March & April 2020 Favorites – Covid-19 Edition

What a roller coaster those last two months have been. They were marked by anxiety, stress, and many lifestyle adjustments for all of us. Here are a few things that helped me cope in one way or another.

The WakingUp App

As my stress and anxiety were going through the roof as I watched the pandemic spread, I decided it may be time to take out the big guns and commit to more serious meditation practice. I had done the first 10 days of the course a few months ago and liked it, so decided to sign up for a year. I just finished the full 50 days of the course a couple of weeks ago and am simply doing the 10-minute daily meditation now. I currently meditate just before going to bed in the evening, but when I was most stressed out I would meditate in the morning as well as in the evening before going to bed.

External Monitor, keyboard, and mouse

I was lucky enough to be able to work from home while my daughter was out of kindergarten. I had never found I needed an external monitor at home before but after the first week or two of home office, I could see how it would be useful and much more comfortable ergonomically when spending hours in from my computer at our kitchen table. I found a really good deal for a Benq 24″ monitor and ordered it almost immediately, together with a Logitech keyboard & mouse wireless set (MK540 Advanced). It turned out to be a really good purchase, as I’ve been using all three daily, for work and privately.

YNAB

I’ve been tracking my spending for more than 15 years – so many that I don’t remember exactly when I started. Pretty sure it’s since I got my first job. I started by just writing everything down in my pocket notebook, later upgraded to an Excel sheet, and was using a Google Sheet when I found YNAB (You Need a Budget). I was perfectly happy with my Google sheet and am not sure how I found YNAB, as I was definitely not looking for it. I guess I somehow stumbled at Nick True from Mapped Out Money’s videos on YouTube and he convinced me to try it out. YNAB has a really generous 34-Day trial which I found to be ideal. It did require a bit of a mindset switch in the beginning but after manually transferring all my transactions from the beginning of the year (because I’m a nerd like that) and playing obsessively with it for a few days, I was a convert. Now I can not imagine my life without it.

IBRK

What do you do when the markets are crashing in the middle of a pandemic? Yes, invest of course. YNAB rekindled my long love for personal finance so based on recommendations from different PF blogs I’m following I decided it was about time to finally open an Interactive Brokers account. The account opening process was a bit of a hassle (and rightly so, for security reasons). And getting to know the software was a bit of an intimidating experience. But, it turns out, using IBRK for my purposes (buy and hold) is pretty straight forward. Really happy I did it.

Brilliant.org

I had seen some of their ads online but never paid much attention. Then it got recommended by several “productivity gurus” on YouTube whose videos I enjoyed, so decided to try it out and see what it’s about.

My first reaction was – where are the videos?

Haha, I’m so spoilt with having videos, audio and text available for anything I want to learn that at first I just could comprehend how they dare include only some animated graphics and that only tor the answer of some of their quizzes. I almost quit at that point. And then I realized, how I was sitting with my iPad, a pen and piece of paper, and actively WORKING instead of passively consuming content. I was blown away. And signed up after my trial expired. Currently doing the Logic and Mathematical Fundamentals courses, but I hope and intend to do them all, just for the pure enjoyment in learning and the challenge for my brain.

So, there you have it, my top five favorite things In these crazy times of coronavirus and home office.

It’s the loving warmth of our relationships with family and friends. It’s finding meaningful work. It’s the capacity to learn and grow, to share and serve.

p. 186, Unshakeable by Tony Robbins