For the next couple of weeks a lot of us are going to be under self imposed quarantine
and I feel like I’ve got some experience that might be able to speak into this because
for the last ten years I’ve been running my own business from home, YoYoTricks.com,
and what I found is that there is a lot of weeks when I’m almost accidentally self
quarantining.
I don’t even got out for the whole week because it doesn’t occur to me to do that
because I’m just enjoying life at home so much with my family, and so whether you are
single or whether you’re at home with your family for these couple of weeks, I’m going
to give you the top ten things that you can do to not just survive, but to thrive, under
quarantine.
Now before we get too far into the list I do think it is a goal of all of ours that
through this whole time we stay mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy, and that’s
kind of what this list is about.
And so one thing to keep in mind is that our brains are structured in such a way that they
can only hold on to so much.
And so in these unusual circumstances that we’re in, it can be really easy to fall
into fear or anxiety or just frustration that we can’t always do exactly the thing that
we want to do, and so much of this list is to help us stay physically healthy while we’re
in lockdown, but it’s also to give our mind something to focus on, to engross ourselves
in, so that we can fill up our minds with good things, things that contribute to well
being, to push out all the negativity, that it really isn’t usual to focus on at the
moment, so that we can just get on and actually benefit from this time that we have.
So let’s get to the list.
The first thing I would recommend to anybody who is newly on lockdown is to build some
structure into your day.
Now, most of our day is typically really really structured either because of work or because
of school.
We have to get up at a certain time, we have to eat by a certain time, we have to leave,
and then when we’re at work or school our days are very structured and then we finally
get home and we can relax and do whatever we want.
And it would seem like the dream is to never have structure, and I’ll admit when I first
started my own business that seemed like it was the perfect, to be able to do whatever
I want whenever I want as long as I’m making enough money, I’m totally free.
And it turned out that wasn’t fantastic.
And what I eventually found is that you can use structure in your day, especially when
you have the whole day, to build in those things that give you joy.
And those things that help you to become who you want to be.
And so now you have kind of a prime opportunity to experiment with some new structures for
you and for your family if you’re all locked down together, or if it’s you individually,
you can create some new habits that are going to benefit even beyond the period of time
you’re locked down.
And so, what you really want to do is you want to think about what are those things
that if I did them every day, I would feel better about myself.
I would be becoming who I want to be, I would be healthier.
And so for me what I typically do is when I wake up, the first thing I do is I work
out.
And then I come upstairs and while I’m making my breakfast, my wife takes that as an opportunity
to work out while I watch our daughter.
And then in the evening, another thing that was really important to us is that music was
just a part of our daily experience.
And so we always about a half hour to forty five minutes a night after we have dinner,
where we just sit and play music together and sing when my wife plays I get to dance
with my daughter which I really really love and that’s because those two things, staying
healthy, so we were working out, but also having music be a part of our lives, that
was so important to us, we build it into our daily structure.
It’s something we do every single day.
And so this is a prime opportunity to kind of reconsider your whole life and ask yourself
what are those structures, what are those things that I could build in to lead me to
where I want to go personally and with my family.
And so there are actually two books that I used when I was doing this that were really
helpful, one is called the power of habit, which is more about the scientific way that
our mind and our bodies use habits, and then the other one is how to fail at almost everything
and still win big, and that one is just a little bit more practical, it’s a little
bit more wide ranging, both of those were unbelievably encouraging to me to help me
to lay down these fundamental patterns to my day, which helped me not only feel better
but also to perform better the rest of the day, so I would highly encourage you to use
this as an opportunity to do just that.
Ever since the microwave was invented, I think a lot of us we tend to think of food as a
lot more functional, like how can we efficiently, efficiently get it into our bodies, as opposed
to it as a craft that we can master.
But we’re in a different situation right now, we’re not trying to be efficient with
our time, we have kind of an excess of time, and so this is a really great opportunity
to learn a new skill.
Maybe to learn a couple of new dishes that you can make and not only will that improve
your overall health, if you’re making healthier dishes, but it will use up a lot of time,
that time will be on your feet, which is going to be, which is better in general, since you’re
probably going to be doing a lot of sitting.
Now if you have kids, one of the benefits of making meals is if you can actually have
them help you make it, it is almost impossible for a kid to not eat a meal that they helped
to prepare.
And so if you have a kid whose a little bit more picky, a little bit more fussy with what
they eat, this is a really good kind of like psychological trick you can play on your kids,
like “Hey!
Help me make this meal!” and then they’ll just want to eat it, because they participated
in it.
So it’s kind of a two birds with one stone, if you have kids, if you’re by yourself,
you could spend so much of you day like really making an unbelievable meal, and if you master
one or two meals when you’re done with lockdown you can show off to your friends, you can
all trade the meals that you’ve learned how to make, It’s just a fantastic way to
go, this is the prime opportunity to learn how to do just that.
