3 ways COVID-19 helped me find a routine
And how you can apply these tips in your life
How it all started
We all know how it started back in march.
I remember sitting in a uni lecture and reading the headline of the BBC news on a weird virus in China, that literally went viral.
Life continued and we all thought:
„All is fine. It‘s far away. These things happen often. We are in the west. It won‘t affect us“
At least I though that.
Less than a month later in the train back from an evening with colleagues from work and uni, we read the news. Everything will be taught online. For over a month.
It was bizarre, as this seemed like a bit of a hype about nothing. Well that was, until we got used to lockdown, home-office, social distancing and many more concepts that seemed a thing of the future.
I will not dwell on the things you all know.
I also won‘t go on about medical advice or start criticising the government regulations.
This article is about what I have learned in the last five months and how it might help you along the way.
1. Exercise often
The last few months of 2019 were not my healthiest. I ate badly and didn‘t do much exercise. I stopped running and just focused on uni and various other assignments.
2020 started with new motivation, but the same problems. I wasn’t motivated enough to run before or even after a long day at work. It takes over an hour to work, so thats at least two hours gone. Each day. I was also gaining weight, enough to make me feel uncomfortable at times.
As soon as lockdown started in mid march (I’m from Germany), I knew I needed to change. I was looking for a way to exercise more often.
So I started running again. First twice a week and lately three times a week. No marathons. No sprints. Just comfortable runs. Now I do just over 20 km a week.
Additionally I started doing „Seven“ workouts. This app challenges you to do a 7 minute workout as often as you can. I tried doing 3–4 circuits a session. This helped focus burning fat in the stomach area.
All in all I tried exercising almost daily, alternating between runs and workouts.
The effects of the regular exercise were great. I noticed the extra focus-time I had each morning after a run. I was exhausted but happy. My quality of work from home improved and I was getting more done.
Lessons for the reader
My advice, as a normal 21 year old is to just get going. I thought it might be hard to start, but as soon as you get a routine going for around three weeks, it‘s part of daily life. It‘s a habit, like brushing your teeth.
I use an app called Runkeeper. It gives me weekly goals and reminds me on the day, that it’s time for that run. This gives you that extra boost of motivation.
Occasionally I run with my dad or sisters. This is always good fun, as we explore new routes around the house.
Grab a running buddy and give it a go! Often the first meters are the hardest, then you’ll start loving it!
2. Get up early
I used to love Saturday mornings. I mean, who doesn‘t? You get to finally enjoy your well deserved sleep in. Maybe wake up at 9, or 10?
Sound familiar?
We all love our sleep and seem to never get enough of it. My life changed when I started a 3 week sleep challenge from sleep cycle. This was an email subscription from the famous app SleepCycle. The app records your sleep and wakes you in your lightest sleep phase. This worked wonders for me! When they offered a 21-day email subscription, challenging me to be more aware of my sleep I was down.
These days I don‘t really have sleep ins. I try to hit the hay around 10pm and wake up at 6:00–6:30 am. Of course this doesn‘t always work out. But in general I try and stick to that time frame.
The key was to go to bed when you‘re tired. At first that was always quite late. Now it really is no later than 10:30pm. I wake up more refreshed in the mornings and ready for the day! I‘m not hitting the snooze button over and over. I get up when the alarm clock rings and then the day starts. And usually this is my most productive time of the day.
COVID-19 contributed to the fact, that I could do what I wanted before starting work. Now I try to read and occasionally write something in the mornings. My morning is also often dedicated to running. Especially on these hot summer days, it‘s great to be able to get out there and enjoy a morning run.
Lessons for the reader
I am aware that not every one is a morning person. I used to try and do things in the evening and sleep in a little longer. What the key take away should be is, that we need to find a sleeping pattern that benefits our lifestyle. For me this is getting up early and starting the day with new energy.
SleepCycle costs as little as 2€ per month and is totally worth the cost.
Try sticking to a set bedtime for a few days and see how that effects your sleep pattern.
3. Educate yourself
We often limit the ability of learning to the years we spend in school and university.
This is a grave mistake.
We need to learn continually – all our life.
Henry Ford found better words than I could, to emphasise this point:
„Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young“
I tried to apply this principle by starting a UDEMY course on web programming. The creator of the course, did a great job at making it easy to get started. Now I do 30 min every morning on weekdays. Some days it‘s easy, others it‘s hard but I try to stick to the 30 minutes. Skipping it on the weekend gives me the freedom of enjoying my weekend and making it special and different from weekdays.
Learning can be fun, if we see the positive outcome of it. I try and visualise myself working in a startup coding apps and websites, that are beautifully designed and interact with their users.
Lessons for the reader
Find something you‘d like to do. Set a goal of learning regularly. Set up a system of rewarding yourself after achieving five or ten consecutive days of learning.
After a while you‘ll find, that it‘s part of your routine. You don‘t hang around waiting for what is next. You WANT to learn.
These are excellent conditions for learning. If you‘re willing to learn, you will grow and see success very soon.
I didn‘t think I could make it this far in the course, but now I‘m almost halfway through.
If I can do this, so can you!
Start today on a plattform like UDEMY and COURSERA.
Coursera offers great university courses that are occasionally even free.
Udemy is my go to plattform for online learning on a budget. They have HUGE salesI got the full stack web development course for 9,99€ down from 199,99€. Honestly, I think the content is worth even paying the full price.
Find a hobby you really enjoy and persue it! Lockdown has enabled us to broaden our horizon and find time for the things we love!
Use the extra time wisely and one day you’ll look back to these days and think about the stuff you could learn!
Conclusion
A pandemic is not a nice situation to be in. But we have a choice. We can see the half full glass or the half empty glass.
What will you chose?
I‘ve benefitted from these past months setting up a routine, that changed my day for the better.
- I started exercising often
- I tried waking up early every day
- I embarked on the journey of learning daily
If these things could help me, they can help you.
Will you try your very best?
Let’s conclude with the words of Vince Lombardi:
“Winners never quit and quitters never win”
