The question some of you have, and a few of you have asked after last week’s post is, “How have you been impacted by the pandemic?” and “Do you practice what you preach Willis?” My answers are, “Yes, and I strive to.” 

Have I been impacted by COVID-19? Yes. My business as a contract trainer has come to a screeching halt with all the speaking engagements and classes I was scheduled to teach from mid-March until the end of August cancelled or postponed. I went from being on the road 2 to 3 weeks a month to being at home for at least 5 ½ months straight with no teaching or speaking income, which accounts for 95% of our company income. This is obviously not a good business model for a pandemic. I am fortunate that I have my pension so the business is not our only source of income. 

My wife has become a full time nanny for our 2½-year-old granddaughter. She lives at our son and daughter-in-law’s during the week and comes home on weekends.  Most of my two son’s businesses have been significantly impacted. 

Why do I say, “I strive to.” and not “Yes.” to the question about do I practice what I preach? Because I am human and as a result I have my good days and my not so good days, my really productive days and some days where the productivity is lacking. 

From a health and wellness perspective I am pretty consistent with working out for 30 to 60 minutes every morning, reading at least 60 minutes total every day, and getting in two 20 to 30 minute walks outside every day.  I am consistent with the time I go to bed at night and the time I get up in the morning always giving myself the opportunity for 8 hours of sleep a night. I also meditate for 15 minutes most days. 

As far as eating I consume all my food within a 7 to 8 hour window every day so I fast for 16 to 17 hours daily, I leave 3 to 4 hours between my last meal and when I go to bed and I eat healthy 99% of the time. We do not have any junk food in the house so there are no readily accessible temptations. If I want to eat out of frustration, or make unhealthy food choices when I am tired I have to order takeout or delivery, which I am usually too cheap and too lazy to do. I guess I could binge by having extra wild salmon, humanely raised chicken, grass fed beef, omega 3 eggs, or organic spinach, vegetables or blueberries. Usually the worst I do is have a few extra squares of 85% organic dark chocolate or occasionally a second glass of red wine. 

We do not have cable so I cannot watch TV. I shut down my Facebook page and do not do social media other than to post my two weekly blog posts on LinkedIn. The only COVID-19 media I generally consume is the daily press conference by Dr. Deena Hinshaw, our Provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health. Outside of that I will occasionally listen to a podcast interview with Dr. Peter Attia interviewing a world expert in infectious diseases. I intentionally watch webinars and listen to podcasts that have nothing to do with COVID-19.  I am a big fan of the author Michael Connelly and recently watched Season 6 of Bosch on Amazon Prime, limiting myself to one episode per day, and will do the same when the new season on Jack Ryan comes out. 

This is not meant as a “holier than thou” thing. With the support of my wife I have an environment that is set up to eliminate distractions and temptations and make it easier on me when I am tired and prone to making poor eating choices or to zone out watching TV, which is my biggest challenge on the road after a full day of teaching. 

I am more fortunate than many people in that I am used to working from home when I am not on the road, so I have routines in place for working from home. We had a home office in our house and when we moved into our condo 7 years ago we set up the second bedroom as a home office. I do not have any children at home who I have to keep on track with school work or keep entertained.  My personality is such that I am very comfortable spending time alone. I also prefer to work out at home and have done so for much of the last 16 years. As a result I have resistance bands, kettlebells, a TRX system and an X3 at home (all of that equipment fits into an area in the corner of my office about 2 feet by 3 feet) and have systems working out in the confines of our two bedroom condo so the closing of the gyms had little impact on me.  

How do I spend my time every day outside of my workouts, walks and reading?  Most weekdays I do some writing for my two blogs. Each week I conduct between one and six interviews for the Excellence in Training Academy and / or the ILEETA Learning Lab. Between the Excellence in Training Academy and the ILEETA Learning Lab I conduct 100 hour long interviews every year. The opportunity to interview 100 really smart people every year is a great learning tool for me. I spend time every day doing content creation. Currently I am working on converting my in person full day leadership workshop into an online program. I have also created two webinars, which will be available on a new platform soon. I am also creating webinars for the Excellence in Training Academy as well as a couple of other projects I have committed to. 

So, that’s it. That is a recap of my efforts in striving to practice what I preach.  The last 15 1/2 years of practice setting up systems to work from home since my retirement from the police department has certainly helped.

What’s Important Now? Keep striving and have some self-compassion. We are all working our way through these challenging times. 

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com

www.winningmindtraining.com

Maximizing human potential through Life's Most Powerful Question - What's Important Now?

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