On one Thursday afternoon, I encountered the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I had been nursing some joint pains, not unusual because of a medical condition and the fact that I had been working 7 days a week since the lockdown.
As opposed to billions of people who have had to either stop work or have their hours reduced, mine had actually increased. I didn’t realise I was working myself to the point of exhaustion. It got so bad that I would alternate between cycles of sleeping 10 – 18 hours a day, to days and days of not sleeping at all.
That Thursday afternoon, I had had enough. I was flying into tempers with no one to vent to, and it’s bad customer service to speak to your audience and clients when you’re in a mood. So I shut off completely and didn’t tell anybody.
I turned off my wifi, my personal phone and my business line. Only family and literally one friend, have my private number, you know, just in case. I planned to shut off for just one day but that one day turned into 3 days, and it was the best 3 days I’ve had in a long time.
Because I was disconnected from the world and refused to even think of work, I was able to enjoy the small blessings in life. I enjoyed cooking 3 times a day. I enjoyed sleeping without a to-do list for the next day. I enjoyed not planning my days. I enjoyed meditating and spending time in prayers and bible study. I enjoyed eating and drinking water. I enjoyed a spa day in my home. It felt nice.
Let me get to the even nicer part.
I ended up learning how to play Poker and reading 5 books from start to finish. I read the following books:
Becoming a Higher Achiever by Jean-Luc D’Abreau
Wealth Exposed by MJ Demarco
Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port
The Magna Carta of Exponentiality by Vusi Thembekwayo, and
Bold by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Then I went book shopping on my Amazon Kindle and bought the following books I’ll be reading for the next one month:
80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
The Great Crash of 1929 by John Kenneth, and
Range by David Epstein
These books will give me better insights to how the world and the economy works during a recession and how to ride the wave and come out of it better, wiser and richer. I suggest you get them too and add them to your reading list.
I haven’t gotten to the best part yet.
The best part is that taking myself out of my business and deciding not to even think about it, gave me the best insight and greatest clarity I could ever have imagined. I was too close to the business, and that was why I couldn’t see what needed to be done.
You can’t see the picture when you are in the frame. You have to step out of the frame in order to view the picture and gain better perspective. Paulo Coelho said it best, “You drown, not by falling in a river, but by staying in it”.
Don’t allow yourself to drown in the challenges that are currently besetting you and the rest of the world. you don’t have to check out for 3 days like I did, but if it will help you, then by all means, do so.
Sometimes the answers you are looking for, come when you are not looking. Then when you find the answers, do not hesitate for a moment to dive into them and make them work for you. No time to doubt yourself or fear failure. Go all in and give it your best and you will be surprised at your results.
But remember, to see the picture, you have to first get out of the frame. The fact that you’re into online business doesn’t mean that’s where all the answers are. Get out of that frame and see all the other possibilities.
Stay safe.
