I wish someone had told me how easy it is to become complacent.

And I can’t blame the lockdown for that.

Although I can thank the lockdown for giving me the time to realise that over the past year I was becoming complacent, slowly, but surely. The change was insidious, creeping forward ever so slightly until I had a long, hard look at myself and asked:

“What am I actually doing most days?”

While there are a myriad of answers to that pertinent question, the bottom line was that I simply wasn’t advancing in life anymore. Rather than improving my life (or insert any subject that applies to you: fitness, skillset, relationships etc) I was merely hanging on. Rather than growing, I was only preventing decay. 

We are now on day 120 of South Africa’s lockdown, almost a third of a year. Time doesn’t stop, regardless of a virus, and I have been exceptionally lucky to not have been affected by the pandemic like so many millions elsewhere have been. I do not take this lightly, yet I don’t have much to show for my fortunate situation. 

Having some free time on your hands is great. When it blurs into having some free time indefinitely you begin to realise that what you do each day actually matters in the long run. Small actions everyday, add up over time. Momentum really can be a powerful force.

I have often relied on physical challenges to shake up my routine, whether it was doing a 24 hour adventure race or aiming for physical milestones related to speed or strength. Somehow, I lost sight of this.

The key part of this (for me at least) is that by keeping up some sort of physical challenge I was also able to improve other areas of life. Accomplishing “this” means I can definitely accomplish “that” as well. The mental fortitude carries over, every single time.

So when I stop undertaking these challenges other areas in my life suffer, and hence this blog. Everyone goes through dips from time to time but it is quite crucial to ensure you don’t keep on dipping. So if you are not currently in some form of self-induced complacency, congratulations! Keep it up and maybe spread the inspiration so the rest of us can get on top as well. But if you do need something to work on, a simple option is something like the  “100DaysOfX” challenge. (Or similar, have a defined activity and timeline).

Everyday, for 100 days, you will commit to doing X. It might be physical, intellectual, extroverted or whatever, the point is that each day you do X. Consistency is what drives progress. At the end of the 100 days, see how you feel and maybe pick another one? Or don’t but remain conscious of where you focus your time and energy. If you had started a 100 day challenge in April, you would be finished already.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying your free time, not being “productive” or choosing to fill it with whatever you want. The danger lies in not realising that you have only done that since longer than you probably realise.

As we are all usually so “busy” we rarely take the time to figure out what fills our time and whether it adds anything to our lives. Reflecting on that might just help you introduce a small change which leads to bigger things. The key, as with most things in life, is to just start. Good luck.

“I wish someone had told me” is a series of posts that feed into our inquisitive nature at CN&CO. Each week we hear from someone in our network about something interesting or surprising that’s recently happened or occurred to them – or lessons they learnt. These blogs are a way to pay it forward and form part of CN&CO’s belief that the world can be a better place – and we all have a responsibility to make it so.