Now if you do decide to start making meals or start making them more consistently, that’s
going to make this next one a little bit easier, and that is you should try having all of your
meals together as a family.
Now, of course this is assuming that you are quarantined or locked away with some other
people.
But I know that a lot of families have kind of gotten away from this, it’s a little
easier to just everybody either make their own thing, or after you make your food for
everybody to separate and go watch whatever they want to, or chat with other people on
the internet, but there is actually a lot of benefits to especially kids and teens,
who eat with their families.
And that kind of makes sense, if you’re constantly engaging with your parents and
with the rest of your siblings, when you’re young then you’re kind of being elevated
to a higher level of conversation and awareness.
The benefits are really there, i would really encourage you to do it and I think that it’s
going to contribute in ways that you can’t possibly expect.
Now another thing that I think could slip a lot of people’s minds, if you really don’t
think about it too much, and that is that you can actually use these things for more
than texting, you can call other people or FaceTime.
And I know that a lot of us in normal life circumstances, we hate getting phone calls,
why didn’t you text me?
Why did you have to call me about this?
But in these circumstances, all of us, we all have free time.
And so call somebody like every day call multiple people, and I’m sure that they’re going
to be thrilled to talk to you, they’re gonna be thrilled to have a way it kind of get away
from the boredom for a period of time, you know you always have it with you, it is called
a phone, use it as a phone, and benefit from it.
When we’re done with the lockdown you can go back to texting.
Now another thing that is always with us that we might forget because it’s not always
a part of everybody’s routine, is to go outside.
Even though we’re all kind of locked down and we’re trying not to have a lot of social
contact with people, the outdoors is a pretty big place.
So far there’s no sweeping recommendations that we stay inside completely, and so we
can always get out there, we can still be by ourselves, we can keep our six feet or
whatever it is that they’re recommending these days, but just enjoy the outdoors, enjoy
the smell of the air, the sun, just being outside, being outside of those walls that
sometimes feel like they’re encroaching in on us, and it is just a good thing that
you don’t want to forget about.
It can really contribute quite a bit to your overall peace of mind to just have that as
an option and to take it whenever you can.
Now one thing that you probably don’t want to hear, but is actually super helpful especially
when you’re in an enclosed space for a long time, is that it’s very important to keep
your place clean and tidy.
Now this really came home to me when I was in college, and I was always writing papers
and trying to produce a lot of work, when my desk was clean and I was starting a project
I could just make so much progress, and the more work I did the more cluttered my desk
got, and I would always get to this point where I just couldn’t make any progress
anymore, and my wife would come into my office and she would clean out my desk and all of
a sudden it was like magic, I could just get back to work.
And kind of our whole lives are like that, we may not notice it right away, but when
our space is messy, and unkempt, it just eats away at us, and as we clean it up, it’s
like we clear out our insides a little bit as well, and so if you have kids, this is
a good opportunity to institute, you might call like quarantine protocols that everybody
has to keep their space as clean as possible.
You know that you will want to maintain that later, but it’s a good change of routine
for them to form some new habits that will help everybody out, just keeping all of your
spaces clean, whether it’s your kitchen, it will use up part of your day, you’re
going to be on your feet, just in general it’s good, it will lead to a lot more peace
in your mind and it will just help everybody to be a whole lot happier.
Now most of us live sedentary lives anyways, but my guess is that most of us, if we’re
in lockdown, are actually going to be sitting even more that usual.
And so something I would highly recommend is finding a stretching routine that you can
do every day.
Now personally, when I started working from home, and I found myself at my computer an
awful lot, I frequently getting headaches, and just general muscle pain, and so I tried
a whole bunch of different stuff, and the thing that worked was just spending about
15 minutes stretching every day.
And so what I’ve done is I’ve linked to the routine that works for me, as well as
the routine that seems to be working for my wife, these are both beginner routines, my
daughter, she even loves to do them with us, and she’s only two, so it’s something
that you can do with the whole family, again just burn a little bit of time out of your
day but also just contribute to your overall wellbeing which is going to make the whole
experience a whole lot better.
Now this next thing could really be a list in itself, and that is why don’t use this
as a opportunity to fulfill a life long dream?
Not obviously this has to be a dream that you have to fulfill within the confines of
your own home, but I think that there’s a lot of things that all of us want to do
that are just a little too big for us to fit into our normal days, but now we’ve got
an excess of time, and so maybe you always want to learn a language, you can’t learn
the whole language but you can get started and a lot of time just taking that first step
will actually give you the momentum you need to get there.
Maybe you always wanted to read one of the great works of wester literature, so you could
find a digital copy of the Iliad and the oddest and read it, or maybe you always wanted to
read through the bible, just whatever it is that’s always in the back of your mind,
maybe you always wanted to write your own book, if you have just been looking for the
time to do something, take this as an opportunity, don’t look at this so much as all the things
that you’re losing, look at those things that you can possibly gain and take those
first steps and hopefully it will lead you somewhere where you really want to go, somewhere
that can continue even when the lockdown is all done and you’re kind of back to normal
life.
