A Better You: It’s vital to still stay busy under lockdown

We are living is some scary and precarious times, keeping everyone home and isolated for 21 days.

Psychologists must be having a field day with one of the biggest social experiences of our time.

The real question is, were we built to be quarantined into confined spaces?

Some have small flatlets. Some are elderly and alone. Some have gardens and some don’t.

Between four walls, day in and day out is definitely going to play on our mental state.

Most people start their day during normal times with a routine.

They get up and must go to work and then their environment changes accompanied with several tasks they need to complete in a day.

You are not thinking about breakfast, the kids, or perhaps the fight you might have had leaving home.

Your mind has shifted gears to perform tasks defined to do your job competently.

You leave work to go train at your local gym, pop into the grocery store to get some odds and sods.

Your journey home to play with the kids and spend time with your wife, eat dinner, watch a bit of television and then you sleep.

This is a typical routine for a good part of the working population.

My point is, everyone has something to do and they set off each day filling their tasks.

This is critical in keep your mental health in check.

Now everything changes.

In surviving 21 days, you need to follow some real guidelines, your sanity depends on it.

“Shotgun” your own space

Find one part of your house or garden that you find calmness and claim that as your space.

You need this to think, meditate or just get away.

Just make sure you don’t spend all 21 days there, or you would have an unhappy and wife and kids.

Block out noise

Too much noise is not a good thing.

When you find that your family and pets are nagging, crying, moaning and barking then it’s time to bring a tool to quieten the noise so you can concentrate on your work and tasks at hand that you are paid for.

Most bosses don’t care that you have little ones spilling their milk over your feet, they care about you getting your work done.

By blocking out the noise, playing classical music while working, your productivity will increase.

Daily routine

You can have the same routine as if you were working.

You obviously can’t lock yourself in your man cave or bathroom from 9am to 5pm, so you’ll have to improvise.

You have to manage your routine and time carefully.

Charting out 45-minute work sprints with 15-minute breaks where you can will give everyone the attention they need.

The smaller the house or flat, the harder your challenges becomes.

Your daily routine can look something like this:

• Wake up with exercise, yoga or intense mobility stretching
• Shower and get dressed, don’t stay in your PJs
• Have a wholesome, healthy breakfast to start the day
• Look over your “work game plan” on what tasks you have planned and get cracking on completing the tasks.
• Take a break, check in with everyone, move, jump on the trampoline or run around the garden but for only 15 minutes. Each time you break, make sure you are performing movement that elevates your heart rate. Your health depends on it
• Sit down, place your headphones on and smash out the next phase of your work. Be productive and set goals to complete. Check in with your boss from time to time on your work chats and then get back to the grind. Side note: It is important to mention, show your employer you can be trusted working from home. Not only will you build credibility but the next time you need to work from home, your boss will be comfortable with it. Be a slacker and your job and future promotion could be on the line.
• Finish up with important but non urgent emails
• End off the “home-work day” with planning your “to do” work tasks for the next day
• Take a break
• Change into your gym clothes and begin your non-negotiable daily home exercise routine that works your total body. End off with a recovery stretch
• Have dinner and then watch some TV, play games, read a book, build a puzzle or spend time chatting to your friends via zoom, skype or social media

Learn and grow
You have the most perfect opportunity to learn a new skill in 21 days.

There are hundreds of Udemy courses, free Harvard short course and skills you can learn to improve your knowledge.

If we are in quarantine for a longer period, jobs will be lost, and salaries will be reduced.

You have this time now sharpen your blames and become someone of value that your boss cannot afford to get rid of you.

If he does, then it will be his loss!

Stay safe, keep calm and above all keep busy.

Sean van Staden is a sport scientist. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanVStaden or visit advancedsp.co.za.

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