Play, with Purpose

When the sun is out, all you really want to do is go out to play.

We get such fitful and fickle spells of sunny weather in the UK, 20 degrees and all you really want to do is climb into shorts, slide into flip flops and soak up that soul-nourishing Vitamin D while you can!

It's hard to motivate yourself to sit indoors at a computer when the sky is a deep, inviting aquamarine and the world outside your window is burnished in gold.

You want to be outside in it, enjoying it while you can, and you're your own boss so it's up to you to make that happen.

Group Tasks

Are there tasks you can do away from your computer?

Group these together, pack a bag, a picnic and find a sunny place to work.

If you're lucky enough to have a garden, use it.

If you want a change of scenery, do you have a favourite spot or a place you'd like to visit?

I never get tired of swinging my legs over the wall along Bristol Harbourside.

Parks, beaches, gardens...

Are there screen-based tasks you can do on your phone?

Writing emails, updating social media, even blogging.

It may be more awkward, but the extra time and hassle of using your phone instead of being stuck indoors at a computer is worth it if it means you have the freedom to work outside.

Is there some writing you want to get done?

Drafting blogs, writing course materials, writing plans, writing bids, drafting website copy, fiction writing...

Get a notebook and do it old school. There's something about the feeling of the nib scratching against the page that unblocks a whole creative part of you, long forgotten.

With dictation tools on your phone (open an email to yourself, click the microphone icon and speak...) you can get your writing into a digital format quickly and easily. By voice recording it, you can then edit it on the PC later, when it's a wet day or when the sun's gone in.

Again, the extra time it takes is worth it to give you the freedom to be in the sun.

However, voice dictation will also improve your writing. You quite literally find your voice when you read out. It allows you to practice speaking more efficiently (less ums and ars) and when you read your writing aloud you quickly spot the places where it's not flowing. It's an extra opportunity to edit and polish your writing and improve the quality.

Thinking Time

Sunny weather is a great opportunity to catch up on thinking.

When you work for yourself, it's so easy to get caught up in the minutiae of being busy all the time.

Once in a while you need to stop, take a step back and reflect on whether all that busy is actually productive.

Ask yourself...

• Are you getting the results you want? If not, why not?
• What can you do more, or less of, to change it up?
• What's working well? What could you focus more of your energy on to get better results?
• What can you do less of to make the time and space to enjoy the fruits of your labour?

Being busy isn't necessarily a good thing.

Thinking time is not a luxury, it's a necessity. It's a productive activity to sit in the warmth of the sun, without distractions, and simply think.

Think about anything and everything.

Imagine possibilities.

Think about where you want your business to take you in the future.

Use the images, feelings and ideas that come to you to update your business plans and revisit the overall vision for your business.

I give you permission to daydream.

Enjoy the summer!