Getting Back On Track After COVID-19
It has been over 100 days since Canada was struck down by COVID-19 and the world changed forever. Things are different now, the new normal, as it has been known means a lot of different things to a lot of people but the one consistent thing is that we have to adapt to survive and thrive.
Admit it, there were times over the last several months that were not very productive for you. Tiger King ate up a weekend here, TikTok an hour at a time there, and throughout it all, there was an impending sense of doom weighing on your chest.
As dramatic as this all sounds, it has been the reality for most people that I've talked to and coached through this time.
But the past doesn't have to dictate the present, nor the future, and if you are looking to accomplish your Dream Goals, you will more often than not have to face things in just this way.
So how do we return to performing our best and being productive again? Or if you recognize that you aren't the best as productivity, then how can you use the past several months are fuel for living a more meaningful life?
Reflect on what you've learned in the past several months
The first thing that we must do is set aside some time to reflect on what we've learned during the past several months. Make this tangible for yourself. I use an hour or so Sunday morning every week to reflect and review each week and then on a monthly and quarterly basis, I do an even deeper reflection that often lasts several hours. Right now I want to you schedule an hour for reflection into your calendar this Sunday morning - or another time if it works better for you but do it now. Don't leave it unscheduled and expect it to get done.
The power of reflection is not to be underestimated when it comes to holding yourself accountable, learning to overcome obstacles, and making progress.
We've all been through incredibly difficult times in the last hundred days. Businesses are hanging on by a thread and a prayer, our friends and loved ones have become sick and died, we've been disconnected from the social bonds that keep us sane, and our financial turmoil has stressed us.
This is not meant to be a doom and gloom message to you though. Yes, it has been hard, but what have you learned from this? If you're reading this, it means that you're still breathing and you've still got access to one of the most powerful technological advances humans have ever created with the internet.
During your reflection, you can write about what you've learned from the negative but also look at the positive things you have learned or experienced.
Who have you been able to connect or reconnect with?
What interests or actives have sparked creativity and passion in you?
What have you created or what did you hope to create during this time?
Instead of getting down on yourself, look at what you want to accomplish next in your life.
As I mentioned in the introduction, most people have not used the extra time on their hands to accomplish anything very meaningful during the COVid-19 quarantine. But don't get down on yourself about it. The stress and anxiety of the times were physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually draining and did not make it easy for anyone to have the desire to pump out ideas or create the next great tech platform.
Let's look at what you can do to move forward from here and accomplish next in your life.
Did something spark your interest and passion? Of course, one of the most common plans of all is that maybe you want to exercise more and get in better shape. It could be that you wanted to create a side hustle that you're more passionate about than the work you currently earn a living from, or you want to connect better with your loved ones and friends.
Whatever ideas came to mind that you've reflected upon are great and meaningful to what you want to work on accomplishing next in your life.
Now the trick is to create simple steps to build momentum.
Don't try to pile too much on your plate.
Maybe work is also picking back up now or deferred bills are coming due. You've got to look at your Whole Life to know how much more you can handle.
Building momentum from zero to one hundred takes time. If you overdo it you'll run the risk of burning yourself out and I think that's going to be a particularly prevalent concern in the coming months as we enter this New Normal.
Start with a modest amount of change in your schedule. If you're looking to include more exercise, build up and start slow. It's going to depend on your current fitness and capabilities but even starting with three 1-hour sessions per week is great. Then build up your capacity from there. The same thing goes with starting a business on the side. Focus on the steps that are going to get you to making money from it and validating the idea. Start lean and don't waste time on things like designing logos or upgrading to fancy software if you haven't validated the idea first.
You want quality output from the time you put into it. Believe it or not, something that we do as peak performers is generating more quality work in a single 90-minute block of time than most people can complete in a full workday. If you structure your time and intention in the work that you do for your side hustle in the same way, in no time, those last three months that felt like a waste will become a valuable time where you let your ideas percolate.
Respect the need for recovery.
Everything has to be rebuilt slowly as we are all still facing stress and uncertainty. So be patient with yourself and remember the journey.
If you didn't take care of your recovery as well before COVID-19, now is an excellent time to consider how you can do better with your self-care and recharging regularly. Grinding through every day and week is not the path to peak performance. Much like how REM sleep fluctuates on a 90-minute cycle through the night, our energy oscillates throughout the day in 90-minute segments as well. We can use willpower and discipline to push ourselves from 8 am to 10 pm every day but this drastically affects performance throughout the day and the stress that builds up from the schedule leads to burnout, much like how an athlete that tries to perform in the same fashion without recovery will overtrain.
Each individual requires different needs for recovery, but just like how you're going to add in modest amounts of the Dream Goal projects that you're working on into your schedule, add in your self-care and recovery routines.
