Resilience – taking care of you (Covid 19 - Blog 2)

As the business owner, your strength, resilience and reaction to what's going on around you will impact how your business survives during this time.  While those around you will be looking to your leadership to navigate the business through this period, you need to think about you too.

When we are in lockdown, we are limited in many of our capabilities with regards to our business.  We need to focus on what resources we have presently that ensure we can remain resilient in this time of crisis.

Here are my thoughts on what I think are important resources to stay centered. These tips will help ensure that we business owners come out of this period stronger and ready for a changing world. 

Your health 

Your health is important so take the time to think about what you can do right now to ensure you maintain or even increase your current overall fitness and health. What does this look like?  Make time for exercise, good eating and time out.

• Exercise: we have no access to public gyms or other recreational activities like swimming or boating at present.   There are still so many ways you can exercise with a limited amount of room and equipment. There are a multitude of apps that available to download to your phone to help you stay healthy. My favorites are Freeletics for a high intensity workout, and Asana Rebel for yoga. Find one you like and commit to doing a programme for the duration of the lockdown. 

• Good eating: what a great time to expand your cooking experiences and use a wide range of healthy foods that are still available from the supermarket and food delivery companies.  There are many apps to choose from, providing healthy and fun recipe ideas.  Search through various websites to find recipes to experiment with.

• Time out: Stress is often a business owner's companion but now is a good time to get into a healthy habit of allowing some downtime to reduce this stress. This could be doing a hobby, reading, meditation, mindfulness practice or even just a long slow walk. Do something that allows you time off. 

Your family: Are they safe, have they got what they need?

For many business owners, their family is one of the reasons they went into business so taking care of your family is important, especially during times of crisis.  

• Many business owners have extended, vulnerable, family members who are not living within their bubble, but still need taking care of.  Not being able to directly care for those family members can cause undue stress during this time also. 

• While a lot of your family might not be with you there's nothing stopping you having regular Zoom/Skype conversations, or chatting on the phone while out walking. 

• Leaving food for family at their doorstep, if possible, is also a method of caring for those outside your bubble.  These are unprecedented times and staying connected while we cannot be physically together is really important. Of course all health precautions should be taken, such as the recipient wiping the containers of food with soap and water, and washing their hands.

• You also need to apply self care to yourself and your family within your bubble.   How about exercising together, cooking together, taking time away from screens to reconnect over a board game?  

Take time to look after yourself and your family during this extraordinary time.  A small effort to care for yourself and family now can reduce the likelihood of undue stress in future for yourself and others.  This can allow you to focus on making important and clear decisions for navigating your business through these times of uncertainty.