Truth Bomb Tuesday: This is your chance to cement some new, and awesome, habits.
Welcome to the age of ‘focus’.
Right now, you’re probably feeling quite focused. That’s my guess.
The Corona Crisis has done two things.
First, it has made us ‘circle the wagons’ around what’s really important to us. Our work-lives have been up-ended. Some people have lost jobs altogether. So we are sharply aware of the money-resources we need and the strategies we normally use to get them.
The prospect of losing loved ones to the virus has also brought home the importance of family. A narrower bandwidth for social connection has also brought home to us which people we miss and what we miss about them.
And given that the only way to beat the virus is to do it ‘collectively’ – with everyone doing their bit – then we are reminded of the fact that we are part of a community, and the health of the community is our health.
So it has brought the importance of community, the importance of our friends and loved ones, and the importance of our financial strategies sharply into focus.
(What a gift!)
Not only that, the Corona Crisis has also cut a lot of the faff out of our lives.
I was talking to someone the other day who used to have a two-hour commute each way to work. They’ve suddenly got four extra hours in the day.
We have also trimmed down a lot on our socialising. Now, we’re genuinely going to miss some of that, but how many of you are grateful to not being going to another kid’s party, or another work-drinks, or another Sunday BBQ at so-and-so’s place?
I think we can see that a lot of what chews up our time is just ‘busy-ness’ – stuff that you do that’s pleasant enough, but doesn’t really light your soul on fire.
I think we can see now what we really miss and what we don’t.
(As an exercise, if you keep a diary, go and have a look at what you were doing this week last year. How much of it do you actually miss?)
And so I think the corona crisis has actually given us a huge gift. It has forced us – dragged us kicking and screaming – to connect with what is really important.
It has made us focus on our money-strategies, our loved ones, our community. It has made us look at where our times goes, and made us realise how much of it goes in alignment with our dreams, and how much of it is squandered on ‘pleasantness’.
So… what are you going to do with this gift.
I get that there are parts of this story that are a huge struggle. If you’re in a two-bedroom apartment with three kids, both of you working from home, that’s a tough situation. I don’t envy you.
But still, how often does modern life clear the decks and give you periods of clarity and focus like this?
Once in a century?
My advice is don’t waste it. Use this period to energise the things that are really important to you. Give energy to the connections that are really important to you.
Fill you life now with these ‘essential’ missions, and there’ll be less room for faff on the other side.
This is what focus feels like. And this is your chance to cement it into habit.
Don’t waste it.
DB.