Just the Long Days You Need to Meet Your Goals

As summer stretches on ahead of us, we get one guaranteed thing, whether it rains or shines. We get days that seem to go on forever. So as daylight carries on past 10pm, you have extra daylight to fit more things in. After all, the more daylight there is, the more our bodies think we should stay up later and stay active longer.

So here’s how you can take advantage of these long days to meet your goals.

Goal #1: You want to exercise more.

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Exercising in public is a roller coaster of emotions. You feel great when you move your muscles and get the hit of feel-good chemicals, but you can also feel self conscious. Even worse is when you feel unsafe. With these long days, you can fit a little more exercise into your day. After dinner, take a walk with your family. Stay in the park a bit longer and kick a football around. That way, you’re fitting more exercise in without having to run around in Lycra tights in the dark.

Just remember not to exercise too strenuously too late at night. If you exercise even two hours before bedtime, you might find it hard to get to sleep at night, and that lack of sleep certainly won’t help you get healthier.

Goal #2: You want to progress with your job.

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These days, working longer hours than anyone else isn’t a guarantee of a job. The only thing you can do to ensure your employers see you as valuable is to continually taking on new challenges and tasks to become a more multifaceted employee. Try to use some of the extra day to improve yourself as a worker, without staying in the office for ages. When you get home, take an online coding course to learn new computer skills. Or brush up on an area of marketing that might help your company get its name out there. Finally, you can use this time to learn a new language, which is always desirable to employers, whether you stock shelves or are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Just pick something that is related to your job but sufficiently interesting, and learn it.

Goal #3: You want to spend more time with the family.

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This goal can work with well with the first goal. The more daylight means the more time you and your family can spend outdoors being active. When you go for a big family walk after dinner, take the time to talk to each member of the family individually. Make sure you listen to them actively, asking questions about their lives. This is especially important for those huffy tweens and teens. You know them as children, but they are starting to see themselves as more mature than that. Make the effort to get to know them as they see themselves, and you’ll become closer than ever.

Goal #4: You want to get on top of the family budget.

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Creating and sticking to a budget is so boring. We’re not going to pretend that it’s not. It’s necessary and it’s helpful and it’s so boring. But it absolutely has to be done if you’re going to be able to save up for a dream holiday, put money aside for retirement or help your kids out when they are ready to move out and make their way in the world. The problem is that summer feels like the most natural time in the world to indulge in little treats, from barbecue ribs to ice cream or a lovely new pair of sunnies. Still, not every day of the summer is beautiful. The summer also comes with damp, humid days where moving is as big of a chore as doing the budget. And that is when you want to do it, so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on more fun. Here’s a great guide to setting a budget in 30 minutes flat, so even if you do end up doing it on a sunny day, you won’t spend the whole day doing it.

 

So what are you going to be doing with the extra daylight hours? Let us know in the comments!