We are currently in a very sad yet interesting time.
Why is it Sad?
It is sad because a novel virus, currently named coronavirus, has caused a pandemic worldwide in the form of disease named COVID-19. It originated from China, arguably by eating bats, which has now spread into 150+ countries and almost entire earth is in a state of lockdown to prevent its spread as it is highly contagious and humans are the carriers!
Why is it interesting?
It is interesting because this state of lockdown has presented us with a lot of opportunities to:
- Take a pause and reflect on our journey of life till date
- Self-introspect our current situation and where we want to go
- Spend time with family, which is otherwise occupied by the fast life
- Be mindful
- Make amends to oneself and the environment around us
- Make or be the change
- Form a habit
All the above points are generic and applicable to everyone all around the world, but now I’m going to write something which is applicable to Indian citizens more than others or any country with the following situation-
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed a nationwide lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. This lockdown is for 21 days starting from 25th of March, 2020.
Why is it special?
If you were earning to take a pause, reflect and make changes, if you were not having a clue where is life headed, if you were having difficulty in finding the purpose of your life, the time is NOW to find the answers!
In the 1950s, a famous plastic surgeon, Maxwell Maltz, observed that it takes about 21 days for his patients to become normal with the changes made his/her body after having the plastic surgery. He went on the write a book emphasising that it takes 21 days to form a new habit and it was a great success. Many self-help writers write many articles, books, etc over this miracle number 21. However there is no scientific backing behind this number but people have noted that this indeed works, if you commit to doing something repeatedly over a span of 21 days at least, it becomes a habit. But nonetheless, the famous philosopher Aristotle has rightly said:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
So, given that you will be homebound for 21 days, make a plan on what are the habits you want to inculcate in your life. Today is the day. Then, try to do it every day for the next 21 days. Don’t worry, the government is there to make sure that you don’t go out, but you need to make sure you look after yourself that you are sticking to repeat the task every day.
Also, at the end of the day, try to write a journal on how did you spend your day, what are the things you did, did you stick to the plan or not, etc. Writing a daily journal is the best way to be mindful and keep track of your progress.
There are some tools that you can use for achieving your goal:
- Trello: Create a dashboard, brainstorm on todos, slide the todos to doing when it gets the action, slide to done and treat yourself.
- Todoist: Todoist a great way to fill your list of tasks to do when starting the day. Don’t create an impossible list of tasks, make a priority and spend time on finalizing what needs to be done today. You can also plan on what you want to do tomorrow, next week or on some date and it will automatically synchronize with your calendar.
- Google Calendar: This is the best way to make your phone, laptop, etc send you push notification on what are the events on a particular day. The tasks you put in Todoist gets synchronized with calender, hence you will automatically get the notifications, which is great! If you have a smartwatch, then just asking “Why are my events today?” will provide the gist of the day ahead, such conveniently!
Finally, when this lockdown is over, which is going to act as a timer for you, a different person awaits at the other end of the tunnel. It is your choice how you want to spend this lockdown. You can endlessly browse the social media, binge watch online video streaming services, etc, or you can take this time to be mindful and cherish the pause you were long yearning for.
In the end, trust your process, trust the system, you are the product of the system you follow!
If not now, then when? If not this, then what?