As we are approaching four months of isolation, there have been quite a few changes to our personal and professional lifestyle. Our kids are getting used to online learning and completed the second half of the school year from their bedroom. On top of that, I have been enjoying working from my home office.
As ideal as this scenario sounds, there have been ups and downs along the way, as we are learning to adapt to our new norm. Although everyones’ situation is different, choosing a way to stay productive these days is nothing short of survival.
Since early March, our routine has evolved around family time, sleeping, working, planning, cleaning, activities, exercise, and video calls. With more time on our hands, we became more creative with the new found minutes and hours, day after day, week after week, and frankly month after month.
Family Time
I’m all about family and family time, before we started self-isolating, I always align my schedule around my family. Nowadays, with abundance of family time we had to come up with new ways to keep it fun, interesting, and engaging, just to keep from driving ourselves crazy.
We started letting our kids help us prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner every other day. My wife took it to another level and she taught them how to bake. But not just any cake, a checkerboard cake and even sourdough bread.
Taking advantage of short road trips has proven to be a good asset to our family bonding time. Lately, we have been exploring the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia; by going to places no more than 100 miles away from our house. We pack a lunch, drive somewhere, and let the kids run wild at a field or park. By the time we start driving back, they are already sound a sleep; which gives my wife and me more time to have a meaningful conversation without interruptions.
Now that Lessie, Maria Grace, and Niko can ride their bikes without training wheels, we have gone on quite a few bike rides around the neighborhood. By any means, these aren’t short bike rides; they last anywhere between 3 to 4 hours. With short water and snack breaks here and there, the kids love it and can’t get enough of it.
In lieu of regular TV time, we have decided to do a few dinner and movie nights with the kids. We watched E.T. with them and it was so much fun to see their reaction and hear their opinion.
Sleeping
Personally, I have enjoyed the extra sleeping time. I don’t want to paint the wrong picture here, but just because I get to sleep little longer it doesn’t mean I’m stuck in bed all day long.
Being able to get extra rest can’t be a bad thing. As good as the new sleeping routine sound, I still have to work from my home office and take care of housekeeping items, so I make sure I go over my to do list on daily basis and get things done.
Planning
Even though it could feel like there is no end in sight to the coronavirus pandemic, eventually, we’ll get to the other side of this. What I like to do is think of things I always wanted and needed to do. Some are immediate and others are more long terms goals. Doing this is more of an annual ritual for me, where I sit down and update our family task list and discuss it with my wife. That way, it keeps us accountable and helps our plans come to realization.
Here are just a few items from our family task list we have been working on during self-isolation:
- Blog more
- Add marketing materials to blog
- Review and enhance investment strategy
- RV summer vacation
- Start family foundation
- Donate to a meaningful charity
- Update master bathroom
- Update kids work contracts
- Look for “slightly” bigger home
- Take virtual training class
- Volunteer
Cleaning
As clichés as it sounds, in my opinion, it’s true when someone says, the way a man takes care of his car is the way he takes care of himself. To add to that by saying it is also the way he takes care of his house and his family.
Living by this simple principle on personal and professional level; I like keeping our home clean, neat, and organized. It is a good way to show our little ones what it takes to stay on top of things. As tedious as it sounds to fold your laundry, dry your hair, clean up after your self, or wash your bike; you are developing a trait for self efficiency (e.g. good use of time) and sufficiency (e.g. competency).
Regardless of what type of task you are working on, if you apply the same rigor and discipline, you are always going to be two steps ahead in life.
Being home most of the time, our kids have had plenty of opportunities to help us clean and also take care of their own cleaning responsibilities. Having three little ones are home 100% of the time can lead to quite the mess, especially in a 1,200 sq. ft condominium. So on daily basis, they make their beds, pickup their stuff, put away their folded laundry, dust off their desks, and make sure their desks are as organized and “good looking” as mine. They make a point to charge their electronics over night without us reminding them about it.
