What's Your COVID 19 Success Plan ?
The following is a group of emails that I had sent out to my email list of past, current and yet to be clients of mine. I shared them over a period of three days and wanted to share them as one letter to all of you. The idea was to come up with a COVID 19 Success Plan. What’s yours?
COVID 19 Success Plan:
Three-Pronged Plan:
1 — Physical
2 — Mental
3 — Financial
Your Physical Plan
When I say physical, I am referring to a few different aspects of physicality.
There is staying healthy. Not too much binge eating of all the comfort food. I know that this soothes the soul. Though this is a time that you need your body to have a strong immune system. So, you need to eat properly. No reason you can’t occasionally have something to soothe the soul. But not every freakin day.
Exercise is key for so many reasons. This alone can take up a book. Books have been written on it. A good thing for you guys that I am not long-winded and don’t go on and on about things. Exercise is important so that you stay healthy physically but also mentally. There are chemicals released that will calm your nerves and allow you to think better so that you can make better decisions. I know that quite a few of you reading this are triathletes and are freaking out because COVID 19 has thrown a tremendous wrench in the works. I know that is putting it mildly. So, all you need to know is to keep moving and do what you can to keep on top of an exercise regimen. If you want to talk further about this just email me separately.
Then, of course, there is your physical presence. You are keeping your physical distance from others, washing your hands often and don’t touch your face. For those of you who actually watched the video, I sent the other day. Dr. Price said the main reason for face masks is not because you can breathe the disease in. It’s so that you don’t touch your face.
So that is it for now. I like to keep these briefs. I am sure everyone can think of more stuff to talk about. If you want to discuss this further, you can always respond to this email or join Radius. There is a community board for discussions.
Second Prong — Mental Plan
Whew, this is an important one for sure. I imagine that the first thing that you experienced was the feeling of PANIC. Doom and Gloom and then
What? Stuck in the house with the kids for how long? That’s if you have kids. Otherwise, it might have been
What? Stuck in the house with my Significant Other for how long? Or maybe even worse,
What? Stuck in the house alone all by myself for how long?
I am making light of any of this though we all had moments of how am I going to deal with isolation. How am I going to deal with the disconnection of human contact?
That is why it is so important that you have a plan. Not something that is etched in stone. We are going to be experiencing all different types of emotions throughout these trying times.
I find that getting things on paper and out of your head is always helpful. So just the exercise of writing down the plan will help.
Let’s start out with being grateful for what we have. Gratitude lists are a great way to start and end each day. Another one is Journaling. Even if you don’t think you are a writer and you have nothing to say. It can just be a stream of consciousness. Talk about the previous day’s events. Layout what you are feeling at that moment. This is not something that anyone else is going to read. These 2 things, Journaling and writing a gratitude list will put you in a great place to start the day. Of course, the is meditation as well.
Remember, if you are in an anxious start and walking around panicked and scared you won’t be making smart decisions. Now more than ever it is important to be the best you can be. Both for you and your family.
Your Financial Plan
As important as the previous two prongs of your COVID 19 Success Plan that are important so that you have the ability to make a good Financial Plan for the coming months. You are able to make smart decisions and choices.
Of course one of the driving factors to your plan is whether you are employed or not. If you have been unfortunate to lose your job and have been unable to replace it then if available to you unemployment is the first option. There are all kinds of stimulus packages coming out from the government and they are pretty confusing. So take some time to go over them and speak to a professional. If you do not have the funds to hire a professional I am sure that your local government will have services where professionals will be donating their time to explain what to do. I know that I am continually getting emails from all sorts of providers about How to and where to get funds and how to fill out the forms required for assistance. Try not to get too frustrated by all the paperwork. Also, I think the reality is we don’t know exactly how fast those funds will hit your accounts.
Do a recap of your monthly expenses and do a hard prioritization of those things that are essential. Electric co. and water and gas co. etc are not shutting down your services. That is not to say that you should not pay them if you can afford to. That would be an unnecessary stress on the economy which is already under a tremendous amount of stress. I am saying if it is a matter of putting food on the table for your family or not then you will not be eating in the dark.
If you are fortunate enough to have a job and you are working remotely from your home and in a good financial position now is a good time also to look at your finances and prioritize what is important. Your situation can turn on a dime. Be ready for it. The stoics always say prepare for the worst but expect the best. Also if you are able to help those in your community that are less fortunate than you buy ordering take out so restaurants can survive or to your local animal shelter since people are turning In pets that they no longer can take care of. Now is a good time to do that. We are not in this alone. It’s a good time to remind yourself of that.
If you are an entrepreneur or a small business I am sure by now you have looked closely at your financial picture and have determined a plan to stay afloat. If not you need to get on that pronto. Though just as important is what can you do now in terms of what your clients need. it is time to have a conversation with your clients if you haven’t already to let them know that you are there for them and to see what they need and how you can help them. There will be all kinds of opportunities that will come from this. You just need to open up space for you to visualize what’s next.
If you are someone who has been developing online courses this is a good time to check if the product(s) you are developing is relevant. Make some calls and do some research. If they are then how can you make then a bit more relevant? How might you have to pivot from what you have been doing to what is needed now? Time to think outside the box.
I could go on and on. Though I think this is a good start. My intention is to get you to take action and develop your own plan that will work for you.
I would love to hear your plans so that I can share them with others. Maybe something that you are doing can help someone else land on their feet. Or make their day a little brighter.
Stay safe and make smart decisions.
