Staying healthy and sane during COVID-19 with the Wheel of Life

Like I’m sure you all have, I’ve come across an endless amount of self-help guides to help you navigate the COVID-19 situation. While it’s great to see the overwhelming support from bootstrapped communities, it can be difficult to sort through the noise and find out quite what applies to you in your situation.

As a CEO and cofounder of DCMN, I’ve been focused on helping my business and my team members through this difficult moment. Still, away from the work side of things, it’s crucial to look inwardly and more holistically. With all your normal routines swept away, finding new structures for the entirety of your daily life is crucial. Staying positive and motivated can be achieved through the conscious organising of your life. For me, I’ve been using a structure called the wheel of life – an extremely simple diagnostic tool that has been used by many for years to achieve both professional and personal fulfilment.

WHEEL OF LIFE

The wheel of life is based on the idea that there are many categories that form the basis of your life experience. In order to be happy, you need to make sure all of these categories - as many as you want - are being positively addressed.

To make your wheel, you pick your own categories. Think about the most important features of your life and those that hit your main human needs. For me, it’s business, health (both physical and mental), family as well as spiritual, social and personal development. Other categories you could include are creativity, financial or recreation, amongst endless others.

It’s clear that in some areas you may be more proficient, whilst the wheel will also bring your weaknesses to mind and help you to attack them. On my end, I’ve rated myself on a one-to-ten scale for each area. Then I’ve focused on how to improve each one on a regular basis. It’s extremely flexible: you can adapt yours however you wish, making it more relaxed or even more stringent.

To remain healthy in this current time of uncertainty and stress, it is imperative you tend to your personal categories more than ever. Here are some ideas for how to ensure you can meet your essential human needs over the next weeks and months.

Business

Your day-to-day business schedule has been turned upside down. All the features of your office routine that exist to help you concentrate and optimise productivity have been swept from under your feet and instead there’s roommates or children – plus potentially shaky WiFi!

You have to do the best you can do to ensure you can keep to your targets as before, that’s why a tight schedule is crucial. On my end, I start a day with a Zoom call to discuss what’s happening, both in the company and wider world, with our CCO Marco Neubert and our Content Director Zilke Grogan. From that, we determine what we should communicate to our clients, partners and community. Then there’s a call with all the management team. But to make sure you don’t go so Zoom-crazy, I’ve made sure some fixed hours are set aside every day for me to answer my emails and get work done.

My other major tip? If you can, make sure you keep your work hours as work hours, and recreation hours as recreation ones. Staying up late and working longer whilst at home is not the way forward! If you want some more tips on a successful migration to home office, I highly recommend checking out my colleague Liz Wilson’s comprehensive guides: including both working from home and more specifically, hosting a remote workshop.

Health

Whether it’s in the morning or the evening, one way I’m staying healthy so far is by prioritising exercise. Live classes are being organised by Urban Sports Club. If you just want a fitness and nutrition plan, try 8Fit or Gymondo. There’s also many other, more specialised apps. For dance aficionados there’s the likes of STEEZY, Yoga Wake Up is a good one for yoga fans whilst Freeletics is great for those who fancy something more high-octane. Personally I’ve kept with my personal trainer Robert Rathke – a great example of a transformer brand who has expertly switched to the virtual world.

This also feeds into your diet. Interestingly enough, the scheduling of a routine – something I see as key to hit all the different categories – helps you to then control your nutritional intake. Being bored can lead to impulsive snacking, whilst routine has been proven to rid you of such unstable behavioural patterns!

Family

For those with children at home, this pillar is more apparent than for others. I try not to work all the time, but also try and find some time for bonding. Why not go out to the garden to play with your kids during your work lunch break? For couples: why not try a date night again?

But those not living with their family members – or living alone – there are still possibilities thanks to the internet and social media. Making time to catch up – and even play online games – with your family and loved ones is crucial during this time.

Social

According to research, the negative health effects of feeling lonely are actually about the same as smoking, obesity and physical inactivity. That means it’s crucial to stay connected during these periods of distancing and social isolation.

Social media is a great way to stay connected. Organise a call via a video conferencing tool like Zoom, Skype or Jitsi and pretend you’re having a beer together in a bar. Listen to music together. Or why not try a Netflix party on the booming House Party app? We’re physically further apart than ever before, but oddly enough we can stay even tighter now than we were before.

Spiritual

With regards to this category, I pray and do bible reading every morning to ensure it’s covered. For others, I understand spiritually can mean different things – maybe a regular yoga practice for instance. For this category, it’s crucial to find something "bigger" whichever way you can, perhaps by even trying a meditation class in the morning. Taking some time every day to yourself is crucial to lay the foundations and create the calm and stability within you to deal with all the upheaval and craziness going on around you.

Personal development

Read. Set challenges. Improve your languages. Take an online class, even with an Ivy League university. Keep growing. Personal development doesn’t have to stop right now. Instead, with lots of time to yourself, it’s the perfect time to focus on exactly that: yourself and more specifically, making sure that you are still growing as a human.