COVID-19 and rebuilding yourself from the ground up

COVID-19 has raised the level of uncertainties for many of us. While this may not be easy, uncertainties also give birth to opportunities. Your external environment is changing rapidly, but you remain in command of your internal world. Today more than ever, keeping your cool and staying focused on what matters most is critical.

Change can be imposed, chosen, avoided, decided, embraced. How you approach change tells a story about you. If you aim to make the best of this COVID-19 situation, then keep reading.

How to get the best from yourself

Here are three tips to get the best from you in these uncertain times.

1. Make your physical wellbeing a priority 

A tired body will likely take a toll on your mental abilities. Make your body an asset, not a liability. There are three elements for you to focus on: exercise - eat - sleep. These three functions are the foundation of a balanced body:

• Remember when you slept for only four hours, what happened the following day?
• Remember when you did not eat properly: either too much or too little - your body was crying for help.
• Remember last time you went for a run or at the gym? How did you feel after?

The body works with a “stress - recovery” mechanism: energy in/energy out. Like a rhythmic flow. In the same way, your body is active during the day and restores during the night. This allows it to maintain balance.

You would often see elite athletes walking slowly and be super relaxed. When they are in a game, they totally transform, unleashing their power, spending their energy without counting. When the game is over, they fully recover.

Exercising and then resting is a really good way to maintain your well-being.

2. Focus on what matters

Your mind likes freedom. Think about this: you have approximately 70,000 thoughts every day. The mind is like a gigantic role play: which thoughts will win and get you in action?

In this role play, you have many characters. Because of our history, each one gives voice to certain characters - characters who may not be the greatest advisers.

The good news is that you are in charge. We sometimes suffer from amnesia and certain characters will have a tantrum in order to play the most dominant role. Others are really discreet and subtle - not making much noise while being important.

A character we meet often is “Fear”. Fear is noisy, often bullying everyone to have the main role. Other characters such as “Courage” or “Take care of myself today” have to sometimes wait their turn. 

Which thoughts will you give power to? Focusing on what matters is very good medicine to get you where you want. If you want to dive deeper, here are some resources:

• To strengthen your mental power, maybe a mental coach is what you need.
• To find a way to address your fears, check this: Fear and Failure - (the winning combo to generate success).
• If you wonder what you really want out of your life, read my article What do you want?

3. Ground yourself with strong routines

While you are physically balanced and you manage to keep your mind focused, the third step is to create routines. Why? Because actions define who you are.

Saying something while doing something different impacts your self-integrity: if you say you will wake up at 7 am and repeatedly wake up at 8 am. What does that say about you?

Many books and researches have demonstrated the power of routines. Today I would simply suggest you choose one. It is referred to as an “atomic habit”, a small habit which has an important impact on your life. Which change can you initiate today to start improving your life?

These three elements are the foundations to get you back in the game or play a bigger game. Because this is not easy to achieve on your own, people often hire a coach. Here is an interesting article on this topic: why successful people hire a coach?