Now another thing that i’ve already kind of hinted at a little bit, that can just contribute
to your overall peace of mind, is singing.
Now singing, if you’re an American, it’s something that we don’t really do a whole
lot publicly, I feel like we just have professionals, that do it for us, and sometimes the closest
a lot of us get to singing is just lip syncing with our favorite band.
One of the surprising things that I’ve found for myself, and I haven’t done a lot of
reading on this, but i have a feeling this will be true of you too, is if you’re kind
of feeling overwhelmed or anxious or just full of things that you don’t want to be
in there, singing is one of the easiest ways to get rid of that.
Now you might be thinking I’m in lockdown with my family, they don’t want to hear
me singing, then sing together.
Sing as a whole family.
There is nothing more satisfying than singing with other people.
And now again you might be thinking, I don’t really sing that well or we can’t really
sing as a family, honestly, what you can do is you can just play some song that all of
you know, some song all of you like, preferably a song that the adults like.
Kids can kind of get folded in to just about anything, especially when they’re little,
instead of doing all the little kid songs, they’ll like whatever you like too.
I mean one of my daughters favorite songs is Africa by Toto.
Okay, that’s not a kids song right, but she loves it.
Just take a song that you love and just pay it so loud that nobody else can hear you sing.
But sing out, like really let it go, and there’s something about singing, there’s something
about vocalizing, about just letting it out that really helps you to be peaceful.
And so just give it a shot, you know, if you are living by yourself, again just do it with
the radio, do it in the shower, do it wherever you can, and it just brings a sense of calm
that really nothing can.
That was one of the things that I really loved about picking up the ukulele, is just having
an opportunity every single day to sing , that’s why we built it into our routine as a family,
it’s just fundamentally good.
I think you’ll be surprised by how good it makes you feel if you’re able to pull
that off.
Now the last thing that I want to mention, an this is, I’ll be frank, this is the self
serving part of the video, but it doesn’t have to be, just learn something new, it doesn’t
have to be a life long ambition, but if you’re actively engaged in learning, you get kind
of like this long term good feeling of just overcoming and success.
And I feel like one of the best ways to build yourself esteem is not necessarily to be constantly
telling yourself that you’re good, but is to go after something difficult and then succeed.
And that seems to be the more you do that the more you kind of overcome adversity, even
if it’s in really small things, that’s the way to really kind of recognize your own
power, what you’re really capable of.
And so learning something small is a good way to get on that path.
And so if you’re interested in music, but you never really took it up, I would totally
recommend the ukulele.
It’s like the best first instrument that you can get, it’s small, you can order it
on Amazon, I’ll link to the one I use in the description, but if you’re in lockdown,
maybe in an apartment, and people don’t want to hear you playing, or if you’re in
with a group of people, whether it be your family or not, it can be maybe a little more
stressful to be doing music, and so if there were only something that you could learn that
was really dynamic and cool, maybe something you could learn with your kids, didn’t make
noise, what could it be?
Oh you know what, maybe yo-yoing!
You know what, yo-yoing is a lot more exciting, it’s a lot more dynamic than a lot of people
realize as you’ve probably seen if you’ve watched this far into the video, and the cool
thing about it is kids and adults can really enjoy, you can learn it together.
One thing that we do encourage is if you have little kids, they’re going to need some
help with the first couple of tricks until they get the foundations down, so learning
with your kids if something that will help them get to a point where they can start learning
tricks on their own, we even build a system on our website that we call level up, so you
can track your progress and you can check off those tricks as you learn them, and then
level up over time which just makes the whole thing a lot more fun, and you can even kind
of compete with friends to see whose got the highest level based on all the different things
you’ve learned.
So yeah, I just think that learning something new is good overall and all of these things
that I’ve talked about, these are all things you can do standing up, which you want to
find those things that you can do standing, because you’re probably already going to
be doing a lot of sitting anyway.
So those are our top ten ways to kind of maintain your sanity through lockdown, if you found
this video useful please share it with other people, and hopefully it will be of benefit
to them as well.
And if you have some ideas that we haven’t mentioned, definitely put them in the comments,
I’m sure that people will read those and will benefit from those as well.
Of course, if you’re interested in getting a yoyo, that is actually good for learning
tricks, all the yoyos that we used in this video are available on our site and if you’re
learning how to yoyo definitely get our free app for apple or android devices, and you
can use that level up system we talked about.
And I think that this time in our history is something that we’re going to remember
for the rest of our lives.
And so I hope that, yes, for the vast majority of us, it turns out on the whole to be a positive
experience, one that we wouldn’t have chosen, but maybe we lean into it a little bit and
make the most of it and actually come out the other side a lot better and I really hope
that the ideas that we’ve shared in this video can help you achieve that as well.
And so if you have made it this far in the video, we really appreciate it, thanks so
much for watching.