A friend of mine posted something in a business social media forum that quickly caught my eye. I am leveraging most of the content of his post but with some running twist. He was using COVID rethink and as an acronym to focus the energy for the rest of the year. Thank you Lenz for allowing me to leverage it and share it with others.

C is for Crisis Management – Look at it as this is the time to think about the unprecedented era that we are all confronting today. This will be the time to dig deep and with patience think about how we have handled the different challenges and be prepared for the long run, long goals. We have learned so much, but there is also so much left to learn.

O for Opportunity – The current conditions and times are providing each one of us with the opportunity to reflect, access, and analyze previous and current performance and come up with plans to adjust. This is the time where you can intentionally spend trying a couple of new things. Inserting strength training, better fueling, better diet, stretching routine, yoga, you get the point. This time offers you a great opportunity to work on those areas that we might have put aside, disregard, or diminish.

V for Value – Live your life according to your true core values. If you clearly know them, great. If you know only some of them, fantastic. If you do not really how to start, no worries, once again take the time to reflect on those things that matter to you. Do not let others, outside your area of influence, dictate what you should care about. This is the time to really get close to what really matters. It doesn’t have to be only running or sport values related. All values are interconnected and influence each other in all aspects. Keep an eye on conflicting values and which ones are more important to others. You can use a simple High, Medium, Low scale to group them. It is key to understand that the decisions you are going to make sometimes might make you stop and wonder why, that is when you need to get back to your top values and hold yourself to those.

I is for Inspire – We are all part of a community. When we talk to others especially in non-running venues, wether is online, in person, telepresence, work, church, family, friend, they all see how you are, how you behave, and all the things you accomplish. The big, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Those moments are a reflection of what you can do, your possibilities, your skills, and your life.  When others see the good and big, they get inspired and they notice even if they do not say anything. Do not let that opportunity to also help others pass by. Take the time to share your experiences, answering questions to the best of your knowledge, share your thoughts with an open mind, and experiences one person at a time. 

D is for Discipline – This is where you put many of the pieces together. You take what you are learning from crisis management, take the reflections and opportunities, align them with your values, and reinforce those with all the inspirations from others and when you have inspired others as positive reinforcement. Set out that short, mid, long term plan. Whether it is in a log, online on in your head, and commit to it. Work on creating the necessary discipline to keep the plan going. If for some reason you deviate from it, do not worry, have the courage the quickly recognize it, adjust and get back on track to achieve your plan and goals.

It does not have to be a special reason or date or critical time in your life to apply this approach. It is up to each one of us to make that determination and decide to take the 1st few steps by starting. Happy Running.