Five Tips And Tricks for Juggling Multiple Jobs

In the age of gig economy work and online freelancing, managing multiple jobs is more common than ever before. That said, learning how to juggle two jobs isn’t easy and can be very stressful, leading to mental health problems and burnout.

It doesn’t have to be this way however. While having multiple full time jobs certainly isn’t right for everybody, if you’re thinking of trying it then there are few things you can do to make life easier for yourself.

1. Be Honest With Your Employers

Obviously this depends a lot on your exact situation and on who your employers are but, as a rule, honesty is the best policy. Trying to organise your hours while also hiding the fact that you have a second job is a one way ticket to stress town.

Although some employers may not take kindly to you having a second job, there’s generally not much they can do about it unless your contract includes a clause to that effect. If they have included such a clause then you should definitely speak to your manager before taking on other work. They may be able to give you permission depending on the situation.

What you don’t want is to find yourself working around a tangled web of scheduling conflicts. That’s the kind of situation that can blow up quickly, causing a lot of trouble for everyone involved. Even if you think you can manage it, all it takes is one emergency to throw everything off balance.

2. Know Your Limits

Everyone has a different capacity for stress. Some people can work 60 hour weeks in the most difficult circumstances you can imagine and still have no trouble unwinding at the end of the day. If that works for you then great, but most people aren’t like that.

Before taking on a second job you have to think seriously about whether you mentally handle that extra work. Remember that it’s not just about the extra hours spent working but about all the difficulties that go with it.

As a rule, if you’re pushing the limits of what you’re used to, then make sure to do it gradually. Try to make sure you’re in a situation where, if it is too much, you can back out. Whatever you do, if you can avoid it, don’t put yourself in a situation where you have to work like a superhuman just to get by. That’s exactly how burnout begins.

3. Mix Freelance & Traditional Employment

If you’re coming from traditional employment and you’re curious about how to juggle two full time remote jobs, then freelance work may be the answer for you.

Freelance work is excellent because it gives you the capacity to place limits on your hours.

Finding 60 hours is just a bit too much? Cut back on your clients and you can reduce it to 50 hours, without having to sacrifice any more than that.

It also helps not to have two bosses. While freelance clients can be as demanding as a traditional employer, you have a lot more agency in setting the terms of the contract. With most traditional employers, they tell you how it’s going to be and you take it or leave it. For freelance, you’re offering a service. If the client agrees to that service they’re agreeing to the terms you’ve laid out to them.

4. Decide On Your Goals

While some people might decide to juggle two jobs because they just love work that much, for the most part, second jobs are a faster route to savings. That’s a great aspiration but unless you’re willing to spend the rest of your life grinding away, make sure to set yourself some goals.

That could be a timescale – a date by which you’ll have saved up enough money that you can return to your regular hours. Alternatively, you might be planning to transition from your current role into your new one.

Either way, it’s a lot easier to handle stressful work when you can see a light at the end of the tunnel. About the worst thing you can do is trap yourself in a situation working hours you can’t handle.

5. Plan Your Holidays

For people managing two jobs, it’s amazing how often holidays can get sucked up by work. The only solution to this problem is careful planning to make sure that, once in a while, you get some real downtime.

Whether that’s a week abroad or just a couple of days in the garden, getting those plans laid down early and sticking to your guns about them is vital to maintaining some sense of work life balance. Not to mention, it gives you something to look forward to as you work.