#300: How to Find Balance with Writing and a Full-Time Job

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Recently I had a question from a Christian Book Academy member, Stephanie, and she asked, how do we balance our author life and our regular day to day job life and when or how do we know when to take that step to quit the job and be able to focus more on the writing author life? And she says, I, I feel I'm not focused enough on the writing because of my other job. And she says, what do you do? Can you give me any advice? This is a great question, Stephanie, and I think that a lot of people can relate to it. I thought this would be a great topic to cover. I have a few thoughts for you. First of all, I honestly don't know if we will ever completely find, find that work life balance, right? Or the balance between our writing and our regular work. You know, we always talk about balance, but there was a time a few years ago I was praying to God about this. I'm like, lord, I just don't feel balanced. I just don't feel like my life is imbalance. How do I get it in balance? And I wanted balance. And I felt like he said to me, shelley, what's important is not necessarily having everything in perfect balance, but being in alignment with me. And so when we are in alignment with what God has for us in this season and at this time, things are going to flow. And what he showed me is that sometimes when I am in alignment with him, sometimes that looks like things are really out of balance. So there may be seasons where I'm really focusing a lot on one specific area. There might be other seasons, I'm really focusing on another thing. So there could be times that you are able to take more time for your writing, or maybe your work is more intense in certain seasons or certain days or certain times. And so you kind of back away from your writing a little bit more in that season. So that's something to think about. But when we are in alignment with him, it means that we're listening to what he has for us. And I love that you're asking this question. Well, what I would recommend is taking this question to God in a business meeting with him and get out your journal, you know, write it out and just start writing out your frustrations, writing out your questions. Writing out your ideas, writing out all the things, and then ask God, what do you think about this? And then just start writing what you sense that he's saying. Now, don't worry about getting it, all right? But just start writing out what you sense him saying. And what I have found over and over and over is that when I feel overwhelmed or confused or I don't know what to do, if I'll just start writing it and I'll just start praying, God will begin to bring clarity the more I write. Like, and then I look back, and I look back what I was writing in the beginning, and it was like, oh, my goodness, that was totally different than the outcome of what I really decided to do by the end of that time. Right? So alignment, you know, seek for alignment with God versus balance. But also, what are some things that you can do to create more space for your writing in your current situation? So instead of always thinking, oh, you know, life will be better when. Or always wanting to think about a different scenario, a different circumstance, what is it that you can do right now? So let me just share an example. This is in real time. I'm an artist as well as a writer, as well as an entrepreneur. I have multiple passions and interests. And so lately my art has been getting pushed off to the side. And I really have decided to focus more on it being for me versus really growing it as a business. Although I still have things that I'm selling. But when I decided to change that focus, I never really was intentional of how do I still create space for it, you know, because it just brings so much joy to me. And when I'm painting and when I'm creating, I have more joy. But then that joy spills out into every area of my life that created creativity, then spills out into my business, into my writing and all the things. And yet I wasn't making time for it. So I really. I really, like, started to reflect on this. Why was I not making time for it? God began to show me a few things. You know, first of all, you know, I had made it a business, and once I made it a business, then I had all these other business things to do. And I wasn't just enjoying it to enjoy it. Now for your writing, it's different. You know, you do want to make it a business, but I'm just sharing this with you as an example. For me, the second thing was I was getting into all these new projects. They were taking all my creative energy, and I just was, you know, trying to get them all Done really quick, really fast. And I realized that I just wasn't allowing enough brain space for that time. The third thing was I've personally realized lately I've just been spending way too much time on social media and that really drains my creativity. And so recently I hired a community manager and I'm taking steps so that I don't have to be on social media as much. Setting boundaries, doing things. And then finally I was talking with an art mentor and she was like, Shelly, you know, could you like do some painting first thing in the morning? And then, you know, when you're fresh, when you have energy and then that brings you your joy and then you go into your day with that joy. She said when she was working full time, that's what she did, she would start with some painting. It doesn't have to be a long amount of time for you. It could be 30 minutes of writing and just something that just fills you. So make this something, a time where you're doing something that is fun and joyful and don't use that time to do the hard things of marketing and stuff. Block off other times for that. But unless that's the thing that brings you joy and you get so excited about it.

Lately that's what I've been doing. I have been setting aside some time in the morning and instead of scrolling on social media, checking into email, doing all those things that sucked up a bunch of time in the morning, I'm just waiting. And it's really, really hard to set that boundary right. But I'm waiting and I'm having my time with God. And then I have some time to paint, I do some exercise and then I start my day. And I don't know how long this will go, but what I'm saying is sometimes we have to be intentional. So could you get up a half an hour earlier so you could write and make progress on your next book? When are you best? Maybe you're not best in the morning, maybe in the evenings are your best time. What is it that's taking up your time? So you know, if you do a time audit, you'll see what's taking up your time. And for me it was, you know, it was an eye opener that you. Yeah, I was spending a lot of time on social media. Not only that, social media drains me. And so I love it. I have a love hate relationship with it. Right. But you'll be able to see where you have pockets of time and use the small pockets of time. So when you are working a full time job sometimes maybe you'll have to take your lunch break or you get to. Right, you get to take your lunch break. That's how Dr. Tim Riordan has written most of his books. Being a busy pastor and doing multiple other things.

