How to ACE lockdown

How to ACE lockdown

Eugene Farrell, chair of the UK’s Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) and Mental Health Lead, AXA PPP healthcare

The ongoing period of WFH and social distancing means much of the bracing novelty of the crisis – that feeling of challenge and worry while also having more time to rest, exercise or try new hobbies – is wearing off. It’s becoming easier at this stage to become demotivated and revert back to old habits, dominated by work priorities and the need for presenteeism.

We might find ourselves dominated by our moods rather than looking at all the different ways we’re getting something out of each day. And so when we get very little back from what we’re doing we don’t feel like we achieved much and we don’t feel good. This creates a cycle that can be hard to break.

Getting the right balance of activities, other than just working, means a healthier basis for every aspect of our lives, work, relationships and home.

Some more thinking and planning can help to change things up, make things more beneficial for us and our family. This is where an ACE approach can help us to increase the quality of our lockdown life, and bring us more satisfaction and motivation that will help to get through all the challenges still to come.

ACE stands for:

Achievement – how much was achieved in the activity? (0 = nothing achieved; 10 = Loads achieved).

Closeness – how was the experience of being close to others? (0 = I did it alone, felt alone; 10 = with partner or family and felt close to them).

Enjoyment – how much you enjoyed doing the thing (0 = didn’t enjoy it at all; 10 = really enjoyed it).

So if we score all activities using an ACE measure we can see how things are balancing out – or not.

For example, if we sit at our desk crunching spreadsheet numbers we might feel we got a lot done. The achievement score is high, but it may not make us feel that good. Working alone means closeness is zero, and enjoyment may vary depending on the work.

If we get fed up and sit alone watching TV all day, it’s a distraction or avoidance behaviour. This will have low achievement, low closeness and low enjoyment. If we plan a family movie night with popcorn and snacks the closeness score shoots up, enjoyment moves up and achievement can feel pretty good too.

Going for a walk with your partner or family would score high on closeness, hopefully high on enjoyment, and although low on achievement it brings us pleasure and enjoyment that is good for us. Setting an aim to achieve 5k in the walk, say, adds in that sense of achievement. 

Thinking more about the things we can do, a positive and varied use of the increased flexibility of time available, we can plan a set of activities that isn’t just about ticking off the achievement task box, and bring more enjoyment to our life as well as quality.