Time is the second most valuable resource after yourself. Each of us have 24 hours a day, and on average you work say 8 hours helping to fund your lifestyle. You sleep maybe another 8 providing the body to and mind a chance to rest. That leaves a third of your time unaccounted for. These 16 hours will normally just keep you wherever you currently are. What do you currently do with the rest, watching TV or laying around the house?

Use this free time to your advantage, since you do not have to travel anywhere, you can use that time for work or spend it on yourself. How you spend this time is up to you, but it can change your future if you decide that.

Do something that will improve your life, like writing a blog, read a book, learn a new language, create an application, design a new clothing line, build a business, network with a colleague, bond with your family, write an article, freelance, draw, invent or volunteer, it is all up to you to decide.

• Set some goals
• Find the actions that matches your goal
• Start creating new habits to incorporate these new ideas in your life.
• Make sure you do not take on to many things in order for you to be able to continue with it after you return to work.

Go back to  Invest in yourself

Go to Network

Your greatest asset you have is YOU, not you pension fund or your house. Your skills, education, experience, your networks of contacts and your particular way of looking at and interaction with the world around you.

The human capital far exceed any other investment, irrespective of your age, but it depends on your self-worth. Every time you learn a skill or learn something you did not know, you increase your value. If you have stopped learning a long time ago, I want to challenge you today to learn something that you do not know. Learning is a lifelong process, not a once off event.

Think of you as ME (Pty) Ltd, and start thinking of ways that you can improve yourself. Acquire a new skill and let me know what you have decided. Think of something outside of you tradition comfort zone.

Go back to Current Opportunities

Go to Use you time wisely

I want to shift gears and move to “Taking Advantage of the Current Opportunities”. In the midst of adverse circumstances, there are always hidden opportunities, but how you look at life is all influenced by your mind-set, your thoughts and feelings. Before you read further you have to decide whether you want to say goodbye to the doom and gloom and embrace the opportunities that will avail themselves. You need to focus on how you can make the most of this crisis.

You have to make a choice, to feed on the hopelessness or to face the hard facts and start digging for the gems might be available. To get to the diamonds we have to remove a lot of dirt and be careful that we do not throw away diamonds with the gravel.

The aim is to provide you with real strategies that you can implement. Implementing these strategies will take effort, commitment and tenacity. You will have to calculate the cost on all levels to determine if it will be worth the sacrifice.

1. Invest in yourself
2. Use you time wisely
3. Network
4. Seek opportunities
5. Become closer with your family
6. Keep your faith rooted
7. Simplify your life
8. Get organised

Step 6:

1. Completely out of options:
   • Make sure you apply for UIF.
   • Look into welfare programmes
   • Ask for food parcels at the church or NGO’s
   • If you 60 or older, apply for SASSA, state pension.
   • If you were in the Defence Force, uMkhonto we Sizwe, Police, Prison Services at any time, look into the SA Veterans Association offerings. Remember to use your force number.
   • Go for debt consolidation. Just be aware that there are many untrustworthy debt counsellors. Ensure that they are legally registered with the National Credit Regulator. Speak to your bank.
   • Apply for bankruptcy. This is not first choice but absolutely last resort.
   • Reduce or cancel your medical scheme and make use of the Government Clinics and hospitals, unless you have applied for the Veterans Association, then you can use the Military hospitals.

Times are tough, but do not be paralysed by fear. Use it to motivate you.

Subscribe to our newsletter AFS Informer.