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Balancing the Grind with Clare Leighton, Co-Founder & COO of bluesheets.io

Clare Leighton is the Co-Founder & COO of bluesheets.io, a company on a mission to bring the most innovative, time & cost saving technology to everyday businesses with our machine-learning and AI-powered systems.

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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

Sure, my career so far has been in early-mid stage tech. While finishing my degree (in Finance & Environmental Science) over in WA, I joined the recently launched Uber. 

Working first in operations then on the launch of Uber Eats, I enormously enjoyed the ‘messiness’ and impact of an early stage venture. I moved into a regional role in Sydney, where I later joined a B2B food tech startup to launch and scale their Australian business, which is where I met my now co-founder. 

Currently I’m the COO and Co-Founder of data transformation platform, bluesheets.io, which we launched during the pandemic and are now scaling globally.

2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

I work remotely, either from a coshare in the city or from home in Bondi. My day starts with a strong coffee (or two) and a workout, and then I’m typically at my desk from 9am til early evening. It’s hit and miss whether I leave the building to pick up lunch, or scramble to meet a food delivery between meetings – something I’m working on!

The majority of my team are in Singapore, so my day tends to be admin and local calls in the morning, then meeting heavy in the afternoons. I play competitive netball so half the week I have a hard stop at 5:30pm to attend training and games. The rest of the week my day wraps up around 8-9pm so I can make the most of the overlap with South East Asia.

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?

Absolutely, we founded bluesheets right at the start of the pandemic; with my co-founder in Singapore and me here in Sydney, Australia. It was almost 2 years before I was in the same room with any of the team!

We consider ourselves hybrid, with an office headquartered in Singapore and flexibility to work online. I’m remote from the rest of the team but still split my time between an office in Sydney CBD and days working from home.

For me personally, netball days are a hard stop on my schedule which allows me to completely switch off. Being remote and asynchronous in a different time zone allows me to fully invest myself in something other than work and completely disconnect for a couple of hours… even if that means jumping back online in the evening sometimes.

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4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

We spend so much of our time working so I don’t like to think about my work and the rest of life being at odds with one another. I try to keep the perspective that this (work) is how I choose to spend my time and effort. And I enjoy it! 

The important thing for me is creating boundaries between aspects of life so work doesn’t ‘take over’. Outside of work, I enjoy playing sports and being part of those communities.

5) In the past 12 months, have you started/stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

I stopped drinking coffee past 3pm. Even though I never felt caffeine affected my sleep, I read into how you can sleep badly without realising. I love coffee and still drink a couple each day, but this small change has definitely improved my sleep; ability to wake up and wind down. 

6) Do you have any favorite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

I really enjoyed Shoe Dog. Maybe because of the time that I read it – shortly before starting bluesheets – but the consistent narrative I see in founder stories is that they just didn’t give up; they found a way through every obstacle. I really liked that about Nike’s story and the pure passion for their mission.

7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?

My alarm clock, time zone converter and Gmail, for obvious reasons!

8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?  

Elon Musk. I don’t believe he has much of a balance but he’s packed a lot into his career and I’d be very curious to hear about the trade-offs and sacrifices he’s made from his perspective.

9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

We spend so much of our time working, you might as well enjoy it! If you don’t love what you do, it’s still possible to find fun and purpose in your day.

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About Author

Hey there! I'm Hao, the Editor-in-Chief at Balance the Grind. We’re on a mission to showcase healthy work-life balance through interesting stories from people all over the world, in different careers and lifestyles.