Do you really not have time?
This time last year, the working day might have looked a little like this
7.30/8am - leave house and commute to the office or first client meeting, use travelling time to gather your thoughts/listen to a podcast etc.
8/8.30am - make a cuppa and chat with colleagues in the kitchen or pop into your local artisan coffee shop for a latte.
9am - First meeting of the day.
10.15am enjoy a 5-10 min breather and time to sift through the outcomes of the meeting as you walk/drive to your next meeting.
12.30pm - short break for lunch, possibly eaten at your desk while chatting and passing the time of day to your colleagues while working on some of your actions from the mornings meetings.
Rinse and repeat for the afternoon.
All in all, we had TIME, it might not have felt like it, it may have been squandered occasionally but we had 60-90 mins of time to be in pre-covid times. Time when we moved between meetings, time when we could hit the pause button and think and reflect.
Fast-forward 12 months and our working day looks like this….
7.30am to 7.30pm - back to back zoom calls, webinars and networking events scheduled for the evening because everyone is on back to back zooms throughout the day!
Throw home schooling into the mix and is it any wonder there is a real sense of overwhelm and exhaustion at the moment.
There is another way…
It requires courage, going against the tide and a significant mindset shift. Are you ready to hear what it is…?
Say NO to just ONE Zoom call request, block out buffer time in your calendar between meetings to mimic the time you had moving between meetings before. Step away from the screen and GO FOR A WALK".
In an average working day of 8 hours, at least 60 mins of that would have been spent commuting/moving/making coffee and blethering. All offering time for us to change state, gather our thoughts, leave the crap of the day at the front door of the house before returning to the family.
We need that time for physical and mental well-being. Being zoomed-out is not a badge of honour it’s a pre-cursor to ill-health. Please reclaim that hour in every working day and do something to top up your well-being:
make and eat lunch with the family
take your coffee to another zoom-free room
do some meditating
go for a walk, run or cycle
Just DON’T offer up your diary for another zoom call.