Back to school - and back to (avoiding) work

Back to school - and back to (avoiding) work

The back to school posts on social media are everywhere right now, and as a result, many working parents and carers will be proclaiming they're back to work, too.

Me?

I'm back to procrastinating.

My child danced back to school earlier this morning with a joyousness that I at first assumed was due to her sheer love of learning and her all-consuming happiness to be taking on the challenges and opportunities of all that Year 2 has to offer her. But given further consideration, she was probably less dancing towards school and more dancing away from this bloody house, having been stuck with me and her dad for the best part of six weeks, seeing as we took on pretty much all the childcare between ourselves whilst we simultaneously attempted to keep our businesses ticking over in the background.

But whatever my child's motivations for school, I'm back at my desk for work, with - for the first time since some point back in July - a full (school) day ahead of me to focus on clients and copywriting and all the chaos and creativity that goes along with running your own business.

No juggling, no work-arounds, no combining pond-dipping with invoice-sending. Not that I ever did that, of course. I've scheduled Zooms and sent out subsequent invites whilst attempting to hold my balance on a trampoline, though...

But of course, all the ideas, all the innovations, and all the inspirational thoughts that have been building in my head across the school holidays regarding what I can do and how I can do it in my little copywriting world will have to wait, because much as I'm genuinely looking forward to getting moving with things with agoodwriteup, I unfortunately also have so much procrastination that I must absolutely focus on until around 2.50 this afternoon, when I quickly remember that I have to go pick up my child from school (whilst muttering loudly to myself that there's no fucking point them even going in for a piddling six hours...)

So today, whilst I would always hang my small selection of hats on the fact that writing a blog is a great way to boost your business, writing this particular piece for you (or for me) wasn't actually on my to-do list of business-based priorities, today.

That's right, I wrote it because I'm procrastinating. And ironically, writing stuff (that I never intended to write) is a big part of that process for me. If only I could pay myself as my own copywriter..

Anyway. I have appointments to schedule, invoices to send, and proposals to, well, propose. Plus I'm getting rid of some of the stuff I offer in my business, and therefore need to get rid of it from my website and general marketing, too.

But no.

I'm going to re-jig the spare bedroom/office.

I'm going to bag up everything we don't need and give it to charity.

I'm going to do all the post-holiday ironing (yes, THAT'S how bad this is getting).

I'll probably start kicking back in for actual work around about the time Lily finishes school on Friday afternoon. And then I'll spend the weekend waiting for her to go back on Monday so that I can finally "get cracking", or whatever motivational terminology I choose to convince myself of my convictions.

Thank god I don't have any clients booked in until tomorrow. Today I'd be turning up on our Sorted in 60??session, asking my clients questions like, "Yeah, but do you think I can still pull this off with jeans, or shall I shove it in the Barnardo's bag?"

Welcome to September, everybody.

May your kids thrive now that they're back to school, and may your businesses thrive now that you're back to avoiding work.

Gillian Bardsley

Marketing Specialist | Been there, done that, designed the t-shirt | Strategy, Design & Copywriting | Let’s get your marketing sorted!

6 个月

Very relatable. I had so many ideas in my brain when I could do nothing about them. Now? Nothing. Just tumble weed! But this GDI group I’m in is pretty good for motivation and accountability. ????

Michael Bailey

MA(Hons) MCIL - Translator (DE>EN), Banking Supervision - Finanzmarktaufsicht / Austrian Financial Market Authority

6 个月

We're just starting back after nine weeks of summer holidays (for the kids) and after 3 weeks of leave I return to the office (remotely) tomorrow. Usually I would be sort of "semi-working" under the radar, but I decided to be kind to myself, and to take a genuine break. Work also introduced a "meeting-free first day back" rule from 1 July, so I can use tomorrow to get back into it. My work laptop has been turned on twice while we have been at home to do all the updates needed after a three week absence before I actually want to start work tomorrow. A number of jobs around the house have been handled (a lucky escape from flooded cellars made us clear out before we have to if there is another flood). If you're wanting some life hacks - it seems you are not alone on the avoiding work, why not look at this - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/sep/03/sort-out-your-life-100-tiny-tricks-to-help-with-everything-from-digital-overwhelm-to-lumpy-sugar-and-unpaid-bills - the procrastination won't seem so bad!

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