Any top tips for staying positive, productive & supporting yourself/others during lockdown?
If you can share ways you’ve been staying positive, productive and supporting yourself/others, that would be amazing! Here are my top tips:
At The Dots, setting up a ‘buddy system’ amongst the team has been brilliant for morale. Each week, everyone gets assigned a new buddy, who check in on each other and hang out virtually during the week over a virtual coffee or lunch.
Friday thank yous have also been amazing. Everyone on the team thanks someone for something they’ve done that week during our all team Friday afternoon meeting. We’ve done this for a while, but we now not only thank teammates, but also thank others doing good in the world – be it a family member who works at the NHS, a friend who took time to check in or a cause/petition/project we’d like others to support!
From a personal perspective, early morning walks along the canal have kept me sane! So to have Sunday roasts with my family over zoom and hugs from my hubby. God I miss hugs!
Please do share your tips below :-)
Let’s look out for each other!
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- @Bella Robinson I agree! That is an important one.But, but, but :) Having to 100% homeshool children and run a business can be challenging. One has to go, and that is rest, apparently :) But then for workaholics like myself?.. There is no other way anyway.
- Daily meditation is a big help – I've been using Headspace for many years now, still my go-to app for mindfulness.I routinely give myself permission to be less productive – it's inevitable under the circumstances, and times like these are great opportunities to step back and think about what matters most.I also took a month-long break from all social media, logging on once a week or so to see if anyone wanted to connect. Lately I've been back on Instagram sharing some doodles I've been doing.Avoiding the 24/7 news vortex is also helpful. Once I check the headlines over a morning coffee, that's it.
- 1. Concentrate on the immediate. Focus on what you're doing.2. Take breaks.3. Connect with other people.4. Listen to/watch comedy.5. Listen to great music.6. Try to eat well. Junk food is unbalanced.
- Use Zoom and FaceTime to keep in touch with family and friends.
- @Olga Pogozheva also giving yourself a break is important. If you dont get anything done it doesnt matter, anxiety is high at the moment, so be kind to yourself
- - Small to do lists each day, and dont feel bad if you don't do everything.- No screen time 1 hour before bed and only read the news once a day.- Move everyday - online yoga, run, walk doesnt have to be outside as staying in saves lives and it doesn't have to big hard- Don't punish eating habits, you can eat what you like and not feek bad about it now is not a time to ' watch your weight'- each day at a time and there are no accomplishments to be made, sitting about all day or reading or learning or not at all. All is ok
- Daily meditation and prayer, have a schedule but don't be too hard on yourself - mix it up a bit. Do something that you would not normally have time for
- I found this TED talk on youtube helpful- It's OK to feel overwhelmed. Here's what to do next | Elizabeth Gilbert - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNBvC25bxQU
- I keep reminding myself of the positives of the situation - I'm saving money, established a fitness routine (getting out for an hour exercise each day is really refreshing physically and mentally) and started learning a mew language.I've also volunteered with the NHS, too, to try and do my bit!
- Creating an "Angel wish jar".1. Write down 14 things that someone else can do for you to brighten up your day.2. Fold your wishes and put in a jar.3. If in lockdown with others trade your jars so you are picking out someone else wish at breakfast or at dinner.4. If you are by yourself you can still surprise yourself with a kind gesture you can do for yourself or someone else.5. Choose one wish per day and repeat every 14 days .It's a good exercise to remind ourselves that even a small caring gesture can give ourselves or someone else something to look forward to.
- 1) Remember that no two people's experience of all this is the same. Noone knows the right thing to do for everything apart from staying at home and social distancing. So check in with your friends and family regularly.2) Set yourself one or two tasks you have to complete that day. Once done, reward yourself with a 15 minute walk, cup of coffee or even 10 minutes of meditation.3) Be prepared to mix up the structure of your days a bit. Adopt different apporaches why you feel unproductive. Don't be afraid to go back to previous structures that didn't seem to work before. You never know it might work this time. This tip applies to everyone with or without children.
