We’d like to offer our top 5 ways to get ahead of the game during a crisis:

1. Use your time to make plans for the future

When everyone else is wasting time buying truckloads of toilet rolls and pasta, savvy business owners and entrepreneurs are sitting quietly in the sun, planning for the future. Fresh air and sunshine are free and they are also one of the most important ways to refresh and re-ignite your mind.

Soak up some sun, quieten your mind and let the ideas flow. Is there an opportunity to take your business online? Is there something that you’ve always wanted to do in your business but to date you’ve been too busy? Can you offer something unique to the community or other businesses?

Write down your ideas, write your dreams, write your wishes. Imagine a future without any problems, what does that look like? Once you’ve written down your dreams, the next step is to make some plans to get you closer. You don’t even need to plan the whole way, just the first few steps is enough to get started.

2. Learn a new skill

If you have access to the internet or your local library, you have access to a whole world of new skills and a lot of this content is available online. Did you know that the State Library of Queensland provides access to Lynda.com to all Queenslanders for free?  Here is the link to one of the most amazing repositories of knowledge on the planet and it can be yours (if you’re a Queensland resident) for free – https://www.loom.com/share/d27357962a5a41318835742fb6b54975

One of the most useful skills I’ve learnt in the last few years, is not even found online or in a library. It might not even be considered a skill by some people, but it has saved me a ridiculous amount of time over the last few years. What is this amazing skill you ask? The most useful, time saving skill that I’ve learnt is touch typing with my thumbs on a mobile phone! Kids as young as three can do it but for the older generation who didn’t grow up with technology, it is a skill they haven’t developed. In this age of messaging and texting, being able to type at speed using my thumbs on my mobile has saved me a lot of time. Every time I picked up my device and began to type I forced myself to use my two thumbs until it became a habit and not long after I became super speedy. My friends can’t believe how speedy my replies are in messenger…unless there is thinking time involved 🙂

If you’re still typing on your mobile with your index finger, now is the time to break that terrible habit and buy yourself some more free time!

3. Learn from others

If your goals include doing something that you’ve never done before and you don’t know where to begin, now is the perfect time to learn from someone else. Find local and international experts and follow them on social media. Watch their videos online and immerse yourself in their work. Allow yourself to become absorbed for a while and enjoy the break from your regular routine. When you’re wholly absorbed in learning something new that interests you, your body and mind actually relax. You find yourself in the flow, and you float through the day, rather than struggling through each task or becoming distracted.

4. Create something that helps others

By now hopefully you’ve made some plans, learnt a new skill and learnt from others. Now it’s time to give back and create something that helps someone else. This doesn’t need to be a grand gesture or something incredibly difficult.

In our business, when clients make a mistake editing their site and request website support, we will when possible, send a video of us fixing it, so that next time, they will be able to fix it themselves. We even look at the way we’ve built the site to see whether we can make a change that means that our client can’t make the same mistake again. Not only are we helping our clients, we are also improving the way we do business.

5. Relax

Finding time for relaxation is the most important thing to do at this time. There is absolutely no denying that your immune system works better when your body is not under stress. Your own immune system is the best defence against any kind of virus or bacteria.

Have you ever noticed that great ideas and answers to problems can be found in the shower or while walking your dog? This is not coincidence. When you are relaxed and calm your mind and body will work together to help you find solutions.