Making the most of lockdown 2020
Reflections on Lockdown 2020… thus far
Lockdown 2020, what a wild ride! Can you believe we’re already in the second week of May? Like, whaaaaaaat? We used to say “time flies when you’re having fun” and I guess that’s still true, although now I’m thinking we need to change it to “time flies when you’re in the middle of a global pandemic” LOL!
Jokes aside, I wanted to write a blog post that sums up my experience with the Covid-19 lockdown and how it has impacted my life and business thus far.
Personally, I think it will be really neat to look back at this post in a few months/years to see where my head was at, what I was up to, how I was keeping busy and staying sane.
I also know that we’re all voyeurs to some extent, and everyone loves to creep each other on the internet. It’s fascinating to see how our own experiences are the same or different from someone else’s, so I hope that you enjoy this little glimpse and snapshot of my life right now.
As a general rule, I keep the content on this blog primarily work related and don’t share a whole lot of “personal” posts. That being said, this is going to be one of those posts that covers both business and “real life” so hopefully it’s still interesting to you!
Alright, without further ado, here are my musings on Lockdown 2020 thus far - the good, the bad, the ugly and the wonderful.
Lockdown is a global experience
I honestly can’t stop thinking about the fact that this Covid-19 lockdown is one of the biggest global experiences in recent years… definitely within my lifetime! Like yes, there have obviously been other momentous collective experiences, but have we ever had anything quite on the same scale?
Everyone is impacted yet it has hit us all on different levels - health, finances, separation from our loved ones or being stuck together, etc.
Depending on where you are, the restrictions in place to flatten the curve have be stricter or more lenient. These restrictions are in place to keep us all safe, especially vulnerable groups in our population.
Personally, I support these restrictions even if it means short term changes to my lifestyle. I’m definitely of the mentality that we must think “we” over “me” here - I know that as a young, healthy & fit person I am statistically less likely to be seriously impacted than others, but I am 100% doing my part to keep everyone safe.
Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t
I think that the biggest issue for most has been the lack of control over our lives, the overwhelming feeling of uncertainty. Obviously we are NOT living “normal lives” and even if our governments have plans to slowly lighten the restrictions over the next few weeks/months, we still will not have full control and autonomy over our lives for a while.
The tentative plans to “reopen” are something that many people are looking forward to, but we still don’t know what the next little while will look like.
Whenever I feel overwhelmed, frustrated or anxious, I have to stop and remind myself to focus on what I can control.
You are in control over how you react, what you do, how you spend your time, the media you consume, where you thoughts go and remain, etc.
This is major and once I started thinking about it this way, it completely shifted my entire outlook on the situation!
Hopefully this whole pandemic lockdown situation will be a once in a lifetime experience and I want to look back on it and say “I did my best”.
I do NOT want to reflect on this time and realize all I have is excuses and reasons why I didn’t do more or better.
In life and business, hard times are inevitable but we do still have control over some aspects of our lifestyles right now.
Note: I’m going to share my own experience and thoughts here but I must first acknowledge that I obviously come from a privileged position. I am healthy, have not been directly impacted and I fully acknowledge that this is not how lockdown looks for everyone. Please don’t @ me :)
Questions I asked myself a few weeks back
In mid-April, I was settling into a new rhythm and finding my footing amid this madness. I realized that this was going to go on much longer than I had initially expected and it was time to reframe my thoughts, outlook and plans for the upcoming weeks/months.
I asked myself:
what do I want to have achieved by the end of this?
what do I have to do daily to reach my goals?
what habits do I want to prioritize or strengthen?
I had to look beyond just the next few days or weeks in order to answer these questions - do the best I could to focus on long-term.
It ultimately came down to not wasting this time, and making the most of it.
This isn’t to say that I’m not permitting myself downtime, far from it, but I decided that there are certain things I can do during lockdown that will set me up for success down the road and I want to take full advantage of that.