Hopefully, you spent some of the quarantine time getting a restful holiday but if you didn't, it's important to note that quality recovery includes things that you enjoy, getting into nature, sleeping more or doing other restorative mindfulness practices like meditating but does not include watching the blue light screens of TVs, tablets, or other tech devices.
Often your most ideal recovery activities will be the opposite of the style of work you mostly do. If you're at a desk job most of the time, recovering with something physical can be very beneficial and if you've got an active job, de-stressing with more creative and calm activities might be best for you.
Most importantly, do the things you enjoy.
Schedule your work into 60-to-90-minute blocks of time throughout the day, include time for refuelling and re-energizing, and block off at least 2-3 blocks each week to do your deeper recovery activities. Also make sure that you're getting the right amount of sleep that you need, typically 7-8 hours every night. This is what maintaining a balanced and productive schedule as a peak performer looks like.
We all go through adversity on the journey of life, but if you're going to be the hero of your story you've got to reflect on what this last chapter taught you and what's coming in the next chapter of your life. Start the process slowly and build up momentum. And remember that we all need to prioritize recovery even more than ever to keep our immune systems healthy and balance the stressors in our lives.
To learn more about how you can perform your best in this next phase, check out the free webinar on peak performance and the new normal.
Increasing Your Wellness With This Easy Stress and Energy Tracker Solution
We are all stressed and feeling anxious right now and one of the most practical things that you can do to get a handle on the situation and help you to focus on the things that you can control is by creating a simple tracker system to monitor the most important aspects of your wellness right now.
One of the most impactful takeaways I got from Tony Robbins at the power of success seminar that I attended was how beneficial tracking your energy levels can be to sustain a higher level of performance - regardless of what that means to you.
Habits trackers are the simplest way to do that and while you can create a digital table or use an app, like a Fitbit or Oura ring to track some of the metrics, writing it down on paper or in a journal seems to be the most effective way of visually portraying this and truly understanding what the trends mean for you.
A simple tracker, like the one that I've included as a bonus download in the wellness challenge week, can allow you to write the number associated with your subjective feelings each day.
In the image below you'll see how I visually represent these details on an X- and Y-axis. Daily I track my energy level with a dot or bullet and my subjective sleep quality with an open circle. I'm also adding in a subjective stress level with a different symbol.
What I want you to do is create a similar tracker for yourself.
You can print off the tracker from the wellness course, or create your own in a journal or even on a scrap piece of paper.
If you're drawing it out for yourself, create the graph that is more visual than just the boxes from the habit tracker template.
-Draw or mark out space for ten lines.
-Each day give yourself a score from 1 - 10 for the following:
Your energy level - how ready are you to perform at your best? 10 would be unstoppable.
Your sleep - 10 would be the perfect amount of sleep for your needs and waking up feeling refreshed.
Your stress level - 10 being the absolute worst you’ve ever felt.
I find that I will personally record sleep in the morning but save energy and stress levels for at least a few hours later once I have had some time to wake up. You can even do these much later after you've had some time to reflect on how well you performed today.
Nobody seeking flow and peak performance, or even just stress-free living in our current circumstances wants to live a life that's always a 6 or 7 out of 10, just as you wouldn’t go around bragging if you scored 60% on a test.
Making the stress tracker something visual like this works so well because it motivates you to want to find solutions.
And if you don't know where to start, sign up for the free healthy, happy, and stress-free challenge week for easy challenges you can implement into your at-home routine.
7 Workouts You Can Do From Home (While Supporting Ptbo Businesses)
We’re facing a very difficult time for a lot of people and I wanted to share with you some resources that can help you to get your mindset right this week and for the duration that we are physically distancing ourselves.
7 Workouts You Can Do From Home
The listed businesses are local to Peterborough and as with all small businesses right now, keeping the support close to home is crucial. We all need to band together to stay strong and make it out the other side of the COVID-19 business closures.
Check out the following businesses on social media for many free workout ideas and to learn more about their workout programs that you can do from home.
Telsi Szanyi @telsi.flows - Animal Flow small group coaching through Zoom - Get the feedback you need to learn this fun but challenging bodyweight workout style.
House Fitness - @houseftns $10 home workout plan and gym equipment rentals starting this week.
Pilates On-Demand - The largest On-Demand pilates workout database in Canada. Get a free 21-day trial when you use the code FlowSpa at checkout.
Peterborough Yoga - @peterboroughyoga Livestream Yoga sessions on social media as well as new online members area.
Pulse Physiotherapy - @pulsephysioptbo Daily workouts for at home with minimal equipment on their Instagram page.
Sweat Happy Wellness - @sweathappypilates Small group pilates workouts through Zoom for guidance and immediate feedback.
Dohjo Muay Thai - @dohjomt New online martial arts classes being offered for members.