Creative Ways of Living: Krystal Clark

Exploring a Portfolio Life beyond the 9-5 work-until-you-retire mode

Welcome to this week’s edition of Creative Ways of Living, where we’re widening your aperture around more creative (and gratifying!) ways of working and living. Ways that allow us to build our identities around all of the vibrant – and varied! – different parts of ourselves.

In our conversation with Krystal Clark, we talk about putting LIFE first, designing work around it, and the intentional rituals and boundaries she sets around her work as a Workflow Strategist, Systems Integrator, and Founder of Organize Your Empire.

Krystal’s Unique Life Portfolio:

Krystal Clark: For me, my life-portfolio looks like: 

• Hobbies: Learning about gardening to start my gardening journey

• Wellness/Self-Care: Getting a weekly massage for self-care and taking morning walks at the bridge. 

• Working: Setting up workflow automation for clients from my desk. 

• Family: Having mother-daughter dates to paint, color, get manicures, and play games, and watch my favorite shows with my husband. 

• Faith: Attending Sunday morning worship at church and doing daily devotionals at the morning golden hour each morning.

Alice Katter: What does living a creative life mean to you?

Krystal Clark: To me, it means to express myself, my values, and my personality in how I live, interact, and contribute to the world as I learn lessons, find fulfillment, and inspire others. 

Take us through a day in your life.

6:30a: Wake Up & Start Morning Routine

7-8a: Get myself and little one ready for school + School drop off

8-9a:  Daily Devotional and Prayer

10a-12p: Work Tasks

12-1p: Lunch Break

1-5p: Work Tasks

5:30p-7p: Cook & Eat Dinner

7-9p: Night Routine (Power Clean, bath time, get ready for bed)

9:30p: Bedtime

AK: How do you balance your work and life setup between flexibility and freedom & longer-term security/stability?

KC: I balance work and life with routines, very strict work hours, and sustainable systems for life and business. I have also adopted what I like to call a ‘slow life mindset’. We live in a world filled with instant gratification, the race to achieve things first, and a yearning for instant success. I’ve learned in life that it’s better to take things slow and steady so that you can achieve your personal definition of success at a sustainable pace that doesn’t burn you out. I’m finding that long-term security, freedom, and stability last a long time when you do it sustainably. 

What do you love about your set-up?
I love that my setup gives me peace and flexibility. I limit clutter on my desk with intentionally positioned items for comfort as I work. I have a mug warmer on my desk so that I don’t have to reheat coffee or tea. I have wireless charging to keep my devices ready for use. My giant monitor helps me use multiple software as I set up systems and workflows for my clients. I positioned lighting for video content creation. I have a big comfy couch for mid-day naps and a spot for my daughter to land on for homework and snack time after school. 

What are the hard bits?

Sometimes, I can get very overstimulated at the end of the day. That ‘parent rush hour’ from 4pm - 8pm feels like you’re on a Legends of the Hidden Temple obstacle course rushing to do homework, dinner, playtime, bath time, cleaning, and prep for the next day with little time to decompress from your day before bedtime. I’ve definitely spent some time asking for help, hiring help, and creating more efficient family routines to make that rush hour smoother so I can allocate time for my self-care and mental wellness.

What did you have to let go of to live your creative life?

Saying yes to every opportunity that comes my way. I’ve embraced declining some things to keep myself from being spread too thin. Saying ‘No’ to some things lets me say yes to more time with family and friends, more time for my faith, and more time for self-care. True freedom and balance is having control of your time. Time is our most precious commodity. Once it’s gone, we can’t go get it back or grow it in a garden. We have to be good stewards of our time and attention and use them to find fulfillment as we inspire those who interact with us. 

Can you tell us about a ritual that makes you feel inspired and connected throughout your workday? 

I can’t start my work day without my daily devotional, prayer time, and a big fat cup of tea. That morning ritual gives me peace and a grateful mindset to take on the day. I also feel connected by using the Groove app to co-work and connect with other people around to world as I work.

What does “out of office” mean to you? 

To me, out of office means completely unplugging from work to freely fill your cup with the experiences and people that give your life meaning on your terms.

Introducing, audio 🔊

Want to hear more about how Krystal designs her day to put life first and what she found to be the hardest bits for her in living a creative life?
Dive deeper and listen to our conversation here!

---

We hope Krystal’s story helped you get some insights into how to make a creative life a reality. Please let us know in the comments if you have any additional questions you’d like us to ask, or any model of work and life you’re especially interested in and we’ll consider these for future conversations!

This feature is sponsored by our friends from Groove 🪩
Groove is the everyday coworking app for business owners. With Groove, you can finish the important things, have a life outside of your work, and feel inspired by people who care. Groove was built for business owners working from home who wish they had more time to tackle everything on their plate. To get into the Groove, [download the app] and use the code OUTOFOFFICE to redeem your FREE 30-day pass, no credit card is needed. Groove’s coworking sessions are on-demand, so simply hop into a Groove whenever you’re ready to get into work mode for an hour and 1-3 other humans will be there to cheer you on.

Thanks for reading and hope to see you there ✨