Time management

Day 472574 of LOCKDOWN. Give or take a few.

Are you bored yet? Or have you been bored for a while?

Days are long (unless you are keeping busy).

Weeks drag by (unless you are being proactive).

But when you look at lockdown as a whole…I bet the months have just flown in the blink of an eye.

If you look back through that blink…are you happy with the amount of productivity you have achieved or have you just let the boredom take over?

Which brings me around to:

Are you making the most of your time?!

For those that have been out of work for the last 9 weeks, we’ve had a lot of time on our hands that we aren’t used to.

And over that time I’ve seen a lot of posts on social media, received messages and heard direct from the horses mouth, the words ‘I’m just really bored now’.

It’s like the lockdown is being blamed for the lack of things to do. We haven’t got restaurants or bars to socialise at, we haven’t got shops to browse (it’s just a quick in and out for essential items), we haven’t got the luxury of going where we want to do what we want to keep ourselves occupied.

But funnily enough we are quite capable at keeping occupied and filling our time when we are allowed…so what’s changed really?

It’s not like Boris has said ‘You can’t go out, you need to sit inside, do nothing, complain you are bored and then repeat the next day’.

What he’s actually said without uttering the words is ‘I’m giving you all chance to have a break from the madness, slow down, and use your time to be productive…because you are going to have plenty of it on your hands. I want you to exercise, I want you to teach your children, i want you to work at home at a pace you are comfortable with, I will even pay you to do so, I want you to develop your business and learn to grow within yourself. I want you to be around the family that you live with and do things together. I want you to explore your surroundings, I want you to work in your homes and spend fun days/nights in your gardens with your loved ones.’

That being said…it is us that has decided what we do with the time he has given us.

I can honestly say that hand on heart I haven’t had a day where I’ve felt bored. Because although I may not be run ragged off my feet, I’ve kept myself busy. I haven’t heard Kev say once ‘I’m bored’, and to be honest I haven’t heard my hormonal, miserable at some times, teenage yet not a teenager son say it either. And the youngest, well he’s just loving this time at home to play endless Spider-Man role play and x box avengers with his brother. We’ve all been quite productive.

We have exercised in some form every single day, wether it be a workout, and online class, a run or a walk, we have got up and moved. That in itself as I said in my most recent vlog completely sets you up for the day. Energy is flowing and you are raring to go.

We have hired a skip and cleared the garden and the house of all sorts of rubbish and junk that we no longer need. A de clutter if you will. And not only a de clutter of the house…but a de clutter of the mind. How therapeutic is getting rid of things that you no longer need?! Your mind instantly feels clearer.

Kev has enrolled in an online business course of which he has worked on every single day, early morning to lunch time, to build and grow the business, to learn new things, to expand the services we offer, to teach to me what he has learnt.

We are both about to attend two separate online personal training courses of which we learn to expand and better the service we offer to our clients. Thus bettering ourselves at what we do.

I’ve homeschooled…not greatly I’ll admit. I can’t do maths for all the money in the world. Fractions were created by the devil and I’ll openly admit I cannot divide up numbers on a piece of paper…just give me a calculator! It’s a good job maths is Myles strong subject! I can however teach him the difference between your and you’re, and educate him on suffixes and prefixes, pro nouns and adjectives, passive and subjective phrases. I might yell my way through it and he might huff and puff and roll his eyes at me…but we get it done together.

Reading, I’ve actually been reading. Not work books, not captions on Instagram. But a real book, an autobiography, that I would never in a million years have the time to read if I was working 6 days a week.

We’ve watched boxsets (Lost…6 seasons long), some of you might argue the choice, Kev might even agree with you, but I’m making him stick it out this time because it’s my favourite and I love telling him what’s going to happen without really telling him haha!

And we have played. We have played with the kids, we have had fun. We have enjoyed days together that we never usually get. Before lockdown I don’t remember a time we had a full 24 hours in the same household all together. We have made precious memories that will last a lifetime.

On top of all of the above we have kept our clients and community in check. Doing what we love the most. Amongst all of the madness in the world.

Where in all of that have we had the time to be bored?!

So yes…if I look back through the blink I can honestly say that I’m happy with how I made the most of my time.

Could you say the same?!

Plan your days ahead if it helps.
Set yourself a little daily routine of the things you want to get done.
Include some time in that day to do something that you love. It might be a pamper, it might be to cook a nice meal, it might be to watch a tv show that you love, it might be an extra workout in the evening.
It’s all about keeping yourself busy.
Being happy doing the things that you are doing.

When it comes down to it and this time is over we should be able to look back and be happy that we spent it well. That we were productive. That we learnt something. Either about ourselves or something entirely new. That we have memories from it. And that it was not only a worrying and uncertain time…but very empowering for you as an individual as well.

Your time…use it wisely ☺️.

Happy Sunday guys! ♥️