Use the dictation on your phone. Capture those small moments as well. But give yourself grace. You're working a full time job. You don't have to be keeping up with someone who's doing this full time. Let go of comparison, let go of expectations and stay in alignment with what God has for you in this season. Now, as far as transitioning into writing full time, that's really something that I believe only God can tell you. Now is the time. But I do believe that it's good to begin to prepare. So you could begin to set aside some money each month into a savings account and have some savings set aside, you know, when you know, when you're ready. But you're starting to build that up now, you know, that's your savings account specifically to help you transition. When I was transitioning out of my physical therapy job, I had the type of job that I could transition with less and less hours. So I went from full time to part time and then I went from part time to temporary on call. And because they knew me and trusted me and I could do most everything, I still was pretty much working part time hours, but I didn't have to with temporary on call, I could say no at any time. And so then I just gradually weaned myself off and you know, we had paid off all of our debts so we didn't have an, you know, we didn't have a ton of bills. So that's something to think about as well. Can you start to begin to pay off your debts, make sure that you don't have a ton of bills and then, you know, just keep praying about it. Asking the Lord you and maybe there are some things that you can do in the meantime. Maybe, you know, there's a part time job that you can transition into it. Maybe your position doesn't allow you to be part time, but maybe you could get another job that is part time. But you know, you're able because you've paid off your bills and you saved up some money. You can try it, right? You can transition to a part time job and then see from there. It's really a huge decision and it's a huge step. And I will not say that it was easy when I took that step back in 2011 and I quit my physical therapy job to go Full time. And it has been difficult. There have been times when we haven't been able to buy what we wanted to. You know, we've decided to live under our means and not to live on credit cards. And so, you know, I think that's also a sign, like, you know, you know, if this is meant for you to be at this particular time, I really believe that God's going to provide. But you may have to change your lifestyle too, right? You may have to give up some things or, you know, change your lifestyle a bit so that you decrease your bills. And there's all sorts of financial advice. I am not a financial advisor. I'm not here to try to give you the exact advice of when to do it, but when God is leading you to do it. And he led CJ and I. CJ was already a full time entrepreneur. I went full time in September of 2011. It's been 10 years. And he's provided. We've made a ton of sacrifices. It's been very tight at times. We've deliberately chosen to live without credit cards and debt. And so there's been times we haven't been able to go on vacations or haven't been able to buy things. But God has provided. And I believe that when he's called you to do something, he will not only show you when he will show you how and he will provide for you in that moment. But don't just bail on your full time job because you want to. Right?

Needs to be God's timing. And if you do start to transition out and you realize, whoa, this just isn't working, you could probably transition back to a full time job. There's options and there's choices. But I hope that this has helped you stay in alignment with God, hear from him, have regular business meetings with him, and then just begin to prepare and begin to ask the Lord, what are the steps that you can take to begin this transition to a full time entrepreneur? Right. That's basically what you would be. And maybe there are other things you can add that you can do to create income as an entrepreneur besides just, you know, not just, but besides selling books. There could be other things that you could do. You know, I know you do some coaching and you have courses and so there's other things that you can also offer that, that can help you fill the gap. But I hope that this has been helpful and let me just pray for any of you that are in this situation balancing, you know, your, your full time job, your writing and then considering, could I do this full time one day. So, Lord, we just thank you so much. We thank you for what you're doing. We thank you for Stephanie and for every writer right now that is in this position. Lord, I just pray your favor would be upon them, your blessings would be upon them. I pray that you would lead them, you would guide them, you would show them the way to go and God, that you would be glorified in their decisions, that you would help them to be in alignment with you, even if that means that it looks like their life is out of balance to other people. They're in alignment with you in this season and I pray that you would just give them wisdom and insight of even how to create space for their writing, even in the situation they're in right now. And I also pray that you would just give wisdom in what steps to take to prepare for possibly doing this full time. Or is this even something they are to do full time? Lord, I just pray that you would give them that insight and that wisdom. We thank you, Lord. We thank you that whatever you have for us, it is good, it is for our good and it is for you to for your glory, to glorify you. And so we thank you for this. In Jesus powerful name, Amen. Amen and amen. I hope this helped you. And I pray that God continues to lead you every step of the way.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.