Hi everyone,
my name is Zofia and I am a former exchange student in Australia. I decided to stay overseas during the first worldwide “Lockdown”, and I am going to share with you a little bit of my personal experience with it. Let’s get started!
There was a time during my exchange, when everything was happening "overnight" – so quickly and unexpectedly, that I did not know what my life would look like in a few hours. During that week, in one minute I was completely sure that I could not leave the country, and in the next one I was receiving information from the embassy that the return flight was somehow possible. A second later, I talked to my parents and came to a completely different conclusion, which we then refuted, together, three hours later. I am talking here of course about the situation related to Covid-19 and the official closing of the borders – first in my country, and then also - in Australia. As you can easily conclude, I finally decided to stay in that beautiful country. Why? There are several reasons, both of a personal and practical nature. Ultimately, the fact that it was simply safer there, prevailed.
illustartion: iStock ("Codzienne zarządzanie energią - co cię osłabia, a co doładowuje?" - zwierciadło.pl) Now I would like to present some of my main key-tips that I used to follow every day to stay on track:
1. A good plan is the key to success.
In the morning (or whenever time you end up waking up), before the start of the day, make yourself an EXACT hourly plan, according to which your day will be functioning. If you fail to complete all its points or run out of time for one of the activities - nothing happens. The most important thing is that you started work and you realize that there is still a lot to do over the next few days.
2. Do not overcommit yourself.
Set yourself weekly or fortnightly goals. Those that you will be able to reach completely on your own during your stay at home and which will give you personal satisfaction. This is only my approach, but I like, for example, to choose goals that give me material and quantifiable benefits, like those that I can summarize in my head or write on a piece of paper. Then I have clear proof of what I have actually managed to do. For example, one of my goals from last week is "To finish everything related to Polish drama book, which I’m reading now" (under which there were several smaller tasks: read the book to the end, watch the film based on it, write notes to it, write the characteristics of all the characters and read interpretations and information about the author). I did the same with other major weekly goals. For example, "Finish a movie about Tasmania" is really: editing, downloading music, downloading photos, description, publication, sending necessary messages, etc.
In general, I believe that a planning strategy that is suited to you, is the key to success and continuous fulfillment of your dreams.
3. The strategy of the first step.
Work and study from home is more of an intellectual job, and let us face it, it exposes us to more analysis and thinking than we would do in a regular work or school environment - not during self-isolation. We write, read, and try to understand more on our own than we would normally do. We are also forced to handle the anger on our own, because there are no office-colleagues around, who share our dilemmas and understand our irritation. Movement is important because it gives us a break from these thoughts, and sometimes such a break is essential. I personally used to exercise at the time previously set by myself, which was usually after work, when the sun and temperature seeded tolerable. (Yes. After 12 months and a summer spent in Australia, I still have not fully adjusted to the everyday temperature over there. No judgment, please ;). I go out for a walk/run around 4:30 p.m., and come back at 6p.m. I leave the house in a running outfit and with empty hands, but always with the assumption that my goal is to simply just leave the house. An interesting psychology lies behind it, because once a person takes the first step and starts something, further work (in this case running, not just walking) seems way much easier than it did before. That is why I recommend starting every exercise with the attitude that "if we do these three squats, it will be wonderful and better than nothing", and you will see that these squats will turn into one-hour fitness sessions. As for my exercises, I also do about 10-15 minutes of abs workout in the evening, long after dinner. In my opinion, time does not matter, at this moment it is important that you do something. Excuses related to the time of a day won’t help you stay fit, and I’ve never been, and probably won’t be an early riser so... commit how it suits you, but calmly and without overstated expectations!
4. ‘Nothing-doing’ turns up the motivation,
i.e. the matter of breaks. My strategy in this regard may seem very controversial to many of you, but I know that there are people all over the world who also work this way. Personally, I prefer to take breaks when it is only necessary. Of course, for some, breaks planned to the minute (e.g. every 45 minutes) will work great and I encourage you to test on yourself those break systems that suit you best. In my case, if I put myself into the mood of work (e.g. writing), I prefer not to lose this "flow" and like to do as much as possible, of which I’m later very satisfied about. Do not forget, however, to always have something to drink next to you, preferably water. In my system, breaks come when I need them, not when my planner dictates it to me. There are many schools of thought on this matter, and I highly recommend you test and find the break system that suits you best and which will make your work even more efficient.
5. First swallow, then click.
Food has always played an important role in my life. I believe that our well-being depends significantly on what we eat every day. During the current situation, when going to work or having a set lunch break does not determine the regular times of your meals, it’s worth organizing such times yourself and disciplining your brain to follow them every day. I always read a book while eating breakfast and lunch, which allows me to break away from the real world and thoughts related to it. I would recommend this. All this is still part of maintaining a continuous daily routine. It is also good to provide yourself with healthy snacks before sitting at your desk, in case you get hungry, while being sucked into your work and not wanting to leave the room at all costs in case of losing your inspiration.
Based on my own experience I advise against extremely restrictive diets at home and denying yourself everything that is not included in them, because sooner or later the magic endurance line will break and you will end up on the couch with a huge pile of chips and a jar of Nutella in hand. Let us eat desserts, but wisely, and in reasonable quantities. Our mind and body will be happy about it and will not go crazy under the influence of new habits.
6. The workplace is your temple.
Before starting work, it is worth taking care of your desk. Restore the known arrangement of objects on it, before starting to complete the tasks. Put writing utensils into one corner, disinfect the keyboard, wipe away dust. Do not forget to place a large bottle of water next to your computer. Maybe today is the day when you need to thoroughly clean the desk? Do it all before you start your working day, because when we respect and care for the workplace, as if the boss or the teacher was about to check on us, our productivity improves and the comfort of work goes up. Take care of this little desk temple and the mind will thank you more than you expect.
I am neither a doctor nor a nutritionist. The above tips are conclusions that I came to on my own, observing my body and mind during self-isolation.
I encourage you to carry out such observations on yourself and use this time to learn more about your thought processes. In my opinion, when you know what to expect from your body and mind, nothing stands in the way of your life career.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to share my thoughts and feelings in this newsletter. This means a lot to me. Stay safe, positive and have a productive day!
Zofia Majcherczyk
photos: Zofia Majcherczyk
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