this purpose, it’s PERFECT.
The last thing you’ll need will be a permanent marker like a Sharpie to write on the post-it. Once you’ve got everything together, you’re ready to make your very own Workboard! 🤩
I started out by figuring out which colours represent which category. Of course, you can do whatever you want at this point, but this was my thought process:
- Yellow and Light Blue: Brightest colour, good for my personal projects as they stand out.
- Pink: Looks pretty, so I want it to be the main colour on my board 🤣 I use it to represent something that will be there most of the time, like my day job.
- Green: Need more “greens” in my life so… it was a good representative for exercise and social calls.
- Dark Blue: REST!!!
I thought about how to split each day into chunks and decided that having 3 blocks per day was the best for me.
After that, I measured out the size of each day on the Workboard, and created “templates” with a piece of cardboard.
I cut the post-its by pasting them on the cardboard template, and planning in my head how many chunks of time it would take. For example, WORK would probably take the morning and afternoon blocks during the weekdays, so I use the Two Block template for it. Below is a video of how I use the templates if you’re confused!
It doesn’t have to be perfect (especially since the boxes in the magnetic whiteboard monthly board are not always consistent anyway), but having a template helps you make as many blocks you need the quickest way!
Next, I wrote down what each block represented! Try to make it as short as possible — we don’t want too many details here. To get the flow going, I started with the easiest blocks.
Step 1. Pink: Day Job/Must-dos!
I tried to predict my schedule as much as possible, so I wouldn’t have to make last minute tweaks or reschedule if something cropped up suddenly.
Maybe I’ll take half day off some days? Maybe I’d have OT and no time for my personal work? I also clean the house at least once per week with my partner and I should plan for that otherwise it won’t get done 🤣 I do groceries every Monday, maybe I’ll create an Errands block.
Step 2. Green: Exercise/Social
I have yoga every week at fixed times, so I covered the blocks that I would have to block out for exercising with this post-it. I did the same for social activities with family and friends.
Step 3. Yellow and Light Blue: Personal Projects
Now that I knew my days were split into 3 blocks, I made sure the time I allocated for each aspect of my work was sufficient to complete the required work. This part was straightforward as I already have an idea of how much time it takes to complete specific aspects of my personal projects.
Some projects end up taking longer, so if those are in flight, I allocate more blocks to cater for them. I also try to split them up into chunks that I am comfortable stopping at and continuing with at another time to cater to my overall workflow. Here’s my breakdown:
Reference Board → Colour Mixing → MAKE (x2 blocks[additional +3 just in case]) → Take Photos → Edit Videos (additional +2 blocks just in case) → Edit Photos → Upload Video + Post on Socials
This helps me to understand how much time it takes to finish a small project (minimum 8 blocks!) and also have some contingency available.
Step 4. Blue: Rest Days!
It’s been a lot easier to plan my rest days with this block category! I try to make it a point to have ONE full rest day per month minimum — where I don’t think about any work or have any social events.
This also helps in planning my social events because depleting social energy is a real thing 🙃 It’s easy to look at the board and tell my friends “yeah sorry, can’t do this week, my schedule is full”!
I try to only remove a REST block when absolutely necessary and if I feel mentally okay to work for that period of time. And when I rest, I make sure I REST. No thinking of work of any kind. Play games, watch shows, go for a massage. TAKE A NAP. 😍
Once your set-up is done…
You’re good to go for months and even years! ✨
The great thing about this is that you will definitely have leftover post-it notes to make additional blocks you may have missed out on (I definitely did initially) and you can always change things up when you need to.
When it’s time to plan for the next month, I usually go through the same steps laid out above. Tip: It helps to get started with the easier parts first! 😀
Don’t be too harsh on yourself. Remember that plans can change!
This Workboard isn’t meant to micromanage your life, but to help you shift things around when unforeseen circumstances arise.
I keep track of my board every start and end of the month to see my progress, and most of the time (if not all), they look COMPLETELY different from when I first plan them — and that’s okay! ✨
Don’t feel bad about changing your plans, focus on how you feel. Chances are, you will still be able to finish what you planned to do for the month (if they are reasonable) and also still get ample rest while doing so.
Some examples below:
I hope this step-by-step breakdown of how I set up my Workboard will help you make your own, and that having the ability to oversee your month at a glance will be as beneficial to you as it is to me! 💖
If you want more tips on how to manage your time, my colleagues here at Mighty Bear Games have written a few articles about it (How to be the master of your time by @yuxin, Home Remedies by Cornelia Dyana) so be sure to check them out as well!
If you enjoyed this article, slam that clap button and share with your creative friends who you think could benefit from having a Workboard! 🥰
