Corona Blues – My Advice While Furloughed (or Remote Working).

With the current pressure on governments to relax or even lift the current lockdown measures, there’s one word that the more neurotic amongst us try not to use – recession!

Robert Kiyosaki gives some good advice.

“Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open to you.”

Robert Kiyosaki

There are several things we can all do to get ourselves prepared for and even thrive in a recession (having gone through many economic downturns myself from the 1980s), there’s always something we can do to improve our situation when it passes.

Step #1

Get some skills

If currently furloughed, learning is one of the best ways to protect yourself against recession and has no expiry date. Back in the ’91 recession, I took the challenge to learn something new every 3-years and have been doing that ever since. 

What a blast!

Think about and ask the question – what is the ONE thing you could add to your CV to make it more compelling for when the world returns to a new normal?

This ‘one-thing’ could be anything from learning another language or learning to ‘sign’ for the deaf? Or, maybe to learn how to code, market a product, research a new sector or niche?

TAKE OUR TEST ON EARTHING

You might also like to try a new hobby out for size, which could spark some interesting new conversations in the workplace or at home? 

Do you do Archery? 

For example, since returning from racing across the Southern Ocean in a sailboat this March (the last 3-year learning endeavour), I chose the next thing to learn is how to shoot a compound bow. A journey that I’m sharing with my eldest (19) … Tbh, it’s a bit like golf, but on steroids. Just like golf, ‘form’ is super important, but where the compound differs is in the pace of the projectile.

Apparently, the average golfer can squeeze a solid tee-shot out at about ~135mph (200fps), whereas, a field-tipped arrow leaving a compound bow will hit 215mph (315fps) consistently despite my poor skill levels. 

But hey, whatever it is, the point is, take the opportunity to learn something new and give it the time it needs to bed-in. This thought brings me onto;

Step #2

Add positive habits and ditch the negative patterns in your everyday actions.

Learning anything new takes time which can be a big blocker in itself. We all hear ourselves say, “Oh, I don’t have time to do that”… And, you’re probably right. But learning a little at a time doesn’t have to take up much time at all. 

If you schedule in a default-time slot in your calendar and give the time equal importance as say, if you were going to the doctors or a meeting with a client, then, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve and learn over 90-days or so. So, the key is to start ‘small’ and follow through on each time slot, one session at a time.

Examples include:

• Watching ONE educational youtube video each day – these are usually 20mins long, so it’s not a big ask;
• ONE hour of reading time per day
• Meditate for 10mins a day

For the more significant learning, thing about setting aside a complete learning day each weekend. But make sure you make the time manageable enough to get some good quality learning out of it, but not too long that it becomes too hard to sustain, or starts to take up too much time. Keep it fun, short and sweet, in the beginning, until the thing you’re learning has had sufficient time to get under your skin and take hold. 

Step #3

Update your professional assets

Start with LinkedIn. I advise you to update your profile, upgrade your skills, experience, and education. Because LinkedIn is already used a lot to make career connections. And will undoubtedly be the go-to platform for when the lockdown finally ends. 

So, make sure yours is working for you.

Then give your CV a bit of TLC. I recommend you don’t leave it until you need it. Instead, use the time you have now to polish it up, so you have it ready to share the instant anyone asks for it.

Update your other social media profiles. Ask yourself, if a colleague stumbled across your profile, would you be happy with what’s there and how it is portraying you?

These are just three tips to face-down a recession and bounce back in better shape. 

Here are a couple of resources I would heartily recommend investing your time:

• Atomic Habits, by James Clear (audio or book)
• Ted Talks (youtube)
• And, if you’re a technician interested in Earthing, or a project manager that is looking to add a bit of spice to an already full plate, then our Introduction to HV Earthing is a world-beater.