How to Combine a Full-time Job and a Side hustle

When you’re trying to change your life and work on your goals as much as you can, your calendar fills up quickly. I have a full-time job, two volunteer projects that I am a part of, and this blog. Additionally, I’m trying to learn French and make something to eat every day.

That leaves me with very little free time and not a day goes by that I didn’t dream of working remotely (or fewer hours).

To reach your goals you need to sacrifice, but that doesn’t mean you’d have to be unhappy. You just have to make smart choices and spend your time well. For example, you can use your commute to your advantage.

My life has gotten much easier since I’ve started to prioritize and make every hour count. There are so many things in life that actually aren’t giving you anything but simply waste your time. In this post, I share some tips on how to make your busy life work.

1. Prioritize

It’s easy to feel that you have a million things going on in your life. Or maybe it feels like there isn’t that much going on, but you still don’t have time to do everything or start the side hustle you’ve been planning on having for a year now. That is why you need to prioritize.

List down the things that you absolutely have to do and cut out the little meaningless things that seem to fill up your life, such as going grocery shopping many times a week. There might just be also those things that take up your time, but give very little in return in terms of your future.

Do you hang out with people that actually aren’t very good friends to you? Do you play online games? Are you still hanging on to an old hobby or volunteer project that gives very little to you? These things need to be cut out of your life so that you can spend your precious 24 hours well and change your life for the better.

2. Pick a good side hustle

There are lots of different side hustles to choose from. You can teach a language, sell items online or proofread texts, to name a few. However, it doesn’t make much sense to just pick the first side hustle that comes to mind.

While you of course have to take your skills into consideration, you should also think about their value to you in the long term. When your side hustle isn’t just about making money, but also about creating a more secure future, you will feel more motivated. An ideal side hustle fits your schedule and your resume, and opens doors in the future.

3. Make your everyday life easier

It is frustrating how many hours your job and commute take and on top of that you have to go to the store, clean, pay bills, and do laundry. Not to mention those little things that just seem to show up, like having to go to the hardware store. The good thing is, you can save a lot of time by setting up your life wisely.

Instead of making lunch and dinner every day, you can meal prep on Sundays for the coming week or keep individual portions in the freezer saved for those days when you simply don’t have time to make anything.

Instead of cleaning the whole apartment once a week because “you have to”, clean what actually needs to be cleaned, and don’t worry about vacuuming a room that doesn’t need to be vacuumed yet.

4. Keep your free time to the minimum

Of course, we all need some free time and it is just as important as work time. But it is easy to fall into the trap of slouching on the couch right after coming back from work, checking social media every hour, and watching way too many episodes of your third favorite series.

The thing is, you don’t need that much free time if you just spend it wisely.

Watching one episode on Netflix is refreshing, but watching three isn’t. Checking Instagram once or twice a day can be fun and make you feel connected to others, but checking it all the time is not going to make you feel good.

You need to choose what is important to do every day and what can be done less or ditched from your life altogether. And keep in mind, that you don’t need to do all the fun things every day. Maybe only watch TV every other day or only go out with your friends on the weekends.

5. Have Clear Goals and Dreams

This one is very important. To stay motivated, you need to be clear about your goals. You need to know where you are going and what you have to do today to get there. It helps to break down your big goals into smaller, actionable steps.

You can also manifest your future, create vision boards, and surround yourself (especially on social media) with people who are where you want to be. When you make it clear to yourself, that today you need to get these things done, it is easier to keep on track and not give in to any temptations.

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I hope this post gave you some ideas on how to get more done without feeling overwhelmed. I will write more on this topic in the coming posts because this is a big and important topic. Let me know in the comments if you feel more motivated!

If you need some extra motivation, read these motivational quotes for hard work!