A lot of us are pursuing some sort of personal dream while working a full or part-time job to make ends meet. Before December, that’s where I was at.

I spent 2017 juggling a full time job, Out Loud Studio, and music projects. Because of how passionate I am with everything I do, I got sick often and I was always stressed. I was forced to learn the art of a balanced life because I didn’t have a choice

I want to share things I learned the hard way, in the hopes that you can learn from my challenges and mistakes.

Use Your Calendar

If you have an email address, you have an online calendar that can sync on all of your devices. Use it. Plan your meetings, make time for things that need to get done (even things like cooking), make time for the days you want to go out with friends or spend time with family. Make time for events that you want to go to, and events you have to be seen at. If it’s a weekly activity you never forget, add it too.

Now you can look at your life from a bird’s eye view. You are just as busy as you felt, it wasn’t in your head. If you are fine with this, go ahead and keep yourself occupied at all times. If you are constantly exhausted, it’s time to shift this schedule around a bit.

If new things come up add them to this calendar, if other people need to be there, send them invites. There is no reason you should have such a packed calendar in your head only. Let it be written down and accessible to anyone who may need it. If you don’t want to use an app, then buy a calendar with enough space to write down everything on it, put it somewhere you can see it every day, and keep it updated regularly.

Manage Your Tasks Consistently

It has to become a part of your daily routine to understand what you expect from yourself today, tomorrow, and in the next week.

What I did was look at the task manager at my job (a Google spreadsheet), the task manager at Out Loud (Asana) and add all those tasks to my personal task manager app (Memorigi at the time, but now I use ToDoist).

If there was anything I could do earlier than its due date, the due date would be moved up on Memorigi. If there was anything that was starting to look like it couldn’t be done on time, I would ask whoever I was working with what could be done to move the timeline. It’s okay to ask for extensions as long as you don’t ask the same person too often (once every 4-5 months is more than enough). It is not ok to promise something for a certain deadline and not deliver—especially if that becomes a habit.

The only way to keep this from happening is to organize your tasks. If you aren’t a fan of apps, you can have this written down in a notebook. The key is putting all your tasks from all your responsibilities (including personal things like grocery shopping) in one place, and checking that place in the morning, throughout the day, and before bed.

Be Honest About Where You Are In Life

If you are serious about juggling this kind of life, you have to be honest with yourself and those around you. Tell your friends and family where your priorities lie right now, and manage what they should be able to expect from you in the near future. Ask them to tell you in advance about important events they want you to attend, and remind them that you won’t be as available as you used to be for casual things.

What helped the people in my life understand me was I allowed them to have a quick glance at my calendar. They saw there were time slots in there for them too, and they saw that I truly had no free time otherwise.

Not every boss will be happy about a side-hustle, so I’m not going to tell you to let your full-time boss know about it. I will say, don’t accept any extra work from your 9-5 that you can’t handle. You can say “for personal reasons I am not available for this,” and as long as you keep doing your job well, you shouldn’t have to worry about it.

Take Breaks

Everyone has a different breaking point, but we all have one. Understand yours and schedule time to unwind and relax before you reach that stage. If you don’t. your work will suffer.