Woody Wonders

I know I say this every single month but wow, another month gone and, more to the point, a full 6 months of the year has gone by!!  Don't you find that time itself though is quite weird and wonderful.  Yes, the first 6 months seem to have flown by and everyone is saying "I can't believe it's July already" , but cast your mind back and January seems a lifetime ago. The mid-point of the year does make me panic somewhat though in terms of "oh my god, am I just letting the year slip by, what have I done with my life so far this year?!"  So, you know what's coming don't you?  Yep, a half-year review! Last week, I took the time to look back and reflect on what I've done so far this year and plan for what I need to do for those areas I've let slip somewhat. Overall, I have to say that I'm quite pleased with what I've achieved to date.  This year I was determined to be a bit more chilled out and say 'yes' to more things, both bi...

As we approach the half year point, and whether it's work or home, many of us are no doubt thinking about how we've fared over the last 6 months' and what the next 6 months' will have in store for us. In order for us to move on, it's important that we take some time to look back and evaluate what went well and what didn't quite go to plan between January and June. Have the goals you set yourself at the start of the year now changed? Most likely, yes!  Things change, move on, are not as important, so now is the time to re-evaluate your goals and decide which are still relevant or not. Did you set yourself too many goals? Most likely, yes!  In the excitement of starting a new year, you probably set yourself way too many goals.  Over the next month, choose the most important goal to work on and give it your full attention. Has your environment become a little messy? Most likely, yes!  A new year signals a fresh start and no doubt you applied that to your environmen...

Commute time ...  more important than you thought The first thing that popped into my head when I was told I was going to be working from home for the foreseeable future was “hurrah, no more commuting for a while” .    However, your commute is actually a very important part of your working day - it’s the transition period from home to work and work to home.   In the morning, i t’s an opportunity to look ahead and plan the day and in the evening it's a time to reflect and unwind from the day.    It’s for these very reasons that I didn’t want to lose that ‘commute’ time when I started working from home as I realised it played a vital role in my day.  I usually left home around 7.15 am and returned home about 6.30 pm.  So I had a huge chunk of time both morning and evening in which to do something productive.  I didn't want to fall into the trap of staying in bed then immediately starting work in the morning and then finishing work and getting s...

  Do yourself a favour and be more curious As you know, I always like to write about subjects that have affected me personally over the course of the last week and this week is no different.   Do you ever get so bogged down with the basics that you forget to take time out to think about how you can actually do things better?  I know I do, especially at work when I get so engrossed in something that I simply forget to stop, pause and ask ... why? In preparation for a 121 with my boss last week, I was reflecting on what I'd done recently but most importantly, how I could improve going forwards.  That's when it hit me, I need to be more curious.  I always do what's asked of me and on time (usually!) but I'm so focused on actually doing the tasks that I don't stop and question why I'm doing something.  I don't mean from the point of view of being annoying and saying 'yeah but why' every time I'm asked to do something.  I coming from a point of '...

Finding out what's really important  when the chips are down Yesterday was my 50th birthday and although it wasn't quite what I'd planned, I honestly had the best day ever.  I was truly overwhelmed by the kindness, generosity and trouble that people had gone to for making my lockdown birthday one to remember.  I'm talking about people really going out of their way!!  I don't name names on my blog (apart from Mr Bob of course) but you know who you are and I cannot tell you how much I appreciated your efforts. From the briefest of messages to the biggest present, every single thing mattered to me and I'm still in the process of thanking each and every one of you.   I love birthdays because unless you're really unlucky and there's someone in the same household as you with the same birthday, then it's your unique day to celebrate as you wish.  Unlike Christmas and other mass celebrations, you don't have to share it with anyone and you don't have ...

A lot has happened in the last 3 months  so it's time to reflect and look forward It feels like a lifetime ago since I wrote my blog in January about setting intentions for the year ahead, yet here we are at the end of Q1.  An awful lot of things have happened in the last 3 months which have affected all of us, the whole world, which is difficult to comprehend. My intentions for 2020 were to 'Be Bold, Be Brave, Be Better' .  Certainly over the last few weeks, these have kind of happened anyway as I've been forced into situations I've not had to face before.   As a recap, I set myself 6 key areas to focus on for this year. Blog Fit for It (my business) Nutrition Exercise French Skills So let's take a quick look to see how I've been getting on throughout Q1: Blog  - On the plus side, I've continued to be consistent in my weekly blog which is great.  I'm not progressing as fast as I'd like in terms of tryin...