Tips for getting back into it after iso + 2022 PWK SURVEY
Good morning!
It has definitely been another strange start to the year. We came back from holidays just before new years and like many families, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in isolation. One of the kids was COVID positive so it was seven days at home for us. The child had a positive RAT and this was at the time that you needed to confirm with a PCR. The rest of the family including me tested negative on RATs but as I had a headache I also had a PCR test when I took the positive child to have theirs on 3rd January.
We were caught in the PCR results backlog and didn’t get our results until 12th January. Turns out we were both positive. Our child had fevers and some other symptoms but I was pretty much asymptomatic. I had a headache for a day and some tiredness which I just put down to general life and heat at the time.
Since getting out of iso we have both had some fatigue and I found the first week it was hard getting into things as I usually would. It is hard to tell if finding it hard to get into work and life with my usual vigour is just post COVID recovery or if it is just part of the COVID mood at the moment.
Towards the end of last week, I decided I needed to make some changes and give myself a push in the right direction. Most of the school holidays to date had been free-flowing without too many planned activities and since returning from holidays I was attempting to fit in some hours of work around what was going on with the kids.
Workwise this wasn’t working out great. I was lacking focus, felt like I was being constantly interrupted or if I did finally get into some flow it was time to stop and get dinner ready! I also felt like the days were ambling by and I wasn’t doing enough fun stuff with the kids.
So on Saturday, I planned out our next week (including last weekend) so I was having a time-blocking approach. This means I am allocating time to work and time to family amongst the days. I have let the kids know what this looks like and they have an idea of the activities we are doing together. Naturally, I can change this as needed but it gives us a solid base to go from and is providing some direction to our days.
I also made a change to where I was working. During home learning throughout our long and many lockdowns, I worked at the dining table so the kids all had individual spaces to work at. This was fine when everyone else was working or schooling during the day. On holidays however I have lots of company at the table through my working times with people wanting to chat, show me Tik Toks and get me to help with things. Not a great setup at all for concentration or working productively.
I have now moved back to a desk and while it is still in one of the shared spaces, I face a wall and have my back to everyone. The kids know if I am here I am working. Unless it is urgent they know to wait until I am in another space to chat, show me Tik Toks etc. This small change of a couple of metres has had a huge impact on my productivity and getting back into work.
Having a good work session is a great feeling. You have a sense of accomplishment knowing you have tackled the items on your to-do list and it creates momentum to keep going.
If you are struggling coming out of iso or for any other reason look and see what small changes you can make to:
where you work
the time you start work
what distractions you can eliminate
how you block time out throughout the day
If you have been in iso and have found some great ways to get back into it, leave a comment to share!
It has been two years since my last survey, so definitely time I hear from the lovely readers of Planning With Kids. It is pretty crazy to think that this blog has now been going for 14 years and I know that there are readers who have been reading along for all of this time. If that is you – thank you so much! If you only started reading this year – thank you to you too! Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my posts and newsletters. If you want to go straight to the survey now, click here!
This blog has provided the base for me to create a small business that allows me to work flexibly from home and I will always be so grateful to you for helping create this with me.
The surveys that I do are incredibly helpful to make sure that I am creating relevant, helpful and entertaining content. I would really love it if you could take two minutes to complete the survey. You can see some of the content I created from the last survey here and here.
To say thank you for reading and for taking the time to complete the survey, there are three cartons of Adapt Drinks Relax to win! If you would like to go into the draw to win 1 of the 3 cartons (each carton is 12 x 330ml bottles valued at $65 each) please leave your email address in the last question of the survey. If you would prefer to be anonymous just leave that box empty.
Due to the expensive rates of overseas shipping, the Adapt Drinks giveaway is only available to Australian residents. International winners can choose an e-product or e-course as their prize. Entry to the giveaway is limited to one per person.
The survey will be open for two weeks, closing on Monday 31st January. Winners will be notified that week. Any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch via nicole@planningwithkids.com.