Have you managed to make something good come out of the Pandemic?
Of all the clever things I’ve said throughout the years, my favorite words of wisdom are how being able to turn frustration into motivation is a key skill. It is especially so for any entrepreneur, who is likely to face many failures before eventually making it. It is not the ones who go without failure that succeed, but those who fail fast, learn quickly, utilize lessons to get stronger, and perform better who do. Additionally, the mental energy gained when angry, frustrated, or even scared, can be channeled towards a better purpose than to experience negative emotions.
For many people, including myself, closed gyms during the height of the pandemic as well as getting bored of staring at the living-room's walls all day, provided a good source of motivation to start running more. But what other positive changes may it have caused? Image source: iStack Note: I think running with a mask outside is f**king stupid, but it was a nice picture illustrating the essence of the article 😝
Don't let go of the opportunity to turn negative energy to work
Did you get pissed that your football team lost after a poor refereeing decision? Go to the gym or for a run and beat the crap out of your old record. Did you lose money on a bad trade? Research the shit out of new potential prospects to the point where you know it way better than the market. Did your post on Hive that you felt was well written not get the attention and rewards you were hoping for? Write another that is so good, and also promote it so passionately and widely on social media and in relevant circles that the curators can’t ignore you (note: that’s very different from spamming).
We all have the opportunity to make mistakes and misfortunes into the beginning of a positive journey of self-improvement. I made a post with a similar title back in 2017 when me messing up a transfer from an exchange to my account made me lose 493 tokens, worth $615 at the time. I can imagine that making such a mistake, with no way of recovering the money, might leave a few people saying “fuck this crypto shit, I’m done!” For me, it was a costly but good lesson, as I 1. Set aside the time to fully understand how crypto transactions work, and when and why one would need a memo key in addition to the receiver’s address, etc. And 2. It made me sufficiently pissed off to go ahead and get further involved in the blockchain first through the science community as a writer/curator, next attending the second Hivefest in Lisbon, then building a dApp with @howo, before becoming a witness. The result? I’ve earned the loss back roughly a thousand times over.
Applying this to Covid and lockdowns
The Covid-pandemic has resulted in most western countries imposing a long list of restrictions. Needless to say, these have heavily limited the things we’ve been able to do these past 2 years whether it is traveling, going out with friends or for some even working. And while I have nothing nice to say about the governments that still impose any form of restrictions now that we’ve had the vaccine for a year, it does provide a lot of opportunities for those with the right mindset. The mindset of looking for solutions rather than problems, or turning frustration into motivation.
Sure, we may not have been able to spend as much time traveling, dining or going out, socializing, or attending cultural activities as we would have liked. But then again, most of us had a long list of things that 2 years ago we wish we spent more time doing. Things like reading more books, learning a new skill, doing meditation more often, calling a family member, and having a longer conversation than our busy schedules would allow. These past 2 years have thus provided a good opportunity or excuse to find more time to pursue other goals or habits. Myself, I’ve seen it as an opportunity to save more money, do a bit more side hustling, and set up a strategy for my own investments going forward. I’ve also had a lot more phone calls with my parents, which I’ve found increasingly valuable. While gyms were closed, I was also forced to get more creative in finding ways to do workouts at home as well as to find other athletic challenges in running and skiing. As a result, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been when looking jointly at my strength and cardiovascular health. (I’ve hardly gone a week without carrying out 5 workouts these past 13 years, and been what most people would call “ripped” or “shredded” continuously the whole time, so it’s not as if I was starting from a poor state).
Knowing that I would come out of the pandemic angry with not having been able to travel more, socialized more, and had more fun going out, I told myself early on that at least I would make sure I would come out of the pandemic with something valuable. To me, building wealth thus became a good target. Usually, I would say that sacrificing a lot of one’s youthful years to grind for money is not really worth it as one will eventually just be wishing that one could buy back one’s youthful years as an older wealthier person. But now, when we couldn’t do all the things we wanted to do anyway, it was a good chance to hustle, save and build wealth. I can then always allow myself to use parts of it later to travel and have more fun than I would have otherwise or to simply know that I’m closer to full financial freedom than I would have been without the pandemic.
So to conclude, I’ve spent the past 2 years achieving goals that I’m fairly sure I would not have done otherwise. Could it be that I’ve lost out on more positive things than I’ve gained? Sure. But honestly, I can’t tell for sure, despite the restrictions having been as bad as they are. And while I hope there’ll be nothing like covid ever again in my lifetime, I can say that I made a lot of positive things come out of it. Things that I know I will treasure and benefit from for decades after.
How about you? Did you manage to reach a new goal, learn a new skill, or find time for something beneficial thanks to the pandemic?
