The New Norm: 7 Ways to Live our New Life

2020 is the year that changed life as we know it and which requires us to adapt to the new norm.

Angela Ash is an expert content writer and editor, and she works with Flow SEO. She writes on a multitude of topics but places a special importance on SEO, productivity, motivation, time management and wellness.

Well, the new norm seems apt, isn’t it? Things aren’t going back to “normal” as we originally hoped, are they now? The “new normal” has got us all annoyed… or has it really?

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Many people originally not used to working from home had their complaints in the beginning, but now things seem to be improving.

Firstly, suddenly everyone has discovered they have more free time on their hands.

Secondly physical distancing doesn’t mean we can’t meet our friends online.

Still, everyone misses some old routines: going to the bar with their friends, watching football with pals, or going on lunch breaks with colleagues.

It will take some time until these things will become normal again, so let’s see what we can do meanwhile to enrich our private lives but also keep sharp in terms of our business lives.

1. Stick to Your Daily Schedule

Many people have found it difficult to perform their jobs as they normally would at the beginning of the crisis. The chief reason for this seems to be that since the office is just a few steps from the bedroom, there’s more freedom to postpone some tasks.

Right?

Wrong!

Our business goals haven’t changed, and neither have our daily tasks. It’s all business as usual, except we’re working remotely.

Many people have solved the procrastination issue by drafting a daily schedule. It includes all activities to be performed during a working day. Here’s an example:

7 AM Wake up
7:15 AM morning shower
7:30 AM breakfast and coffee
7:50 AM check incoming emails
8 AM work
1 PM lunch break
1:30 PM check incoming emails
2 PM work
4 PM workout
4:45 PM house chores
5:30 PM leisure time

And so on and so forth in that fashion.

Don’t forget to allocate dedicated slots for checking email, otherwise, you’ll find yourself wasting enormous amounts of time browsing through your inbox throughout the day.

That’s called “boredom,” not “working.” And time blocking will help.

Another thing that hasn’t changed, but we’ve always had a difficult time dealing with, is task prioritization (track your time first so you can figure out how to prioritize them). When working from the office, we normally multitask and generally have more assignments than is humanly possible to address.

Hence, task prioritization should also become a daily routine. Make certain to allocate sufficient time for each task and don’t miss the breaks!

2. Work Out Online

We’ve seen a surge in online workout classes, lessons and streams in various shapes and sizes. Many of these are free, others offer free trials and only some of them require an immediate subscription.

So, here’s an idea: try out something new. I mean, we know different people prefer different workout routines, but now you have a unique opportunity to give a go at pretty much anything.

There have been some worthwhile attempts at multi-sport approaches, like The Nike Training Club App. Or you can go for something like Sweatcoin, which is an app that tracks how many steps you take and pays you for them.

Check out what’s available!

3. Party the Night Away

On top of communicating with your colleagues, you should also stay connected with your friends and family.

This doesn’t necessarily imply one-on-one video calls; we’re talking real parties here!

Given that many of us haven’t been able to host parties at home, we have been forced to celebrate special occasions in a different fashion. Virtual parties have been brought to a whole new level, with interesting ideas popping out at every corner.

People are sharing their creative experiences from online birthday parties to virtual masquerades.

Give a makeover to your next online meetup with friends. Why not throw, say, a pajama party?

4. Virtual Traveling

Since obviously we are forced to postpone most of our trips, why not enjoy our breaks from home?

Now, this doesn’t mean that we should all sit at home and solve crosswords. Rather, we can travel to our chosen destinations in a different way.

Numerous World Heritage sites have been made available online. Some projects have been perfected to such an extent that you can enter temples and historic buildings. True, you won’t be able to touch anything, but it’s still better than missing this opportunity.

In addition, virtual tours are great in that that they provide us with the opportunity to visit the places we normally wouldn’t have time or money to travel to.

Google’s virtual tour of Angkor Wat is a good example of this, but there are really so many options that choosing where to “go” first may prove indeed difficult.

5. Visit a Museum

In a similar fashion, you can visit the world’s greatest (and some less famous but no less astonishing) museums. This has all but become a trend in the current situation, with many museums opening their virtual doors to visitors from around the globe.

Here are some ideas:

6. Enjoy a Netflix Party With Family and Friends

In the new norm, movie buffs can now enjoy a whole new experience of binge-watching their favorite Netflix shows with their friends and family without ever living their comfortable sofa.

How come?

Netflix has created the Netflix Party Chrome extension, which “synchronizes video playbacks and adds group chat to your favorite Netflix shows.” The extension is free to boot, so knock yourself out!

7. Enjoy the New You in the New Norm

Challenging times, as a rule, inspire people to re-think their priorities, values and everything else in between. It is a good thing, even if a crisis is the cause.

If you still have your job, consider yourself lucky.

Many people have lost their employment, especially those working in the industries that have been hardest hit by the pandemic (tourism, for example).

So, people complaining of remote work might wish to re-evaluate their situation keeping the above-mentioned fact in mind. People who have lost their jobs might come to realize that there is no guaranteed security.

All of us will, hopefully, realize that life is too short and anything can happen at any time, so we should focus on enjoying it more.

Forget about working overtime in the new norm.

Forget about rushing through your life and never really getting to enjoy it.

Enjoy every minute of your life and work as if a pandemic might strike at any minute… oh wait!