How are you doing, lovely friends?
At the end of 2021 on social media, I wished everyone a very happy and healthy new year.
With Omicron breathing down our necks and no real end to the pandemic in sight, that wish couldn’t be more appropriate.
From a psychological standpoint, Covid continues to imbue anxiety and overwhelm in many people’s outlook.
Apart from not knowing when – if ever – this thing is going to end, disruption of our networks, lack of real social contact and change in work and home environments have piled on extra stress.
Don’t overdo it
I’ve written before about the noxious hyper-productivity advocates pushing the idea that the pandemic is an opportunity to smash your life goals – and if you don’t, you’re a sad underachiever.
I’m a bit tired of seeing people on social continuing to bash on about goal-setting when in reality, we’re still navigating a ‘new normal’ that is anything but.
And being forced to live it day-to-day – whether we like it or not.
Which leads me to how we can get through yet another 12 months of this collective experience without losing our marbles.
The problem with productivity
The first thing, as I mention above, is that it’s difficult to maintain routine in a crisis. Productivity theory in particular has become problematic during Covid.
Think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: you can’t cogitate on a mountain-top, dining on ambrosia, when you’re trying to keep yourself and your business alive. (Just ask anyone in the hospitality industry right now.)
Of course, offloading as many of the essential business tasks that we don’t like or can’t do, to someone who can, is important and a genuinely useful measure, saving wasted energy.
If outsourcing has to be where the money is available, it should go into our enterprises so we’re freed up to fee-earn, deliver services and do the work that keeps us happy.
But during Covid-19, that still leaves us with the issue of time. And while I have agreed before that there is benefit to getting up earlier if we have a lot to get done – simply by virtue of the fact that it gives us more hours in the day – that isn’t always a catch-all solution.
Some people’s body clocks don’t work that way: they’re naturally owls, not larks. Their biorhythms aren’t conducive to springing into life while the sky’s dark. And doing a 16-hour day, every day, can swiftly lead to burnout.
That, on top of the persistent fatigue this pandemic is inducing. It doesn’t fly either. We might be feeling under par, battling mental strain, or just feeling plain sick and tired of it all.
Structure, discipline and focus are key to get there. But again, Covid is challenging these too.
The key to successful productivity is being efficient with the time we have.
And that’s different for everyone.
Just One Thing
When times are tough, perhaps it can help to look at it this way: get just one big task done.
Crossing that albatross off our list liberates us to worry less, and do more, the next day. And the next.
How do we do this?
Prioritise.
Take things back to basics.
Identify what’s really important within a fixed time period, and deal.
Park everything else – and if we have any time left, go back to it later.
Maintain perspective
If at times life has all become a bit much, I hear you. We’re in this for the long haul, and it’s a slog.
When we feel like this, it’s helpful just to take each day at a time.
To stop doomscrolling and give ourselves a break from the onslaught of negative news stories.
To get support if we need it, whether that’s from friends, family or perhaps a professional who can listen and care without judgement.
Ultimately, that’s all we can ever do. We can’t speed up the hours or predict what’s going to happen. Right now, no one knows how they’re going to be next month, let alone this year or even beyond.
Yes, we have good vaccines, but it will take time to reach true, endemic safety. There is genuine hope that science can bring us back to where we used to be, but we still need to play our part.
Perhaps we’ll appreciate that normality all the more when we have it again.
We will get there. In the meantime, it’s fine to accept that sometimes, miracles can be just too big an ask.
Let’s be kind to ourselves this year.
Let’s set intentions, not goals.
Let’s not be hard on ourselves if some have to fall by the wayside.
It’s OK to process life as it comes, and be grateful, before we go to sleep, that we managed it to get through the day well.
The Serialist 