A Crisis is the Perfect Time to Invest in Yourself

​As I'm typing this, most of the world is in the depths of a healthcare crisis. Like countless others, I've been asking myself: what can I do to help? Apart from participating in social distancing, how can I contribute to the greater good?

Well, here on ActiveGrowth and also at Thrive Themes, it has always been our mission to empower small scale entrepreneurs. I believe that small businesses are a potential force for good in the world. And now, I believe that's more true than ever.

​I've recorded a series of conversations about what I think entreprneurs need to know and take action on, to survive and thrive through the crisis. This is the first of those conversations.

In the following episodes we'll cover how to respond strategically and what new business opportunities are likely to emerge out of the crisis. But before we get to any of that, we need to start with what's right in front of us. In this first episode, we cover everything you can do as an entrepreneur, on a personal level, to weather difficult times.

Setting Priorities

Many reports are coming in, which indicate how people are changing their behavior in quarantine. And they reveal where priorities seem to lie for most of us: YouTube as well as Netflix are lowering streaming quality, because too many people are watching and internet infrastructure can't keep up. The gaming service Steam has seen a record number of concurrent users in recent weeks. Some gaming services like Xbox Live have suffered downtime due to overwhelming demand. And it appears that even PornHub has seen an increase in traffic directly proportional to the increase in people quarantined.

In summary, it seems that most people are doubling down on distraction and entertainment. We're all in quarantine and we're all, apparently, couch-potatoing.

This is perfectly understandable, but if your business is being hit by the crisis, now is the time to do the exact opposite. Buck the trend and give yourself a fighting chance.

And even if you haven't personally been affected, I would suggest that now is a good time to double down on your good habits, invest your time into your business, into reading, into personal growth, into sleep. What you do now, in difficult times, will echo far into the future.

Resources

Here are the links & resources mentioned during the episode:

• See why Oliver and myself are so adamant about getting prioritizing sleep by watching this TED talk and reading the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.
  
• ​Discover how physical movement is intrically connected to cognitive performance, focuse and productivity in the book Spark by John Ratey.
  
• ​Learn about research-based gratitude practice and how it can impact happiness and productivity from Shawn Achor in this podcast and this TED talk.
  
• If you want to develop business and online marketing related skills, you can sign up for Thrive University, the library of free online courses created by myself and the Thrive Themes team.
  

Pick up a meditation habit by watching any of countless tutorials online or trying out one of these convenient apps:

• Waking Up
  
• Headspace
  
• Calm
  
• Insight Timer
  
• Ten Percent Happier
  

The Challenge

Good solutions often start by asking the right question. So, here's my question and challenge to you: what are some things you can do to make sure that you'll come out of this crisis leaner, healthier, smarter and overall in a better place than when you went in?