Need more time? 10 tips to help you manage yourself in lockdown

Are you the type of person who feels like if you’re DOING nothing, then you’re wasting TIME?

So many health coaches are high achieving people and often feel the need to constantly be doing something.

As the lockdownS in New Zealand and Australia continue, do you feel like you should be spending these days in lockdown doing?

Doing all of the things you have been putting off or making sure all of your clients are being looked after even more than normal?

How would you feel if you spent more time being than doing?

This TIME during lockdown I wanted to do things differently. I wanted to spend some time BEING because after last time I really knew that this was important.

Time is important. We all have 24 hours a day and time management has always held a fascination for me.

I recently came across this quote about time.

About 10 days into this Lockdown, I was doing some research on REST. I came across this book by Dr Saundra Daulton Smith called the Sacred Rest. I did her quiz (are you a sucker for quizzes like me? If so you can do it here. )

In her book she talks about time like this:

“We want more time. But there is no more time. Time IS

It’s both finite and infinite. It goes on and on

With or without us it will continue”

This made me stop in my tracks.

As a planner and organiser of everything in my life, and helping health and wellness coaches to do the same, I am always aware of time

At least I thought I was. Until you have to stop, time can get away from you. It can simply float by without us realising. What we do with our time is what we do with our lives.

At this moment in time, we are in lockdown again. Brought to us by the Delta Variant of COVID 19. which is working it’s way around the globe.

This time I was going to make sure I treated myself and my time with more respect than last time.

Last time I struggled.

Initially, I was excited!

My expectation was this.

All this time was available meant I would have time to DO ALL THE THINGS!

I could focus 100% on my business and get so much done. I could also do all the other things I wanted to do: work out, do my garden, clear out the office, start decluttering my house!!

Reality not so much.

I ended up creating my own overwhelming environment and came crashing down! No surprises really when you look back on it. But as they say, hindsight is 2020 ( Sorry I had to say that! )

So this time as we entered into Lockdown, I made the conscious effort to EXAMINE the time that I had coming.

That’s how I ended up doing Saundra’s quiz!

It was more about how to rest, which was great but as I said, her quote about time really resonated with me.

This time lockdown would be different!

As a result, today‘s blog is about TIME and the fact that we all have the same twenty-four hours every single day.

Did you realise we humans are the only animal on the planet that stress about time? It makes sense when you think about it!

However much we want to control it, manage it, block it or batch it, all of those things are actually much more about us and much less about time itself.

Time management, something that I love, is actually more about Personal Management. Those same 24 hours need to be filled differently to make our lives work.

It’s about what YOU do with your time and how you make it work for you! Knowing now that time just is! The best thing is we get to choose how we want to spend it. It is such an individual choice.

I thought I would share with you what I decided to do with my time, in this current lockdown and maybe some of these things could be helpful for you too.

10 tips to help you manage your time and yourself in lockdown.

1 / Be kind to yourself.

Probably THE most important thing you could do for yourself in lockdown.

For me, this meant not beating myself up if I found myself needing to play a game on my phone or simply sit on the couch and stare at the walls. Allowing yourself to simply be is something that I learnt last time made a huge difference.

2/ Choosing the best time to do things

Organise your time to work on your business at the best time of the day. For me it’s mornings. For you, it could be afternoon or evening.

Making sure not to OVERPLAN. This is huge for me. I needed to create space in my day to flow into. You may need to do the same especially if you have children and others at home with you. Please don’t fill every minute of every day like I tried to do in the last lockdown.

3/Stay connected with friends and colleagues online.

Not being able to visit people in person or go to the gym is very isolating. I didn’t realise how much I would miss those gym sessions and simply talking to people. Having that contact online was so important during the last lockdown. I made sure I did that right from the start this time.

Even if you are a person who likes to be alone, please make the effort to stay connected. Humans do need other humans.

4/ Get outside every single day.

Go for a walk, do some exercise or some gardening.

Last lockdown the beach was right across the street. This time I’m blessed to live right on the edge of a beautiful lake. Each morning I’m able to walk along the shore. It’s filled with masses of birdlife.

It reminds me every day of the abundance that surrounds me. Nature is good for your mental health, so get out into it and feel the weight lift from your shoulders

5/ Eating well

This is so important. Eating nutritious foods that work for you and keeps you healthy can be a struggle. ( and keeping up the water).

It’s so easy to fall into lockdown bake mode and eat all the yummy creations. This time no baking, I’m simply making delicious meals and taking the time to stop sit and savour them.

6/ Rest - proper quality rest.

Rest isn’t just about physical rest and sleep.

Initially, I thought rest was something I would need less of in lockdown.

All I had to do was stay home and work on my online business. No having to go out to the gym for work or workouts!

However, this meant spending way more time staring at computer screens. Taking a break was watching Netflix OR more screen time social scrolling to relax. Turns out this was not at all restful.

This time around I made a conscious effort to turn off the screens, move into a different environment and take the rest I needed. Better quality rest makes a huge difference to all parts of your life, especially in lockdown.

Make sure you rest in the way you need to, take a screen break if you are on Zoom all day. Read a book, sit in the sun, do some squats at your desk. Rest is a complex beast. It is more about changing what you do than just a lie down on the couch.

7/ Sleep

Again last time I thought I would need less sleep because I was not doing as much.

This time remember it’s not the amount of sleep that is most important but the quality of that sleep. If all you did all day was stare at a computer screen then the quality of your sleep will be crap!

Getting in exercise really helps you get better quality sleep as well as eating well and not drinking lots of alcohol.

8/ Exercise

Do what works for you. Take walks outside. Do bodyweight workouts to get your heart rate up. Do yoga and stretching every day. As mentioned above exercise can really help with quality rest.

9/ Drink regularly

No not the alcoholic type!! Drink water, herbal tea etc. Staying hydrated is good for you! When you find yourself in front of the computer every day it can be easy to forget to drink your water. Keeping that water bottle close at hand helps make it easy

As for that alcoholic beverage. If you choose them enjoy them. Without any guilt, in moderation and maybe when on a Zoom call with those friends!

10/ Help yourself before you help others

Like the oxygen mask on the aeroplane ( remember those? )

Health and wellness coaches do what they do because they love to help other people. What often happens is you can jump in to help too fast. Before you have given yourself time to process what you need.

I ask you to first give yourself some space, see what you need and then help others. That way you can be so much more effective!

There you have it my top 10 tips for Lockdown Living 2.0.

What are your go-to tips for your lockdown? I would love to know if these resonated with you, or if you have your own.

Please share your thoughts, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn!

Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash