In this blog, I want to talk to you guys about learning and growing during the COVID-19 Coronavirus period.
I’m here on a Wednesday morning here in the greater Boston area and it’s just been quite a journey so far, pretty much since mid-January when the Coronavirus did start to hit the United States. I know this is a global situation, global crisis that we’re all in, and I know initially obviously the Coronavirus, it started out east. I actually have my wife who’s actually from China, she definitely had a lot of concerns, a lot of worries that happened in there when the Coronavirus did initially hit in China in Wuhan. Obviously, pretty much the whole country, many major provinces had been on lockdown, and now they’re finally starting to recover.
And of course, here in the western part of the world we’re looking at situations where New York City has very seriously contemplated having a lockdown. I have a sister in New York City. Even in Boston right now there’s definitely a lot of processes in place. Non-essential businesses right now are not open. Many, many people are not in their offices right now. For me, it’s been business as usual, but the good luxury that I have is that I do not have to travel right now and so I definitely have a lot more time between my business. And as far as not having to travel out and everything is done at home, so my commute time has been cut drastically.
But first of all before I begin, I just want to send my heart and my prayers and also to you guys and your families and your friends, anybody who is close to you. I know this is a very, very serious time and a very, very serious crisis that we’re in. And of course, global markets has been affected, of course the US markets, the stock markets, the interest rates by the Fed. It’s just right now we’re looking right now at bear markets, we’re definitely turning into most likely a recession.
So we’re in situations where there’s obviously a lot of people who are losing their jobs right now, but also the other thing too, there’s great opportunity to be had as well. And basically to me, what I’ve been doing on a personal level is just definitely taking this time and really reflecting. For most of us, I think this time is actually is a timeout for us, is a timeout to breathe. It’s a timeout to stop and really take track of our journeys and our goals and our missions and what we want to accomplish and everything in life.
For me, I just definitely have taken this time to learn and develop myself, and that’s where the opportunity has been coming in, and the fact that I can take this period of time and learn new skills and grow from that. Because by learning these new skills, I acquire these new skills, I can teach these new skills to all of you. I can teach these new skills to friends and family, and to me that is extremely rewarding, but also it makes me more valuable as well. It makes me more valuable in the marketplace. It makes me more valuable to you guys as far as adding more value and for you guys to continue to grow and for all of you guys to meet your goals and everything like that.
I actually just got finished with a speed reading course from Jim Kwik called Kwik Reading, and it took me a little bit, I got through it okay. It was a great course and I’m very happy that I was able to go from beginning to end on the course, so I’m very excited about that. The greatest reward I got from it was my progress. I went from initially reading 180 words-per-minute, finishing up reading 391 words-per-minute, so that is pretty much more than a 100% increase in my reading speed. So there to me, that was incredibly rewarding.
But not only did I learn how to read faster, but also it’s a great comprehension course. It teaches you how to read certain types of books and certain types of text or whatever. Either it’s a fictional book, a nonfiction book, a book that contains a lot of digital and a lot of data with graphs and everything like that. It just was pretty much an outstanding course, and I’m very grateful that I definitely took the time to do the course, I invested the money to do the course. I got a good deal on the course, as well.
I’m very grateful for having the opportunity to take the time I needed to learn this skill of speed reading, because most of us as far as reading is concerned, we learned to read when we’re in kindergarten and first and second grade, and that’s where the learning stopped. Yeah, we continue to read and obviously able to comprehend, and it got us through high school, got us through universities, got certain degrees, but basically the skill of teaching reading really stopped when we were in elementary school. So that was a great thing that I was able to acquire, and I definitely highly recommend for all of you. And this is not an endorsement for Jim Kwik, although I highly recommend the course, but it just goes to show us the opportunities that we have in front of us now, now that we have a little bit more time on our hands, for most of us I should say. I know not all of us, but it is a great opportunity for all of us to grow.
Now what I plan on doing is I have a copyright course that I’m going to take, so I’m going to write copy. I’m really excited about that, as well. And obviously to have that skill will actually enable me to write my own copy much better, but maybe even assist others as far as writing copy is concerned, so I’m really excited about to learn this new skill. And obviously I can use it for Amazon, because I do have a couple of books out there, including The Big Four, so I’m really excited about that.
So I guess the question for me to you is if you’re in the same situation as I am, which most people are the majority, what are you doing as far as taking the time? What are the opportunities for you in order to grow and during this crisis period of time? Because remember, crisis is a word in China, it means danger and opportunity. Obviously we have great opportunities in front of us. Yeah, there is danger going on. People are getting sick, people are dying, and people are catching this virus very quickly and very rapidly, especially if we’re not being careful and especially if we’re not being prepared.
But also it does present us an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to learn a new language, an opportunity for us to learn how to play the guitar or learn how to play the drums or learn how to do a certain dance or whatever. Definitely a lot of artistic opportunities here, but also a lot of opportunities to learn a new skillset, as well. There’s some great online courses that are out there for any of us to take, or even go back and maybe finish our degrees now. Look into taking an MBA course online or something like that.
Jamie Sierra:
So to me it’s been a tough situation, because everything seems the last couple of weeks has been coming across as externally has been nothing but bad. You turn on the news, it’s been nothing but bad. A lot of press conferences with the President, with governors, with city mayors, and it just seems like there’s never good news that’s circulating around and you’re hearing about a lot of people catching the Coronavirus disease, and athletes, celebrities, even Prince Charles actually just got infected with COVID-19, so it is tough. There’s so much going on, there’s so much adversity in our society right now.
Another thing I would just highly recommend besides taking this opportunity to learn and grow is a couple things. Enhance your morning rituals. It’s a great time to … I know we can’t go to the gym and workout in the gym, but you can definitely go outside, do a walk. You can definitely start if you work on the treadmill or the elliptical, it’s a great time to go outside and just put on that extra gear and go for a run as well. So there’s definitely a lot of great opportunities for us in front of us and that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the most part, especially outside of working. Work is still taking a great deal of my time, so I’m fortunate for that, but also it is a great time to buckle up and learn and acquire new skills in whatever you want to accomplish, it’s right in front of you.
So I definitely wanted to share this with you. And yeah, as far as walking and running, I actually started running again this past week, and it’s been a struggle. It’s been hard, but I’m glad I’m doing it, and I’ve been doing it slowly. I haven’t been doing it every day, but I have done it consistent enough where I can put myself in a growing position and continue to progress and who knows where this will lead me. I mean maybe I will continue to exercise more outdoors, or maybe I’ll start going back to the gym when the gym reopens.
But I definitely wanted to share my perspective with you guys as far as the COVID-19. I wish all of you guys to be safe during this time. I wish all the best for you and your families, and from there, grow. Continue to grow, continue to learn, continue to take this time as an opportunity for yourself and for others, and make sure that you continue to add value to yourself and to others in this world and this society. So thank you again for watching and wish you guys all the best, and I look forward to talking to you guys in the next video.