To be honest, I was somewhat undecided as to whether I should write about this topic. There are probably loads of other folks far more qualified than I to write about such things.

But as Mel Robbins says in her book, “The 5 Second Rule”, hesitation can kill any inclination to do something or anything. So I did the 5…4…3…2…1…. and here I sit trying to write this – still uncertain but nevertheless I’ll put my tuppence worth out there – perhaps someone will find a nugget that they will find useful. I’m not going to overthink this – this is literally a waterfall of my thoughts.

I have been working for myself in one form or another getting on now for almost 20 years – it’s crazy to think I left school almost 33 years ago. Way back in the day, it was decided that I would go into bookkeeping but study on the side with the aim of becoming a Chartered Accountant – that however did not pan out, my spirit was far too restless although I am very grateful that I did stick with bookkeeping for several years working my way up to being a Balance Sheet Bookkeeper (well that’s what they called it back then).

Bookkeeping instilled in me rigid timekeeping as we had to account for our time in 15min intervals. Even today I still think in terms of these 15min intervals.

I think that having worked in a relatively strict discipline has helped me in establishing a routine and at the present moment it’s quite a godsend. Having a routine adds structure to my day. It’s very easy to fritter the hours away and before you know it the day is over. I don’t like getting to the end of the day feeling like I haven’t achieved anything.  

For the past five years I have been making wedding cakes with reasonable success but with the advent of the Corona Pandemic – wedding cake orders for the foreseeable future have all but dried up.

I suppose it was quite fortuitously that over the Christmas period last year I decided that during the weeks when I don’t have any cake orders, I would have a go at doing blog posts about my wedding cake business in general; including real life Love Stories from those for whom I have made wedding cakes; share first anniversaries and flashbacks. Working towards creating more of a social media presence.

I also thought to start learning a new skill such as web design as we have three additional businesses each requiring a website; expand our Indulge Me caramel offerings, perhaps go online and to branch out into offering handmade gift boxes as wedding favours. There is plenty jostling for attention.

Apologies I have been rambling on for a wee while and we’re no nearer to my routine, so let me pause right here and dive into what I tend to do on a daily basis. This routine is by no means set in stone as life is fluid and one must simply go with the flow sometimes, but it does provide me with a guide for the day.

05:30 – 06:30: The alarm goes off at 5:30am and off I trot to the kitchen to make tea for us and to prep our dog, Muttley’s food for when he decides to surface. Hopping back into bed I use this time to read various uplifting and motivational books. These I rotate through, sometimes reading only a few pages each day (short attention span!):

• The 5 second rule by Mel Robbins
• Success Affirmation by Jack Canfield
• The 7 keys to success by Will Edwards
• Awaken the giant within by Tony Robbins (I’m finding this one a bit of a push, not finding it an easy read)

06:30 – 07:30: Walk Muttley around the plot (he’s old, we don’t go far – it’s just a matter of ticking a box on his to do list and then he’s happy until later in the day). Scheduled watering for the day.

07:30 – 08:30: Breakfast and ablutions.

08:30 – 09:00: Computers on go. Check for emails to see if there are any quotes to do or queries to be answered. Have a quick gander at social media just because I’m feeling inquisitive.

09:00 – 13:00 & 14:00 – 16:30: (breaking at 10am for coffee): This time is allocated to the tasks that I set myself for the coming week. Like for example: if there are wedding quotes to do, I will attend to these first as they relate to my core business. As we’re at the beginning of a new month I will look to what’s coming up in this month in terms of wedding anniversaries, flashbacks and wedding education. This week I will mainly work on writing blog posts whereas last week I spent most of my time working on website development.

13:00 – 14:00: Lunch for us and Muttley

16:30: I tend to stop my working day around 4:30pm as little Muttley will be holding up his clipboard about this time advising me that it’s time for his walk.

17:00 – 18:00: During this time I try to fit in some exercise at least three times a week, walking between 30 & 45mins at each session. I’ve found a walking group on YouTube which I quite like and feel comfortable with. I’ve been doing this for just over a month and I find it works well for me. I used to walk outside but didn’t really enjoy it much – now I can sweat to my heart’s content.

18:00 – 21:30: Dinner, a bit of telly and then bed.

Some days I really don’t feel like sticking to my proposed schedule, ag I’ll just blow this off for the day, but I’ve found that once I start on a task invariably, I’ll fall into line and get on with stuff.

And so it’ll begin again tomorrow – with at least one day a week being a free day. Under normal circumstances we would schedule a few hours away from the smallholding at least once a month.

As we tend to live an insular life, I can thankfully say that the global pandemic hasn’t really affected our overall way of living by very much apart from travel being restricted.

I do however feel for those for whom this is going to be a completely new way of living for the next few weeks. I am hopeful that humanity will come out all the stronger for having gone through this.

Our thoughts are with you all. Please stay safe!

Feature image courtesy of: Emma Matthews Digital Content Production on Unsplash