It hasn’t always been this easy but over time. They watch us do these very same things and now they are excited to do it themselves. On top of that, it keeps them busy and I don’t have to worry about saving them form themselves.
Activities
By far the most difficult aspect of self-isolation especially when literally everything has been closed or restricted by the federal and state government. So getting super creative while wearing masks and keeping social distance was the only way out.
Hanging out on our patio and near vicinity became routine. We started having more meals outside while watching our kids kick the ball, ride their bikes, or simply hang out. To stay in shape, we started taking longer walks around our neighborhood 2 or 3 times a week. We ended up having picnics out back or at near by Rock Creek Park.
Since our condominium pool is not an option, we found alternate ways to cool of this summer at Rock Creek Park Trail and Cabin John Trail.
We took a couple of fishing trips to Tilghman Island along the Chesapeake Bay and the kids loved it. Even though we didn’t catch anything, the fact that they were out there casting a reel and learning the ropes of a young angler, was a huge deal to them. Next stop will be Cambridge Pier. This is an old stomping ground where Anil Surathu and I embarked on an epic fishing adventure around the Chesapeake Bay in the early 2000’s.
As the weather turned warmer, I started riding my motorcycle more often. The last couple of months I’ve put more miles on it than ever before; by doing day trips to Atlantic City, New Jersey, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Hankock, Maryland, and Berkely Springs, West Virginia. Once again, I reminded myself how beautiful a country side can be.
On days when the weather was not cooperating, we focused on activities around the house such as reading, coloring, creating content for our YouTube channel, and doing Facebook Live videos with the kids.
Writing
Having more time on hand has given me the opportunity to organize our blog a bit and organize my thoughts. It is not easy to juggle family, work, and writing responsibilities; but being able to write has helped me deal with the daily ups and downs in life. Especially during these turbulent times.
I have been toying with the idea of having guest posts here. I have been thinking about reaching out to my fellow FI enthusiasts and mentors; and asking them to write a guest post so that we can all learn from the best.
Exercise
I need this and I’m sure everyone out there needs it as much as I do; not only to stay physically fit but mentally fit too.
Pre COVID-19, I used to play soccer every Saturday morning with the same group of friends. No longer having that option, I have been having a hard time finding an alternative. Even though this is still a work in progress, for now I rely on walks and home exercise.
My wife and I were looking into buying bikes so that we can ride with our kids. But for now, we walk and they bike. I’m sure they’ll enjoy having bike companions sooner than later; especially if we can pull off a picnic or hit one of the bike trails around the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area.
For the record, I do occasionally kick a soccer ball with my son Niko to keep my touch in intact.
ConFriends Calls
For years, video calls are pillars to our communication with family and friends around to world. Nothing has changed here except the frequency of calls. Especially during birthdays, graduations, holidays, and in times when we can’t travel or have visitors.
I have enjoyed my weekly conversations a with very good friend of mine over the past few months. Our extended family Jeffry and Ivanna Handal are expecting their first child; so being able to frequently talked to them and check on them has been great. Under normal circumstances, we would be lucky to get on a call with the Handals once a quarter, because everyone is “always” busy, in the middle of meeting, commuting, riding, or flying a Cessna 172 or Cirrus SR20.
One day, I was on video call with a childhood friend and he was telling me about his week and how he’s got all these calls scheduled throughout the week. He plays virtual poker on Monday, hosts book club on Tuesday, calls his pals in England on Wednesday, and so on. I couldn’t help it but think, how awesome is that.
Our kids decided to capitalize on the self-isolation and started video conferencing with their cousins and friends, why only talk to baba and dedo, tete, in-laws and out-laws when you can call everyone on your contact list.
Closing Thoughts
Our staying at home policy has proven to be an effective way to deal with the drastic changes imposed by coronavirus.
You might decide that productivity is the last thing on your mind in these turbulent times and I can see that. But I can also see results from being productive and will serve as catalyst to maintain motivation and sanity, cope with self-isolation, and most importantly adapt to the new norm.
