Becoming my 'best self' during lockdown

 (3 minute read). You'll be glad you did!

The current situation has tested the resolve of many and over the past month I’ve found myself on an emotional rollercoaster in a journey starting with despair and leading to incredible excitement and opportunity. This article is designed to inspire and share my view that whatever your situation, it’s your mindset that will determine how you come through it.

I developed my relentlessly hard-working mindset under the guidance of CEO Jez George at Cambridge United FC. He encouraged my instinct to graft like crazy when the going gets tough and taught me that the only ingredient that truly matters in getting out of bad situations is hard work.

The early days of March will stay with me forever for how quickly the situation developed and how the reality of what was set to come crept in. Often what you hear and read about on the news seems like it’s just a story. Whether it’s a Tsunami in Japan, bush fires in Australia or a virus in China. I think we can all be guilty of looking at news with genuine empathy, but a somewhat ignorant feeling of ‘At least that’s not us’. In just a few days in early March, I went from feeling for those in China and then Italy, to genuinely scared that it was us next.

 When the virus hit the UK and it was clear that we were heading in the same direction as other countries, I had a shocking realisation that this could hit my business hard. It felt so unfair. I’d built a successful business and through no fault of my own it was going to have to stop its key function - coaching children’s football programmes. A million thoughts raced through my mind. How long will this last for? Will our participants come back when this is all over? How am I going to survive personally and provide for my family? What about the rest of the team? The list was endless.

 The first week of lockdown hit me hard. My instinctive reaction was to work harder, but my emotional state didn’t support strategic thinking and perspective, but it was just that, perspective, that saw me through that week. We learnt about the support packages for businesses and individuals and I really struggled to come to terms with the fact that whilst others were paid their full wages or those in employment were furloughed at home on full or 80% pay, my circumstances meant that I was likely to only qualify for a very small level of support. My muddled thoughts turned to our team of franchisees who were in the same position as me. Facing the next few months with a tiny wage and no revenue for their start- up companies. This felt like a complete disaster.

Fast forward a few weeks and we’re in the second period of three weeks of lock down - but my mindset has seen me through and I now feel genuinely excited for the future. As an organisation, we are in the best position we’ve ever been in. A few weeks of strategic thinking and hard graft have led to this position and I owe the clarity I now have to ‘perspective’. Once I realised that the only thing that really matters is that the ones I love are still alive and staying healthy, I quickly came to terms with the situation and set about making the best of it. If businesses fold, if jobs are lost, if financial hardship hits - it’s all recoverable. If a loved one dies they are gone forever.

So alongside checking in on family and friends I spoke with my business partner Jonny Martin and put in place a strategic plan to see us through this crisis and for us to come out of it in a better position than ever before! We stared in the face of what we couldn’t do and zoned in on what we could. I won’t bore you with all of the things we have put in place to move forwards but in simple terms, we’ve focussed massively on growing the brand so that when we return to business as usual, we’re ready for take-off!

We’ve grown our social media following across all platforms exponentially. We’ve redesigned our whole website and documented our match-winning processes to set us up for future success. Oops, I said I wasn’t going to bore you with the facts, but I’m so bloody proud and excited about what we’ve achieved in such a short space of time! 

Away from operating my business I’ve upped my game in other areas of my life. I’ve kept on top of cutting the lawn for the first time ever, cleaned out my shit-tip of a garage, painted my garden fence and done so many things at home I would have never otherwise have prioritised. What’s even better is that I’ve become a better Dad to my 1 year old daughter and a better husband to my gorgeous wife. We’ve spent quality time together and been on long walks in the sunshine. I’ve worked out every week day for the full period of lock down and in fact only had one week day off the gym in 2020. I’ve become the best version of myself and I owe that to my mindset.

Nothing we are doing within our business operation generates revenue and we are not earning a wage, but I’m grafting harder than ever on the basis that when things get back to normal our profits will soar. Hard work is what will see us through and I urge you to do the same. Build your brand and put things in place for when the world returns to normal – because it will! Be thankful if your friends and family are healthy and set about turning this incredible challenge into an even more incredible opportunity. There will be ups and downs and your positivity will wain from time to time. But keep picking yourself back up because it's when the going gets tough that will truly define us.

I’m smashing this and you can too.