- Rihanna started blocking off personal days with a “P” on her calendar to achieve better work-life balance, according to Interview Magazine.
- She said taking time to enjoy little things like grocery shopping helps her find passion at work.
- The businesswoman’s tips even caught the eye of President Trump on Twitter.
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Rihanna found a few new techniques to help with balancing work and family — hacks so good that even the president is taking note.
The Grammy winner and businesswoman started adding the letter “P” to her calendar to block off personal days, which she takes in two-to-three day chunks. Rihanna began blocking her calendar a couple years ago after she found herself unhappy, both personally and professionally.
“It’s only the last couple years that I started to realize that you need to make time for yourself, because your mental health depends on it,” she told actress Sarah Paulson in Interview Magazine. “If you’re not happy, you’re not going to be happy even doing things that you love doing.”
Taking time for herself and her family in Barbados improved her mental health and got her more excited about work.
“I never want work to feel like a chore,” she said. “My career is my purpose, and it should never feel like anything other than a happy place.”
Rihanna also said she started making grocery shopping or going on walks a “big deal” to keep focused on her personal life. Being happy outside work allows her to find more joy in her music and businesses, she told Paulson.
Other successful people often have a “trick” or go-to move that keeps them from working too much. Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, for instance, lists out his individual “jobs” that include being a husband and a father as well as being a CEO. This list helps him prioritize improving his family life as much as his company.
Simply eliminating needless tasks altogether can immediately improve your feelings of stress and burnout, career experts say.
And the need for sage work-life balance advice may be needed now more than ever after the World Health Organization classified burnout as a clinical symptom. Still, major CEOs like Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos tout greater integration between your career and your social life.
Someone who seems to agree with Rihanna is President Donald Trump. The commander-in-chief liked a tweet by writer Heben Nigatu calling the pop star a “work/life balance queen,” the first time he has liked a message on the platform in almost two years.
Originally published on Business Insider.
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