Making "Getting Shit Done" A Lot More Enjoyable

The art of productive holidaying.

Everyone talks about adventure holidays, fun filled holidays and of course, the reason many of us choose to holiday in the first place, relaxing holidays, but over the last few years, Jake and I have experienced (and enjoyed) another kind of holiday. One I’m dubbing “the productive holiday”. 

Sounds slightly horrendous I know, but hear me out. Let me start with asking a question: do you ever find it hard to give time to the things you probably should do, but don’t absolutely need to do? Things like self improvement, learning something new, practicing a skill - essentially investing in yourself?

Yeah? Me too. Between full time work, children if you have them, other family commitments, household chores and the invariable crap life chucks into the mix from time to time, like insurance claims (remind me to write about the big flat flood of 2022 - a literal shit show), miscellaneous appointments and anything to do with utilities; getting the time to actually work on yourself is pretty hard work!

This is precisely the space me and Jake found ourselves in. 

Working full time Monday to Friday, travelling back and forth down the A1 to spend time with each other and our families, then cramming in every other job, chore and life admin task over the evenings and weekends. Just when, because apparently we weren’t busy enough, I’d finally decided to start my own blog (you’re here, huzzah I started it) and Jake was determined to hone his photography skills and do something a little more intentional with his Instagram.

Feeling frustrated with our lack of progress, we decided we needed a retreat! Not a relaxing spa type retreat, but a batten down the hatches, head into the countryside away from household distractions and don’t tell anyone where we are, kind of a retreat. The idea being, we could finally have a productive weekend working on the things we wanted to work on, and investing in ourselves.

The first productive holiday destination was an absolutely lovely shepherd's hut in the Lincolnshire countryside. 

We both have a penchant for small spaces, tiny living & for me personally, I love the novelty of staying somewhere “kind of quirky”, so on paper this fits the bill perfectly. And generally speaking, the weekend was a huge success in terms of productivity and focus. 

We got the stuff done we’d been struggling to prioritise and came away further forward than when we’d arrived. The lesson learned, was while small spaces are still a firm favourite, a shepherd's hut in hindsight was a little TOO small, or so the back ache indicted after four days sitting cross legged on the bed, curled over our laptops because I didn’t think we really needed a table. Turns out yes, I was wrong, Jake was right. For a productive holiday, a good work space is a must.

So roll on to this weekend, March 2025 and our second productive holiday. 

Our cute wooden lodge near Grafham Water

This time in the Cambridgeshire countryside, in a pretty little village called Grafham near Huntingdon. In keeping with my love of unconventional spaces, this weekend’s accommodation is a surprisingly spacious wooden cabin. Nestled down a sleepy country road, this spot is well off the beaten path and suitably free from distractions for a productive weekend of photographing, walking, blogging & designing. Oh, and yeah, there’s a nice big dining room table with space for all four (excessive I know) of our laptops.

While we know the table is one key to the success of a productive weekend away, there are a couple of other factors to consider too. Good WiFi is a must have, while it’s all about getting away from distractions, you still need the internet if you stand half a chance at getting most things done these days - it’s sad, but undoubtedly true. Three, stock up on snacks to keep you fueled throughout the day, and avoid losing productive time to top up shop trips and eating out. Jake has a sweet tooth, for us that means some form of Cadbury’s confection, for me and my undeniable “fat tooth” it’s all about cheese, crisps and peanuts. 

Four, get up and crack on! 

I like to think of myself as a realist, so I know from being human, not to mention lived experience, no-one is staying productive alllll day long. You need to rest, take breaks and move. BUT! If you at least get up early and crack on, you’ll at worst feel more productive and at best, be more productive because you can get the work in before the fatigue starts. I don’t know about you, but I find getting up earlier really does give me more time in my day in a way that staying up later just never does.

This weekend, I’m pleased to say, was another productive success. I wrote this blog, one of my longer pieces, and I managed to take some photos to actually go with it. Jake shot loads of footage for future content edits. We both took care of some long standing personal admin, Jake’s car went out for a spin and my LinkedIn profile has never been more accurate.

So the next time you’re thinking about planning a holiday, why not consider a productive holiday, to help make “getting shit done” a lot easier, and in my view, a lot more enjoyable?