3 Essential Life Skills To Pick Up While Staying Home
“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it… we are in charge of our attitudes.”
— Charles Swindoll
COVID-19 has robbed us of our freedom and brought the once roaring economy to its knees.
However, it has also returned a rare commodity to our lives.
Time.
As you can probably tell, I’m a “when life gives you lemons, make lemonades” kind of guy.
Corny but true.
Some people take the pandemic as an excuse to slack off and bemoan their existence.
I’m not one of those people.
Now, there is nothing wrong with taking some time off to rest and recuperate. I did it for the first week of the quarantine. Free-flow cheeseburgers, cracking open cold beers at 4 pm — it was a grand time.
But the fact of the matter is if you want to get ahead, you have to improve yourself daily, global pandemic or not.
The three skills that I wrote about below are applicable to everyone.
They’ll help you emerge from a global pandemic a richer, smarter and fitter person.
Want to turn a terrible situation to your advantage?
Read on.
Financial Literacy
“When money realizes that it is in good hands, it wants to stay and multiply in those hands.” ― Idowu Koyenikan, Wealth for All
I think becoming financially literate is the number one most important thing anyone can do during this period.
So much so I devoted an entire article to it:
Money is an inescapable part of 21st-century living. We’ve built our entire existence around it.
We’re surrounded by it, we lust after it, and frankly speaking, we all need it.
So why not better understand money?
Based on a recent report, only “33 per cent of adults worldwide are financially literate. This means that around 3.5 billion adults globally, most of them in developing economies, lack an understanding of basic financial concepts.”
That means a whopping 3.5 billion people do not have a rudimentary understanding of money.
That’s a shockingly big amount!
The good news is there is no better time than now to brush up on your financial knowledge.
If you can read this, that means you have an internet connection.
And if you have an internet connection, you can immediately access a mind-boggling amount of articles, YouTube videos and self-help ebooks
I recommend starting with off with learning the basic vocabulary of money.
What is debt, asset, cash-flow, etcetera.
Once you understand the terminology, you have taken one giant step towards financial literacy.
A wealth of information is available a click away.
Use it.
Reading
“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.” — Descartes
I wrote a triple curated article about the importance of reading.
In it, I lamented that the endless busyness of life often got in the way of reading.
I often had to settle for reading in “small sips”, as recommended by Stephen King. Reading a chapter of a novel at the bus stop, an article or two while riding the train.
Don’t get me wrong, it was better than not reading at all, but it left a lot to be desired.
My concentration was often broken by constant interruptions. Most of the time, I wasn’t reading as much as I was skimming — taking in the important points and getting an overall feel of the story.
Things are different now, though.
With more time on my hands, I’ve been able to really read.
I’ve polished off four Bukowski novels and a handful of non-fiction books already. Deep-reading, too, where you get into flow-state and it’s so enjoyable you can’t even feel time passing by.
And oh boy, did I enjoy it. It’s been wonderful.
I truly believe that reading is one of the most important habits you can pick up in your life.
Like I wrote in my article above, there is strong research indicating that reading has tremendous benefits.
Recent scientific studies have shown that reading can increase levels of all three major categories of intelligence. Another study discovered that reading literary fiction can improve empathy.
Furthermore, billionaires and ultra-successful people like Bill Gates often cite reading as the most important contributor to their success.
This lockdown, do yourself a favour and pick up a book.
Or better yet, pick up the lifelong habit of reading.
Physical Fitness
“It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor.”
— Cicero
Some may be surprised by this inclusion.
I can already hear the cries of indignation: “But Alvin, fitness isn’t a skill!”
I beg to differ.
Being fit is one of the — if not the, most important skills you can acquire. Not just in this pandemic.
Period.
Your body is the only place you have to live in your eighty-odd years on earth. So why not make it a five-star hotel instead of a dump?
The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.
— Tony Robbins
Being in great physical shape carries over the other aspects of your life. As the saying goes, “when you feel good, you do good. And when you do good, they pay good.”
My life changed noticeably when I started doing 100-push ups a day.
This level of conscientious carried over to my writing. My daily word count increased by a thousand words. Consequently, I publish far more often than I did before establishing this simple fitness regime.
Working out kills the inner bitch in you. It drowns the excuse-making, weak voice that constantly needles you to procrastinate.
I elaborate more in my article below.
There’s no better time than being quarantined to embark on your fitness journey.
If you don’t have any weights at home, callisthenics (bodyweight exercises) are a fantastic way to get started.
If you lack the discipline or the know-how, take a yoga class on Zoom or cough up some dough for an online personal trainer.
It’s worth it, I promise. Nothing is more important than your health.
The physical benefits are great — nobody will say no to having increased energy and living a longer and healthier life!
But the mental improvements really take the cake.
To keep the body in good health is a duty — otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
— The Buddha
The best time to start working out was 20 years ago.
The next best time is now.
Your Takeaway
The great Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher, Marcus Aurelius once said:
“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
Being able to turn a negative situation into a positive one is a rare, invaluable skill.
Individually, we are powerless over the trials and tribulations of life. That’s the bad news. As much as Homo Sapiens want to control the world, we can’t.
There’s nothing stopping us from mastering ourselves, though.
Control your feelings and your reactions to a bad situation, instead of trying to control the situation itself.
This lockdown, practise all three skills listed above. They will help you emerge from your house richer, wiser and fitter.
And if that’s not turning a global catastrophe into a net positive, I don’t know what is.
Thank you for reading my story. :)