Are you feeling a touch overwhelmed by everything that’s going on at the moment?

Kids at home for the rest of the school year in most cases. (Raise your hand if you’ve seriously contemplated having a glass of wine at 11 am recently. Yeah, me too.)

Physical distancing and stay-at-home orders keeping us confined, away from the communities that normally sustain us through hard times.

Businesses and incomes impacted or wiped out due to Covid-19 restrictions.

No wonder so many of us are having a hard time.

It’s at moments like these that it’s all the more important to establish simple strategies to keep us moving onward and upward despite the situation.

Here are two that you can implement today to help you do that.

Harness the power of small goals

When so much of your energy is going to dealing with the fallout from a pandemic, it’s important to ensure that a) you have meaningful goals you’re working toward every week; and b) they’re broken down into bite-sized chunks.

Few among us have enough bandwidth for big, hairy goals at the moment. There’s also a danger in aiming too high.

If you set goals that are too much of a stretch right now, you’ll procrastinate and do nothing.

However, if you set no goals, you’ll spend your days spinning your wheels and you’ll feel even worse. No one benefits from a perpetual feeling of restlessness.

If, however, you set small, easily achievable goals, you’ll get them done, feel better and build momentum.

Case in point

On March 17th, I started a 30-Day Positive Action Challenge. Some of you in my online community rose to the challenge and you have accomplished a heap of things in the last 26 days. I have loved receiving your updates – thank you!

Another group who have made great progress are some of my members from the Women’s Money Group. They have shown up nearly every day in our private Facebook Group to share their small steps for the day.

It wasn’t easy for them. There were struggles with motivation, mental health challenges and other obstacles to contend with.

Nonetheless, all made great progress for one simple reason: They set achievable daily goals that helped to improve their finances.

Here’s a sampling of what they’ve done:

• Finished their income taxes
• Tracked their expenses
• Eliminated excessive spending
• Negotiated better rates for a range of products and services
• Pivoted their business offerings
• Sorted through messy files
• Researched investments
• Read financial blogs and books
• Automated savings, investments, bill payments and payroll

Give it a try. What small goal will you set to move your finances forward this week? Shoot me an email to let me know, then follow up with your progress.

None of this happened all at once. Instead, it was the result of repeated actions over twenty-six days along with a stick-to-it mindset. The group accountability didn’t hurt, either.

Create something to look forward to

What does your calendar look like?

Mine is a blank slate at the moment. Nothing on it other than crossed-off activities that were supposed to happen.

No weekend plans, no kids’ sports, no personal or business trips, no hot yoga classes, no book club with girlfriends and no miscellaneous items that used to fill up every bit of white on the page.

It’s. Empty.

About a week ago, I was feeling low. I couldn’t figure out why.

My business is growing, my projects are on track, my family is healthy and we are blessed to live in a comfortable house with ample space and food. We’re in a good place, so what’s going on?

I made myself a cup of tea and, out of habit, I glanced at the family calendar to see what was on the burner for the day.

Nothing. Just work and stay home.

That’s when it hit me: I no longer had anything to look forward to. No weekend plans to visit with friends, no card or board games with other families, no long bike rides with the girls, no hikes, theater, dinners out, weekend trips, summer vacation.

Everything was cancelled, so I had nothing to get excited about. Sure, we had connected with various friends via Zoom, but it was usually a spur-of-the-moment thing.

And that’s when I realized that we need to put some planned fun back on the calendar.

The result?

We have planned card nights on the calendar and I’m excited! (If you’re a card player, check out trickstercards.com.)

We have board game nights planned, too. We’re even going to see if we can pull off a games night with three families in two different provinces and another country.

Oh, and cocktail visits. “Quarantini Hour” one gal called it. I’m all over that idea.

I plan to get more creative in the coming weeks to see what other activities I can book virtually with friends and family.

I’m also trying to figure out how Mark and I can swing a Date Night during this period of confinement. Stay tuned.

Over to you. I suggest you start filling up your calendar with planned fun, if you haven’t already done so, then reach out and share what you’re doing to bring joy to your days. Please leave your ideas and suggestions below.

Focus on your reaction

It’s important to remember that we have a choice in how we react to all this. We may not be able to change what has happened, but we certainly can choose to get creative, keep moving forward and thrive no matter what.

Let’s choose joy and progress.

Stay healthy and stay connected.

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*Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash