When I first started the weekly lock down diaries, naive me thought I’d maybe end up writing four, maybe five or six of them. We’re now on week eight of the UK lock down, and things are only just starting to look like they could one day go back to normal. I had a bit of another fail week where I didn’t do much, and started to feel how easy but depressing it would be to just do nothing for the rest of the lock down. So in short, it’s been a bit of a kick up the butt week this week.
That said, I still didn’t really do enough to right about, so this week I’m focusing on what I’ll be doing to stay productive for the rest of lock down. Just on the side of that, it’s also important to realise you don’t have to be productive everyday, you do sometimes need a day off from doing nothing. This week I had my birthday, and also had a pamper night, which you can read about here, and then it’s back to normal again for a fresh week this week.
Use a weekly planner
I have my weekly planner, which I use just to plan out the workouts that I’m going to do, and then the meals I’m going to have. If you’ve got days that you want to focus on house work, or if you need to nominate the dreaded supermarket day, having it written down on a weekly planner makes it so much easier to stick to.
I’m currently using up my paper one, which you can find similar to like this geometric one, this beautiful leafy one, or this floral one, but after I’ve finished using this one I’ll probably switch to a reusable whiteboard one, like this one that gives you space for a shopping list as well.
Set goals
It’s hard to put a deadline on when you want your goals to be completed right now, not knowing when everything will change, but weekly or monthly goals are still a start to keeping productive. I’ve been setting things like my online courses that I want to complete or how many modules of them I want to complete by the end of the week, or skills I want to pick up while I have the chance.
Give yourself a break too
It’s good to be productive, but it’s also important to include breaks in your plan too, otherwise you’ll just overwork yourself and write off the following day or week.
Try to stick to a routine
I have my routine of breakfast, workout, shower, then whatever jobs I have planned for that day. I’ve made a routine that works for me, which makes it easier to get on with it. And with mine I know that once I’ve done all my jobs in the morning I’ve got the evening to relax and do something that’s not on the list, depending on what I feel like doing that day.
Write a to-do list
The weekly planner helps me a lot with the basic ideas of what I need to do, but then I like to write a daily detailed list of what I want to do each day. And as a side note, I always include jobs on it that are going to be easy to do, like meals and showering. That way you tick things off quickly, and it’s motivating to do more on the list.
xx
