As soon as COVID hit and I was furloughed, it felt fantastic. I had been stuck in a job that was destroying me, and it was the perfect opportunity to get focused as I went from having a full-time job, a part-time business, and too little time to having all the time in the world. Yet I decided to do nothing and chillax for the first couple of months. Then I invested too much time trying to find a publisher, as I thought self-publishing my book would be like climbing a mountain whilst having rocks and snakes thrown at me.
I didn’t even think to work smart and make the most of the spare time I had to complete my fitness book. Why?
- For the peak of the lockdown, when everything was shut, I spent the first lockdown at my mother’s house relaxing in the garden, connecting with other gay men across the world on social media, baking, doing online fitness classes, applying for grants (as there were fuc*loads of them) and making the most of the 1 walk people were allowed to have each day.
- Wine’oclock went from 8pm to 4pm. Yes, I used it as an excuse, and it clearly was no excuse for me to use. I had decided that life was short, and as soon as lockdown ended, I was off to jet-set everywhere with the money I had saved. With me being more resourceful and creative at night, I was normally too tipsy to function and use my brain to keep going with Booty-Building.
- I was convinced that I had the talent and persuasive skills to get an agent to publish my book. The time I did invest in Booty-Building was spent looking for an agent, and I got nowhere.
This was months of wasted opportunity to get cracking on my ambition, which I was so excited to achieve one day, and I blew this time on poor decisions and unhelpful lifestyle habits.
One thing I did right regarding how I used my time was that, during the COVID era, there were so many business grants available, and to get them, you had to apply fast and be in there quick! I was so fixated on saving up for holidays when the world was reopening. So whilst I was definitely doing the right thing, this also pushed back the time I spent on completing Booty Building.
But thankfully, this energy I invested paid off, and I got multiple grants. I decided to purchase a brand new MacBook Pro.
Then came the time that everything changed, which felt like a personal blow at the time, but it gave me the incentive to complete Booty-Building even if it meant self-publishing.
The pub I operated out of for my fitness business informed me I was no longer welcome there, and I was given 48 hours to remove my stuff. This was not a nice time, as it was full of hatred and perhaps jealousy. I also felt I had lost something I had spent years building, and I did become quite a bitter person because of it. I had to quickly sell my spin bikes, fitness mats, and anything else I had left to keep in storage.
What it did give me was several reality checks: not only do I need to focus on getting a career I’d enjoy, but I also decided that I do not want to go back into the fitness industry and operate from somewhere else. As much as I enjoyed doing my Spin classes, this part-time business prevented me from getting a full-time job that would pay me enough, so I’d have weekends to myself and evenings to focus on doing things that mattered, including Booty-Building.
I decided I had what it takes to self-publish Booty-Building, and this book meant so much to me that I wanted this to be where my fitness career ended, on such a high note!
The annoying thing is, guess what happened as soon as I started to get back into the swing of writing Booty-Building? I got unfurloughed – Boo! 😔
I spent the last week of my furlough, determined to waste no more time, to accomplish something I had promised myself, and finally do something that felt unique and individual to me. I decided to invest the money from selling my spin bikes to fund the book’s design and graphics, and I also hired a local proofreader.
I remember that on the final 2 days of furlough, my family and I spent them taking photos of the different exercises in the book in various gyms. This was frustratingly tricky, as we had to ensure we were executing each exercise’s movement correctly. I was conscious of always looking my best in each exercise, as I had put on so much weight during COVID. At least the gyms were never busy, which helped massively.
Whilst I may not have had all the time in the world like before I was unfurloughed, at least I had my evenings free unlike before COVID. I managed to get back into the swing of typing and typing each night in pure fixation mode.
The laptop I purchased made this so much easier than using the tablet, however, back then, I was completely unaware of what ‘assistive technology’ was. Let alone knowing about Dragon software or text read and write. So whilst this made it a LOT easier, I spent hours on end each night working on the book in poor neck posture, unhealthy amounts of screen time, and working through the night until sometimes 5am, which affected my energy levels and meant I was sleeping in until lunchtime most days, which also affected my mood.
Also, I hadn’t kicked out the 4pm wine o’clock habit …………….and that’s part 2!!!
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