Maybe you are a little like a magician when it comes to work and productivity?
When the Trick Doesn’t Work Any More
You learn a new trick. You practice it by yourself. You practice it in front of a mirror.
You video yourself doing it. You know you have the moves down. No-one will be able to see how it’s done.
Then you take it out and start performing it real people. You do it again and again. Each time you learn a bit more about how to time it, when to put the pauses in, where you are likely to get reactions.
You’ve got it nailed, it has become one of your signature tricks, something you do really well.
And then you perform it to a different audience and it falls flat. It just doesn’t work, they don’t react, it has lost it’s magic.
Do you give up? No, you flex, you pivot, you try something else: a different trick for that audience, the same trick with a different presentation, or you go and find a different audience.
Lockdown Shakedown
I have spent the last couple of years figuring out how I work best. I have worked out that I am most effective when I have set routines and different locations for different activities and I that there are different times of day when I am more creative.
A lot of that has been challenged because of the lockdown. I can no longer go to the library to write, I am shut in with my family so routines have to dove-tail, I can no longer go out to perform shows.
Maybe you are in a similar position?
What to do?
Do you give up? No you flex, you pivot, you try something else.
It is worth taking some time to examine your existing habits, routines and work methods. Which of them can you carry through to the new normal and which must be parked for the time-being?
Over the next three posts I will look at how you can stay productive and sane during the lockdown by paying attention to:
- Habits and routines
- Locations and journeys
- Clothing
A lot of it is about tricking yourself into different mind-sets by using the stimuli available to you.
You can find new tricks, you can find new presentations and you can find new audiences.
The magic can continue…