Last week I wrote about using the crisis to get your head up, smile, fight back, re-imagine your future and find the silver lining (or at least Thomas the Tank Engine did).
Here are some of the things we tried, enjoyed and learned.
1) Live Life Longer.
Win back the 18 months the Pandemic took away from us. Trudy and I committed to change our lifestyle last November. Our new lifestyle:
- Fasting – every day – 16-8. Lunch at 1pm, dinner finished by 9pm. Massive change in appetite/metabolism.
- Reduced alcohol intake – 6-1 or 5-2. No alcohol for five/six days per week, every week.
- Dietary changes – focused on daily fresh fruits, green vegetables, fish and reduced meat/dairy.
- Daily exercise – me on my road bike for 45 minutes every day, Trudy on a 20,000 step low-impact bike-ride/walking/swimming programme.
- Eight hours sleep per night – in bed before 10pm, up before 6am.
- Keep some Pandemic protocols in place – vaccines, hand sanitisation, masks in confined spaces. We’ve not had a single cold/cough/fever in 18 months.
2) Connect virtually with Family regularly.
Make Zoom work for you. Fortnightly call with all the kids – we’ve all got time now. We should never give this up.
3) Feed your mind, soul, and heart.
We’ve both read more books this year than in the past three, made more eclectic choices, watched more international TV shows to provide more cultural understanding, listened to new and different music genres – and created more personal playlists. We’ve visited more art galleries (virtually!) than ever before. Chicken soup for the soul.
4) Re-evaluate your Personal Purpose.
Revisit your Dream, your Focus, and Key Beliefs. Look at the world as it is, not as it used to be, and not as you’d like it to be. Make sure you’ve got the right blend of you, your family, your work (not balance!) and you’re Making Happy Choices. Life is short as you now know. Live your best life every day.
5) Change it up!
This year we:
- Downsized our New Zealand home and switched from a ‘resort’ home to our first ever beach-front apartment.
- Revamped Desert Dream by adding a Casita for guests, a roof-top bar (Tonto’s) stretching out into the Desert.
- Changed out the gym in Beckwood (Grasmere) for a lounge-bar as part of our Lancastrian pub.
- Accelerated our New Jersey Farm project with Mark and Vanessa to create our new Family home.
6) Change it up on the work front too.
- We created and ran seven new leadership programmes for the new VUCA world.
- Reshaped the focus of the business in terms of customer base, delivery method, bespoke programming and delivering more with less. Focus – Commitment – Discipline.
Don’t waste the crisis. You’re never out of the fight.
KR
