Lockdown day 12 - The list

(No, this is not a post about Kantara having started to lean over to one side. She hasn't. This boat has, however.)

A lot of my friends and acquaintances on social media have said how bored they're getting on these social-distancing days. I can thank my bullet planner for helping me to make sure that everything that has to be done - or those things that I simply want to get done - get done. Another piece of advice I've picked up from others is my list.

One entry that appears every day in my bullet planner is a line with the numbers 1 to 9. These don't get officially referred from the previous day; they're a permanent feature. They refer to nine things that I've decided I want to do every day, each of them to benefit me either physically, or mentally or spiritually. So there's

1 Exercise (largely weights and cardio)
4 Brain games (apps on my tablet and phone to challenge and develop my 68 year-old grey matter)
6 Duolingo (I was told when I retired that it's good practice to learn a new language, so I'm swatting up on my school German and school/university French, and learning Italian)
9 Walking (a decent distance at a speed that get speeds up my heart- and breath-rates)

and there's

3 TED (a daily TED Talk or similar to teach me something new, or to give me a new perspective on something.)
7 Reading (a novel, alongside one or two non-fictions that serve much the same purpose as TED)
5 Writing (not just this blog, nor the book-writing I attempt, but also fun writing exercises from a fabulous little book I was given by a friend)

which leaves

2 Meditation (something I'm new to and not yet made a habit. I use a really good app to lead me through each one)
and 8 Music (not as a background to the washing-up or whatever, but sitting down and listening with headphones and really paying attention to it. I'm amazed by the huge number of songs I'd never really heard properly!)

Obviously, it's rare for me to tick off every one of those on any one day, because there are other things to do with my life. And I've not yet tried it out whilst on the cut when I don't spend as much time below deck as I am at the moment (and who knows when we'll be able to cruise again!) but I find it a helpful list, the nine activities give me a lot of pleasure, and I always have something enjoyable to do.

Lockdown day 11 - Planning made easier

I'm not even sure what number day this is in the whole social distancing thing, but today I'm going to start using this blog as a bit of a log of our journey through this word-changing epidemic. I'm sorry if that bores you readers, but hey, you might find bits of it interesting! I'll look back at it in a few years time, maybe, and be proud that I didn't go mad from inactivity and under-stimulation.

Firstly, a visiting swan not keeping to the 2 metre distancing rule.

Since January 1st I've been using a bullet planner. Unlike a diary, it looks ahead and helps me to use my time well, and not to forget to do things - important or otherwise. At the start of the year, I listed all those things I could think of at the time that I wanted to get done in 2020. Some would get done in the first week, some of them are to do with with next Christmas. Some of them are related to the house, others to the boat. As new things come up, they go onto this "Future Log".

At the start of each new month, I refer back to the Future Log and take entries from that to put in the month's Task List. At the start of each day, I create a list of those things on the Task List that I want to do (and can do, depending on weather and other external factors) on that day; at the end of the day I tick off the ones I've done and refer forward to the next day the ones that remain, and they will appear among the next day's entries. Any number of them may get referred forward several times, but that simply ensures that they get done as soon as possible.

Naomi (eldest daughter) has been doing this for years, and swears by its power to improve your productivity. Last year, I read the book about it that she had bought, but I wasn't attracted to the idea. Then she showed me exactly how she uses hers, and I was won over straight away.

Of course, the journal can be used for all sorts of  other things, too - recipes, details of films seen, books read, ideas you've had for writing, blogging, growing, making things... It's very versatile, and it really works for her, and now for me, too.