An incredible 45% of Americans have side hustles, according to a survey from Bankrate, similar to a recent report by Zapier showing roughly 40% of Americans juggling full-time gigs with other work. According to a 2021 report by the Department of Education (DfE), around 67 % of workers in England alone are either having multiple careers or are planning to do so.
Most of these multipotentialities or career slashers, as they are called, would have a stable full-time job and at least one freelance or part-time job as side hustles.
Due to rising costs of living and inflation in today’s day and age, there is a growing trend of people finding ways to have multiple jobs in tandem. Apart from those who do this to better make ends meet, others simply want to earn more. I mean, who doesn’t?
While taking on multiple jobs leaves you with more transferable skills and thus, access to more job opportunities, it could also indicate high stress and fatigue levels. How can one juggle multiple pursuits without being easily overwhelmed?
Get your priorities right
Credits: Power Sponsorship
In the process of committing to more responsibilities, you most likely need to forgo activities that are not very urgent or salient at the moment. Otherwise, your health and/or sleep quality might be jeopardized and invite a host of health-related problems.
Rather than sacrificing health or sleep, why not sacrifice perhaps your 2-hour long game session to rest instead? Or you can reduce the game duration if you need a boost of mental energy to continue with your work. Remember, time is of the essence when prioritizing what you need to do, over what you want to do which can take a backseat for a while.
Have sufficient breaks in between work
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Speaking of health problems, around 10% of employees in the United States work multiple jobs and are more prone to working longer hours. True enough, most of them face sleep disorders such as insomnia and apnea due to constantly overworking themselves.
As such, iron out a timetable or planner detailing your daily activities, making sure to include rest blocks of several minutes in between your duties. This way, you get to recharge yourself regularly while staying focused on your work throughout the day. Also, writing or typing down what you set to complete for the day or week, and then ticking your checklist off once done, is an effective strategy to set short-term goals for yourself. Staying motivated is paramount to lasting long in the multiple jobs you have.
Credits: Wendell Carvalho
Multitask, Smartly
Credits: Wrike
Although discouraged due to divided attention among the many tasks, you might have to multitask occasionally to keep up with ever-increasing work demands. In such instances, it is possible to multitask without compromising your performance in each work. Multitasking profiles are usually highly sought after to improve companies’ productivity.
To start, you need to acclimatize well to all types of environments within your company and execute different activities within a set timeframe. Remaining calm often helps one to attain these goals systematically.
Nonetheless, your mind might still be discombobulated by the seemingly endless sea of tasks, especially when the tasks are of entirely different natures. With that, choosing side hustles that are similar could make it easier for you to connect many of your duties to remember them more swiftly. For example, if you are working as a full-time baker, you can consider side jobs such as being a food reviewer or a culinary arts content creator.
Another way to multitask smartly is knowing the right time to do so. You cannot talk on the phone with a client while type-writing, as you might accidentally type some phrases being uttered by the client at that juncture (I’m guilty of this !). Some examples of multitasking at the right times include
- designing a website while updating other sites on separate web pages,
- editing presentation slides while taking note of feedback from your supervisor,
- communicating with job applicants while perusing their resumes.
Don’t be shy to ask for help
Credits: Gründer.de
It may be daunting at first but once you mingle with others at work, you might befriend reliable colleagues whom you can turn to for support. Since everyone at a workplace is experiencing similar challenges together, and some might even have side hustles, surely there is at least someone who can relate to your struggles and help you out.
Collaboration at work is one of the core values of most companies and is ergo often emphasized before, during, or after meetings. This is because tight-knit teams often result in better accomplishments and a longer-lasting positive impact on the company or industry, compared to a culture where everyone works alone. The exchange of ideas, suggestions, and experiences adds to the quality of a project since everyone has different skills and strengths. Therefore, if you need a helping hand to perhaps complete a certain assignment so that you can attend to your other jobs, there is no harm in asking around. After all, no man is an island.
But of course, always try to carry out your tasks by yourself as much as possible, to avoid becoming dependent on others to do your job. Also, out of courtesy, you should extend the same kindness to the person or people who help you, by offering to help them whenever they need or appear to need support.
To conclude, managing your time, setting realistic expectations, and maintaining a calm composite are some of the keys that would unlock your ability to balance among multiple jobs.