How To Stay Focused During Lockdown
Have you been able to stay focused during Lockdown?
Lockdown is coming to an end, but it looks like we will be restricted for the coming months. In this episode, I share my top five tips on how to stay focused and continue progressing with your business….
I want to cover a massive issue that I’ve seen time and time again this year, and I have experienced this myself. It’s challenging to stay focused and motivated with so many restrictions in place. There is a temptation to have the mindset of waiting, wait until COVID blows over.
I think waiting is a fatal mistake, and that now is the time to double down and make sure that you’re doing everything you can to move forward. In this episode, I am going to share with you five things that I have learnt this year and share how I have been able to apply them and keep moving forward during these uncertain times.
Firstly, we have to come to acceptance. You can’t avoid the fact that we are in Lockdown and the restrictions are going to continue with the potential for further lockdowns next year. I’ve been through feelings of denial, anger, upset, but then I got the stage where I started to accept the situation. After admitting that this situation is going to be here for a while, it’s easier to begin to look at the positives, look for opportunities, how to adapt and start to move forward.
My second tip for staying focused is to stop focusing on what you can’t control. There is no point stressing about the things that are out of your control. Taking the Rent-to-Rent business model as an example, there is no point to worry about not being able to conduct viewings. You need to focus on what you can do, how you can adapt and become creative; for example, we have been able to rent out rooms via video viewings successfully.
The third point, and I think possibly the most important – every cloud has a silver lining. It’s so easy to come up with excuses and procrastinate. There is an opportunity right now, as Warren Buffet says – “don’t waste a good recession”. In the property industry right now there is a huge opportunity to purchase as people are looking to relocate or have been made redundant.
Listen to this weeks episode to hear the final two tips and why now is the time to take action in your business…
In this episode, you will discover
How to stay focused during Lockdown
Why now is the time to double your efforts
How opportunity is coming from uncertainty
Why you need to take action
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Podcast Transcript↓
[00:00:56] Welcome to another episode of the podcast, and today we've got a big show lined up, I'm going to be sharing how to stay focused during lockdown. And this is a massive, massive issue that I've seen time and time again this year, myself included. You have days, you have times, where you just don't feel like it, OK? And you can lose your focus.
[00:01:25] And before you know it, you're saying, let me just wait until this covid thing blows over. And I personally think that could be a huge fatal mistake and that now is the time to double down and make sure that we're doing everything we can to improve our situations. So today I'm going to share with you five things that I've learned that I think, if you arm yourself with, will enable you to continue on your journey, whether that's the property journey or whether that is just generally your well-being.
[00:02:00] So tip number one, you've got to come to acceptance. You know, there's no point trying to avoid the fact that we are in lockdown, they're talking about maybe easing up the restrictions for Christmas. But no doubt I'm also hearing if they do that, we're going to be clamped back down into further lockdowns early next year and who knows where we're going to be at this time next year? So we've got to come to acceptance. And I don't know about you, but it kind of felt like I was going through the five stages of grief at times during, you know, the first announcement. First, it was denial. I was like, no, I don't believe it, this can't be can't be happening. Me and Lucy would look at each other and said, it's just not real. Feels like we're in a movie, it's not real. OK, got to get past that. The second stage of grief, anger. Then you just start getting upset and angry with Boris. You know, how could you lock us down like this? The third step they referred to as bargaining.
[00:03:10] And that's basically when I was like, oh, if only I would have done this. If only you would have done that. You know, blaming yourself and of course, not helpful. The fourth stage, depression, very, very serious. I don't know about you, but there's been days when I've just not felt myself. Especially during the, you know, two, three month lockdown, there was days when I just didn't really feel like doing anything and that's OK, that is OK. But the fifth step is getting to acceptance. And I think we all need to be at acceptance now and just being positive and making a change, doing things that we can do.
[00:04:01] Which brings me on to point two. Focus on what you can change, you know, there's absolutely no point stressing about things that are out of our control. So, You know, if I apply that to somebody, start in or operate in a rent to rent business, for example, there's no point stressing that you can't do certain viewings or that maybe you need to be doing video viewings for tenants or that, you know, maybe some of your houses are not wanting or allowing you to conduct viewings or move new tenants in safely. There's no point sort of stressing about that stuff. You just need to focus on what you can control, and that's how we're going to step through and move forward.
[00:04:49] Number three. Every cloud has a silver lining, so focus on the opportunity, not the drawback. I've been saying this all along. Now is a really easy time to just put things off. You know, if you was in two minds of whether to do this covid lockdown could be enough for you to just say, ah, do you know what, I'm just going to ride this job and wait till next year. But the fact of the matter is, there's opportunity right now. Yeah, there's opportunity. Warren Buffet, don't waste a good recession. OK, we are going into dark times. There's going to be huge opportunity. So it's about focusing on that and taking advantage of it.
[00:05:36] Point number four. It's going to be hard sometimes to do the massive things, but like with anything, just take little actions every day, you know, that's my thing. Through most of lockdown, I was getting up early. I was having a good start to the day and doing certain things consistently. And then if at 2:00 or 3:00 p.m., I decided that's all I want to do today, that's fine, because I've just done my little consistent action. So even if you're unable to do some big things, whatever it is, just be consistent with your small actions that you can control and you're going to start to feel more focused. And number five, finally, you've got to commit. Commit, but then don't be too hard on yourself. It's a tough time, so as much as you want to be successful or make things work or get the next deal or fill the property up, commit to doing it through the little actions consistently but don't worry. Don't stress, don't be hard on yourself, because that could be a downward spiral. And I know that there's been times when I've been hard on myself, so the way I kind of got past that was I calculated my burn rates, i.e. how long I could survive if no tenants paid any more rent. And once I knew that figure, I could like breathe a sigh of relief because I know, right OK, I've got X amount of time, but I still know 98 percent of my tenants are paying anyway, so we're good and then you're able to process things and move forward.
[00:07:26] So in summary, five tips to help you stay focused during lockdown. Number one come to acceptance. Guys, this is not going away. Accept it. Work with it. Number two, focus on the things you can change, not the things that are out of your control that will just do your head in. Number three, look for opportunities and think about the bigger picture, OK? There's going to be huge disruption. A massive opportunity I'm seeing at the moment is people trying to sell their properties quickly because they've been made redundant or they're being relocated. That is an opportunity for us to help them step in, guarantee their rent, for example. OK, so look for the opportunities, not just the downsides. Number four, take little consistent actions. You don't have to do 10 hours a day, but just make sure you're doing little bits every single day and those will compound over a duration. And number five, commit, commit, take massive action.
[00:08:29] But don't be too hard on yourself. It is a tough time. I know one thing that happened to me during this time is I started to reassess what was important to me and what I really wanted to focus on. And as much as success and money and property and travelling and all these things are important, what's most important is your health and your family, you know, for me. So I've just kind of give myself a bit of a reminder and made sure that, you know, hanging out with a family member or doing something nice with your partner can be a successful day, you know. If you're having a down day, don't beat yourself up. Don't be hard on yourself, do the things that you can do, spend time with family, rebalance, build up. Remember what's important. Be thankful for all your blessings and, you know, you're going to be able to grow into this next phase. So, yeah, guys, that's it from me. If you like this episode, you know what to do. Please drop a review. You know, let me know. How's lockdown affected you and have you found this episode useful? Drop me a line on social media, Instagram, Simon Smith online and I'll see you guys next week. Oh yeah. Remember, don't wait 25 years. Get creative.
[00:10:09] Thanks for listening. For more information, check out Simon Smith online dotcom. See you next time.