Get Out And About

It’s been another holiday weekend here in the UK and of course being a Bank Holiday – mixed weather. However, there’s nothing quite like getting out into the Spring sunshine when it’s there, whether just to relax in the sunshine or to enjoy some fresh air and exercise. Many of us could benefit from getting out into the fresh air and closer to nature more often. We spend so much time shielded from it in our cars and air-conditioned offices, walking along exhaust fume filled streets, that we lose sight of the changing seasons.

One great advantage of working from home is that it’s a lot easier for me to get out and experience the seasons – even if they do seem to disappear at a rate of knots – or is that just a sign that I’m getting older?

If you work in an office all week, the evenings (in the northern hemisphere) are still getting longer and there are good couple of hours of daylight to get outside and enjoy it.

- Take in the scenery on your way home.
- Get out to a local park in your lunch break.
- Go for a walk or cycle when you get home as a way to unwind instead of collapsing infront of the TV.

Even if you don’t think you have the time, make the time. It’s worth it for the physical and mental boost you’ll get. If you’ve read my nature blog – you’ll know that I regularly get out for a run, walk or just to sit outside in the garden. Open your eyes and be more aware of your surroundings, especially where nature comes into it.

P.S. If you want some inspiration – sign up for Monday Moments from the RSPB - http://www.rspb.org.uk/moments/

Mind The Gaps

Last week I was busy putting the finishing touches to my book. Every time I’ve been the process of writing a chapter, it seems to be the key topic that one or more of my clients is dealing with. I know that it’s the equivalent of buy a red car and all you see is red cars but I found that because I’d just been honing my writing to deal with a specific topic, I could make it even more relevant to the next conversation and equally, it prompted me to add something to the chapter.

Anyway, that's a bit of an aside, one thing that I learned is that creativity cannot be squeezed into a neatly ordered time slot. In fact my attempts to write a chapter in a few hours failed miserably because while the content was pretty much there, it definitely needed a number of writing sessions, periods of mulling over in-between, reviews and read throughs until the final version was ready to be sent off. I also noticed that when I hit a block, the best thing to do was get up and go and do something else and then come back to it a few minutes or even a couple of hours later.

If you’ve got a similar project you’re trying to get underway – treat the gaps as being just as important as the actual writing. While the physical putting pen to paper might only take a few hours, spread it out over a few days, so that you have plenty of time to think about it, add to it, review it and read it through before you’re finished.