Coronavirus is on top of everyone’s mind, and mine too. On one side I have to work from home, I have restless children, practice social distancing, frequent hand washing and on the other side I have, falling markets, worried clients, limited cash and similar views from different fund managers.

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With a lot of noise around me – whether it’s from media or friends or family – I decided to pause and use my CeFT (Certified Financial Transitionist) learnings on myself. I started with asking a few questions:

 Is there a transition happening?

Yes, Multiple! All of a sudden, my employer has given me work from home for the first time and I do not want to give anything less than my 200%. I want to keep my family safe hence I just want to see them inside the house all the time. Markets have fallen, so as a Financial Advisor I want to be there for my clients and in general be able to provide sane advice to all investors.

What stage of Transition can be observed?

The first stage of transition is evidently seen, i.e. Anticipation – because I am still expecting a major event to happen and it has not already happened. Where Coronavirus is concerned, we are believed to be in stage 3 (Sneha is  based in Bangalore, in India) where massive outbreak could happen. Where Markets are concerned, we are still seeing a falling knife, I do not know if it’s the bottom yet.

What traits or behaviour can be observed?

I feel overwhelmed at times with the multiple changes happening around me. I observe mental fatigue when I think about coronavirus’s possible impact and about the capital erosion being observed by investors specially those who have invested in the last 2.5 years. – I notice struggle traits in me.

Simultaneously, there are some positives, as I feel in control of the situation knowing my family is around at home, and I can easily collaborate with colleagues and clients over calls or other virtual mediums – I see flow traits as well.

But the emotions seem to be moving like a pendulum. or flow traits

What is the best thing to do at this point in time?

Affect Labelling: The best way to take charge of emotional side is by Affect Labelling i.e. when I have a thought or an emotion, I put a label on it. Putting words to my feelings helps in telling myself that I am not Stressed, I am Feeling Stressed; that I am not nervous, I am Feeling Nervous. Affect labelling helps me in observing my emotions instead of experiencing it. Thus, reinstating that the felling is temporary, this shall also pass, I can deal with it.

Creating a Decision-Free Zone: I always have an urge to take some decision, markets are falling – let’s add money, falling further – let’s have a stop loss and take out all the money; working from home – let’s get an additional broad band, children are home – let’s make them join some online classes, Covid-19 – let’s wear masks, etc, etc. Although I have been asked to follow social distancing and thus in a way quarantine myself, what about my thoughts? Shouldn’t I look to quarantine that too? DFZ or Decision Free Zone is just that. At times, I need to pause and tell myself it’s “OK” to decide to not take any decisions for some time.

Here is what I did, I took a paper and wrote down all the thoughts coming to my mind, all the actions I am itching to take or decisions that are sitting on the fence. Once I had all written down, I then started grouping them and soon realized that the long list has 5 or 6 main heads. Further, I categorized them into 3 broad categories – Urgent which referred to things or actions that are  required to be done immediately, Important which referred to actions which are also required to be done but can wait for some time and Later which referred to all the decisions which are neither urgent nor important at this point.

Now I am only concentrating on the Urgent things on my list and not getting worried about anything else. Once all the things on the urgent list are done, I shall move to Important section. This has definitely helped me calm down and focus.

If you are in similar situation as I am, try Affect Labelling and DFZ. Happy to know about your experience.