03 Apr Keeping Mentally and Physically Fit in the Time of COVID-19

Running a business is stressful enough, without having to run it from your home because of fears of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s good news on the horizon there – companies around the world have been working rapidly to devise vaccines for the virus, as well as more effective treatments for those who have contracted the illness.  

The government stimulus has been passed and money to help tide you over should be coming your way in a few weeks. 

But for the next couple of months, perhaps, you’re at home, being pulled at from all sides.

You need to continue to run your business, but you’ve also got more interaction with your significant other and your children (if you have any!) during the day. You’ve also got more worry about the state of the world. 

All that stress can impact your health, both mentally and physically.

But just like running a successful business, keeping yourself and your family mentally and physically fit is possible if you make a plan for each day and stick to it. Give a structure to every day.

Here are a few tips that we hope will help you give yourself that structure.

1. Continue to run your business from a home office

If you don’t have an area in your home dedicated solely to an “office,” it might be a good idea to create one. Either in a spare room or in a corner somewhere that you can designate as your office, where you must not be disturbed while you’re working. 

Do all of your work in that office, rather than in front of the TV, so that you can work undisturbed.

This will give a structure to your workday.

2. Make plans for the future

 If you can’t do any work while you’re at home, because of the nature of your business, you can still make plans for the future. What upgrades should you make, what advertising/marketing campaigns should you run to get your customers or clients coming back, what contingency plans need to be put in place for the future.

3. Be accessible to your significant other, and kids, if any

Depending on the age of your kids, point out that you’re working and they do not disturb you when you’re in your “office.” But when you come out of your office for a break, it can be playtime for ten to fifteen minutes or even half an hour.

4. Keep in touch with family and friends

Thanks to smartphones and the internet, you can keep in touch with family and friends throughout the day. Use a program like Skype or Facetime to make video calls so that everyone can see each other face to face. Use a meeting program like Zoom or Go To Meeting if you want to talk and see a lot of people at the same time.

5. Physical Exercise

Depending on where you live, you may or may not be able to leave your house. If there’s a “stay in place” order, of course, you have to stay in place. 

But you need exercise!

Turn on some music on your TV or put in an exercise DVD and spend a half-hour doing yoga or pilates or kickboxing. Some activity to get your heart rate up.

Here again, depending on the age of your kids, get them involved in the act. Teenagers have a lot of excess energy, challenge them to sit-ups or pushups or running up and down a flight of stairs ten times.

6. Mental Exercise

Watching TV is an enjoyable past-time, but the day does seem to pass quickly and in the end, you can’t really remember what you’ve accomplished.

Reading for pleasure or for education

Why not find a book to read. Is there a subject you’ve always been curious about? Start learning about it. You can purchase ebooks from Amazon or just look up the subject at Wikipedia and other reference websites.

Play board games

Dust off that SCRABBLE board, or Monopoly, or break out a deck of cards and spend a couple of hours each day playing with your significant other, kids, or your roommate. 

Conversing

Just sit down and talk. Find out how everyone else is feeling about the situation and make sure they’ve got a structure to their days as well.

By making a plan for each day and carrying out that plan, the days will go by faster than ever but you’ll be accomplishing a great deal each day. You and your family and friends may even come out of it stronger than when you went in.