Raja Hamid

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Making the most of COVID-19

Raja Hamid

It’s March 15th, and all signs point to the Coronavirus accelerating in its spread in the United States. A colleague told me that we’re just weeks behind East Asia and Europe, a fairly grim outlook. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. The immediate question I ask myself is what I’d do differently if I anticipated 4 more months of this. 6 more months? 8 months? What habits would I try to form in order to better weather the storm?

Rather than settle into a depressing slump of cabin fever, I considered this as an opportunity for growth. I did notice that my co-workers and friends seemed anxious and didn’t share my optimistic outlook. I thought it’d be worthwhile to break down my thoughts in writing to see if it could be helpful to others, and if not, at the very least to hold myself accountable by publicly sharing. My thoughts aren’t universally applicable of course. My life circumstances will be different than yours. Below are some ways I’m taking advantage of this new environment.

  1. Sleep - Since I don’t need to commute into the office anymore, it’s easy to give myself an extra dose of sleep but also stay up later the night before. At first the extra time in bed seemed like a great win for my health, but it threw off my sleep schedule. When it was time for bed, I’d convince myself I could sleep in, justifying the extra hour or two burned unproductively online.

    • Instead of committing to going to sleep at a set time, I turn off all screens and notifications at a pre-determined time. Afterward, I’m free to do anything apart from my gadget for as long as I’d like. Oftentimes I’ll have a book in bed, and when it feels right, I call it a night.

    • The point here is to try and stick to your normal sleep cycle, but also slip in a good habit or two: disconnecting + catching up on reading.

  2. Exercise - If you can’t go to a gym, you can still exercise. For centuries, Ancient Roman armies had phenomenal fitness without all the fancy equipment we pay for today. If they could figure it out, why couldn’t I? I had this obvious realization years ago when paying for an Equinox gym membership. I assumed that the bite of paying more would pressure me to exercise more. That assumption held true for a bit, but the sticker shock wears off. What I was missing was self-motivation.

    • The only gym membership I pay for today is a climbing gym membership, which I froze temporarily. It’s hard to replicate that at home, but that doesn’t mean I can’t train to emerge stronger than when I started. I won’t give specific fitness advice since that’s dependent on your goals, but here are some ways I’ve incorporated exercise easily:

      • Pushups and planks during meetings. When I’m on a video call, I’ll turn off my video for a minute and crank out a few of these.

      • Pullups and hang-boarding whenever I leave my room. Above the door frame, I already had a hangboard for climbing training. If I step out to go to the bathroom or get a snack, I’ll do some reps here.

      • Going outside and running. It’s getting warmer outside and thanks to Daylight Savings Time, the sun sets later. Just as I would if I was in the office, I put a hard stop on my calendar to shut off my laptop and enjoy some evening sun while I’ve got it.

      • Physical therapy. If you have a stubborn injury (e.g., a tweaked shoulder rotator cuff, a stiff IT band, sharp knee pain when running), find out the best way to attack it with some dedicated PT at home. Before reading a single email in the morning, put some time in and invest in your future self. Think of it as your “warm-up” to starting work.

    • The point here is to find small ways to do something, anything. The more momentum you lose in fitness, the harder it will be to bounce back.

  3. Finances - I saw a joke recently: “Everyone’s telling me not to look at my 401k because of the market drop…I don’t even know how to look at my 401k.” It’s an unfortunate reality that most people aren’t financially literate. Access to information isn’t the issue anymore, with tons of YouTubers and bloggers breaking down complex problems in easy-to-understand language.

    • The first step is to know yourself. Keep a log of where your expenses are going, and then ask yourself whether it was worth it. Do that for at least a month. Whatever you do, avoid retail therapy.

    • The point here is that learning how to invest responsibly and developing good saving habits will never be a regret.

  4. Cooking - Eating out these days seems irresponsible on several levels. In addition to potentially catching and spreading COVID-19 from any number of people at a restaurant, eating out is a huge expense. I’ve always stressed myself out when cooking, holding myself to a high standard that could never be met. I finally decided I’d cook without using written recipes. I relied on simple YouTube videos that I’d watch a few times, and then execute from memory. I screwed up a few times, but never resulting in anything so bad that it was inedible. I’m far more competent in a kitchen than I was a month ago, and my intuitive sense of how to put a meal together is improving with every meal.

    • The point here is that cooking is a lifelong skill that you’ll employ over and over again. You don’t get better without putting in the time and openly embracing that you’ll make mistakes.

  5. Learning - In the same vein as cooking, there are so many resources for expanding your knowledge base available for free. Again, the first step is to start somewhere. If you’re eager to level up in your career, think about what skills you’re weak in. If you want to feed your curiosity, check out a new subject. If you want to improve your writing, like I do, set aside time to write!

    We’re extremely fortunate to have access to information. Imagine if COVID-19 happened 30 years ago before the Internet was available to the public. That would suck. Here’s a fraction of what you could do:

  6. Connecting - If you’re on social media, that can be a great tool or it can be a waste of time. If you’re mindlessly scrolling your feed, it’s probably the latter. Just because you’re at home and missing out on your monthly boozy brunch, that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out and talk to friends. In fact, I’m willing to bet that the person you decide to reach out to will probably feel more connected to you for getting on a call with them because of how unusual it is to do that these days.

    • At my job, I’ve incorporated this by randomly asking a colleague if they’re available for a quick call. We spend about 15 minutes talking about some work, but mostly personal lives. These unscheduled chats serve as a substitute for the office hallway collisions. This simple gesture goes a long way in both re-balancing my mood with a little bit of socializing, making the other person feel like a human rather than a work-machine, and also building trust with a co-worker (an essential ingredient for me to be successful on a team).

  7. Gratitude - It’s easy to look at the current situation and feel down about it all, but there’s a lot to be grateful for. If you aren’t sick and your family has still got their health, be mindful of that. I’m personally grateful that despite working in an industry that has been hit hard by the pandemic, my colleagues are supportive of each other and my work can be done remotely.

    • The point here is to take stock of what’s going well in your life. There’s always someone out there affected more severely by COVID-19 than you.

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste” is one of my favorite quotes. There’s no better time to invest in yourself if you have the means to do it.

A random side note: I do have friends who aren't taking the pandemic seriously. I’m not sure why they think it's over-hyped. These are the same folks who wouldn't question the scientific community about climate change, but they for some reason think they know better on this subject. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