5 Personal Growth and Optimisation Hacks to make the most of the Economic Slowdown

I have personally made the experience that nothing is more powerful than spending time in solitude and silence. I’ve been on silent retreats, where all I was doing was sitting and thinking all day long. And as a start-up founder, I usually found myself in isolation, even though there were people around me (the isolation was mentally).

Mind you, I’m definitely a Type A personality; very ambitious and highly aware of my time, yet I still see so much value coming from strategically slowing down and reflecting.

Let’s face it: COVID-19 is basically a cold call for slowing down that you can’t hang up because it’s just so annoyingly persistent….

The good thing about it is that if there is nothing around to distract you and you are forced into isolation, you get valuable time for self-reflection and to work through all the uncomfortable things that are holding you back.

You may say: Why would I even want to go to this dark place? Netflix is dope!

The answer: radical self-reflection and facing your hard truths is the only way to grow and become better. With clarity in your mind, the ego put aside and knowing your strengths and weaknesses, you can focus on the things that will actually move the needle and improve your productivity overall.

Here are a few practical tips that I have implemented over the years to learn from my reflections and optimise my time:

1️⃣Create a ‘lessons learned’ list — write down the biggest lessons from all parts of your life, organised in categories such as leadership/management, relationships, finances, fitness, and more… as the saying goes: you can never make the same mistake twice, unless you chose to!

2️⃣Create a list for the skills you want to improve, THEN create lists with how to address those: podcasts to listen to, books to read, online courses to attend

3️⃣Chose 1–3 self-organisation tools (less is more) and install on all your devices so you can access them from everywhere — I use Wunderlist for all of my check-lists and to do’s, Trello to manage smaller projects and Evernote to capture notes

4️⃣Find a ‘self optimisation’ rhythm and install meetings in your calendar — I have one for study times (daily), reviewing my learning list and objectives (weekly), managing my finances (monthly), etc. — basically make sure you show up for your own meetings!

5️⃣Block out dedicated time for your well-being and health: meditation, yoga, and gym time — whatever makes you feel good should be factored into your schedule. Again, key is to show up for your meetings!

In a nutshell, if you can only improve 1% of your performance every day for the next few weeks, by the time COVID-19 is over, you’ll be noticeable more productive.