I am focusing on 3 main areas here:
work and business
health and fitness
wellness and lifestyle
Business & work-related goals
Here are the business goals I set for myself during the next few weeks of lockdown:
Launch my online course Top Squarespace SEO & wrap up the 2 VIP group coaching sessions - I just wrapped up the launch a few days ago and I’m so thrilled to welcome all the new students in this cohort! I played around with new things like a payment plan and extended payment plan offer, which was fun
Continue doing daily Instagram Live videos & uploading the replays to my website
Launch my podcast
Work with my target number of SEO consulting clients
Host my first paid online workshop
Participate in my first affiliate launch for my online biz bestie, Paige
Send out weekly newsletters to my email list (honestly my favourite marketing task, I LOVE these!)
Publish at least 2 new blog posts every week
As you can see, a lot of my business & work-related goals are centred around CREATING instead of CONSUMING. Whether it’s through daily Instagram Live vides, new posts for my blog, weekly newsletters, etc, I’m diving headfirst into creating a lot of new content.
Like many people, I have a lot of resistance about getting visible online and it’s especially challenging for me to put myself out there on Live video, but I’m doing my best to push through it because it will ultimately benefit me in the long run. The fact of the matter is that video content increases the like, know and trust factor in business and helps my ideal clients to “know” me before doing business with me. I’ve already seen an increase in consulting sessions since I started doing these Live videos so it’s for sure paying off.
I also have to keep reminding myself that even though my video view counts are still low, we all start somewhere and I can’t let that hold me back - ignore the ego! Just can’t get bogged down by the vanity numbers, instead must reframe and focus on the fact that I’m improving my public speaking and communication skills every day!
I’m also looking forward to trying out new things over the next few weeks, such as being an affiliate for the first time and doing a paid online workshop!
Building and tracking habits
If you haven’t already, I recommend checking out the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book is all about breaking bad habits and building new, good habits by making small changes every day. It was one of those books that gave me so many “aha” moments, it’s nuts, and I knew that I had to start implementing them asap.
I picked 9 habits that I want to develop during lockdown and listed them out on a basic (and admittedly kind of ugly) chart to track my habits over the next little while. I then stuck it on the fridge so that I literally can’t ignore it haha
The 9 daily habits I am working on are:
Read
Journal
Meditate
Walk 10k steps/workout
Abs
Workout
Call a loved on
Daily IG live
Practice Bahasa (Indonesian language)
I tick each item off in my chart once it’s completed for the day and I find that seeing it visually every time I go into the kitchen has been super helpful in sticking to it!
Obviously this habit tracker isn’t the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever crafted but what the heck, it still does the trick!
I’ve also become low-key hooked on Strava and love using it to track my daily walks/runs. It’s also fun to follow and cheer on my friends there too!
Fitness is huge for me, especially since I work at my desk all day, and I do NOT want to come out of lockdown in worse shape or less healthy than before. When I’m in Bali, I adore doing my daily workouts at my favourite gym but since that’s no longer an option, I’ve been sticking to at-home workouts or nature walks/runs and it’s bee really good so far!
I’m a little limited with equipment, all I have is a yoga mat and two 5lbs weights, but I’m making it work! I’ve been doing a lot of online fitness workout videos and a few pages/profiles that I love are Bailey Brown, Pamela Reif, the Lululemon YT channel.
Also, the weather is warming up so we have been swimming almost every day in the alpine lakes! It’s BRISK but omg it’s so good for the soul and I always feel amazing when I get out.
enjoy being present & “here”
One of the ways in which my life has been most directly impacted by lockdown is with travel. After living in Bali for the past 2.5 years, I decided to return to Canada to ride out the pandemic in my home country. This was a major adjustment for me but I am making the most out of my current situation and in many ways, it has been admittedly amazing so far!
I am normally the type of person who has lots of travel planned - whether it’s a quick weekend away or a longer trip to explore somewhere new, there’s nothing I love more than hitting the road and seeing where I end up.
Lockdown has challenged me to stay in one place, mostly at home, and find the joy, comfort and entertainment in that.
As lockdown loosens up, I’m looking forward to doing a few short trips close to home, exploring my own backyard again!
Final Thoughts
Now it’s your turn to tell me, how has your lockdown experience been so far? What’s the rose and the thorn of this crazy situation? Any big lessons or takeaways you want to share? Any major milestones achieved? Have you been chilling the F out at home, indulging in some down time? I’d seriously love to know so leave me a comment down below!
Sending you continued good health and happiness,
xox
Charlotte
