Field Notes

Though we are nowhere near out of the coronavirus woods yet, I have discovered that a few small habits I formed during the pandemic have helped me tremendously.

As you may be aware, our motto here at PUSH Magazine is to help sports tourism professionals navigate the industry lifestyle, both personally and professionally. I have had the pleasure to talk with many of you recently about how the pandemic has change us all, both personally and professionally. The past 20+ months have been extremely challenging. Understatement of the year! Though during this journey, we have discovered a lot about ourselves and one another. We have changed. We have reworked. We have adapted. When you take a deep dive and review what has occurred amongst us, there is no hesitation that many behavioral adjustments are worthy of hanging onto.

Here are a few efficiency and wellness habits that have helped and that I will be keeping:

Scheduling Concentrated Work. Prior to the virus my calendar was always packed with a variety of projects and a ton of travel. I rarely had enough time to stop and think during the workday. Rather I would pre-plan and brainstorm after the workday when I should have been relaxing. These challenging times have cleared the way to create a better worklife balance. I now schedule blocks of time during the day for the time-consuming stuff like creating promotional campaigns or mapping out strategy for a client. I have been able to build in uninterrupted time to work on tasks that require my most focused concentration.

Organizing movement. Whether I am taking a walk on the beach, arranging times to swim or surf, or hitting a bucket of balls on the range, movement has become a regularly scheduled element of my days. I am a raw thinker and breaking free from my office is how I generate new ideas and gain clarity.

Turning off the news. During current times, it can be so easy to get carried away with news reports. Situations, rules, mandates, and even crime, change from day to day. I have not completely given up on the news; watching the news is usually now a fifteen-minute exercise for me while I eat lunch every day. Far less than what I used to absorb. Negative news can use up a ton of energy for little in return. All of us are connected, so if a massive newsworthy event happens, you will know. I do not suggest this switch for everyone. And this does not mean I have blown the news off, I am just consuming it indirectly.

Clearly, we all would like to leave the virus behind and never look back. However, I encourage you to think about any changes you have made along the way because of the pandemic. Why did you make them, and how they may help moving forward in your work-life balance?