What to do When you Have the Time for Your Side Hustle but not the Energy
A common problem that I see is people often tell me that they don’t have time for their side hustle, or as much time as they’d like, but when we analyse their week we find the time. It is just spent doing something else - watching TV, scrolling social media, pottering around the house not doing anything particularly useful. In other words, activities which require little to no effort or brain power.
And that’s the problem. Working on your side hustle takes effort and focus, which is hard to come by at the end of a busy day. It is made even more difficult when you don’t look after your wellbeing. And by wellbeing I mean getting enough sleep, exercising, eating well, etc. And this is what I want to look at in this post. How you can ensure that you set yourself up for success and maximise your energy levels so you can spend time working on your side hustle instead of frittering away hours because you’re too exhausted to do anything else.
Sleep
Not getting enough sleep is something that I see a lot. Or at least amongst my friends and acquaintances it seems common. Going to be early appears to be frowned upon. It’s staying up until midnight then falling out of bed at 8.30am and booting up their laptop for their day job at 9am that is exciting. When I say at 9pm that I need to leave as I go to bed at 9.30pm I get some funny looks. But I don’t care, as I know that tomorrow I will be glad that I left early and went home to bed. That I followed my usual routine, as that’s what gives me the energy to work on my side hustle after eight hours at my day job.
Now whilst I’m no sleep expert I nevertheless wanted to share with you some good habits when it comes to getting quality sleep. It’s just things that I’ve learnt through reading and listening to podcasts. You’ve probably heard of at least some of them, but what you need to be asking yourself is, are you doing them.
Firstly, go to bed when you’re tired. When you’re stretched out on the sofa it can feel like too much of an effort to go upstairs and brush your teeth, take your make-up off, etc. So you just stay there on the sofa delaying your bedtime or maybe even falling asleep there and waking up later with a stiff neck and feeling dreadful. My tip is to get yourself ready for bed before you feel tired. I usually do this about 8.15pm. Then we watch a bit of TV and all I need to do after that is to slip between the sheets.
Stop drinking caffeine after midday. Even if you don’t think it affects you try going without it for a while and see if your sleep improves. Don’t use your phone, laptop or tablet before bed. That blue light is a killer when it comes to stimulating your brain. I’ve found myself feeling really tired, but I’m just laying there wide awake. If your mind races a lot try journalling. Get your thoughts down on paper before bed so you’re not worrying about things so much when you’re trying to get to sleep. A journal or notebook can also be useful if you’re the person who wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about something you’ve got to do tomorrow and worrying that you’re going to forget. Write it down and go back to sleep, knowing that you won’t forget it because you’ve committed it to paper. If you struggle to sleep because of noise or light outside your bedroom window try using ear plugs and/or an eye mask. I always take these on holiday with me and I’ve found they work wonders in helping me sleep in noisy hotel rooms.
Exercise
It may sound counterintuitive, but doing some exercise can actually boost your energy levels. Laura Vanderkam, in her book Tranquility by Tuesday, has as one of her nine rules, ‘Move by 3pm’. According to her exercise doesn’t take time, it makes time. She believes that just just minutes exercise in the first half of your day can make a significant change. It doesn’t need to mean going to the gym. It can be a ten minute walk, push-ups, sit-ups or jumping jacks.
Diet
Eating healthily means different things to different people depending on factors such as your values, religion, experiences as a child, where you live in the world, views about food. I don’t have to tell you though that eating lots of cake, biscuits, chocolate or sugary drinks isn’t good for you and is not going to help your energy levels. I eat the first three in moderation, but certainly not every day and mostly not every week. When it comes to sugary drinks I can’t see the point so I tend to stick to water, tea and coffee, with the occasional alcoholic drink on special occasions. My habits might be too strict for you, but take a hard look at what you’re eating and ask yourself if you could make some healthier choices. Once you’ve done this see if your energy levels improve. A crucial part of a good diet is drinking enough water. Advice seems to vary about how much we should drink, but at least a few glasses a day will keep you hydrated.
Monitor Your Energy Levels
We’re all different and whilst most people have more energy first thing in the morning this isn’t true for everyone. There are some night owls who get the most done when people like me are in bed. A useful exercise is to monitor your energy levels throughout the day. Score it on a scale of 1 to 10 and then look back at it at the end of the week. You could also keep a record of the other activities I’ve already talked about such as whether you slept well or exercised that day. You will then be able to see whether the changes you’re implementing are improving your energy levels.
Motivation
A crucial part of finding the energy to do something, including working on your side hustle, is having the motivation. If life feels like one constant slog you’re unlikely to want to boot up your laptop at the end of the day to work on your side hustle. Make sure you’re taking some time out for you. Even if you’ve got young children perhaps your partner can look after them one evening a week whilst you spend time with friends or even just have a long soak in the bath with a good book.
Setting goals and reviewing progress in your side hustle can also be really motivating and energising. If you are excited about what you are doing you’ll find the energy to work on your side hustle even if you’ve had a long and busy day. If we really want to do something we can all find the time and energy to do it.
Conclusion
So there we are, just a few of my thoughts about increasing your energy levels so you can use that time I know that you have to work on your side hustle. You don’t need to do it all at one. Maybe just pick one or two areas to work on. And I’ve just given snippets of information about each area. You’ll find loads of videos about exercise, healthy eating, sleeping well, on YouTube. Find someone you like, someone you feel an affinity with and see what advice they’ve got to offer.
For more help with finding time for your side hustle get my free guide ‘Five Simple Steps to Making Time for a Side Hustle’. You’ll discover how to stop working overtime, spend less time on housework, make your side hustle a priority and keep motivated.