500 Hours of Unscheduled Downtime

On March 12th, I started my Give and Be Rich keynote with these questions… 

How many of you would like to get more? 

• Get more money? 
• Get more time? 
• Get more relaxation? 
• Get more satisfaction?

The audience always cheers with desire for these things, and as luck would have it, on Friday the 13th of March, I realized how lucky we are.  We get to have time, to plant the seeds and grow exactly what we want.   

Unscheduled downtime has been the directive given by our governments both Federally and Provincially to proactively prevent the spread of Covid-19; so, we get this gift of two or three weeks to hunker down and do some important things.  

When I ask a group of adults what they can tell me about time, they always have the same answer. “Not enough of it”.  Well, we’ve just been given over 500 hours of unscheduled downtime.  (that’s 3 weeks - 21 days @ 24 hours a day if you want the breakdown)  

How will you use your time? Here are some ideas that excite me…

Heartwarming, soul soothing stories can help us feel better in times of uncertainty. Watch Come From Away, a documentary about how kindness of folks of Labrador hosted 7000 flight passengers on the fatal day of 9/11.  It’s very significant to the state of emergency we’re in today, and how kindness cradles those in crisis.  We have so much more to Give and Be Rich. 

Have those deep conversations with those who matter. I still vividly remember the Northeast Blackout of 2003.  My mom and I sat on the cottage porch, a lantern lit the space, and I heard stories for the first time about how she overcame an abusive marriage long before I was born.  Wow…what took her so long to tell me?  Or had I been just too busy to listen? 

Have you’ve been too busy to acknowledge deserving people?  

Is there some cleaning up of old conflict that you could be moving through while you have the time? Workplace conflict resolution, team building or family conversations that get us through disconnection are great ways to use this downtime.  (I can help) 

Maybe you’ve been putting things off  until you “get around to it?”  Now is your chance.  These important things got placed on the back burner because you were dealing with the urgent things.  Do the important things like planning, strengthening, organizing or de-cluttering, marketing, sales, building relationships, research in your expertise, learning new software or system to take your career to the next level … These are all examples that can help you hit the ground running when it’s go time. 

On the home front - family board games, preserving your digital photos, snuggling up to a movie with your favorite people, crafts or hobbies that make YOU feel good … I can feel the world getting a lot more loving already and I predict a baby boom in 9 months!   

Sleep.  Oh yeah … my favorite past time.  Get more of it! Rest, read, write, cook together, listen to or play music, dance, make love…OK … this is getting so juicy, I can’t wait to get started.   

Take this unscheduled downtime as a great gift. Money is just one of many currencies that make us rich.  Use your 500 hours to Give and Be Rich in other ways.  

There are two ways to look at circumstances that are thrust upon us.  With fear, or with love.  I choose love.  Love this unscheduled down time so much that it bubbles over and infects others in a great way.  

Penny