- I asked the same question and decided to interview three people from different career backgrounds to gain their thoughts and opinons - A personal encounter with a Personal & Business Coach, Dentist and Director of a Golf Group .... https://stokedtotravelblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/covid-19-ground-zero/
- Free meditation from Deepak Chopra (this one is really good):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_v5NP5DdBE&list=PLC7DackXX5HNlFjUM7Z0SENwC2ZJpcxgR
- You might be probably sick of hearing this, but there are things in life that work like a charm regardless of how many times you heard them, and that is setting your ROUTINE.1. First tip is starting early and having a MORNING time for yourself.Your morning routine should better include:· some morning exercise, or a full workout if you have time for it;· spiritual enhancement. It could be prayer; it could be meditation – whatever it is for you;· last but not least – grooming yourself. Make an effort even if you’re not planning to leave your house, because looking good makes you feel good and makes you set up for the day.2. Second tip – have a plan for the day, preferably, set up previously, starting weekend.3. As soon as you get to work, start with the most important tasks for the day, and try to schedule team meetings, if you can, for the second part of your day. Meeting eat up a lot of your time, don’t let them eat your productivity.4. Stay focused, with whatever means you have.5. Consider what help you can get to re-arrange your domestic workflow. Think of ways how you can lessen the burden of your domestic responsibilities. Get help. You will feel the difference and that it’s worth the money.6. Last but not least – go to sleep at reasonable hours and get a proper REST. It’s easy to fall into a trap of watching movies late at night (FINALLY, some entertaining time for yourself!), and then feel sleepy and tired the next day – make sure it doesn’t happen to you, because it affects your productivity both short- and long-term.Here is a sneak peak into my daily lockdown routine: https://youtu.be/aHo9NCP4D1w
- Staying active, trying to stick to a routine, volunteering for Hackney food bank and doing online learning and webinars to freshen up and learn new skills. I'm teaching myself a ton of stuff that I always said "if I had more time I'd do it" so I'm seizing the opportunity!Whilst I'm nervous about the future and what the job market is going to look like (I unfortunately missed out on my dream job because of the virus) I don't want to look back at this time and think I should have used it better and I should have worried less - being present and positive is key for me.Being kind and supporting my local community has also been amazing too. I've met so many wonderful humans, theres a lot of kindness out there :-)
- The main thing I'm doing to keep myself positive and productive is designing a short online breath and meditation course for people in the media WFH. I'm a journalist but also a yoga teacher, and I realised people need these tools now more than ever, and my previous (self-imposed) limitations, like "I need a nice studio" or "people need to live near me" no longer apply. So during lockdown I've done a mindset coaching programme, learnt some basic skills to help me design my programme. and I'm currently creating the content. I've talked to three of my ideal clients about what they're dealing with (overwhelm, overwork, overstimulation, instability, uncertainty etc), and I think I'm calling it CHAOS TO CALM. Since this situation began I've been feeling the most positive and inspired I have for ages! This was a kick up the bum!
- @Jon Andrews Jon, I so agree! Who do we want to be when we come out of this? Do we want to see it as an opportunity or do we want to just get through it? I've been learning new skills, done a midset coaching programme, and now I'm designing a short online course of breathwork and meditation (I'm a yoga teacher as well as a journalist) for people in the media WFH. This situation was a kick up the bum!
- Reading all the half read books that there isn't time or head space for during busy working life. Cooking and planning meals is also a great way to appreciate the slower pace of life.
- @Andrew Ashton I agree about the major cultural reset and think (hope) this is accelerating an increase in awareness of our planet, what we've done, and what we can do – or more accurately stop doing – to rectify some of our damage. I hope we're not in lockdown so long that people will be craving freedom and consumption so much that they'll start jumping on aeroplanes and buying tat again.
- For me! It’s staying as busy as possible, as much as possible! Wether that’s making jeans on the floor or working on a digital project in the garden!
- @Chris Rankin Interesting. I have a friend who runs a large content team in a major banking group and her team has three (THREE!) daily team meetings BUT one of those is not task-driven; it's more of a wellbeing, checking in with other, kind of catch-up.
- @Andree Kemp Meditation, me too. And my time sitting has gone up. You're right about the weekends. Mine aren't different enough to my week at the moment.
- POSITIVITY: I rarely watch the news. I get up at normal time (6.10am for me) and do yoga and meditation every morning. I've kept doing at least one regular yoga classes that I did before (even if I think Im too busy!). Video calling friends instead of texting or not bothering. I think finding a community outside work and checking in regularly is important – e.g. I recently did a mindset coaching programme and we have a closed FB group where we support each other. Regularly dancing round the living room! Can't beat a bit of mum dancing.
- PRODUCTIVITY: List everything you have to do. Re-order it by the most important (whatever 'important' is to you e.g. revenue generating). Spend almost all your time on the top three. Stop for lunch and eat dinner on time (even if you have to go back to work, you'll be refreshed and not hangry!).
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