Four Tactics for Automating Your Tasks and Creating Space for Work-Life Balance

It’s Wednesday, you’ve had a frantic morning with your family, you need to go grocery shopping, your house is a mess and you can’t find your keys, you arrive to work late (again!) and you realize you still need to type up the notes from yesterday’s meeting before your 9 am call. A sense of overwhelm starts to creep in and for the rest of the day you feel like a hamster on a wheel, never able to catch up to what you’re trying to achieve.

Life is busy. We all know this to be true. If the above scenario feels a little too familiar, you’re not alone. And even better? There are tools to help you achieve your ultimate goal: a sense of work-life balance.

It’s common knowledge that we must make space for rest and rejuvenation. Sleep, exercise, spending time with loved ones, connecting with yourself and others around you. These are all vital things to lead a harmonious life. But how? The power of automation.

Tactic 1: Rituals

Rituals are automated behavior and internalized habits. Just like brushing your teeth each morning, you can create rituals during your workday to maximize productivity to save time and effort. Yes, it takes a little pre-planning, but in the long run, you’ll thank yourself.

Automating behavior makes it instinctual and takes one more thing off your plate. Think of rituals as a rhythm to your day. Rhythms introduce stability and when we’re intentional about the rhythms we create, we can shift from being at the mercy of our lives to setting the tone for our days. For example, check your emails for the first 10-minutes of each workday and then don’t look at them again until 11am. Schedule lunch for the same time each day. Book a yoga class on the same morning each week. As you automate your behavior into a ritual and take control of your routine, you’ll feel as though you’re in the driving seat of your life—because you will be!

Tactic 2: Templates

Do you find yourself sending the same emails every week? Creating the same document? Your future self will thank you for creating templates for items you need frequently. Save yourself time and achieve more by doing less. Establish canned email responses, meeting agendas, or contracts. Learn to love the ‘copy and paste’ function on your computer as without a doubt, templates increase efficiency, which fast-tracks you to success.

FullFocus.co has a collection of downloadable templates for you to try, including the Ideal Week. These are part of our proven productivity system and

Tactic 3: Workflows

In your journey towards work-life balance, learn to love processes, plans, and checklists. Think of your life like a chocolate chip cookie recipe, you have all the ingredients but you can’t just throw everything in at the same time and hope for the best. You need to follow the instructions (the cookie’s ‘workflow’) to achieve the results you want.

You can reclaim precious minutes by reducing ‘thinking time’, going on autopilot and following a checklist. Start small, try meal prepping each week or creating a set agenda for your weekly team meeting. These checklists automate mundane tasks and implement strategies to make your life easier. Plus, share your processes with people around you so they can assist you and know how you operate.

Tactic 4: Technology

There is an app for everything these days and technology can be a secret weapon for reclaiming precious time each day. Simplify your daily routine with the help of technology. Love to stop at a coffee shop on the way to work? Pre-order your drink on the way there and have it waiting for you upon arrival. Hate taking notes during Zoom calls? Record the conversation, have it automatically transcribed and sent to you afterwards. These seemingly simple, small things can transform your day and allow you to focus on what’s important to you.